DHANURSING

SHA Q&A Bank

SHA nursing questions and answers, written the way the exam asks them

Single-best-answer stems with full rationales for every option. The bank is tagged by domain so you can drill exactly the SHA topics your mock scores say are weak.

What the bank drills

First-action and assessment stemsDosage calculation drillsWound and pressure injury careMaternal and newborn danger signsHealth promotion and prevention levelsProfessional accountability

Sample SHA questions with rationales

Prioritisation

A patient reports sudden shortness of breath two days after hip surgery. First nursing action?

Sit the patient upright, apply oxygen and assess respiratory status while calling for help.

Why: Post-operative sudden dyspnoea suggests pulmonary embolism. Oxygenation and assessment come before investigations or analgesia.

Calculations

1,000 mL is to run over 8 hours with a 15 gtt/mL set. What is the drip rate?

About 31 drops per minute.

Why: 1000 × 15 ÷ 480 minutes = 31.25, rounded to 31 gtt/min. Always convert the ordered time into minutes before dividing.

Wound care

A sacral wound shows full-thickness skin loss with visible subcutaneous fat but no bone or tendon. Stage?

Stage 3 pressure injury.

Why: Stage 3 involves full-thickness loss into subcutaneous tissue; exposed bone, tendon or muscle would make it stage 4.

Health promotion

A nurse runs a diabetes screening day at a community centre. Which prevention level is this?

Secondary prevention.

Why: Screening detects disease early in people who feel well. Primary prevention would be avoiding disease altogether; tertiary reduces complications in known disease.

How to answer a SHA stem

  1. 1. Read the last line first — it tells you whether the question wants an assessment, an action or a teaching point.
  2. 2. Decide whether the patient is stable. Unstable means airway, breathing, circulation before anything else.
  3. 3. Eliminate any option that delegates, delays or documents when the patient needs the nurse now.
  4. 4. Between two clinically correct options, choose the one the nurse can do independently and immediately.
  5. 5. Never change an answer without a reason you can put into words.

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