HPCC ACHPN Certification Sample Questions

The HPCC Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse Certification Sample Question Set on this page is designed to familiarize you with the actual HPCC ACHPN exam format and question types. These sample questions help you understand how questions are structured and what to expect on test day. While they provide a useful starting point, they represent only a limited preview of the real exam experience.

These sample questions are intended for evaluation and familiarization only. To understand exam style, pacing, and reasoning patterns more clearly, we recommend trying our online sample practice environment. If you are preparing for the HPCC Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (ACHPN) and want to assess your readiness more rigorously, structured, timed, scenario-based practice is recommended. This approach aligns with the cognitive demands and professional expectations typically associated with Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) working in settings such as Hospice and palliative care services, Acute care hospitals and palliative care units, Home community and long-term care settings.

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The demo introduces core concepts, while full-length premium simulations provide deeper, scenario-based coverage that more closely reflects the actual cognitive demands of the HPCC Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse exam, particularly in areas such as Advanced assessment and care planning, Symptom intervention and management, Education communication and professional practice. You can use these sample questions as a starting point, then progress to the HPCC ACHPN Certification Practice Exam for stronger readiness. Our premium simulations are designed to mirror real exam conditions, helping you refine reasoning, pacing, and decision-making before your official exam attempt.

HPCC ACHPN Sample Questions:

01. A 41-year-old woman with a severe intellectual disability and metastatic breast cancer lives in a group home. She does not use words to communicate. Agency staff on the night shift describe her as "settled." Her key worker, who has supported her for nine years, says she has stopped her usual humming and rocking, pushes her right arm away when being dressed, and has been sleeping in a chair instead of her bed. How should the advanced practice nurse approach the assessment of her pain?
a) Rely on heart rate and blood pressure as the objective indicators of pain
b) Accept the night staff's report, since she shows no grimacing or crying
c) Compare her behavior with her known baseline
d) Use a simplified numeric rating scale with picture prompts to obtain her own score

02. A 79-year-old man with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is on a hospital medical unit with hypercapnic respiratory failure. He is stable on noninvasive ventilation but can no longer understand or weigh treatment choices. He has no advance directive and no portable medical order, and a three-day search by the social worker has found no relative or friend. If he deteriorates, intubation is the next step. The attending team believes intubation would not serve any goal he expressed and proposes a comfort-focused plan. What should the palliative care advanced practice nurse recommend about how this decision is made?
a) Use the hospital's process for patients with no surrogate, such as independent multidisciplinary or ethics review or a guardian appointed under applicable law before the plan changes
b) Ask the social worker to serve as his surrogate, since she has learned the most about his circumstances during the search
c) Have the attending physician and the palliative team agree on the comfort plan together, since two services concurring is an adequate safeguard
d) Continue every current treatment, including intubation if he worsens, until a relative, friend or neighbor can be found and consulted

03. At an interdisciplinary team meeting about a transgender woman receiving home hospice care, a team member repeatedly uses her former name and male pronouns and jokes that the patient is "confused about more than the diagnosis." Others laugh uncomfortably. Her chart records her name and pronouns. What should the advanced practice nurse do?
a) Acknowledge that humor helps the team cope with hard work, then redirect the discussion back to the plan of care
b) Arrange for her visits to be made only by staff who respect her identity, without raising the remark itself
c) Say nothing during the meeting, and speak with the colleague privately afterward, so that no one is embarrassed in front of the rest of the team
d) Address the remark in the meeting using the patient's name and pronouns, then follow up with the colleague as needed

04. In an intensive care unit, the family of a 57-year-old man with a severe anoxic brain injury after cardiac arrest tells the palliative care advanced practice nurse that they are praying for a miracle and that "God will decide, not the doctors." After a week, neurology has found no sign of meaningful recovery. The family asks that the ventilator be continued. What is the most appropriate response?
a) Refer them to the chaplain about their beliefs, fears and hopes, deferring the medical discussion
b) Affirm their hope, ask what a miracle would look like to them and offer chaplaincy alongside honest medical information
c) Explain gently that the neurological findings rule out meaningful recovery, so the ventilator will be withdrawn
d) Agree to continue all treatment indefinitely, since medical advice should not be weighed against religious conviction

05. A 67-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer is having her opioid titrated through telephone check-ins every few days. On each call she says her pain is 'bad at times' but cannot say how often, how severe, or whether her breakthrough doses helped. What should the advanced practice nurse teach her to do between calls?
a) Wait until her pain is severe before taking a breakthrough dose, so its effect is clear
b) Rate her pain once at the start of each call, so that changes can be tracked
c) Record each pain episode with a rating, any breakthrough dose taken and how well that dose worked
d) Take a breakthrough dose at set times each day, morning and evening, so that her total daily use is easier to report

06. A 62-year-old woman with metastatic colon cancer is seen in an outpatient palliative clinic. Reversible contributors to her fatigue have been addressed. She is exhausted by early afternoon and wants enough energy to attend her grandson's school concerts on weekday evenings. She has been spending her mornings cleaning the house. What should the advanced practice nurse teach?
a) Rest in bed through most of the day, so that she keeps as much energy as possible for the evening
b) Do all of her household tasks early in the morning, when her energy is at its highest, before resting
c) Keep up the morning cleaning to maintain her strength, and add a short walk each afternoon
d) Plan her day around the concerts, delegating housework and resting beforehand

07. An 84-year-old man with advanced heart failure is receiving home hospice care. He is weak and unsteady but insists on walking to the bathroom with his walker, saying it is the last independence he has, and he understands that he may fall. He fell once last month without injury. His daughter asks the advanced practice nurse to tell him he must use a bedside commode and stay in bed. How should the advanced practice nurse respond?
a) Advise bed rest with a bedside commode, explaining to him, and to his daughter, that a fall could cause a fracture or a serious head injury
b) Support his choice to keep walking, and teach the family to clear the route, add a night light and stay close
c) Recommend raising the bed rails each night, so that he does not get up alone, lose his balance and fall in the dark
d) Arrange a physical therapy assessment, and ask him to stay in bed until it has taken place

08. At an outpatient palliative clinic, a 68-year-old man with advanced chronic kidney disease has just completed an advance directive naming his niece as his healthcare agent. He says he will put the signed original in his bank safe deposit box so that it is secure. What should the advanced practice nurse advise?
a) Carry the signed original in his wallet, so that it travels with him wherever he goes, at home or away
b) Send the signed original, and a copy, to the hospital where he expects to be treated, so that it is on file there
c) Give copies to his niece and clinicians, keep the original findable and review it as his health changes
d) Store the original in the safe deposit box, and tell his niece where the key is kept

09. A 73-year-old man with metastatic prostate cancer receiving home hospice care has an indwelling urinary catheter for tumor-related retention. Over three days he has had episodes of sudden, intense suprapubic cramping, during which urine leaks around the catheter. The hospice nurse has flushed the catheter, which drains freely without clots. His urine is clear, he has no fever, and his bowels opened normally this morning. What should the advanced practice nurse recommend?
a) An antimuscarinic bladder antispasmodic to relax the detrusor, now that blockage has been excluded
b) A larger catheter and a larger balloon so that urine stops bypassing it
c) Clamping the catheter for set periods so that the bladder regains its tone
d) An antibiotic course, since spasm often signals a catheter-associated infection

10. A 62-year-old man with advanced pulmonary fibrosis, whom the advanced practice nurse has followed in clinic for two years, is completing an advance directive. He has no close family and asks her to be named as his healthcare agent, saying she understands his wishes better than anyone. How should she respond?
a) Suggest he name the clinic itself as his agent so that whichever clinician is on duty can decide for him
b) Accept, since she knows his wishes well and he has no family member who could take on the role
c) Agree to act only as a witness to the directive, which avoids the conflict that being his agent would create
d) Decline the role, and help him find someone else to act

Answers:

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Note: These sample questions are not official exam questions and are intended only for familiarization and study purposes. If you find any typos or data entry errors in these HPCC Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (ACHPN) sample questions, please let us know by emailing us at feedback@medicoexam.com