Cpne

Nalon1 RN/EMT-P, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2014

Best is a relative term.

If you went to Utica and failed, you may think it is the worst, if you passed, the greatest.

Time to get a test date plays a part, as do travel time and accommodations.

For me, I think Lubbock is the best. But I passed 1st time, was the closest to me and was cheaper overall since I could drive vs fly.

As far as the site with the highest pass rate, not sure Excelsior releases that info.

VDUB, BSN · Feb 16, 2014

Nalon 1 is right it is subjective. I passed on my first attempt at Utica 2/7-2/9/14 and I thought it was a great site. I chose Utica for the specific reason that EC rotates CE's and CA 's between Utica and Albany, and many of them either teach EC workshops or answer questions on the EC community discussion board. I felt this would ensure consistency in perspective during my clinical weekend. One of the things I kept hearing some other sites (not Lubbock) was CE's not really knowing what's allowed and not, they know the basics for instance, iv push station we all know it you have to push the med over 1 minute then it better be atleast 1 minute anything less would be a fail, but it is ok to go over that 1 minute by a few seconds. One tester had this happen to her at another site and had to state why she disagreed on a form that you sign and she noted page numbers in her study guide and the CA told her she would look in to it, she got that fail reversed to a pass and didn't have to repeat any labs. That is too much stress to have to deal with, and during my research on sites the students who where appealing their fail to EC tested at sites that where not Albany or Utica. Lubbock has good feedback and is closer to me than Utica was but I didn't want to wait that long for a test date. Out of the 6 that tested with me 3 of us passed and out of the ones who didn't pass 2 told me that they where reapplying to Utica they pretty much told me they felt that they where treated fairly and that the CA and CE's tried to calm their nerves and where very supportive.

Nalon1 RN/EMT-P, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2014

Yeah, I forgot about how the CE's and CA can play into it too.

I thought the ones I had at Lubbock really knew their stuff.

The CA and one of the CE's were Excelsior grads, so they knew the stresses of it. One of the CE's was from the east coast and had been a CE for like 6-7 years and really knew her stuff.

I found out after we were done that another one of the CE's had just finished being precepted for doing the CPNE CE, it was her first time by herself in that role, and she knew her stuff pretty well, but was not afraid to call for the CA. She did have to call the CA about 2 things on my evaluation that was questionable, but argued with the CA over one of them in my defense (well, not argued, but explained why I put what I did on a form and got the CA to agree to it also).

The 3 others I tested with had all failed once before, all at Lubbock. They all said they did not feel they were failed for anything frivolous but true mistakes they made in charting, planning, care or skills testing.