CPNE Overload!

Marie, If you are just sending in your app, take a breath, you have plenty of time. THe epn at excelsior's website is the best place for info. Other groups are best for informal info/venting. Read all the sim labs and the CE's through once then break them down into manageable sections and start learning them. EPN has plenty of people with grids and pneumonics to help you get started on your own set. Can't find mine. I read them through probably 3 times before starting to divvy them up into groups to learn.

parrotmom, thanks for the words of the wise. epn here i come.

You need to start out by calming down and reminding yourself that you can do this, you simply need to do it the EC way. Be sure to read the binder several times before you go...highlight it and write in it. You may be able to find other groups or students that have already created pneumonics and grids. I just got a new computer and didn't keep that info or I would share the ones I used. I wrote out my pneumoics on index cards and took them everywhere with me. I had them memorized in a few weeks. I also practiced writing them out. The grid was also very helpful but you must USE IT for it to be effective. Good luck!

thanks again for the advice. i'll read the binder and hook into the EPN for starters...and breathe!

good advise here already above. just passed the cpne yesterday. all in all i think i read through in great detail each time, the cpne study guide 12 times since getting it. there's lots of mnemonics out there but i stuck with my own.

creating my own, helped stick them in my brain. when you get them down don't mess yourself up by changing them too close to the cpne, unless the one you're using for a certain area of care just isn't working for you. and above all during the cpne, t-r-u-s-t your mnemonic and the critial elements it pertains to. i doubted my mnemonic (despite a nagging feeling to recheck my grid) during pcs #2 and had set my grid down too far from the patient to see it, and failed one pcs because of it (which i made up on the repeat - thank god).

i have files i could send you if you want them, just pm me with your email address. that applies to anyone. when i started studying i did one aoc at a time and studied the labs last, since i knew that i already knew how to do those skills. actually, i didn't even have a mnemonic for them because my hands knew better than my brain what to do in the sim labs!