CEN Review?

mwboswell · Aug 18, 2009

hi, i just landed a job in the ed to start soon. i plan to take my cen next year so i want to start studying as soon as possible to assist with my training as well as my ability to provide care to my new patient population. in any case, i noticed that the cen review manual is getting revised and a 4th edition will be out soon. my question is: will it be better for me to purchase that edition to use for an exam to be taken later next year or should i wait until next year to purchase a review textbook? in other words, how often is the cen review book revised by the ena? note: i also plan to take a training course but that will happen closer to my test date. thanks.

mbarn08,

congrats on your new job!!!

i can answer your question; i have spent the last two years researching the cen exam and all the recommended books and texts (and i own them all!). i had to do all this research as i authored my own cen review course that i teach around the usa as well as i published my own book that is now for sale....

...anyways, from my experience, you can pretty much rest assured that the new edition of the ena cen review manual will most likely be around for 4-5 years before they revise it again. so you should be okay if you go ahead and buy it now.

however, a word to the wise; i believe that their title "cen review manual" is somewhat innaccurate. the book, in reality is nothing more than 5 sample, 150 question, "exams". it's really more useful for self-assessment to see where your strengths/weaknesses are. because some of the questions are analysis level questions, even with reading the rationales, you kind of already have to have a basic working knowledge of the material. to use this book "cold" as your primary review source i think would be self limiting - it would be awfully hard to to "look up" items you didn't know or needed to research in this book as there is no way to "look" things up as it's not indexed nor broken down in chapters.

i think a better title for the ena book would be "cen self-assessment manual"....

hope this helps.

if i can help you any further in your learning, reviewing or cen prep efforts, please feel free to email me via private message.

-m boswell

Editorial Team / Moderator · Aug 18, 2009

MBARN08, congrats!! I know from seeing your various posts that you've been itching to get to the ED.

I recommend Sheehy's Emergency Nursing: Principles and Practice. This is a great book, both for CEN review and general ED information. The 6th edition just came out in June. We used the 5th edition in my ED fellowship last year, and in looking back at my CEN prep and exam, it was a fabulous resource! Granted, I've also been a paramedic for more than 6 years and a lot of the CEN material was review for me, but Sheehy's definitely helped to fine-tune and add to my knowledge base. Great book. I'm considering buying the new edition just to check it out! :)