Excelsior college CPNE

[Kristenmari]

Can anyone who has went through excelsior's program and passed the CPNE tell me about how their CPNE went, what kind of patients.. Was it as hard as people are saying? What part did you find to be the most difficult ? How long does the instructor follow you around for? Thanks everyone in advance!!!

[RNBearColumbus, BSN]

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There are a ton files detailing peoples experiences with the CPNE.

[g8sushma, ASN, BSN, MSN]

I took CPNE back in April of 2016 in queens NY and passed my first time. It is a basic nursing assessment exam. It is like being in clinical but being tested at every minute. That is the stressful part. If you really take your time and learn the content they want you to memorize and learn the care planing you can pass your first time with no workshops. I did take christie's careplan class but I just found that it helped me to get oriented to the forms more then teach me anything. Learn the areas of care have them memorized. Then use your managements to build a nursing diagnosis around it. If you can not use your manangements then use your assesement if you can not find a nursing dx to use them use mobility or fluid.

I have 4 adult pts.

First PCS - Peds (adult sub) - pt had abdominal surgery dx was acute pain and deficient knowledge. I was assigned pain management, pt teaching related to pain management, abdominal assessment. and you will always be assigned fluid mobility and vitals. I went in did my patient care came out. intervention for pain was ask primary nurse to medicate for pain and guided imagery and reposition. Intervention for knowledge was teach patient about pain scales, and explain that she may get several pain meds on discharge. To think about pain before using pain meds if pain is high use stronger med. vise versa. I realized i forgot to do my BP. First PCS is manual BP. went back in did my BP. Passed Took pain into evaluation phase

Second PCS - Adult - assigned comfort, respiratory assessment, and something else cant remember. I chose impaired comfort and ineffective gas exchange. patient did not have any decreased o2 sat so i had to revise to ineffective breathing pattern. i could still use the same interventions. I took impaired comfort into evaluation phase. They tried to fail me for not selecting the airway. I told them excelsior said you have to take a priority nursing diagnosis into the evaluation phase not the priority. they made a phone call and I passed. Repeated my 2 failed labs and day 2 was done.

Day 3

Need to pass one adult pcs.

Adult PCS - I do not remember too much but i knew to expect neurological assessment because i was not yet assigned that one. And it happened. I did my care plan got into the room and I failed. I forgot to introduce myself. I got ahead of myself let my nerves get to me. My fault.

Second Adult PCS. This is more of a blur. I remember being in tears writing this care plan. Because this could make of break me. I remember using acute pain and ineffective gas exchange. I was assigned Pain management, respiratory management and possibly something else but I do not remember. I use intervention to ask primary to medicate back rub and reposition patient. I positioned pt upright and taught incentive spirometer.

By 1pm that day I had passed CPNE. No instructors are out to get you. If you know what you are doing you will pass. CPNE weekend had 6 people. 3 passed. the first person to fail seemed to be one of those people who completely winged it. the second person that failed didnt even know we were supposed to wear white scrubs that weekend. the third person who failed did study but need a little more practical experience. I think they failed one PCS with a BP and the second because the patient refused to allow them to do something. She should of invoked CDM. Three people passed. If more people really studied and stopped complaining about the wait time and how hard the test is then the pass rate would be higher.

How I studied. I acted like I was in grade school all over again getting a spelling test. I rewrote my areas of care everyday until I had them memorized. I learned what dx's to use for the assigned area's of care. I highlighted my ng dx book with safe to use interventions and what I should assess. they should fit like lock and key. if you are assessing skin your outcome should be related to the skin you assess.

[HopeThruFaith, ADN, CNA, LPN]

How long did you have to wait to get an appointment for your CPNE?

[g8sushma, ASN, BSN, MSN]

I applied in july or august and tested in april. I got a cancelation date. After I started to study I started to call in for appointments.