In many NCLEX books you'll find a prototypical question about a patient with let's say pneumonia who has SOB, using accessory muscles to breathe, productive cough, and the question asks you what to do first:
In most publisher's NCLEX books like Saunders, Davis, and Lippincott (all the major publishers) the answer you would look for, in this case, is most likely is something like "Raise the head of the bed, Fowler's/high fowler's, etc." and if you didn't have that, you'd maybe pick something about O2 adminstration.
However, ATI likes you to pick the one the looks like, "administer oxygen via nasal canula." before repostioning the patient.
I don't know why ATI is different, since they list textbooks from major publishers as references, but they are.
What other differences have you seen with ATI? I'm taking their med-surg test in a month, and I'd like to know anything that you've picked up.
ATI is very big on ABC's and Maslow's, and safety. I can generally pick out the 2 right answers, then waste time trying to pick the BEST right answer. Don't read into the question, don't add extra info. Go with your feeling of the right answer. We had a question on our psych ATI that I knew was wrong. They have people you can let know about wrong questions. The thing I hate most is being the guinea pig for their pilot questions. We just took a midterm ATI exam, and had 160 questions. 30 of those were pilot questions.
Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN
20,908 Posts
What would be the first and easiest thing to do that would help your patient. Remember the ABC's Airway, Breathing, Circulation.