CHPN Certification

I know a few RN's who bombed the cert,I recommend you use every tool available.Keep me posted...They had to pay back the costs and pay to retake.

it's a lot of meds. My employer reimburses for the test if you pass and gives you a small bonus but it costs about $350 for the test and you get $500 - taxes bonus. To me it seems like a wash. The only people that take it and pass it are those that want management. I hope it helps you. It's a lot of work for not a lot of reward in many places.

Luckily, it is a grant that I get no matter if I pass or not, so that pressure is off. I like what was said about using every resource available to me, that makes sense. The $225 for the books and the class is a small amount compared to the stress and humiliation of not passing this exam. AND my husband thinks the expenses are tax deductible, but we will leave that for the accountant to figure out.

I am already a Charge Nurse, and I do not have a desire to go higher management than that; however I will be the only CHPN on my 36 bed Medical/Oncology hospital unit, so it will give me a lot of chances to educate the rest of the staff nurses.

Thanks everyone for the input! I am really excited to get started, H & P is something I am really passionate about, so I am looking forward to having more education in this area!

Certs matter.I'm the first at my facility.

hi, hope you don't mind me hopping in, but i'm curious about getting my cert as well, but don't even know where to begin! I've been a hospice nurse the last 4 years and am now in management. I'll have to pay for the whole process myself. How awesome that you got a grant! Can i ask you, DisneyNurseGal, about what steps you've taken so far?

Do the online review. How long have you been a hospice nurse? The exam is tough, almost tougher than boards, do not focus on what YOUR hospice does remember that others do it differently Know the medicare regs, drugs most commonly used etc. 4 years ago they were really focusing on palliative care, including labs we don't do, etc. If you have never taken the CHPN get the book, but did not know it was now 150 dollars!! Bad enough the exam is close to 400. My employer used to pay for the first exam, but to keep our encentive pay we had to retake on our own dime. Now they don't even take that into account, except to be an RN3 I must continue taking the exam every 4 years. The more experience you have obviously the easier it is. I have taken it 3 times, I do not study, never have, count on my experience and photographic memory

Capt Kris, I do not want management but want to be the best in my field, therefore I take it. The ABC's behind my name tell my patients I am an expert in my field

Certification is not just for management! And the test is not that difficult. If you buy the manual and know it, you will be fine. Probably the reason you can't find the manual used is because there is a new edition and I think it is important to get the new one.

I passed using the core manual and the Mometrix chpn practice questions book which has decent rationales. The test is right out of the core book but there is a lot of material there. Also most questions are scenario type. I like the question book because it makes it a bit more interactive.

Capt Kris, I do not want management but want to be the best in my field, therefore I take it. The ABC's behind my name tell my patients I am an expert in my field

No, the ABCs behind your name mean nothing when it comes to doing a job well. They just mean you paid for a lot of certifications and feel really, really important.

As a patient or family member, I would be much more impressed with you if you jumped on symptoms quickly to maximize comfort and held my hand when I needed it.

You don't need a can of alphabet soup slapped behind your name to know that.

I passed using the core manual and the Mometrix chpn practice questions book which has decent rationales. The test is right out of the core book but there is a lot of material there. Also most questions are scenario type. I like the question book because it makes it a bit more interactive.

Glad to see a good review about the practice book. I just received it today and hope it will help me adequately prepare.

No, the ABCs behind your name mean nothing when it comes to doing a job well. They just mean you paid for a lot of certifications and feel really, really important.

As a patient or family member, I would be much more impressed with you if you jumped on symptoms quickly to maximize comfort and held my hand when I needed it.

You don't need a can of alphabet soup slapped behind your name to know that.[/quote

Sadly in today's health care that is really no longer true....I agree with you whole heartedly.A local hospice went all BSN,lost many valuable ,experienced nurses and you won't believe some of the crap the current crew does....