Priority

The classic item gives you four clients and asks which to see first (or which to assess, not which to delegate). The tell: every option sounds sick, so you rank them. Choose the unstable or unpredictable client over the stable-but-serious one, an actual problem over a “risk for,” and new or changing findings over expected ones. When two are equally airway/breathing/circulation-threatened, favor the one whose problem is reversible with immediate action. Watch for the trap where the “sickest-sounding” client is actually stable (chronic, expected lab) while a quieter client is silently deteriorating.

Don’t confuse priority with its cousins: triage sorts a group by urgency (and in a disaster maximizes survivors, not the individual), acuity measures how much care one client needs to drive staffing, and assignment distributes that work by scope. Priority asks “what do I do first”; acuity asks “how heavy is this load.” Note that current ACS guidance has retired MONA—aspirin and reperfusion lead, oxygen only if SpO2 is low (under ~90%)—though some older question banks still rank oxygen first.