Published Aug 1, 2016
jk2185, BSN, RN
1 Article; 34 Posts
I'm taking the CSC pretty soon....what did all you fantastic people that passed use to study?
roser13, ASN, RN
6,504 Posts
What is the CSC?
Wile E Coyote, ASN, RN
471 Posts
Cardiac surgery certified, a sub-certification to the CCRN, Critical Care certification.
Check out Manual of Perioperative Care in Adult Cardiac Surgery, 5th Edition
Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP
8 Articles; 4,452 Posts
I took mine years ago. I found that you could brush up on typical psychosocial and therapeutic communication questions just to get in that mode but majority of the clinical questions are quite straightforward that if you already work in a cardiac surgery ICU and have done so for a while, it would be easy for you to pass. Compared to CCRN (which is a requirement prior to CSC or CMC), it is much much easier.
I agree with Juan. CSC is straightforward with even one good year of landing fresh hearts.
More folks should do it, particularly in facilities that pay for addtl certs directly or as part of a clinical ladder.
tcvnurse, BSN, RN
249 Posts
I did not study especially for the CSC because I figured if I was working in the cardiac surgery ICU I should be able to pass. :) Anyway, you can buy for like 4 bucks from the AACN some practise questions for the CSC. I did that, and noticed that some exam questions were verbatim from the purchased questions.
It's straight up cardiac surgery stuff. Chest tubes, inotropes, pressers, cardiac indexes, all that stuff.
PS-This exam does not believe in milrinone. Know your dobutamine/dopamine!