Critical Care test

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i will soon be relocating and looking for a new job. despite my many years in critcal care i still have feelings of apprehension about sitting for a cc test at a new hospital (what if i fail??). while this is probably an irrational fear i still entertain the thought and it causes me stress.

does anyone have a recommendation for "practice tests"? or has anyone recently taken such a test and can clue me in as to what to expect.

thanks much!

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

Hi,

Check out this site: http://www.chartingandassessment.com/flashcard.htm

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Specializes in Cardiac, Maternal-child, LDRP, NICU.

I dont know which state u are but i am in nj just took my critical care exam. If u are cc nurse for long time i am sure u will be fine. 75 question test 50 tele strips your normal vfib, vtach, heart blocks and so on. Some quesions on your commom cc drugs dopamine, adenosine, amio, nitro etc, one or two cc calcuations, some questions urokinase, streptokinase there uses during stroke and MI. I scored 90 without any critical care experience i am sure u;ll do fine. GOOD LUCK!

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Was that a standardized test or one that your particular hospital gives? I understand (from a traveller with whom I work) that there is a standardized one that some hospitals use.

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My experience was similar to mina123's. Most was tele strips and the most common ICU drips. I didn't have a lot of ICU experience and I passed easily, so I am sure you will do great.

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Specializes in ICU.

The standardized test is the BKAT.

http://nursing.cua.edu/research/toth-bkat.cfm

The most recent version of the BKAT is Version Six (2001). It is a 100-item paper and pencil test that measures basic knowledge in critical care nursing. These items measure content related to the following areas of critical care nursing practice: cardiovascular, monitoring lines, pulmonary, neurology, endocrine, renal, gastrointestinal/parenteral, and other. The category, other, includes such areas as infection control, hypothermia, burns, and spiritual care.

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Specializes in ICU/PCU/Infusion.

I just took a month and a half CC class, and passed the CC test yesterday! YAY! :)

We had 35 questions on educode, and needed an 85% to pass. I got an 85.71. WOOHOO!!

The first time I took it, I got a 72%. We had two weeks to pass it. With educode, you can take the test every 24 hours. I took it twice.

Good luck!

Lots of renal, hemodynamic, swan/aline/pwc/cvp/etc, ekg strips, trauma, gtts, coags, etc. We also had a separate dysrhythmia test and a separate math test with drip calcs.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

Oh, and when we asked the CC instructors about the possibility of having to repeat the whole class if we moved to a different hospital, we were told that most hospitals will just require passing their CC test as opposed to having to take the entire 69.5 hour class again. Great news!

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Specializes in ICU, ER, Hemodialysis.

I just passed my cc test. The test was 120 questions created by the nurses that taught the cc course. You needed at least 80% to pass. I didn't find it that bad, but I am also a new grad, so most of the info was still fresh in my head from school. The material was a mix of everything: burns, hemodynamics, sepsis, anemia, pulmonary, endocrine (diabetes, dka, siadh, etc), cardiac, drugs/gtt, etc...

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Specializes in critical care.

Great Site! thanks for this link!:yelclap:

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Specializes in Pulmonology/Critical Care, Internal Med.

Wow is right, I wish I had, had that site for when I was taking my critical care class here at school. It was an awesome review and would have been GREAT for the exams/finals!!!

But, ok whats this business about taking critical care tests? There are different tests between hospitals? I would have thought having passed the CCRN would sort of preclude you from having to take any more tests going from hospital to hospital. I graduate in ohh 2.5 months and plan on working in CC/doing my preceptorship in the SICU. I was so looking forward to no more tests. :)

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