Critical Reasoning

Hospital Administrator: In each of the past 10 years, as the cost of medical malpractice insurance and of new medical technologies soared, other hospitals have chosen to increase nurses' work loads or patients' cost of care. We have avoided both by eliminating inefficiencies in staffing, and by hiring Licensed Practical Nurses to perform many procedures previously performed by more highly-paid Registered Nurses. So even if our insurance and technology costs increase further, we can continue to avoid increases in nurses' work loads or patient's cost of care.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the hospital administrator's conclusion?
Choices

A The hospital pays the prevailing rate for Licensed Practical Nurses, just as it does for Registered Nurses.


B Registered Nurses still provide some services which Licensed Practical Nurses could perform.

C As technology improves productivity in most fields, and manufacturers moving to cheaper labor markets decreases costs in other fields, medicine and other areas that still depend on large amounts of domestic labor grow more expensive.


D Medical malpractice insurance accounts for a smaller portion of health care costs than is commonly assumed.

E State law allows Registered Nurses to provide a much wider range of services than it permits Licensed Practical Nurses to provide.

OA : B