Taking CEN next Monday, the 24th. Any last minute words of advice?
I have studied like crazy over the last 2 months using a variety of resources. Love the new MedEd seminar with the new CEN content. Learned alot from Dr. Vonfrolio too, but that CEN review (and the book with all the practice questions in it) is really dated. Don't regret getting it though. She is a scream to listen too and I learned alot from her.
I have read several of the threads here relating to CEN, which is how I found much of my study material. CEN is not required in my ER, but it sure couldn't hurt. We get no monetary compensation for having our CEN but I wanted to do it anyways just to see if I could. I know several folks in our ER have taken it unsuccessfully in the past and never tried again. I think where things went wrong is that they went to sit for the exam without really studying...just relying on their experience. I'm thinking that the exam way of doing things and the "real" way we all do them may not jive and therefore these otherwise very good nurses failed.
I have done about 1500-2000 practice questions and do well on those. Hope that those types of questions are similar to the general content of the actual exam. I'm one of those weird ones that LOVES the challenge of taking exams!
Have any of you done the CCRN exam? Just wondering if it was helpful for the ER? We frequently have to manage unit patients for HOURS in our ER until a bed becomes available. I've never worked in the units...and don't ever intend to do so...but thought it might be helpful stuff to know while we sit on these critical patients.
Job well done. CCRN focuses on critical care. Expect to answer questions on invasive lines, hemodynamic values and waveform interpretation, IAPB use and timing strip interpretation in addition to several other aspects of critical care.
Specializes in Flight, ER, Transport, ICU/Critical Care.
Congratulations! :balloons:
The CCRN has practice requirements - you may need to take look at the required hours. You may be fine, but take a look anyway. As for the exam, Gila has it correct - it has a lot of hemodynamic related nursing practice questions. IABP. LVAD. ICP monitoring. No matter how sick your ED patients are, if you are not in a ED tertiary care setting (meaning that your ED drops Swan's, art lines, places ICP lines and initially manages the sickest of the cardio patients -) you may need some real ICU experience to be successful. It is a bear of an exam. Anyway, don't let this stop you - if you are comfortable with these patients - GO FOR IT! It was an incredible feeling when I passed! It sounds silly - but this certification really made me feel "validated" as a critical care clinician.
loricatus
1,446 Posts
:smiley_aa:balloons:Well Done, CONGRATS:balloons::smiley_aa