NLE NP I Review: Community Health Nursing, Plus Foundations and Leadership

NLE NP I Review: Community Health Nursing, Plus Foundations and Leadership

Nursing Practice I is the first test on Day 1 of the NLE (8:00–10:00 a.m., 2 hours). The current PRC program titles it Care of Individuals, Families, Population Groups and Community: community health nursing. The nursing process, theories, ethics, legal concepts, leadership and research aren't a separate test. They run through all five Nursing Practice tests, so this post covers them too.

PRC doesn't publish an item breakdown by topic. This post goes with the NLE guide.

Foundations of nursing (tested across all five NPs)

Drill list:

Nursing process (5 phases):

• Assessment: data collection, validation
• Diagnosis: nursing diagnoses (NANDA), three-part PES format
• Planning: outcomes, prioritization (Maslow's, ABCs)
• Implementation: independent vs collaborative interventions
• Evaluation: outcome measurement, reassessment

Items frequently present a clinical scenario and ask which step of the process is being demonstrated.

Nursing theories:

• Florence Nightingale: environmental theory
• Virginia Henderson: 14 basic needs, "the unique function of the nurse"
• Hildegard Peplau: interpersonal relations, anxiety levels
• Dorothea Orem: self-care deficit theory
• Sister Callista Roy: adaptation model
• Madeleine Leininger: transcultural nursing, cultural care diversity
• Jean Watson: human caring theory, 10 carative factors
• Patricia Benner: novice to expert
• Faye Glenn Abdellah: 21 nursing problems
• Imogene King: theory of goal attainment

For each theorist: know the central concept and one application example.

Ethical principles:

• Autonomy
• Beneficence
• Nonmaleficence
• Justice
• Veracity
• Fidelity
• Confidentiality

Legal concepts:

• Negligence vs malpractice
• Standards of care
• Informed consent (who can give, who cannot)
• Mandatory reporting (child abuse, elder abuse, communicable diseases)
• Patient rights
• Documentation principles
• Advance directives, living wills
• DNR orders

Vital signs and assessment:

• Normal ranges across age groups
• Pain assessment scales by age
• Wong-Baker FACES
• Numeric pain scale
• Cultural considerations in pain assessment

Medication administration:

• 5 (and now 10) Rights of medication
• High-alert medications
• Look-alike sound-alike drugs
• Calculations (dosage, IV drip rates, conversions)
• Common abbreviations and dangerous abbreviations

Community health nursing (NP I)

Drill list:

Levels of prevention:

• Primary: health promotion, disease prevention (immunization, education, lifestyle)
• Secondary: early detection (screening, early diagnosis)
• Tertiary: rehabilitation, complication management

Items often ask which level of prevention an intervention represents.

Family nursing:

• Family structure types
• Family stages (Duvall's)
• Family assessment tools: ecomap, genogram
• Family health tasks (Friedman)
• Crisis intervention in families

Epidemiology:

• Incidence vs prevalence
• Morbidity vs mortality
• Endemic, epidemic, pandemic, sporadic
• Modes of transmission
• Chain of infection
• Herd immunity
• Common epidemiological measures

Philippine DOH programs:

• Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI): schedule and cold chain
• Maternal Health Program: prenatal, delivery, postpartum
• Newborn Screening
• Family Planning Program
• Adolescent Health Program
• Mental Health Program
• National Tuberculosis Control Program (DOTS)
• Dengue prevention
• Rabies control
• HIV/AIDS prevention and care
• Reproductive Health Law (RA 10354)
• Universal Health Care Law (RA 11223)

Community assessment:

• Windshield survey
• Community diagnosis
• Population-focused interventions
• Health teaching to community groups

Nursing leadership and management

Drill list:

Management functions: planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling (know Fayol's functions and Gulick's POSDCORB as the classic frameworks)

Leadership styles:

• Autocratic
• Democratic / participative
• Laissez-faire
• Transformational
• Transactional
• Servant leadership

Match style to scenario — emergencies often call for autocratic; staff development for transformational.

Delegation:

• 5 Rights of Delegation: Right Task, Right Circumstance, Right Person, Right Direction, Right Supervision
• What can and cannot be delegated to nursing attendants and other staff (assessment, teaching and evaluation stay with the RN)
• Items often present a list of tasks and ask which to delegate

Conflict management:

• Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes: competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, collaborating
• Conflict resolution steps

Patient assignments:

• Functional nursing
• Team nursing
• Primary nursing
• Modular nursing
• Total patient care

Quality improvement:

• Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle
• Six Sigma basics
• Root cause analysis
• Sentinel events
• Just culture

Staff management:

• Performance appraisal
• Disciplinary process
• Staff development and continuing education
• Mentoring vs preceptoring

Communicable diseases (Philippine context)

Drill list:

• Tuberculosis: DOTS program, drug regimens, infection control
• Dengue: prevention, danger signs, plasma leakage
• Leptospirosis: presentation, prevention, treatment
• Malaria: areas, prevention, treatment
• Schistosomiasis: snail vector, endemic regions
• Filariasis: vector, mass drug administration
• Rabies: post-exposure prophylaxis, animal bite categories
• Hepatitis A, B, C
• HIV/AIDS
• COVID-19 protocols
• Standard precautions vs transmission-based isolation

Disaster nursing

• Triage colors: red, yellow, green, black
• START triage system
• Mass casualty incident management
• Disaster preparedness phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery
• Common natural disasters in Philippines: typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions
• Personal protective equipment levels

Health policy

• Philippine health system structure
• DOH organization
• Local Government Code (RA 7160) — health devolution
• PhilHealth coverage and benefits
• Universal Health Care Law (RA 11223)
• Magna Carta of Public Health Workers (RA 7305)
• Nursing Act of 2002 (RA 9173)
• Continuing Professional Development Act (RA 10912)

Research and evidence-based practice

• Research process steps
• Quantitative vs qualitative research
• Levels of evidence (I-VII)
• Common research designs
• Sampling methods
• Reliability vs validity
• Ethical considerations in research

A 4-week plan

Review with Super Tutor

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What to read next

The NLE guide anchors the full review. Other topic reviews: maternal care and development (NP II), med-surg (NP III and GI), endocrine and neuro-sensory (NP IV), psychiatric nursing (NP V). The 60% floor rule explainer covers the passing rule.