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Discussion

Excelsior RN program ?

Hi all .... I have been a respiratory therapist for 10 years . I have worked in large medical centers 600 beds plus to smaller community hospitals . In the Er and ICU . I started at a community college to obtain my RN degree . After almost completing my second semester , I found the school staff very unprofessional and dropped the last week of my second semester . It was also hard with work and school ..... as I am sure all who have your RN already know .... However , I am seriously considering Excelsior ... I am a little worried because I have read some really bad reviews , but on the other hand, I have read some great reviews . I have all my pre reqs done from RT school but my main concern is the CPE at the end , having already done two semesters of clinical at the community college and working in a hospital will the CPE be hard to study for ? SO worried about that .... I have great friends who will help and I have done a lot in the clinical setting as far as passing my skills for the community college .I was told the CPEs are with a patient and their care. One being adult and one peds , but also things like sterile field ,IV and other things , how far into pt care ? Are you doing bed baths and passing all meds and what kinds of procedures ? Dressing changes ext? Was also wondering if there is a study guide offered before the CPE?Thanks for any advice :) want to make sure it will work for me before I dish out that money ....

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    thread moved for best response

    WELCOME!

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    Thanks , hope to get some good feed back .

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    I got my ADN through Excelsior/Regents.

    The CPNE is tough and nerve-racking, but it is doable. You have one patient at a time only. You must pass 2 out of 3 adults patients and 1 out of 2 pedi patients. There is also a skills lab.

    As far as how much nursing care you have to do, it varies. You are NOT the primary nurse. You are not responsible for a lot of things. The instructor assigns you areas of care, such as respiratory assessment, abdominal assessment, etc. You only do the areas of care that are assigned to you, period. Anything else you do not assess and you do not assist with.

    I passed a PO medicine or two, checked vitals, and did stuff like incentive spectrometry, abdominal assessment, etc. I did not do a dressing change on a patient and I don't think they would let you do it on a real patient anyway. In the skills lab, you perform a sterile dressing change on a dummy.

    There is a study guide for the CPNE. It's huge and Excelsior sends it to you. It tell you exactly what areas of care you can be assigned and exactly how Excelsior expects you to perform them. They are sticklers. You must do it the way they want, period. If you don't, that's a fail.

    I'm not telling you that to increase your anxiety but rather to be honest about what you'll be doing. It's honestly at least 80% nerve management. If you're an anxious person, you might consider asking your doctor for something to keep you a little calm for the weekend. Oh, BTW the CPNE is a weekend only. Fri, Sat, Sun.

    Don't stress too much about the CPNE. Take your nursing courses and focus on those. Worry about the CPNE when it's time for that. I did it, many others have done it, and there's no reason you can't do it as well.

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    Thanks great feed back . I know I can do it...I guess there is good and bad feed back with every school. I was curious about the "testing out " I have finished the two semesters at a community college > Can I just test out of those nursing subjects or will I have to take the courses as required by the school ? I have to repeat Micro and Aand P its been 7 years but I think I can just test out of those. I am located in NY , where did you have to go for exams ? And were they computer generated ? Also did you have a "final " test or just the cpe? Thanks so much for all your advice .....

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    Shaddylady,

    I am right now at the clinical competencies part of the excelsior experience. So all of my pre req's and all of my nursing modules are done; finally feeling like I am going to be done with this. I will happy to answer all your questions becuase I had alot of the same fears you have when i was getting started. Just email me, it will be easier

    [email protected]

    take care

    S

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