cpne help

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2007

Check out the Distance Learning forum.

There is a thread here: https://allnurses.com/forums/f125/passing-cpne-tips-my-experience-182525.html

Welcome to Allnurses!

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2007

Hi and welcome to allnurses!! :)

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 19, 2007

hello and welcome to the site :)

RN34TX · Feb 20, 2007

hello everyone,
im looking for cpne tips/help as im due to take it in may in ny. im not about to take an exam i paid almost 2ooo for lightly, even with some experience in healthcare. hopefully some of you can share your knowledge/experience; it will be much appreciated.

Aside from the old generic response of "Know your critical elements front and back" and "keep your nerves in check" which you will frequently hear, I'd say that the best thing I ever did was to attend EC's own CPNE workshop/skills lab. They hold them in different cities around the country and I truely believe that it helped more than anything else.

These are actual EC CPNE examiners who teach this workshop and they will watch you do everything from writing care plans to going through the lab stations (which are set up exactly like the actual exam itself) to going through the critical elements in different areas of care.

Other people have used outside companies such as Chancellors which is held somewhere around Indianapolis and have been pleased with them as well.

Plenty of others have passed the first time without using any of the above mentioned workshops, but speaking for myself, I believe that the workshop made a big difference for me. They really clarified what was expected and reviewed areas where students frequently get into trouble.

Like the CPNE itself, the workshops are also expensive and yet another investment, so keep that in mind as others have passed without the workshops.

But I was determined to pass the first time and not have to go back and face it again (not to mention pay for it again) and even though I walked in knowing my critical elements well, it was worth it just to get the feedback from the EC staff that I was doing well which boosted my confidence when I took the real exam.

Also keep in mind that others on this board will repeat over and over how the CPNE is "a very basic nursing skills test" and "I passed with no repeats so if you know your stuff..." so I'm just beating them to the punch.

Although I agree that it's true, I also think those remarks can be very misleading. It is in fact a very basic nursing skills/clinical judgement exam, but it's also very easy to fail.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Feb 21, 2007

Post moved to the Distance Learning Forum. RN34TX gave you great advice. Good luck to you!

Mudwoman · Feb 21, 2007

I'm scheduled to take my test in Plano in March.

I took the Excelsior workshop. The people that got the most out of the workshop in my opinion were the ones that already thought they were ready to test and were scheduled within a month of taking the test. Every person that was scheduled to test within a month said that they would have failed had they not gone to the workshop. Most of the weaknesses were in the care plans and evaluation phases.

I went through the CPNE study guide and using WORD on my computer, put each section into my own words and printed out the sheet. This made sure that I read the information in the study guide---didn't just glance at it or read it in one eye and out the other. It gave me something portable that I could take with me like to Dr appts etc to study by. Most are 1-2 pages long.

Then paper clipped on top of the Word document, I have 5 x 8 cards with the info condensed even further----like a glorified mneumonic. I have these cards color coded for the areas of care that are always in effect and those that are STOP, DON'T DO UNLESS ASSIGNED, and those that have time limitations.

Then I made 3 x 5 cards with just the short mneumonics that I would use on the grid and my hubby can test me on those periodically. I find that I know them and then a week later, I've forgotten something here and there. Good to keep studying.

I also plan to take the care plan online course. Which brings me to the money. Most all the Excelsior tests are reasonable. If you go to a local college and take one course, you spend about the same amt of $$. The CPNE is big bucks and you throw in the hotel and travel and you're up even more. Then the workshop is $745 plus hotel and travel unless you are lucky enough to live near the workshop. Add $265 for the NCP online and maybe the $135 for the documentation online and you are spending almost as much as you would for another CPNE. BUT, for me, all this builds my confidence in my ability to NOT FORGET anything and control those NERVES and those are the 2 things that we learned in the workshop causes failures. You become so nervous that you are going to forget something and you have so much money riding on this and maybe you have a job pending that is riding on all this..........and next thing you know you are so crazy nervous and can't think straight and have forgotten something----like not ID'ing the pt or something stupid like putting the dirty laundry on the floor.

So, I would rather spend the extra money now and pass and get on with my career and collect the extra $$ paycheck than to fail the CPNE and have to pick myself up and spend the money again anyway. That's just me. Could I do it without all these extras-?---many do, and I've been nursing for 13 years and am no slouch. I'm also nearly 54 and I don't have forever. I need to get this done and get on with being an RN. The extra I spend, I will make up in increased salary the first 2 mos of being an RN.

RN34TX · Feb 21, 2007

Every person that was scheduled to test within a month said that they would have failed had they not gone to the workshop. Most of the weaknesses were in the care plans and evaluation phases.

And I failed one PCS specifically over the evaluation phase of my care plan.

I was doing great and on my 3rd and final PCS ready to go home when I threw the EC workshop advice out the window and instead elected to listen to a fellow student and ended up failing and having to do a 4th PCS to make it up.

There are some very specific criteria for the care plans that the workshop really helped me fine tune. If I had stuck to their advice on my 3rd PCS I would never have had to repeat a PCS. Can't stress enough how important it is.

tgb3rn · Feb 22, 2007

I would say that it all depends on you, your skill level, and your situation. I can understand how a non-LPN would want to take workshops and all the extra classes to help on this that they could. I can understand an LPN that works in one area LTC, HH, AL, and others, or if they had been out of nursing school for a long time. If you are an LPN that works in a hospital setting and get to use ALL of the skills on a regular basis, you will do fine. Example--At the hospital where I work there are/were 8 people enrolled in the EC program. All were paramedics or something other than LPN except myself. All failed, or have not taken the CPNE yet after being in the program for almost 6 years now.

I was an IV certified LPN, graduated and enrolled into EC right away. I worked the floor of a small 26 bed rural hospital where I got to do a little of everything possible all the time. I completed the EC program in about a year and a half. I also worked a second job full time doing LTC and home health---6 12hr days a week--weeeeee!!!

For the CPNE all I used was the study guide. I went to a workshop and decieded it was not doing me any good so I left after day 1. I did not use the "grid" thing, I did not do the pnumonics thing--it is all stuff I did every single day I worked anyway.

Passed it all with no repeats 1st try.

Before anyone posts the "it's all has to do with the Pt's you get thing, read on. My ped pt was a 17 month old with pnumonia, O2 sat prob on one foot, IV in the other, O2 per NC, would not let ANYONE but mother touch him. I had to do resp. mgt, and others but get this--teaching to the mother about safty. No biggie right? WRONG---she spoke no english, had no translator.--PASSED IT ANYWAY! can you say/chart "Pt nods understanding":lol2:

Good luck with it all

Tom

RN34TX · Feb 26, 2007

I had to do resp. mgt, and others but get this--teaching to the mother about safty. No biggie right? WRONG---she spoke no english, had no translator.--PASSED IT ANYWAY! can you say/chart "Pt nods understanding":lol2:

Somewhat off-topic I admit, but I'm intrigued by your CPNE account as one of the people in my testing group went through the same thing as far as the language barrier went, and like you, passed despite having no translator.

As a nurse in south Texas who deals with a great deal of people who only speak Spanish, it is common knowledge here that many, many people who do not understand a word of English can "nod in understanding" and it doesn't mean a thing.

They may nod, they may even say "yes" but it hardly means that they understand a word you said or a thing that you did.

Because the test taker in my group got her patient to say "yes" in his native language with no one in the hospital who could translate, she passed her PCS patient teaching portion.

So my original question to you was going to be just because the patient nods in understanding and you can't speak a word of their native language and they can't speak English, how do you really know that the patient really understood what was being communicated to them?

It's hardly indicative of a patient's understanding of what was being taught to them when they don't understand English in the first place.

But then I decided never mind, it's just more evidence of how out of touch the CPNE and nursing school in general is with real world nursing.

If your non-English speaking patient nods yes, then they must have understood you and therefore, patient teaching was successful.

And much more importantly than all else, you documented it as such on the PCS response form.

You passed. You meet ADN level RN requirements. End of story.

FEELYRN · Apr 2, 2007

To the original poster --

I just failed my CPNE this past weekend. It is a terrible feeling, I made it to day 3 but my nerves got the better pf me. Without going into a long story about what and why I wanted to add my two cents to the usual advice everyone gives about knowing your critical elements and so on. (thats all true, by the way!)

I wish I had made this connection earlier: THIS IS AN EXAM. This is not like your job, or a nursing school clinical. You cannot handle things the way you would in "normal" situations, or at work. You can't befriend the patients or make yourself concerned with all their issues, especially the issues that are not assigned to you. You must go in there realizing that this is an exam on specific areas of patient care (those assigned to you) and that there is only ONE way to pass and that is to meet every critical element within a specified time limit. That is the exam, and it is the only way to pass, no margin for error. I failed my peds PCS the first time because I simply ran out of time; even though I had done a great job and felt good about everything i had done to that point.

When I had to repeat the PCS I made a stupid mistake - I had ID'd the patient about 3 times already but neglected to reidentify her when i handed her her one pill, a vitamin! I remembered then, but the cup was at her lips and the pill in her mouth already.....failed.

Somehow you have to constantly remind yourself that this is an exam, not a real life scenario, and just tick off the elements one by one till the pcs is over.

I'm not saying you don't need to ID the pt in real life, etc...but in real life 3 times would be sufficient! But at CPNE, they need identified every time. Handwashing is another trip up -- in real life you wash when entering and leaving the room, unless they become soiled. At CPNE you wash upon entering and leaving, any time you put on or take off a glove (which is often), before you give the patient a med...etc In real life you rarely glove to take a temperature, etc. To pass CPNE, you must wash, glove, wash again just to get a temp.

The point I am trying to make is you have to think like its an exam (BECAUSE IT IS), not rely on your day to day experiences to get you through. I was nurse of the year at my facility last year, but I failed my CPNE. A big part of it was nerves but alot of it was just trying to act like this was a pt at work, thinking that would keep me focussed. It ended up being a distraction from the Critical elements. Remember, 100% is the only passing score on the EXAM. I am reapplying tomorrow and plan to take my own advice. Good luck!

dolphins84te · Feb 13, 2009

My two pennies:

Don't stress too much about your nursing care plans. Just keep them simple. If you have comfort as an assigned area of care, choose "altered comfort" or "pain" for your patient so that many of your interventions will overlap. I passed my CPNE and I think that I used "risk for injury" for all 3 of my patients and for different reasons - a baby has altered perception, an old person is mobility impaired, and a person on pain meds is altered perception. AND you can use it as your priority on ANY patient because safety is most important.

Keep it simple and easy. Be ready to analyze your patient and think about what diagnostic labels would be appropriate for them.... What is their diagnosis. What is wrong with them? What could go wrong with them? Basically everyone in the hospital is at risk for skin integrity, altered comfort and risk for injury. Many are in pain and a lot have breathing problems (ineffective gas exchange). Start with those and don't worry about ALL of them. When you write your nursing care plans on the CPNE write EXACTLY what it says in the book and don't deviate, no matter how silly it is. (I put impaired speech as a nursing diagnosis for a patient who was dysphasic following a stroke. One intervention in my Carpenito was to tell the patient to point at things rather than talk if they can't get the word out. Pretty simple intervention, but the instructor was a bit nonplussed and looked it up in my book to verify. There it was in black and white and I passed!)