PNP acute care exam-passed!

Nursing Students NP Students

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Specializes in PICU.

Yay! I took my acute care pediatric nurse practitioner exam last week and passed it! I have never been so nervous about an exam in my life. NCLEX and the CCRN were a piece of cake compared to this. Whew. :cheers:

I saw a recent thread asking about how to study. Yes, it was tough to know how to prepare since there is a dearth of acute care PNP materials. Honestly, I wasted way too much time with primary care PNP books. The test was very focused on acute care with very little primary care. I had a few materials from courses that friends took from HLA years ago. I did pay for the PNCB practice test and felt like that was worth the money. Though it did shake my confidence since that was VERY hard. Many PNP friends recommended using the Harriet Lane to study, and I did think that was helpful. GL!

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Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

Congrats!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

YAY!!! Congratulations!!!

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Specializes in PICU.

Congrats! I'll be taking it next year, and trying to figure out what and how to study is the big issue. Good to know there wasn't much primary care. I'm sure it's a huge relief to have it over with:)

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Congrats!! That is exciting!! Thanks for the tips, there is truly a significant amount of material to study, without much guidance. Any additional thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Additionally, how difficult was the test in comparsion to the prep exam? Thanks!

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Specializes in General.

congrats and good luck, i took the primary care PNP exam 3 year ago that was hard enough. I was never so happy as i was that day to pass and know that I would never have to do that again,:cat:

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Congrats! I take mine in a couple weeks. I am glad I read this because I feel like I am spending too much time on primary care content. I bought the NAPNAP course because I love the format for studying..so easy to go through slides and practice questions. I like your idea to study from Harriet Lane so I will spend more time on that and other acute care content as well. I also bought the 75 question test from PNCB but haven't taken it yet. Want to do that about a week before my exam I think as sort of a practice test/ see what I still need to focus on.

Stephanie

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Specializes in PICU.

Stephanie,

Again I will caution you to not be discouraged by the PNCB test. I thought the actual test was more straightforward. I was so freaked out by the practice test! Good luck!

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Thanks. Could you give me a general idea of what I do need to know from primary care? I am assuming developmental theories, red flags of developmental delay, immunizations, and possibly ear infection and pneumonia treatment...and probably some ortho, GI, and nephro diagnoses which could be seen in primary care or the hospital

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Specializes in PICU.

I would definitely know minor illnesses as well as major since they can develop into something worse. What I wasted too much time on was developmental theories, immunizations (the crazy delayed, partially immunized schedules), etc.

It's hard to stay calm when taking but of course, that is the most important thing. I didn't know my very first question and that about sent me into a panic attack, lol. Then as I did more and more questions and felt pretty confident in my answers, I relaxed. You are able to go back and review questions, which is nice. They also give you a writing utensil and "paper" for calculations. The place I used had wet-dry markers and laminated pieces to write on, not sure if they're all the same.

There is a survey at the end before you get your score. I was glad I knew that so I didn't have a heart attack when I had to answer yet more questions.

Thanks. Could you give me a general idea of what I do need to know from primary care? I am assuming developmental theories, red flags of developmental delay, immunizations, and possibly ear infection and pneumonia treatment...and probably some ortho, GI, and nephro diagnoses which could be seen in primary care or the hospital
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Specializes in PICU.
Thanks. Could you give me a general idea of what I do need to know from primary care? I am assuming developmental theories, red flags of developmental delay, immunizations, and possibly ear infection and pneumonia treatment...and probably some ortho, GI, and nephro diagnoses which could be seen in primary care or the hospital

I take the exam next summer. What I've heard in terms of immunizations is almost all of that content was removed when they revised the exam. The only questions I've heard people getting are regarding which vaccines are live ones. I have been told not to study the immunization stuff at all. I have heard there are a lot of questions on SIADH/DI/CSW, so make sure you know that stuff really well.

Good luck! Let us know what you think of it:)

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Thanks, I can use all the tips I can get!!

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