[putmetosleep]

Is the CCRN exam set up similar to the NCLEX, where the computer adjusts the difficulty of your questions based on your answers? Or is it just a set 150 questions, with a set percentage of questions for each body system (I forget what the breakdown is, but I know a very large portion is cardiac/pulmonary)?

[KC531]

Okay, somebody shoot me if I'm wrong (been a while since I took it)....I believe it was a set number of questions. Different percentage of questions for each organ system/disease process. Cardiac has something like 37% of the test questions with pulmonary only having around 17%. (again, shoot me if I'm wrong...) The only similarity between the CCRN and the NCLEX that I remember is that they're both on computer.... The questions were hard to start with and they stayed that way through the entire test.

Was a pain in the posterior to take but totally do-able...

Good luck

KC

[deeDawntee]

The CCRN is 150 questions, with 25 of those questions not graded. Here is the breakdown: (from AACN.org)

Adult CCRN Test Plan
I. Clinical Judgment (80%)

A. Cardiovascular (32%)
1. Acute coronary syndromes/unstable angina
2. Acute heart failure/pulmonary edema
3. Acute inflammatory disease (e.g., myocarditis, endocarditis, pericarditis)
4. Acute myocardial infarction/papillary muscle rupture
5. Acute peripheral vascular insufficiency (e.g., acute arterial occlusion, carotid artery stenosis, endartarectomy, peripheral stents)
6. Cardiac surgery (e.g., valve replacement, CABG)
7. Cardiac tamponade
8. Cardiac trauma (blunt and penetrating)
9. Cardiogenic shock
10. Cardiomyopathies (e.g., hypertrophic, dilated, restrictive, idiopathic)
11. Cardiovascular pharmacology
12. Conduction defects, blocks and pacemakers
13. Dysrhythmias/AICDs
14. Heart failure
15. Hemodynamic monitoring
16. Hypertensive crisis
17. Hypovolemic shock and volume deficit
18. Pulmonary hypertension(e.g., valvular defects, aortic stenosis, mitral stenosis)
19. Ruptured or dissecting aneurysm (e.g., thoracic, abdominal)

B. Pulmonary (17%)
1. Acute pulmonary embolus, fat embolus
2. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
3. Acute respiratory failure, hypoxemia
4. Acute respiratory infections
5. Air-leak syndromes (e.g., spontaneous pneumothorax, pneumopericardium, pneumomediastinum, PIE)
6. Aspirations (e.g., aspiration pneumonia, hospital acquired pneumonia, foreign-body aspiration)
7. Chronic lung disease
8. Pulmonary pharmacology
9. Pulmonary trauma (e.g., pulmonary hemorrhage, tracheal perforation)
10. Respiratory distress (e.g., emphysema, bronchitis)
11. Status asthmaticus, exacerbation of COPD, emphysema
12. Thoracic surgery (e.g., lung contusions, fractured ribs, hemothorax, pulmonary hemorrhage, lung reduction, pneumonectomy, lobectomy, tracheal surgery)
13. Thoracic trauma (e.g., lung contusions, fractured ribs, hemothorax, pneumothorax from trauma, pulmonary hemorrhage)
14. Ventilator management and ABG interpretation, mixed venous gases, CPAP, volutrauma and barotraumas

C. Endocrine (4%)
1. Acute hypoglycemia
2. Diabetes insipidus
3. Diabetic ketoacidosis
4. Hormones and endocrine anatomy and physiology
5. Hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic coma (HHNK)

D. Hematology/Immunology (3%)
1. Hematology, anatomy and physiology, blood products and plasma
2. Immunosuppression-acquired (e.g., HIV, AIDS, neoplasms)
3. Life-threatening coagulopathies (e.g., ITP, DIC, hemophilia, HITTS, ReoPro-induced) and non life-threatening coagulopathies
4. Organ transplantation (e.g., liver, bone marrow, kidney, heart, pancreas, lung)
5. Sickle cell crisis

E. Neurology (5%)
1. Aneurysm, AV malformation
2. Encephalopathy (e.g., hypoxic-ischemic, metabolic, edema, infectious)
3. Head trauma (blunt, penetrating), skull fractures
4. Intracranial hemorrhage/intraventricular hemorrhage (e.g., subarachnoid, epidural, subdural)
5. Neurologic infectious diseases (e.g., meningitis, GBS, West Nile)
6. ICP monitoring
7. Neurosurgery (e.g., evacuation of hematoma, tumor resection)
8. Seizure disorders
9. Stroke (e.g., embolic events, hemorrhagic)

F. Gastrointestinal (6%)
1. Acute abdominal trauma
2. Acute GI hemorrhage (e.g., esophageal, upper and lower)
3. Bowel infarction, bowel obstruction, bowel perforation
4. GI surgeries (e.g., Whipple, esophago-gastrectomy, gastric bypass)
5. Hepatic failure/coma (e.g., portal hypertension,
cirrhosis, esophageal varicies, fulminant hepatitis)
6. Pancreatitis
7. Gastro-esophageal reflux

G. Renal (5%)
1. Acute renal failure (e.g., acute tubular necrosis, hypoxia, dialysis)
2. Chronic renal failure and dialysis
3. Life-threatening electrolyte imbalances (e.g.,
potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium)
4. Fluid balance concepts and renal anatomy & physiology
5. Renal trauma

H. Multisystem (8%)
1. Multisystem trauma
2. Septic shock/infectious diseases (e.g., viral, bacterial, line sepsis, nosocomial infections, immunosuppression)
3. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)/sepsis/MODS
4. Toxic exposure (e.g., chemicals, radiation, anaphylaxis)
5. Toxic ingestions and inhalations (e.g., drug/alcohol overdose, poisoning)

II. Professional Caring and Ethical Practice (20%)
A. Advocacy/Moral Agency (2%)
B. Caring Practices (4%)
C. Collaboration (4%)
D. Systems Thinking (2%)
E. Response to Diversity (2%)
F. Clinical Inquiry (2%)
G. Facilitation of Learning (4%)


I don't think there is adjustment for difficulty or missed questions, but that is something you could certainly ask the AACN. They are a very supportive organization. Check out their website, they even have sample questions and lots more info on the exam.

Hey, check out the sticky thread on this forum for the CCRN. We have great tips for study material and it is empowering to use the thread as an on-line study group, even if you don't take the CCRN for a while.

[cardiacRN2006]

deeDawn, you are the CCRN guru!

[nurselizk]

I took it in late October. It is 125 to 150 questions, with 25 of them not graded (experimental). You CAN skip over questions and then go back to them later. The computer doesn't adjust each individual question based on how you've answered like the NCLEX does. It gives you questions drawn randomly from the set of all possible questions. They must have a difficulty rating on them of some sort, because the computer tells you that you will have fewer questions if you have harder ones and more if you have easier ones. Personally, I found some of them insanely easy and some quite hard. I passed, by the way. I just think that some of them (probably the experimental ones) are not always worded for maximum clarity.

[deeDawntee]

Originally Posted by cardiacRN2006

deeDawn, you are the CCRN guru!

hehe!!! ooooohhhhmmmmm.......

[deeDawntee]

Originally Posted by nurselizk

I took it in late October. It is 125 to 150 questions, with 25 of them not graded (experimental). You CAN skip over questions and then go back to them later. The computer doesn't adjust each individual question based on how you've answered like the NCLEX does. It gives you questions drawn randomly from the set of all possible questions. They must have a difficulty rating on them of some sort, because the computer tells you that you will have fewer questions if you have harder ones and more if you have easier ones. Personally, I found some of them insanely easy and some quite hard. I passed, by the way. I just think that some of them (probably the experimental ones) are not always worded for maximum clarity.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! lizk!!
Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!