CEN CCRN?

[Ryan RN]

After working in the ED for 2 years, i decided to step up and take my CEN exam... Passed on the first try... The knowledge gain just from studying for the CEN is "priceless" i thinkNow i decided to go for the CCRN exam. Studying for this exam i feel like it fills the void that i felt was missing from the CEN review. I have no financial gain from taking the CCRN unlike the CEN which gave me gas money, its purely an "ego boost" and of course knowledge gain. registered to take the exam online, im just waiting for the authorization number to actually take the test. Anybody here certified both in CEN and cCRN but is mainly an ER nurse?

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I have both certifications; however, when I took the CCRN I was working full-time in a MICU.

http://www.aacn.org/wd/certifications/content/ccrnlanding.pcms?menu=certification

There's a lot of info here re: exam content, eligibility, etc. I found there to be a lot of content that I personally would not have been comfortable with had I not worked in an ICU.

Good luck to you.

[Ryan RN]

i have been reading the PASS CCRN book for quite some time now, took a while to read due to work and i had classes during last semester.

any tips you can give me on what to concentrate on? in the ER i currently work in full time, we do not do arterial lines, swan ganz, or iabps, so this alone will hurt me for the test since i am not exposed to it at all. i know this is what will be expected of me to know for the test. i am hoping that reading the book and memorizing the waveforms and every and pressures and everything else in between will be adequate.

i just received my number for the test so now i have 3 months to learn how to be a psuedo ICU nurse haha

[Altra, BSN, RN]

The book is good, and the AACN website has info on the content as well. It is a damn hard test.

For me it was about demonstrating some level of mastery of my second specialty. (is it an oxymoron to say "beginning mastery"? :icon_roll)

Good luck to you.

[DebanamRN, MSN, RN]

After reading your responses, I've decided to get the CCRN book and to take the CCRN (eventually). Even though I have no intentions of leaving the ER, we do so much critical care it can really improve my practice.