HSRT Health Sciences Reasoning Test

1. Question 1 · Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences

   At a staff meeting on a rehabilitation unit, the nurse manager said: 'Our unit recorded nine patient falls last quarter, and most happened on the night shift between 2 and 5 a.m. The patients who fell were usually trying to walk to the bathroom alone. Other units that started scheduled bathroom rounds every two hours at night saw their falls drop. Since our patients show the same night-time pattern, we should begin two-hour scheduled bathroom rounds on nights starting next month. The extra workload will be small, because the rounds can be combined with the vital-sign checks that night staff already do.'

   Which statement BEST expresses the main conclusion of the nurse manager's argument?
   • A.Most of the unit's falls last quarter happened on the night shift between 2 and 5 in the morning.
   • B.The unit should start scheduled two-hour bathroom rounds on the night shift beginning next month.
   • C.The added workload of the rounds will be small because they can be combined with vital-sign checks.
   • D.The patients on the unit who fell were usually trying to walk to the bathroom without any help.
   • E.Other units that started scheduled night-time bathroom rounds saw their number of falls go down.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. The unit should start scheduled two-hour bathroom rounds on the night shift beginning next month.

   Every other statement is offered as a reason for starting the night-time bathroom rounds, so that recommendation is the main conclusion. The timing of falls, the bathroom pattern and the other units' results are premises, and the workload claim answers a likely objection rather than being the point the manager is arguing for.

2. Question 2 · Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences

   During a pre-surgery phone call, a nurse reviews three instructions with Mr. Okafor: eat nothing after midnight, arrive at 6:00 a.m., and bring a written list of all current medicines. Mr. Okafor replies, 'Got it. My daughter usually handles all my pills, and she's away until next week, but I'll be fine.'

   What is the MOST significant point of Mr. Okafor's reply in this context?
   • A.It means the surgery should be postponed until his daughter returns home sometime during next week.
   • B.It shows that he has understood and agreed to follow every one of the instructions given on the call.
   • C.It suggests he may struggle to bring an accurate medicine list without the person who manages his pills.
   • D.It indicates that he will need someone else to drive him because his daughter is not available to him.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C. It suggests he may struggle to bring an accurate medicine list without the person who manages his pills.

   One instruction is to bring a list of current medicines, and he has just said that someone else handles his pills and is away, so his 'Got it' may not mean he can do it. Nothing in the call is about transportation, and nothing stated supports postponing surgery; the reply signals a gap to follow up, not full understanding.

3. Question 3 · Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences

   A patient in a long-term care facility was found on the floor, and staff must determine whether he fell or was lowered to the floor by the aide assisting him. Four people gave accounts: the aide, who could be disciplined if he fell; the roommate, who was awake and watching from the next bed; the patient's daughter, who heard about it from her father the next day; and the charge nurse, who arrived a minute afterward. Which account deserves the MOST weight?
   • A.The aide's, because she was present and is trained in safe patient handling.
   • B.The roommate's, because she saw it happen and has no stake in the outcome.
   • C.The daughter's, because the patient told her directly what had happened.
   • D.The charge nurse's, because she is the most senior staff member involved.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. The roommate's, because she saw it happen and has no stake in the outcome.

   The roommate is a firsthand witness with no reason to shade her account. The aide was also present, but she has a strong personal interest in the outcome; the daughter's account is secondhand and the charge nurse did not see the event, so seniority adds nothing.

4. Question 4 · Inference

   A nursing student reviews falls on her clinical unit over four months: 2, 4, 3 and 11. In her draft she wrote, "The mean is 5 falls per month, so a typical month has about 5 falls." On rereading, which correction BEST improves her reasoning?
   • A.She should drop the month with 11 falls and report a corrected mean of 3 falls per month.
   • B.One unusual month pulls the mean up, so the median of 3.5 better describes a typical month.
   • C.The arithmetic is wrong, since the mean of these four monthly counts is actually 4 falls.
   • D.Her reasoning is sound, because the mean always describes a typical value better than others.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. One unusual month pulls the mean up, so the median of 3.5 better describes a typical month.

   The mean is (2 + 4 + 3 + 11)/4 = 20/4 = 5, so her arithmetic is right, but three of the four months had 4 or fewer falls; the median, (3 + 4)/2 = 3.5, describes a typical month better. Claiming the mean is 4 is an arithmetic error. Deleting the 11 hides real data rather than correcting the reasoning, and the mean does not always describe typical values best when one value is extreme.

5. Question 5 · Explanation

   After reviewing charts on a medical-surgical unit, a quality auditor reports: "Not every chart on 4 West has a documented fall-risk score." If the auditor's statement is true, which statement must also be true?
   • A.At least one chart on 4 West lacks a documented fall-risk score.
   • B.Most of the charts on 4 West lack a documented fall-risk score.
   • C.At least one chart on 4 West has a documented fall-risk score.
   • D.No chart on 4 West has a documented fall-risk score at this time.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A. At least one chart on 4 West lacks a documented fall-risk score.

   "Not every chart has X" is logically the same as "at least one chart does not have X." It does not say that no chart or most charts lack the score, and it does not guarantee that any chart has one, since the statement would also be true if every chart lacked the score.

6. Question 6 · Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences

   An imaging department supervisor wrote: 'We should add evening appointments to the outpatient MRI schedule. Our waiting list for outpatient scans is now six weeks long, so we are losing patients to other imaging centers. Since each lost patient means lost revenue, the long waiting list is hurting the department's budget. Evening hours would let us scan about 20 more patients a week without buying a second scanner.'

   Which statement BEST expresses the main conclusion of the supervisor's argument?
   • A.The department is losing outpatients to other imaging centers because of waits.
   • B.The department should add evening appointments to its outpatient MRI schedule.
   • C.The long waiting list for outpatient scans is hurting the department's budget.
   • D.Evening hours would allow about 20 more scans a week without a second scanner.
   • E.The waiting list for outpatient MRI scans has grown to six weeks in length.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. The department should add evening appointments to its outpatient MRI schedule.

   The recommendation to add evening appointments is what all the other statements support. 'We are losing patients' and 'the waiting list is hurting the budget' are intermediate conclusions in a chain of reasons; they are introduced with 'so' and 'since' but each serves the final recommendation.

7. Question 7 · Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences

   A pharmacy technician notices a pattern with a regular customer. For two years, the customer picked up the same three prescriptions every 30 days. For the past four months, the customer has returned for refills every 20 days. The prescriptions and their directions have not changed, and each refill still contains a 30-day supply.

   What is the MOST reasonable interpretation of this pattern?
   • A.The customer is receiving more medicine than the directions call for, which is worth raising with the pharmacist.
   • B.The pattern has no meaning, because customers often pick up their refills at irregular times through the year.
   • C.The pharmacy has been filling the prescriptions with fewer tablets than the 30-day supply listed on each label.
   • D.The prescriber has increased the dose of each medicine, so the shorter time between refills is to be expected.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A. The customer is receiving more medicine than the directions call for, which is worth raising with the pharmacist.

   A 30-day supply every 20 days means the customer is getting one and a half times the amount the unchanged directions call for, so the pattern signals a mismatch worth raising, whatever its cause. The case states that the directions have not changed and that each refill holds a 30-day supply, and a steady four-month pattern is not random timing.

8. Question 8 · Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences

   In a television ad, a well-known heart surgeon who is paid by the company says that its running shoes prevent knee injuries. Which statement BEST evaluates her endorsement?
   • A.Her endorsement is reliable, because many viewers trust surgeons more than other spokespeople.
   • B.Her skill in heart surgery does not make her an expert on shoes, and she is paid to praise them.
   • C.Her endorsement is reliable, because every surgeon is trained in human anatomy and in how the body moves.
   • D.Her endorsement is unreliable, because advertisements never contain any accurate information.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. Her skill in heart surgery does not make her an expert on shoes, and she is paid to praise them.

   Expertise in one field does not transfer to an unrelated one, and payment from the company creates a conflict of interest. Claiming all ads are false overgeneralizes, and viewers' trust in surgeons is an appeal to authority, not evidence about the shoes.

9. Question 9 · Inference

   A pharmacy student reviewing her quality project notes that she found 6 dispensing errors in 1,200 orders and wrote "5 errors per 100 orders." Which self-correction is MOST accurate?
   • A.Her rate is ten times too high; 6 errors in 1,200 orders is 0.5 per 100, or 5 per 1,000 orders.
   • B.She should have divided 1,200 by 6, which gives a corrected rate of 200 errors per 100 orders.
   • C.Her rate is correct, since 6 errors divided by 1,200 orders works out to 5 errors per 100 orders.
   • D.Her rate should read 6 errors per 1,000 orders, since there were 6 errors in her whole sample.
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A. Her rate is ten times too high; 6 errors in 1,200 orders is 0.5 per 100, or 5 per 1,000 orders.

   Dividing, 6/1,200 = 1/200 = 0.005, which is 0.5 per 100 or 5 per 1,000, so her figure of 5 per 100 is ten times too high. Calling her rate correct repeats the original slip. Dividing 1,200 by 6 gives orders per error (200), not errors per 100, and 6 per 1,000 ignores that the sample had 1,200 orders, not 1,000.

10. Question 10 · Explanation

    A nurse manager states: "None of the night-shift staff completed the new infusion pump training." The unit educator then shows, using sign-in sheets, that the manager's statement is false. What has the educator shown?
    • A.At least one night-shift staff member skipped the training.
    • B.At least one night-shift staff member completed the training.
    • C.All of the night-shift staff members completed the training.
    • D.Most of the night-shift staff members completed the training.
    Show answer and explanation

    Answer: B. At least one night-shift staff member completed the training.

    The negation of "none completed" is "at least one completed." Disproving "none" does not establish "all" or "most," and it says nothing about whether anyone skipped the training.

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