Passed CPNE this weekend in Plano

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Just got home. Passed with no repeats.:monkeydance: :lol2:

Mudwoman: hats off to you for a job well done! i'm off to madison next week. more failures for 20 min checks and vs? can you elaborate? i the meantime, i'm looking over my peds info. any last minute tips if i get a peds pt? (just realized for diaper weights: 1g = 1 ml!) thanks.

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.
Mudwoman: hats off to you for a job well done! i'm off to madison next week. more failures for 20 min checks and vs? can you elaborate? i the meantime, i'm looking over my peds info. any last minute tips if i get a peds pt? (just realized for diaper weights: 1g = 1 ml!) thanks.

The youngest peds pt that anyone had was 2. She was in for diarrhea with contact precautions. Gown/glove. I had a 11 yr old with undiagnosed stomach pain. Another person had a 12 yr old boy that broke his leg skateboarding. I'm not sure what the others had.

The hardest thing for the other students seemed to be the 20 min checks and the vital signs. 2 of the guys failed the first PCS because they forgot to record the IV fluid on the PCS recording form in the first 20 min. Another failed because he took the blood pressure 3 times and claims that he couldn't hear and wanted another stethoscope. When the CE said no, then he wanted the side that she was using. She said no on that and he got mad and smarted off to the CE. That was it. Another person said he couldn't do the blood pressure either because he couldn't hear. He would have been ok, except that he told the CE he was just going to use the last baseline BP since he had no clue what it really was. If he would have just written down the last BP and used that he would have been fine, but telling the CE that he was making it up was a fail. Another fail was not putting the MAR next to the ID bracelet of the pt before giving meds. He claimed that he had the info memorized and didn't need the MAR. That works for 1 pt in the real world, but if you have 5 - 10 pts and maybe 2 with the same common last name it doesn't, and it sure doesn't work for this test. This test only tests you on one patient at a time, but you must act and think like you have 20. Another fail was getting the pt up to the bathroom and stepping on the IV tubing and pulling the IV out of the pt's hand. Got the pt back to bed and she was SOB. The staff nurse called for Resp to give her a breathing tx. Student requested resp wait until she got vital signs before giving the tx. Resp therapist ignored her and she put her hand on the resp therapist and said "I asked you to stop until I get the vital signs". That was it. Pt Jeopardy. Fail. Another guy failed on apical pulse. He claimed that her lung sounds kept him from hearing the pulse, and finally declared to the CE that he couldn't do a pulse. The CE told him that all he had to do was look at her carotid and count that because it was visablly pulsating so hard you could see it. He failed because he gave up instead of using his head and figuring something out.

This is a test of the critical elements, of best practice skills, of being able to solve problems and think. It tests your time management skills, your professionalism and your ability to chart/communicate.

Hope this helps.

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thanks Mudwoman for the insight on the specifics of various PCSs! very interesting and educational for me. with 7 days to go, i'm reviewing and relaxing as best i can. yes, it did help tremendously!

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Specializes in med-surg.

me and a friend are going to do the excelsior program. was wondering are the cpne days 8 or 12 hour days. i know that the first day is basically skills, are the other day and a half assesments and critical elments? want to know now so that not surprised when get to that part

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The youngest peds pt that anyone had was 2. She was in for diarrhea with contact precautions. Gown/glove. I had a 11 yr old with undiagnosed stomach pain. Another person had a 12 yr old boy that broke his leg skateboarding. I'm not sure what the others had.

The hardest thing for the other students seemed to be the 20 min checks and the vital signs. 2 of the guys failed the first PCS because they forgot to record the IV fluid on the PCS recording form in the first 20 min. Another failed because he took the blood pressure 3 times and claims that he couldn't hear and wanted another stethoscope. When the CE said no, then he wanted the side that she was using. She said no on that and he got mad and smarted off to the CE. That was it. Another person said he couldn't do the blood pressure either because he couldn't hear. He would have been ok, except that he told the CE he was just going to use the last baseline BP since he had no clue what it really was. If he would have just written down the last BP and used that he would have been fine, but telling the CE that he was making it up was a fail. Another fail was not putting the MAR next to the ID bracelet of the pt before giving meds. He claimed that he had the info memorized and didn't need the MAR. That works for 1 pt in the real world, but if you have 5 - 10 pts and maybe 2 with the same common last name it doesn't, and it sure doesn't work for this test. This test only tests you on one patient at a time, but you must act and think like you have 20. Another fail was getting the pt up to the bathroom and stepping on the IV tubing and pulling the IV out of the pt's hand. Got the pt back to bed and she was SOB. The staff nurse called for Resp to give her a breathing tx. Student requested resp wait until she got vital signs before giving the tx. Resp therapist ignored her and she put her hand on the resp therapist and said "I asked you to stop until I get the vital signs". That was it. Pt Jeopardy. Fail. Another guy failed on apical pulse. He claimed that her lung sounds kept him from hearing the pulse, and finally declared to the CE that he couldn't do a pulse. The CE told him that all he had to do was look at her carotid and count that because it was visablly pulsating so hard you could see it. He failed because he gave up instead of using his head and figuring something out.

This is a test of the critical elements, of best practice skills, of being able to solve problems and think. It tests your time management skills, your professionalism and your ability to chart/communicate.

Hope this helps.

I have read multiple, multiple CPNE accounts over the years and I must say that yours by far takes the cake for being the most incredible, and I particularly enjoyed the part about the student trying to stop the respiratory therapist from giving a treatment until they got their vital signs.

I just shook my head while reading your entire post. My entire CPNE experience and fellow test takers seems so boring and not even worth mentioning after reading yours. My group had a couple of PCS or lab repeats for various reasons here and there, but most definitely lacked the serious patient safety issues and bizarre rationales given by the people in your group for why they failed.

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.
I have read multiple, multiple CPNE accounts over the years and I must say that yours by far takes the cake for being the most incredible, and I particularly enjoyed the part about the student trying to stop the respiratory therapist from giving a treatment until they got their vital signs.

I just shook my head while reading your entire post. My entire CPNE experience and fellow test takers seems so boring and not even worth mentioning after reading yours. My group had a couple of PCS or lab repeats for various reasons here and there, but most definitely lacked the serious patient safety issues and bizarre rationales given by the people in your group for why they failed.

I am the only one tha passed out of 5 that weekend. 3 guys and 2 of us girls. One of the guys that failed both PCS's on the first day made the comment to me on Sunday.... "Well, Charlee, you are certainly the golden child here aren't you". It was unbelievable. The other girl with me was the one that stopped the resp therapist. She couldn't believe that they failed her for that and she was at the hotel crying when I got there and saying that it wasn't fair because she was a "good nurse". She has been a nurse since 1995. One of the guys couldn't say enough bad about the EC program and thought all the CE's were cold, hateful and out to get him---the one with the smart mouth and wanting a stethoscope. I wrote MPAC and told them that the worst part of the CPNE was being around the other people that were failing and being made to feel like I should apologize because I studied my bobo off so I could pass.

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.
me and a friend are going to do the excelsior program. was wondering are the cpne days 8 or 12 hour days. i know that the first day is basically skills, are the other day and a half assesments and critical elments? want to know now so that not surprised when get to that part

Friday started at 1615 and was over about 2000. Saturday started at 0615 and I was done and back at the hotel at 1330. Sunday started at 0615 and I was done and calling hubby at 1000. That was not the case for the other students.

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Mudwoman, i thought day 2 and 3 started at 0730am? who decided on the 06:15?

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Specializes in LTC,Med surg-Telemetry,alzheimers,home h.

:balloons: :balloons: :balloons: Congrats

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Specializes in LTC.

Passed Cpne in Dec 2006 and it is a wonderful feeling. The weights were lifted off of my shoulders. Passed the boards in Feb with 75 questions and now an RN.....YEH!!!!1:balloons:

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Private Duty Peds.

:balloons: congratulations!!!!!!!! couple of questions for you,

1, are the excelsior nc exams like regular nursing exams like in school?

or are they more like the nclex exam where you know the basic stuff and appyly that knowledge such as doing it the book way verses 'real-life" way?

again :D :w00t: for the newest rn!!

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.
:balloons: Congratulations!!!!!!!! couple of questions for you,

1, are the Excelsior NC exams like regular nursing exams like in school?

or are they more like the NCLEX exam where you know the basic stuff and appyly that knowledge such as doing it the Book way verses 'real-life" way?

Again :D :w00t: for the Newest RN!!

NC exams are styled like the NCLEX where you apply the knowledge to the nursing process. Each exam is 160 questions. You can get the study guides off of the Excelsior web site for free once you are enrolled.

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