Florida Clinical Skills Exam- SO NERVOUS!

FLg8r · Jul 13, 2009

Hi everyone!
I'm a third year RN student, and I'm taking the Florida CNA exam on April 18th. I feel pretty prepared for the written test, as I was told that the information we learned in our second year of RN school is equivalent to the information taught in a CNA course, but I have heard that the Clinical part of the exam is very difficult to pass on the first try.
Can anyone tell me about their experience with the clinical exam? Has anyone else taken the exam with only a limited amount of training? Any tips for me?
Thanks in advance!

what were the 3 skills they tested you on? i'm getting ready to take mine now and while i'm not worried about the written portion, i am concerned about forgetting something on the skills portion. we were told they would give us one easy, one medium and one hard skill to perform ..... any help would be VERY much appreciated :uhoh3:

thejackattack21 · Jul 16, 2009

I was tested on blood pressure, foot care, and walking with a gait belt (and passed, by the way!). I don't know about the easy, medium, hard thing because that's sooo subjective- for example, I thought walking with a gait belt was hard because I'd never done it before (I had never even seen a gait belt in real life!), but other people were really freaked out about the blood pressure.

My tester was actually very pleasant- she made sure to inform us that her criteria for passing us was not whether we performed the skills perfectly, but whether she would feel comfortable leaving a family member in our care.

Like I said before, I challenged the test as a nursing student, so I learned the skills in a slightly different way. Before the test, I made sure to look at the checklists in the handbook provided to make sure I did everything the way it would be asked on the test. As others have said, just go slowly and remember your basics- wash your hands, greet the patient, provide privacy. I actually explained the procedures to my patient, which is something we're taught to do in nursing school- I don't know if you're supposed/encouraged to do that as a CNA, but if nothing else, it made sure my head was straight before I began the procedure.

And RELAX!!! I had not done foot care in about a year, and never walked with a gait belt, but I have common sense and I did learn all of this at one point, so I just tried to remember to breathe and let everything come back. Best of luck! And Go Gators!