Husband looking for some assistance...

[lachrymotion]

hello nurses, grad nurses, nursing students, and fellow google users. my name is michael, and i come here looking for any possible assistance anyone can give me. i'm at a search engine standstill, and after reading and researching on this website for the past 4 or 5 hours, i feel like i'm at least pointed in the right direction. i hope somebody can help "de-murk" the waters at least a little as i pine to help my amazing lady. thanks for reading what will inevitably end up being a huge block of text as i tend to ramble...sorry...

this morning my wife took her boards, aka "the devil", or its more commonly used name the nclex-rn. my wife is the smartest, most capable woman i know, who if it was up to me, would be queen of the nurses. she gets constant compliments and reassurance from her peers, co-workers, and superiors, all well deserved, as she was placed on this earth to be a nurse. i know this, her family knows this, her patients know this. she exudes caring and competence, and anyone would be lucky to have her as their rn. my wife is far from cocky, but, gun to her head, if you asked her if she is/would make a good nurse, she would tell you yes. the thing that is an issue, is her overwhelming test anxiety. i have known my gal since high school, and it would be the same if she was back in prep taking mr. jones's mid-term spanish exam. i think you know where i am going...

prior to todays exam, she had disscussed general "knowabouts" regarding the nclex. one of the concepts that she had heard from multiple parties is that very rarely does the exam fail you on a question you got right. she was told by her preceptor that if she could remember her last question, it would be a good sign, as she could go then and try to find the answer. is there any truth to this? i have no clue. maybe someone here knows. so after her exam cut off at the 108th question, she came home and started to try to look for an answer. a couple of things slowed this proccess down. first, my wife can do about anything in this world, but one thing she's not the greatest at is working the world wide web. after searching for about an hour, she had given up, seeing as the stress of searching for the answer was starting to match that of her exam. secondly, the question she recieved was not something concrete. instead of recieving "what is 1 + 2?", her last question was "what is more important 1 or 2?"

so that leads me here. i've searched and searched and searched with no avail. it's somewhat an obstacle because i also don't know exactly what i am looking for. my wife has given up the search party, and is now just stuck in her own head with thoughts of a failing exam. i don't know if she would like me searching and posting all of this on a web-forum, but i know she would do the same for me if the roles were reversed. she has gone from being positive she passed, to positive she has failed, all in about a 6 hour period. i know this is common after reading this site, and am fully aware that nothing i can do can really 100% sway her decision one way or the other, but any information is good information. so...here it is. the question she recieved was something like...

she stated the question had 2 more options, but both were painstakingly obvious that you would not discharge them. she wrestled with these two for a bit. i won't state which one she answered, because if i get an overwhelming response with the one she chose, i would like to show her this thread. i'm afraid if i say which one she chose, she might believe people were agreeing with her just to calm her down. any help/answers/opinions would be greatly appreciated. regardless if the whole "computer not shutting off on a correct answer" is full of poppycock, let us know anyway. if would help the stress level for the next few days.

so again, thank you greatly if you actually read all of this and thank you even more if you respond. i wish all of you who took the test recently the best, if you are planning to take it, you'll do great, and if you had taken it in the past congrats/you'll do better next time. i never realized how much a test could affect one person, and all my positive thoughts go out to all of you. thanks in advance.

-michael-

p.s. for anyone as narcissistic as me, no, i didn't do this for brownie points. i know if i read this, i'd prolly think it

thread edited to remove specifics from the exam. it is actually direct violation of the board that handles the nclex exam to post anything about what one had on their exam anywhere. it also makes them subject to having their exam cancelled out as well.

thanks for your understanding on this.

suzanne4

[al7139, ASN, RN]

Hi,

I hope I can help a little...

As to the question...I don't know what kind of an emergency would have a nurse determining who gets discharged (that is an MD decision), but if the question was about which patient is the one to worry about, I would say the post op hysterectomy patient who has 2 blood soaked pads.

As for the NCLEX itself, there are lots of theories and rumors as to how people are passed or failed, but I have yet to see one that is fact.

All I know is this:

You can get as little as 75 questions or as much as 200+. Out of the questions you answer (no matter how many), there are 15 that are "test questions" which are questions that are being considered for future inclusion in the question database. This means that those questions are included in your test so they can collect research on them to determine pass/fail rate and if it is an appropriate gauge of a nurses competency.

Of the real test questions, what happens is that in any given category (dosage, pharm, nursing process, etc.) the questions start out easy, and if you get one right they give you a harder question in the same category until it is determined you have the basic skills as a nurse. They are not so much concentrating on the skills as they do critical thinking and nursing process.

For example, in assessing a patient it is always your ABC's first, especially if they are critical. You might be asked to determine which patient is most critical, or what is most important to teach your patient. THey don't really ask questions on how to do an IV or whatever, but they will ask about all aspects of meds or dosage calc.

My experience with the test sucked...I got 75 questions, most of which were pharm or based on my wekest points, and I was convinced I failed...I am sure my fiancee, like you was really concerned.

All I can say is this...I did not get alot of sleep that night, and neither did my fiancee, but when I got the results, it was great.

I hope she does pass, but even if she doesn't it is not the end of the world...She retakes it and passes..Lots of great nurses I know had to redo the NCLEX.

Amy

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Several things:

As far as being able to "guess" one's ultimate result on the NCLEX, by one's answer to the last question asked, many will tell you that it is really a crap shoot. I know people who "knew" that they had gotten the last several questions wrong that passed, and some who "knew" that they got the last several correct, that failed.

Second, I believe that there is some rule regarding the NCLEX that you cannot post its' questions on the 'Net ( along with questions to other similar/copywrited assessment tests such as PBDS) because there are legal if not ethical considerations.

Third, most exams such as the NCLEX are not based on the "1+2=3" because nursing is rarily "1+2 = 3". Nursing tends to be a science of clinical judgement , meaning which is more important vs. less important. As a nurse, a patient may have multiple problems at one time, or you may have two patients going bad at once, and one must assess accordingly. Thus, such questions tend to assess the realities and clinical judgement skills of actual nursing practice.

As far as the answer, I quite honestly cannot see any emergency that the nurse would make this decision. But I find insufficient info presented by the scenary. I would expect a small amount of pink discharge possible in a P/O tonsillectomy. But the P/O Hyst. patient, if she has fully saturated two pads in say several hours...this would generally be a concerning finding. However, in the scenario presented, the time frame for the saturation of the pads was not indicated. But I do not work Peds. And I have had a large number of P/O TAHs, and none have completed soaked even one pad.

[lachrymotion]

Thank you graciously for the replies, I greatly appreciate it.

If my post in any way, shape, or form is breaking any rules/regulations, feel free to remove it. I wasn't aware of any copywrighten issues. Maybe I should have just left well enough alone.

Thanks again

[iamhopeful2009]

wish all spouses are as supportive as you are.... good luck

[Freedom42]

I took the NCLEX last week. If I had to choose, I'd discharge the tonsillectomy patient. The hysterectomy patient is at risk of hemorrhage for a couple of weeks.

There is no truth to the idea that you can pass or fail on your last question. Here's why: Every NCLEX exam includes 15 pilot questions -- questions the council is trying out and that don't apply to your actual score. You have no way of knowing which questions are pilot questions when you take them. Your last question could be a pilot question.

[FLmomof5]

Your lady is one LUCKY lady to have a man such as you in her life! (Hmmmm, maybe I shouldn't feed your narcissism! ) I have an extremely supportive husband myself and I don't know that even he would go to the lengths that you have to ease my mind!

I can't help you with the question. I am still a student, but I just wanted to comment on what an amazing man you are! I wish you and your wife all the best!

[suzanne4, RN]

Getting the last question correct or incorrect will not determine the outcome of the exam. Same goes for the number of questions that one receives.

There is absolutely no way to second guess what one the result is going to be.

In her favor is the fact that all that have trained in the US have an 85% chance of passing the exam the first time.

Please keep us posted as to how she does.

[lachrymotion]

Thanks for the kind words, and sorry Suzanne, did not mean to break any rules. I apologize.

So, just got the results this morning....SHE PASSED! I haven't even been able to tell her yet, because she's stuck in a meeting. Thanks to all for your thoughts/prayers, and I hope everyone is as successful

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Congrats to your wife

[suzanne4, RN]

No problem. Many are not aware of the specifics from the Board.

Tell her congrats from all of us.

[AMM79]

We had a guy from Kaplan come in to class and he told us that the 15 pilot questions you spoke of are always in the first 75 questions... that way everyone sees them. They don't count against you. That may help folks that go past 75 questions... knowing that they aren't seeing any "guinea pig" questions.