CEN bound?

I think you should wait. In a way some of the CEN answers are based on experience. In other words, you may find more than one answer is technically correct, but experience tells you to choose one answer over the others, and you turn out to be right.

There is a two or three day class the ENA puts on for getting your CEN. I don't see the harm in taking the class and if you feel like you are ready at the end of it then take the exam if not, get some more experience and take the course again. I also am fairly new to the ED but not nursing but I don't feel like I'm ready for my CEN so have chosen to put it off for awhile prob about 1 yr.

Mmutk,

To give you the other side of this argument, I'll agree with you and say it's definitely doable. We have somewhat similar situations (I graduated with an ASN in 12/05 from Excelsior College, had EMT and EMT-Intermediate experience on and off since '97, primarily volunteer), except that I don't work ER, but rather NICU. I recently passed the CEN exam.

In contrast to Tazzi's exam, on mine I pretty much had black and white questions, with not too many judgment calls. Of course there are a few items where two or three answers are appealing, but for the most part I think it's straightforward.

Make sure you search this site for other CEN-related threads. I know there was one where we discussed which prep materials were the best to use. I'd say go for it though. I went to a non-traditional nursing school, I am not and never have been employed full-time in ER or EMS, and in my very short nursing career I've only worked with neonates. If I can pass that thing, any serious person with an RN license should be able to do so as well.

Good luck!