Do you think the Boards really mean your competent?

dstout-rn · Feb 22, 2002

I took my boards two years ago. This was following a B average in nursing school and constant put downs by my nursing instructors that I would never pass boards..... I was NOT nursing material because I asked to many WHY questions and didn't put nursing school at the top of my priority list. Well I passed with 75 questions on my first try, my advisor in nursing school said she was SHOCKED!!! I think nurses should ask WHY are we doing _______ instead of _______. I am a BSN grad was not a book worm so to speak I am a believer of OJT. I worked my butt off in school but I also worked full time (3 twelves a week) while I was in school and kept a great average, my nursing instructors couldn't understand how I did it all. To me the boards don't prove anything I have seen nurses who were "tops" in class who couldn't do patient care if their life depended on it, and C students who picked up on little changes that were major problems.

My advice take boards then forget about them find a mentor and learn something everyday for the rest of you nursing career and always ask WHY!!!

nursedawn67, LPN · Feb 22, 2002

This is so true! Not just with the boards do people get test anxiety but in the program/classes itself. My friend tried the program twice, failed both times and then gave up. I tell you what that women studied more then anyone I know, she knew this stuff backwards and forwards, but when it came to testing in class she got test anxiety. She used to sit next to me during tests and then had to move, I got done with my tests quick (not that I'm THAT smart, just I read quick and I don't know just get done quick) that made her more nervous. She ended up moving to a spot where she was all alone and tried many different ways with help to get over it and couldn't. She would have been a great nurse!

Originally posted by sgavette
I feel that the board need to be changed. There are nurses out there that do great on their boards because they are book smart and then there are others that will make great nurses but because of test anxiety they are unable to pass the test.

4XNURSE · Feb 22, 2002

Originally posted by sgavette
I feel that the board need to be changed. There are nurses out there that do great on their boards because they are book smart and then there are others that will make great nurses but because of test anxiety they are unable to pass the test.

If you get too anxious to pass the boards, What is going to happen when you have a life and death decision to make? I think you better be able to rise above the anxiety and get the job done.

There is a lot of talk here (in some other threads) about the implications of having CNAs doing nurses work and calling themselves nurses, ( see string on "nurse impersonators",) and there are some really good CNAs around. There are a lot of patient care techs, and there is a lot of flack going on today, in our profession, about the drawbacks of President Bush's remarks about bringing in foreign nurses who aren't qualified, just to fill the need for warm bodies.

If you can't buck up and pass the boards, maybe you need to stick with some of the tasks that don't require you to pass a difficult test. Being able to give a bath, make a bed, and give a shot, require the manual dexterity of a chimpanzee, or an orangatang. They could do the manual skills I do. They can't, however, pass the test I took that demonstrates that I have the knowledge and the decision making capacity to make the right call when someones life depends on it.

I took the boards back in the days of the 2 day ordeal with hundreds of us jammed into a huge warehouse at Fairplex. There were a fair number of people who couldn't finish the exam, and ran out crying. I'm sorry. I don't wish anyone badly, but when you are taking care of MY wife or daughter, You better know what you are doing, and you better be able to handle the pressure.

The boards I took didn't just measure what I learned in nursing school, they also measured my ability to stand up to pressure, and make correct decisions with someone watching my every move.(there were a whole bunch of proctors walking around just watching us - to see if it looked like anyone was cheating) I passed that test. That dosen't necessarily mean I'm a great nurse, It does mean I had the knowledge, and that I could keep myself together long enough to get through the tough times. I want to see the new nurses measure up to tough enough standards to ensure they not only have the manual dexterity, but the mental toughness, and the "book" knowledge, to provide the best of care possible.

My $ .02

ken

gpip · Feb 22, 2002

first tojoules and everyone else don't you find it both sad and scary that only 67% of "experianced " nurses were shown to be competent according to this research. That means 33% are out there practicing unsafely with someones life in their hands. to sgavette the bords do not test book smarts they test comman sense and minimum comman sense at that. No matter how they are set up there are going to be people that have some sort of anxiety you cannot say it is the tests fault, some people are just poor test takers and have to work aliitle harde r or take the thing more than once. Do i think it really test competency? NO, there need s to be something more. Do not think of the 75 question minimum remember of those questions 15 are thrown out because it is the first time they are on the test andX amount are thrown out if so many people miss them. So really if you took 75 questions you license could be based on 45-60 questions even though each is weighted differantly based on difficulty.scaret isn't it. Remember this is just my opinion and I am not trying to offend anyone.

live4today, RN · Feb 22, 2002

I, too, took the boards during the good old days when the exams took two full days to take. I think they should return to that form of test taking in the nursing field because too many are becoming licensed on so few questions required of them to answer correctly before the ol' computer shuts off. This system totally blows my mind! My middle daughter has been a LPN for over a year now, and she took the new exam by computer which shut off after so many questions were answered. She passed the first time, too, but "what on earth" did she learn from that????

I passed those two day exams the first time around, and when you take test of that duration, you do tend to learn how much true stamina and guts you really have. You either make it to the end of the exam, or you run out "crying" as someone mentioned here already.

Maybe nurses are needed so badly, the new way of testing allows them to answer the fewest possible questions in the least amount of time so as not to discourage them, or give them a great deal of anxiety because they need those recent grads to pass boards "quick" so they can hire them "quick".

4XNURSE · Feb 22, 2002

Originally posted by Renee Williams
Maybe nurses are needed so badly, the new way of testing allows them to answer the fewest possible questions in the least amount of time so as not to discourage them, or give them a great deal of anxiety because they need those recent grads to pass boards "quick" so they can hire them "quick". [/b]

Right on Nurse Williams!

ChristenLPN, LPN · Feb 22, 2002

I don't know if this is just New Mexico, but taking my LPN boards was a horrible experience. I got great grades in school, in both theory and clinicals, and I studied my behind off for boards. It did me absolutely no good because the test ended after only 85 questions, at least 75 of which were cultural and communication. I did not have one single question about med administration or dosage calculation. I had one question about Meniere's disease. All the rest of the questions focused on whether or not Muslims eat pork (no kidding, I had 8 questions on this specific concern!) and how best to respond to a patient who feared he would no longer be able to drive a truck. Not that cultural awareness and communication aren't important, but I really thought it would be more vital to determine that I could accurately calculate a narcotic dosage or recognize signs of pulmonary edema before handing me a license! I am happy that I passed on the first try, and I feel confident in the competence that I have learned both in school and on the job, but it scares me that this is how New Mexico determines one capable of practicing nursing.

Agnus · Feb 22, 2002

I SORTA understand how competency is determined by these tests. I understand BASICALLY how the test is designed. But I also know it doesn't test everything and some slip by because there are areas that are not covered at all and lucky be the right questions were not asked of a particular candidate.

When a nurse inflates a foley in a patient's urethra and a CNA suggest maby that is what she did she tell the CNA she is not a Nurse. In other words the CNA could not possible know something that she the RN did not; and This nurse is not concerned that 4 hours later there is no urine output, and is not concerned about the patients complaint of severe pain, well. Her explaination for the reason to inflate it in the urethra was the prostate spasamed. It's true that is what happened BUT you dont inflate it in the urethera.

This same nurse ignores the disconect alarm on a vent, and is then informed it is the disconect alarm and is shown what to do when it goes off and then continues to ignore this alarm when it goes off again later, ( yet, she is at the bedside of the vented pt),well. And She takes a NG tube from an isolation patient holds is up in the air and waves it all about as she walks all over the unit and nearly slaps the charge nurse in the face with the proximall end, well. And according to the above classification she is experienced i. e. 2 years, well. I'm sorry but I am so upset with my school for turning the meance loose.

bedazzled · Feb 22, 2002

Originally posted by Renee Williams
I, too, took the boards during the good old days when the exams took two full days to take. I think they should return to that form of test taking in the nursing field because too many are becoming licensed on so few questions required of them to answer correctly before the ol' computer shuts off.

I passed those two day exams the first time around, and when you take test of that duration, you do tend to learn how much true stamina and guts you really have. You either make it to the end of the exam, or you run out "crying" as someone mentioned here already.

Keep Going!!! Tell us how you walked 4 miles to school in the winter and that it was uphill both ways.

4XNURSE · Feb 23, 2002

Originally posted by Agnus
I SORTA understand how competency is determined by these tests. I understand BASICALLY how the test is designed. But I also know it doesn't test everything and some slip by because there are areas that are not covered at all and lucky be the right questions were not asked of a particular candidate.
When a nurse inflates a foley in a patient's urethra and a CNA suggest maby that is what she did she tell the CNA she is not a Nurse. In other words the CNA could not possible know something that she the RN did not; and This nurse is not concerned that 4 hours later there is no urine output, and is not concerned about the patients complaint of severe pain, well. Her explaination for the reason to inflate it in the urethra was the prostate spasamed. It's true that is what happened BUT you dont inflate it in the urethera.

This same nurse ignores the disconect alarm on a vent, and is then informed it is the disconect alarm and is shown what to do when it goes off and then continues to ignore this alarm when it goes off again later, ( yet, she is at the bedside of the vented pt),well. And She takes a NG tube from an isolation patient holds is up in the air and waves it all about as she walks all over the unit and nearly slaps the charge nurse in the face with the distal end, well. And according to the above classification she is experienced i. e. 1 1/2 years, well. I'm sorry but I am so upset with my school for turning the meance loose.

Agnus,

This is just a lazy, probably burned out, incompetent, former nurse. (may have RN, but doesn't deserve the title) Remember, kiddo, there are good and bad in every profession. What you have described is BAD.

Boards will do NOTHING to fix this problem! No test in the world will show you who just dosen't care. That particular nurse needs to be put in the bed and treated the way he or she treats the patients.

You ever catch me NOT working, like that, SHOOT me! (.45 calibre, not 19ga.)

ken

J_W, DNP, APRN, CNS · Feb 23, 2002

I have had issues with the new NCLEX exam, I have read the research about how they developed the exam, it is much like the GRE, in that it is computer adaptive. The NCLEX really does not test competence it test the candidates ability to practice professional nursing safely. Can 75 questions test ones ability to practice safely? I guess some one thinks so. I wish that the candidates would get more than 75 questions, I know some do. And I wish that they had to wait longer to take it and get the experience as a GN. I really like my GN experience, I learned a whole lot in the 7 months that I had to work as GN waiting to take the NCLEX. Yes I took it when it was still paper and pencil over 2 days, and it was only offered twice per year. I am not saying go back to the paper and pencil format, but increase the wait time before graduates are allowed to take it. The exam itself has been tested and tested for reliability and validity over and over a few times, and the method of computer adaptive testing has been advanced and will continue to to be advanced as more technology is developed. So the computer format is probably here to stay. Oh well my 2 cents worth.........

Flynnstone · Feb 23, 2002

Originally posted by pedsoncology
What was your experience taking the boards?

Do the boards test if YOU'RE competent? No, I don't think they do. I think biscuit_007, greer128 and Renee Williams hit the nail on the head! Bedazzled, that was rude what you said to Nurse Williams. Your opinion is valued but not at the expense of devaluing others.