CEN 2016!

[Lev]

I created this thread to have an inclusive up to date CEN review thread for people planning to take the CEN in the next year. I have been in the ER for almost a year and I think that is enough time to start studying. I got some resources from my educator at work.

So far, the materials I have are the CEN review manual from the ENA which is basically practice tests and some stuff from Jeff Solheim's review which appears to be content in notes form. I also have a book called the Quick Reference to Critical Care which I have been using since I was a pretty new nurse. It has a lot of great information. I have also downloaded the most recent test blueprint.

Which materials did you use/are you using to study from? How important do you think it is to have the latest edition of study materials?

Thanks in advance!

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Jeff Solheim's review and Sheehy's Emergency Nursing text. I took the exam in 2009 after I'd been an ER nurse for about 10 months, but I had also been a paramedic for 6 years by that point. We went over a lot of stuff in Sheehy's as part of my ER nursing fellowship in late 2008, so it felt fresh.

Good luck!

[12rn]

So here is my CEN advice. I have been an ER nurse for almost 4 years. I have been pressured by my job to take the test since the day I started but kept putting it off due to all the horror stories. I finally took a review course with some friends. It was a 2 day course by MED-MD. By the end of the first day, I said "F it! I am gonna sign up to take this test on the next available day." That happened to be in 5 days. 5 days or 5 weeks would not have made a difference for me because I am a procrastinator. Always have been and always will be. There I was the day before the test and I cracked open the CEN review book published by the ENA. I am telling you, this is all you need. There are 5 150 question tests. I took the first test and failed it. The book helps you determine what you need to study more of and what you already know. I studied only the sections that the books recommended I studied. I past the next test, and the next test. I didn't have time to do the last 2 tests, so I just read all the questions with answers and the rationals. I passed the real test the next day with 115 correct answers. I recommended this to all of my friends who took the course with me and they all claimed to have done the same thing and 6/7 of us passed.

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Awesome! Thanks :)

[PewpSmith]

Is anyone planning on taking one of the courses that the ENA has listed?

I don't think I'm able to post links yet because I'm new but I'm interested in going to one of these. (Probably before April because baby #3 is due at the beginning of May)

[Meredith5802]

I am planning to take it in January, I am up for TNCC, ACLs and BLS all in December and thought that January would be ideal. I tend to procrastinate but have been listing to a lot of the youtube videos. Sometimes I even have them playing as I commute in to work.

Good luck to everyone who is going to be taken it!

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Is anyone planning on taking one of the courses that the ENA has listed?

I don't think I'm able to post links yet because I'm new but I'm interested in going to one of these. (Probably before April because baby #3 is due at the beginning of May)

I wasn't planning to. Have you heard good things about them? Are they live course?

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

I have a question for anyone who has used the CEN practice tests from the ENA. I am scoring in the high 60s on those tests. I took one and got a 65% and I got a 68% on the second one. How do those practice tests compare to the actual CEN?

[hellonurse56]

I'm due to take my CEN by June 9th, (I signed up just need to pick a date by that day). I have the ENA CEN book (the one with 5 practice tests and online tests) and I have the Sheehy's Manual of Emergency Care and Sheehy's Principles and Practices. I'm doing practices questions almost 3-4 times a week. I'm getting REALLY bored studying and doing questions.

I've been getting bizarre and inconsistent scores on my practice tests, from 60-80%! Just wondering if it's because my current method of studying is just too boring for me..

I've been to Jeff Solheim's review course and I still have the book from that course. I saw that he has 16 subject review to buy online through Med-ED for $170.

I also saw PESI has a 12 subject review course online (and on sale today) for $99.

Both companies offer "pass guarantee". Just wondering if anyone took these courses and if they were helpful.

[JENURSE03_RN, MSN, DNP, RN]

I have scheduled mine for June and I am nervous as hell.

[Bobjohnny]

I have scheduled mine for June and I am nervous as hell.

Mine is here in about 2 weeks. I definitely haven't studied enough. I'm taking it on a Monday, have PALS on the Friday before and then I'm off all weekend. The Mrs. is working all weekend as well, I should be able to help brush up on some of rough areas a bit.

[orsrt05]

Hello all,

I have been an ER nurse for the past 2.5 years and I just took and passed the CEN on 3/14/16. All of the information in the ENA review is good to brush up on your assessment and intervention protocols. I found nothing from my ENA review course offered by my job to be very helpful. The lectures on YouTube by Mark Boswell were terrific. There were questions on the test that had content he specifically discussed. I found the test to be very difficult. I worked out the questions using rationales from my experience as an ER nurse. There were about 30 or so questions on PEDS. This tip is helpful for anyone like myself who works in an ER that separates adults and children. Here are some specific tips I can tell you from my test.

- Brush up on your ACLS protocols. There will be strips to interpret and what interventions to perform.

- Be able to identify different kinds of poisonings (meds/herbs/chemical) and what interventions may be specific to the identified poisoning.

- Brush up on triage assessments using 5 level algorithms - who is seen first?!!!!

- Know your childhood illnesses and what to do for suspected infections of these illnesses.

- Brush up on your psychiatric emergencies.

- Know the different kinds of shock and their interventions.

I passed my test with 114 correct out of 150 scored questions.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Hey orst05!

Congrats and welcome to the club inside the club.