Anyone else studying for CCRN exam?

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  1. I have or would like to get my CCRN certification: (you may select more than one)

    • 851
      Yes
    • 17
      No
    • 365
      If yes: I get some kind of financial reward or incentive to achieve and maintain certification.
    • 331
      If yes: There is no financial reward or incentive at my institution for CCRN certification.
    • 360
      If yes: I have or can have CCRN on my name badge or there is other forms of acknowledgement.
    • 291
      If yes: I find the certification has empowered my practice and would encourage others to pursue it.
    • 13
      If yes: It really hasn't been worth the work and I would discourage others from pursuing it.
    • 5
      If no: I don't have the certification and feel no need or have had negative experiences.
    • 53
      If no: I would like to pursue it, but have had difficulty getting motivated.
    • 12
      I am undecided.

379 members have participated

Is there anyone else out there who is currently studying for the CCRN exam and would like to start a thread as perhaps a study and support group? I have just applied for the exam and have not yet set a date, but about in 3 months is when I will be taking it. I would love to be in communication with others in the same boat! I hope there is at least one other nurse out there! Thanks!

deeDawntee

Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.
A couple of the synergy/ethics ones bug me --- maybe it's just me but the rationales don't seem to make sense - one or two lines explaining it.

A (generalized) example: so a post cardiac pt is c/o back pain and all hemodynamic parameters are fine, but he's anxious. What would the be best thing to teach him now? Some of the answers are easy to eliminate, but the remaining ones are equally valid and (quite frankly) have nothing to do with the situation at hand.

Oh well.....life goes on

How many questions are there really on the test? I finish the 150 in about 1.5 hours

There are 150 questions on the real test too and 25 are not graded. Remember what Dr Laura said, somebody at the AACN office got their Master's degree in nursing that is where those prof ethics etc questions come from!! The questions on my exam were not as stupid as the ones on Dennison. I wouldn't worry about those one bit.

You will do great! Just relax.

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Specializes in CVICU, MICU, CCRN-CSC.
A couple of the synergy/ethics ones bug me --- maybe it's just me but the rationales don't seem to make sense - one or two lines explaining it.

A (generalized) example: so a post cardiac pt is c/o back pain and all hemodynamic parameters are fine, but he's anxious. What would the be best thing to teach him now? Some of the answers are easy to eliminate, but the remaining ones are equally valid and (quite frankly) have nothing to do with the situation at hand.

Oh well.....life goes on

How many questions are there really on the test? I finish the 150 in about 1.5 hours

I take it on the 18th. My friend vrought me Dr. Laura's DVD's and they are awsome. I learned more today in 5 hours than I I feel like I learned in 8 weeks of studying the other materials. I would watch her Sections..today endocrine and Nuero and then do the pass ccrn questions. The pass CCRN questions had nothing to do with what she talked about on nuero. But, I am going to do her test questions in the book. I actually LOOK FORWARD to watching the rest of the tapes. I will do Cardio on Monday and Pulmonary on Sunday. I work the next two days, off Thursday, on call Friday off Sat, Sun, Mon and take the test at 1300 Wed. I am going to do the best I can......Good Luck Burnt!!!!

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Specializes in LPN school.
Remember what Dr Laura said, somebody at the AACN office got their Master's degree in nursing that is where those prof ethics etc questions come from!!

Hahaha, i forgot about that - I so agree with her; if they'd replace just one or two theory classes with medical classes nurses would be so much more empowered in practice

CVICU, One week till your test?!?!?!? Keep up the good work - you'll do great - I know I always do better on the real thing than all the practice runs

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.
I take it on the 18th. My friend vrought me Dr. Laura's DVD's and they are awsome. I learned more today in 5 hours than I I feel like I learned in 8 weeks of studying the other materials. I would watch her Sections..today endocrine and Nuero and then do the pass ccrn questions. The pass CCRN questions had nothing to do with what she talked about on nuero. But, I am going to do her test questions in the book. I actually LOOK FORWARD to watching the rest of the tapes. I will do Cardio on Monday and Pulmonary on Sunday. I work the next two days, off Thursday, on call Friday off Sat, Sun, Mon and take the test at 1300 Wed. I am going to do the best I can......Good Luck Burnt!!!!

I loaned my Dr Laura DVD's out to someone who is going to take the exam next month, and she ABSOLUTELY loves her and the course. She just makes learning so enjoyable and her funny little stories really help with retaining the material! She is going to be in MN Oct 6th, but unfortunately I work that weekend, I am soooo bummed!

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.
I take it on the 18th. My friend vrought me Dr. Laura's DVD's and they are awsome. I learned more today in 5 hours than I I feel like I learned in 8 weeks of studying the other materials. I would watch her Sections..today endocrine and Nuero and then do the pass ccrn questions. The pass CCRN questions had nothing to do with what she talked about on nuero. But, I am going to do her test questions in the book. I actually LOOK FORWARD to watching the rest of the tapes. I will do Cardio on Monday and Pulmonary on Sunday. I work the next two days, off Thursday, on call Friday off Sat, Sun, Mon and take the test at 1300 Wed. I am going to do the best I can......Good Luck Burnt!!!!

Good luck to you CVICURN (but I expect you don't need any :lol2:). I will be thinking of you on the the 18th!

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Specializes in MICU, CCRN.

hey guys, i'm testing on the 27th...eeek!!! time is going quickly! good luck to burnt and cvicurn who are going before me!!!

i also had a sad case yesterday. i don't want to go into too many details, but i wanted to tell you guys some numbers. pt was very rapidly going into metabolic acidosis due to renal failure. but this was unlike any other renal failure i've ever had. i've never seen a pt deteriorate this quickly. beginning of shift A&Ox3. soon pupils are fixed, electively intubated, and before we knew it pH was 6.64, bicarb 3, and lactate 15. Has anyone ever seen a pH that low on a living pt?!? I have never. pt wasn't alive for long, but still.

well, i should really get back to studying, but i thought i'd share. good luck to everyone else.

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.
hey guys, i'm testing on the 27th...eeek!!! time is going quickly! good luck to burnt and cvicurn who are going before me!!!

i also had a sad case yesterday. i don't want to go into too many details, but i wanted to tell you guys some numbers. pt was very rapidly going into metabolic acidosis due to renal failure. but this was unlike any other renal failure i've ever had. i've never seen a pt deteriorate this quickly. beginning of shift A&Ox3. soon pupils are fixed, electively intubated, and before we knew it pH was 6.64, bicarb 3, and lactate 15. Has anyone ever seen a pH that low on a living pt?!? I have never. pt wasn't alive for long, but still.

well, i should really get back to studying, but i thought i'd share. good luck to everyone else.

6.64??!! Oh my God! That must have been unreal to witness all of that. phew! Did you have time to do much intervention?

How's the studying? How's the house hunting? Hope all is well!

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Specializes in LPN school.

6.64 was unsustainable for human life, i thought. intense. I know below 7.0 the mortality percent skyrockets.

I've never seen one that low, although I guess if you drew an abg on a dead person you'd get a low ph........

edit: i've really slacked the last few days.....almost no studying.....

...........but..........we just found out my wife is pregnant.......... :) :) :)

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

edit: i've really slacked the last few days.....almost no studying.....

...........but..........we just found out my wife is pregnant.......... :) :) :)

CONGRATULATIONS!! DADDY TO BE!! WOW you are being very productive in all areas of your life, aren't you?!

That is very cool. ;););)

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Specializes in LPN school.

haha, yea....but i tell you what man, the pressure is really on to pass the CCRN @ work, but i have been supremely unmotivated in studying as of lately

I'm also taking physics right now- not my strongest subject.....another distraction

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.
haha, yea....but i tell you what man, the pressure is really on to pass the CCRN @ work, but i have been supremely unmotivated in studying as of lately

I'm also taking physics right now- not my strongest subject.....another distraction

By how well you are doing on your Dennison questions, I'd say you are right where you should be for CCRN. You should have no problem. The thing is that there really isn't a lot of memorization for the CCRN, it is the process of studying and really retaining the material that is important. You have been doing that all along. I would hope that I could take that dang thing tomorrow and still pass it, because it isn't about retaining facts in short-term memory. Do you agree? Now, physics is another subject of which I know little, although I am a 'student' of the spiritual side of quantum physics....very cool stuff! Are you a little bit of an over-achiever??!! Not that that's a bad thing!!!

:lol2::lol2::lol2:

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Specializes in MICU, CCRN.

Congrats burnt on becoming a daddy-to-be!! how exciting!!!

and no, we didn't have time to do much intervention. pt's family was pushing for dialysis, so the on-call doc tried for awhile to get a line in with no luck. not that it would have mattered. reached a pH of about 6.9 around midnight, and still continued to live for 4 more hours and pH continued to drop. did go asystole and was coded for about 2 minutes when family finally decided for DNR.

and dawn, i close on my house tomorrow! hence why i have not been studying so much lately...this is a lot of work buying a house, especially when you are doing it all alone ;) but very empowering as a young female. :)

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