[RaggedyRN]

OK...I'm ready to begin studying for the CCRN. Any suggestions for study guides? I have purchased The Core Curriculum 2nd edition but have yet to begin studying. Anyone use the AACN's DVD's or CD's? Are they worth the investment? Anyone know of any question/answer (with rationale) computer discs for peds?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

RaggedyRN

[heelgal]

Good for you! Studying for the CCRN took me 6 months of fairly intense review. I used the Core Curriculum, Hazinski's reference on Pediatric Critical Care and the audio CD's, which were fantastic. If you are an audio learner, the CD's are great. I would listen to lectures while driving the kids around and going to work.
If you are committed, you don't need to attend a review course. It just takes time. Interestingly enough, the areas I thought I would hit out of the park (respiratory) were the hardest and the things I really had to study (cardiac, heme/onc) I did well on.
Overall, I have rarely been prouder of myself than when I saw my passing score on the exam. I felt validated and more confident in my abilities to care for my patients. That is worth any amount time and money to me.

Good Luck and happy studying!

[lkk336]

I have just completed (and passed) my peds CCRN.
Several nurses on my unit have done the the same. We found it very helpful to attend a systems review class.i think that it gave some useful info and study tips. I also read Core Curriculum for Pediatric Critical Care Nursing by Slota. There are also Pediatric sample tests available with explanation.
I think that overall, my experience at the bedside was my greatest tool.

Good Luck

[BigKenny]

I am new to PICU from med surg. Is there a seperate CCRN cert for Peds?

Kenny

[janfrn]

You bet there is! AACN has an excellent reference for preparing for the peds CCRN exam in their Core Curriculum for Pediatric Critical Care Nursing. It's my bible! The second edition is available now and is well worth the money. Find out more at: http://www.aacn.org/WD/Certification...=Certification

[lkk336]

Yes, there are separate exams for pediatrics and for peds critical care.

[PICURNinHollywood]

Congrats to you all!

I took two weeks off work to study for the CCRN and REALLY studied hard the last 5 days (maybe too much?).

I listened to the CCRN review on audio CD, made flash cards of the concepts in each systems lecture (I ended up with about 150 flash cards) and I took the test a week ago and failed by 9 questions out of 150! .

I hear that Kaplan is coming out with a review book for the Pediatric CCRN in December and I think I will wait for that to come out before I retake it. The test was really hard and only 50% of it I recognized from the lecture CDs. I feel like alot of the questions threw in terms I had never heard of and were never mentioned in the lectures. I didn't have a bank of questions to practice with and I think that will help alot. Also there is a set of study flash cards off the internet from morrison media which I got and found helpful but again it doesn't have questions...

My plan is to get some of the books you mentioned above and study some more and try again! Any suggestions?