Cpan/capa

I took the CPAN in April and passed. I have 8 years exp in PACU/OPS and 15 years ER exp. I studied for about 4 months- went through the Core Curriculum almost twice, read Cecil Drain textbook. Also read as many articles as you can from the JOPAN magazine. Most questions were directly from the Core or the magazine articles. I also bought a Redi Ref from ASPAN- a very handy little book that I use at work alot. I still thought the test was somewhat difficult. I would encourage taking many practice tests (the old Core had questions at the end of each chapter- the newest one does not). I think a lot of the test is just knowing how to read the question and deciding what they really want. You can usually narrow it down to 2 possible answers easily- picking the most right one is the trick.
I am studying for the CAPA in November. I have learned SO much getting ready for these exams. I thought I knew a lot (and I do), but there is always much more to learn.

Good Luck!

I took CPAN in November and passed. I have worked PACU for 2 years in a teaching hospital. Our Anesthesia Staff are great! Lots of teaching and cutting edge stuff going on.

I also used the study guide. Went through it two times. Studied the standards and took the online review test and passed it too.

I thought it was a hard test. I was not confident that I passed. I was really suprised that I passed. One of the other nurses took the test and did not pass. She also did not pass the practice exam or study the guide as much as I did.

Good Luck.

Great tips! I have my CPAN too and am not sorry for one second. We are finally getting recognition for it after many years of Nada. So, really do study and take ppractice tests often. All types work. CCRN test questions often overlap CPAN ones. I also highly recommend the CCRN Crash Review(I forgot the name), on DVD now(you can order it online through Education Enterprises). Laura Vonfrolio RN,Phd, hilarious and very good review of ALL systems!

I took the CAPA in April 2009 and passed as did 7 of my co-workers. We used the core curriculum (Cecile Drain)and the workbook of practice questions. I think you benefit from both. The core curriculum explains all the info very well which you need to know for the exam and the practice test workbook gets you prepared to think through how to answer test questions. Our group all thought the questions in the workbook were harder than those on the actual exam. Having been out of school for many years the practice questions helped to get us back into test taking mode also.