NCLEX-RN Reduction of Risk Potential
9–15% of the NCLEX-RN · Physiological Integrity
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Reduction of Risk Potential so you know where you stand.
Free Reduction of Risk Potential drillA client taking warfarin has an INR of 6.8 and no signs of bleeding. Which action should the nurse take?
Reduction of Risk Potential on the 2026 test plan
Reduction of Risk Potential is 9–15% of the exam. It asks whether you can see a complication coming and act on it: vital sign trends, lab results, diagnostic tests, procedures, tubes and lines, and the care before and after surgery and sedation.
- Share of the exam
- 9–15% of scored stand-alone items (we weight our mock exams at 12%)
- Client Needs category
- Physiological Integrity
- Our drill
- 10 questions, untimed, a rationale for every option; one free attempt, unlimited with a pass
What Reduction of Risk Potential questions test
- Recognizing trends in vital signs and condition, and when to call a rapid response
- Interpreting laboratory results and arterial blood gases, and the intervention each abnormal value needs
- Focused assessments and point-of-care testing within scope
- Preoperative teaching and care: NPO, consent, medication holds, site marking and time-out
- Moderate sedation monitoring and recovery criteria
- Procedure precautions and after-care: paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, cardiac catheterization, biopsies and bronchoscopy
- Specimens: blood cultures before antibiotics, clean-catch urine, 24-hour urine, sputum and wound cultures
- Nasogastric tubes, urinary catheters, peripheral IVs, feeding tubes and venous return devices
- Postoperative complications: atelectasis, hemorrhage, dehiscence and evisceration, deep vein thrombosis, ileus and infection
Sit the full exam under the real clock
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Reduction of Risk Potential so you know where you stand.
Free Reduction of Risk Potential drillHow to study it
- Learn the critical values that change care at once: potassium outside 3.5–5.0 mEq/L, sodium outside 135–145 mEq/L, glucose below 70 mg/dL, INR above the therapeutic range, platelets below 50,000.
- For arterial blood gases, decide acidosis or alkalosis from the pH, then match the cause to the CO2 (respiratory) or the bicarbonate (metabolic).
- Every procedure has one key precaution: void before a paracentesis, lie flat after a lumbar puncture, check the gag reflex after a bronchoscopy, pressure and pulses after a cardiac catheterization.
- Evisceration: cover with sterile saline-moistened gauze, keep the client supine with knees bent, call the surgeon.
Common questions
What are the early signs of increased intracranial pressure?
A change in level of consciousness is the earliest and most sensitive sign: restlessness, confusion or drowsiness. Later signs are headache, vomiting, pupil changes and the Cushing triad of widening pulse pressure, bradycardia and irregular respirations.
Why are blood cultures drawn before antibiotics?
Because the first dose of an antibiotic can suppress bacterial growth and make the culture falsely negative. Two sets from different sites are drawn, and the antibiotic is given promptly afterward.
What should a client expect after a lumbar puncture?
To lie flat for several hours as ordered, drink fluids to replace cerebrospinal fluid, and report a headache that worsens when sitting up, numbness or weakness in the legs, or drainage from the puncture site.
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Reduction of Risk Potential so you know where you stand.
Free Reduction of Risk Potential drillMore NCLEX-RN guides
- NCLEX-RN Management of Care
- NCLEX-RN Safety and Infection Prevention and Control
- NCLEX-RN Health Promotion and Maintenance
- NCLEX-RN Psychosocial Integrity
- NCLEX-RN Basic Care and Comfort
- NCLEX-RN Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies
- NCLEX-RN Physiological Adaptation
- NCLEX-RN for internationally educated nurses
- Retaking the NCLEX-RN
- NCLEX-RN practice exam (85 items)
Sources
- NCSBN: 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan (effective April 1, 2026)
- NCLEX.com: Test plans
- NCSBN: NCLEX Candidate Bulletin (October 2025): fees, retake policy, exam length and time
- NCSBN: NCLEX registration fee change effective February 1, 2027
- NCSBN: 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics (volumes and pass rates)
- NCLEX.com FAQs: partial-credit scoring (plus/minus, zero/one, rationale)
- NCSBN: Candidate Performance Report
Original practice questions for exam preparation, written to the 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan. Independent practice, not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) or Pearson VUE. NCLEX and NCLEX-RN are registered trademarks of NCSBN.