Patient Care Technician Certification (PCTC) AMCA Practice Exam

If a patient asks if you are a nurse and you say yes when you are not, what is this situation called?

1. Negligence

2. Fraud

3. Misunderstanding

4. Misinformation

The correct answer is: Fraud

When a patient inquires whether you are a nurse and you respond affirmatively, despite not holding that qualification, this situation is classified as fraud. Fraud involves the act of intentionally deceiving someone in order to gain a benefit or to harm them. In healthcare, misrepresenting oneself can lead to significant consequences, both for the patient, who may rely on your expertise, and for you as a caregiver, since it undermines the trust inherent in the healthcare provider-patient relationship. While negligence refers to a failure to provide the standard of care that a reasonably competent provider would, that does not apply in this scenario since the focus is on the misrepresentation rather than a failure to act. Misunderstanding and misinformation involve confusion or incorrect information without intent to deceive, which does not capture the willful nature of falsely claiming to be a nurse. Therefore, the act of asserting a false professional identity in this context clearly constitutes fraud.