Hospice certification exam

SCgirl1962 · Sep 18, 2006

Took the exam in Columbia, SC on 9/16/06. Have been in Hospice for a total of about 5 years. Nothing in the core curriculum or study guide prepared me for this test. I studied for 2 months and used 3 or 4 different textbooks - the test was awful!! I memorized the drug conversion charts and didn't even have to use them. Instead, it seemed to focus more on the Medicare benefit and criteria. I didn't memorize the LMPR criteria at all. I went into the exam room feeling pretty good ( had only missed 25 or so questions of the 255 in the Study Guide ) but came out feeling like I didn't know anything. I wouldn't know how to study differently the next time because I studied and knew the material in the books - just none of it was on the test.

mlynn · Sep 18, 2006

For those who took the exam yesterday- What did you think? For those who have taken it before - was it different?

I took in on saturday. I have never taken it before, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I hate to say that and then fail, but it just didn't seem too hard. There were no drug conversions at all. Did anyone else take it? What did you guys think?

rosemadder · Sep 19, 2006

I thought a lot of it was easy and then they would throw a whammy at you. I realized later that I had chosen the wrong answer on a few of them and I didn't know the medicare stuff at all. Who knows???? Hard to say how it will come out.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Sep 19, 2006

I was also glad that I studied the Medicare Hospice Benefit a lot and didn't put much time into drug conversions.

RN4ustat, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2006

I feel the exact same way!! I concentrated on studying the core curriculum/study guide as well as a couple of symptom management books that I have and I felt very ill-prepared. i took the exam with my PCM and of course we compared answers afterward (I know you shouldn't) which made me second guess myself and feel very stupid!!

Took the exam in Columbia, SC on 9/16/06. Have been in Hospice for a total of about 5 years. Nothing in the core curriculum or study guide prepared me for this test. I studied for 2 months and used 3 or 4 different textbooks - the test was awful!! I memorized the drug conversion charts and didn't even have to use them. Instead, it seemed to focus more on the Medicare benefit and criteria. I didn't memorize the LMPR criteria at all. I went into the exam room feeling pretty good ( had only missed 25 or so questions of the 255 in the Study Guide ) but came out feeling like I didn't know anything. I wouldn't know how to study differently the next time because I studied and knew the material in the books - just none of it was on the test.

bornfree · Sep 24, 2006

Hi every one .I'm new to this group and am a hospice home care LPN. I found the test to go out of my area of knowledge. The study book didn't prepare me as well as I thought. Our job description at this particular hospice says that we do the same as hhas plus LPN skills. If the pt has a problem or new symptom we refer it to the RN. This made it very hard on us to be prepared for this test.

bornfree:uhoh21:

ONC214 · Aug 28, 2008

Does anyone know of any online study questions that may be used for the CHPN exam?

I have some study guides, but I am looking for some example study questions to study by. I took the Oncology Certification years ago and I bought a study guide that had 150 practice questions to study, is there anything out there like that for the CHPN exam?

ONC214 · Aug 28, 2008

I am taking the CHPN Exam computer based on Sept 23. Do you have any suggestions as study questions for the exam?

I have the Hospice Palliative Care study guides, but you have mentioned that they did not prepare you for the exam, do you know of any computer based study questions that may prepare me for the exam?

marachne · Aug 28, 2008

There is a a computerized set of questions called the Hospice and Palliative Registered Nurse Self-Assessment Examination. It's not free, I think it was $45, and some of the money goes back to HPNA. Basically, using that test was all I did to prepare (well, that and doing a 9 month palliative care fellowship at the VA where I was in a role that is usually an NP one). I did "ok" on the exam, got a 41 which was described as "just above the passing point, some risk of not passing." And I did great on the actual exam -- passed no problems.

What is nice is that both the self-assessment and the actual exam break your score by categories so you can see where you are strong and where you are weak. It's also nice that w/the CBE you get your results immediately.

I don't think you have access to the self-exam until you sign up, but if you've done that you should've been notified of it's existence. I'm including their comments about the test below, and yes, some of the questions on the practice were very similar to those that were on the actual exam (which makes sense since they are from previous tests).

I would highly recommend doing the practice test...and do know your medicare benefit info, that was one of my weakest areas (partly b/c I work at the VA where we don't deal w/that much...)

Hope this helps!

How to Interpret Your Self-Assessment Examination Scores

This Self-Assessment Examination (SAE) includes 50 items, while the actual CHPN� examination includes 150 scored items. All items on the SAE have been used previously in a version of the CHPN� examination. The SAE conforms to the specifications of the CHPN� examination, both in terms of content and average difficulty level. In other words, although the content coverage is not as broad (50 vs. 150 items), both examinations are intended to sample the domain of knowledge required of a hospice and palliative nurse, based on the role delineation study (job analysis). Therefore, since this SAE is comparable to a one-third version of the real test, the best estimate of your total score on the CHPN� examination would be reached by simply multiplying your total SAE score by three. Because the number of items within each category of the test content outline (e.g., Education and Advocacy) is small, variable, and the difficulty of the items in each category is not controlled, multiplying a category score by three would NOT provide an accurate prediction. You should also recognize that the total score CHPN� estimate could be affected by many other factors. The most significant of these factors is the content of the items selected for the SAE and the CHPN� examination � as noted, both tests will represent a sample from among a large number of items that could be appropriate for hospice and palliative nurses. Other significant factors are external to the test, for example, those that relate to you (e.g., how you are feeling on the day you test and what you learn between the time you take the two tests). If these factors are removed, the table below provides a guide to how you might expect to do on the CHPN� examination (the % of candidates column shows how many candidates usually perform within the score range).

ONC214 · Aug 28, 2008

Marachane,

Thank you so much for your reply, I will look into the computerized set of questions called the Hospice and Palliative Registered Nurse Self-Assessment Examination.

Cynthee · Sep 9, 2008

There is a a computerized set of questions called the Hospice and Palliative Registered Nurse Self-Assessment Examination. It's not free, I think it was $45, and some of the money goes back to HPNA. Basically, using that test was all I did to prepare (well, that and doing a 9 month palliative care fellowship at the VA where I was in a role that is usually an NP one). I did "ok" on the exam, got a 41 which was described as "just above the passing point, some risk of not passing." And I did great on the actual exam -- passed no problems.
What is nice is that both the self-assessment and the actual exam break your score by categories so you can see where you are strong and where you are weak. It's also nice that w/the CBE you get your results immediately.
I don't think you have access to the self-exam until you sign up, but if you've done that you should've been notified of it's existence. I'm including their comments about the test below, and yes, some of the questions on the practice were very similar to those that were on the actual exam (which makes sense since they are from previous tests).
I would highly recommend doing the practice test...and do know your medicare benefit info, that was one of my weakest areas (partly b/c I work at the VA where we don't deal w/that much...)
Hope this helps!
How to Interpret Your Self-Assessment Examination Scores
This Self-Assessment Examination (SAE) includes 50 items, while the actual CHPN� examination includes 150 scored items. All items on the SAE have been used previously in a version of the CHPN� examination. The SAE conforms to the specifications of the CHPN� examination, both in terms of content and average difficulty level. In other words, although the content coverage is not as broad (50 vs. 150 items), both examinations are intended to sample the domain of knowledge required of a hospice and palliative nurse, based on the role delineation study (job analysis). Therefore, since this SAE is comparable to a one-third version of the real test, the best estimate of your total score on the CHPN� examination would be reached by simply multiplying your total SAE score by three. Because the number of items within each category of the test content outline (e.g., Education and Advocacy) is small, variable, and the difficulty of the items in each category is not controlled, multiplying a category score by three would NOT provide an accurate prediction. You should also recognize that the total score CHPN� estimate could be affected by many other factors. The most significant of these factors is the content of the items selected for the SAE and the CHPN� examination � as noted, both tests will represent a sample from among a large number of items that could be appropriate for hospice and palliative nurses. Other significant factors are external to the test, for example, those that relate to you (e.g., how you are feeling on the day you test and what you learn between the time you take the two tests). If these factors are removed, the table below provides a guide to how you might expect to do on the CHPN� examination (the % of candidates column shows how many candidates usually perform within the score range).

Where did you find the questions? I would really like to attempt the practice test. You mentioned signing up. Are you saying you must sign up before you get a link to the practice questions? Help I'm to test in a couple of months!!!!

marachne · Sep 9, 2008

Well thank goodness for being able to access archived emails from home now -- I found the company that supplies the test's website:

http://store.lxr.com/dept.aspx?id=62

If that doesn't work, go to their main website: http://store.lxr.com/

hit the tab marked "Web Tests"

Then the link "health care"

The 13th one down is "Hospice and Palliative Nursing"

When you hit that link you go to a shopping cart. Once you buy the test ($35, not $45), you'll be sent more information.

Just one extra hint: Once you take the test and are scored on it, you can't go back. I went through and copied (control A, control C) and pasted the test (with corrected answers and rationale) and my results into a Word document so I could review the test again before going in for the actual exam.

Good Luck!