Dictionary

NCLEX words

The exam's own working vocabulary: assess, reinforce, prioritize, UAP and the rest.

SBARA four-part way to report about a client: situation, background, assessment and recommendation.

scope of practiceThe actions and duties a licensed professional is legally allowed to perform.

seclusionKeeping a client alone in a room, against their will, that they are prevented from leaving.

secondary preventionThe level of prevention that finds a disease early and treats it promptly so it does not get worse.

seizure precautionsSafety steps set up for a client at risk of seizures, to prevent injury if one happens.

select all that applyA test question that asks you to choose every correct answer from a list, where more than one may be right.

sentinel eventAn unexpected event in health care that causes a client's death, permanent harm or severe temporary harm.

side effectAn effect of a drug, other than the one it is given for, that is known and expected to happen in some people.

sitterA staff member assigned to stay with one client and watch them continuously to keep them safe.

six P'sA memory aid listing six things checked in a limb: pain, pallor, pulselessness, paresthesia, paralysis and poikilothermia (coldness).

stabilizationBringing something to a steady, controlled state, such as a client's condition, an injured body part or a crisis.

stableDescribes a client whose condition is not changing and whose response to care can be predicted.

standard of careThe level of care that a reasonably careful nurse with the same training would give in the same situation.

standard precautionsThe basic infection-control practices used with every client, whether or not an infection is known.

statImmediately; at once.

sterile fieldAn area set up with sterile drapes and supplies, kept free of all germs, for a sterile procedure.

stimulationSomething that rouses a nerve, organ or person to act or respond, or the act of rousing it.

subjective dataInformation the client (or family) tells the nurse, which only the person can know and the nurse cannot measure.

suicide precautionsThe safety measures used to protect a client who is at risk of harming or killing themselves.

summonTo call for someone to come, especially for help.

superviseTo guide, watch over and check the work of another staff member who is doing a task.

synthesizeTo make something by combining simpler parts, or to combine pieces of information into a whole.

systematicDone in a planned, orderly way, step by step, following a method.