CPAN Journey Fall 2018

[the4thRNsibling]

I passed my certification yesterday and I wanted to shed light on this journey.

I am a PACU RN for 1 year 8 months

• Varied shift FT RN catering Pediatric, Adult and Geriatric populations, sometimes we have ICU, CTICU, CathLab overflow
  
• PD RN catering mostly Neuro/Spine, Bariatric
  

Prior RN experience for 1 year

• Float RN in a sub acute rehab facility
  
• 2 floors Med/Surg 1 floor Ortho
  

Certification eligibility requirements:

• RN license
  
• At least 1200 hrs direct clinical practice in Phase I
  

But first, a DISCLAIMER: I do not endorse any one vendor or product. I only wish to provide you exam prep ideas

Timeline:

Became ASPAN member to avail discounted exam price, access articles and journals - August

Applied for CPAN - September 1

Attended CAPA/ CPAN Review Course (conducted by Zander PeriOperative Education) - October 6-7

Exam scheduled - November 15

Exam Prep Materials:

ASPAN Core Curriculum - Maroon Book

• Outlined, I mostly read the Medications as in Anesthetics, Reversal, MH, Fluid Replacements
  

ASPAN Guidelines - read the Green Book (2015-2016)

• Read everything! There are a lot of questions about its recommendations
  

ACLS/ PALS

• Worth perusing, I had 3 ACLS exam questions that came out
  

MHAUS Website and Youtube Channel

• Check out Traci Hansen, MHAUSvideo
  

ABPANC Facebook Page

• They alternately put out a CAPA/ CPAN question every Wednesdays
  

ASPAN Certification Review 4^th Ed - Purple Book

- if you purchased this as new, you will have a scratch code to access additional 175 online questions with rationale at Elsevier.com

STAT Pearls LLC Perianesthesia Nursing (CAPA/ CPAN)

- mobile app, 550 questions with rationale

PSI Web Test for CPAN (Simulation)

- BOGO for $50 without rationale but with cited sources

I doubted I would pass since my work schedule was varied and most of the time, I get so tired after work leaving me less or no time to study. Also, the amount of time I allotted for the preparation was short. I have no prior background in ICU making hemodynamics a little hard to understand like CI, CO, SVR, CVP, PAWP etc. I found the questions in the Purple book very overwhelming and the rationale doesn't seem to tell you why it was the best answer. I managed answering the book twice though, to get a hang of how the exam questions were structured. I came across the Mobile App which was not just convenient, it had a better rationale provided. It came with 10 free multiple choice items and an additional 550 questions for $9. Which was not a bad purchase! So I tried my best to at least answer 75 items/ day. Whatever I got incorrect, I look it up or I peruse over my resources. I also encourage you guys to enroll in a review class, most of the people that was in my class had over 10 years experience in Critical Care (ICU, ER) and it worried me a little because they were asking questions which was my first time hearing them like oxyhemoglobin shift, fink phenomenon, etc! Anyway, the review class was advertised in my hospital's bulletin, it was costly, I paid $245 for a 2-day review course, lunch included, 16.0 contact hours but the most amazing part was the 60-day online review video that they provide in their website. It was very helpful during my commute to and fro work. I saved the Web Test last to do to get a fresh idea on how the real exam was, and most of the practice questions on here came out in the actual exam.

Overall, I highly believe that if you have your mind and heart to it. You can make it. I highly doubted that I can make it through my PACU orientation out from the sub acute facility but I made it through until the present. So I thought, it is possible to dream on this certification. And yes, I am thankful to say I made it at first attempt!

PS. I used to answer 100 items/ day for my NCLEX preparation. It was harder because of the SATA questions. CPAN is all multiple choice. If you have not been in any exam lately, you will have a hard time putting your brain to exam mode. The gist is to keep answering practice questions, and looking up your wrong answers.

Now, I wonder if my hospital will reimburse my certification costs? Does your hospital reimburse?

Good luck and dream on!

[Footballnut]

Congratulations! and thank you for posting. I am currently facilitating a CPAN/CAPA study group and we are starting with the pretest and going from there. I didn't know about the app and it sounds great. I have been certified for quite a while. I do it to improve my practice by having a good knowledge base.

Our hospital reimburses the exam cost and gives a bonus of $750 per year to certified nurses.

It is pretty easy to keep the certification current without retesting as long as you keep track of what you do. I put all of my inservices into the online learning builder account (on the cpancapa.org website). I also document my committee work, precepting, and time I put into helping with new policies and work flow for the unit. I have no trouble getting enough CEs for recertification without testing. As long as you are a member ASPAN has some free CEs through journal reviews (3 free per year at the ASPAN website) and there is currently a free module on demand in the library for CEs. So I take advantage of those as well.