Is Excelsior the right choice?;)

[shawna19]

I am an LPN and hand been out of school got a little over a year. Wanted to work on RN while working full time ! So researched and found EXCELSIOR,seems like a perfect fit for my busy schedule. Just a lite nervous about going it alone and is the program a good program for obtaining my RN license? Thanks for any advise;)

[JENNIFER27]

Passed on my second try last weekend thank god ![/quote']

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[BarbaraNM, ASN, RN]

Passed on my second try last weekend, thank god !

Oh, AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

[ctcpete]

Passed on my second try last weekend, thank god !

Good for you, congrats X 10..must feel great. Where did you test? Would you recommend that site?

[ctcpete]

As a poster who mentioned that I was the only one in my group that passed that weekend, I do want to add some additional information so that is not 100% discouraging to those considering the Excelsior route. Our group comprised of three working paramedics (myself included), and the others were LVNs. Only one person took a workshop before the CPNE... it wasn't me. However, he had nothing good to say about it. To be quite honest, I wonder if the other two paramedics spent much time with care plans or the details of the lab stations. We don't write careplans in our field (our documentation is very different) and there is the problem that since we often deal with IVs, injectable meds, and such with our occupation, we may not study the way it NEEDS to be done during the CPNE exam as thoroughly as we should. Add some nervousness and the timed aspect of the station, and that becomes a big problem.

What I feel helped me pass: First off, I chose to take the EC Pathophysiology exam since I needed the units, and that helped A LOT with understanding the patient's condition and what would work as a nursing diagnosis. While taking the exam itself is not necessary, at least get a good handle on pathophysiology from your required nursing textbooks (Fundamentals and the Med-Surg books). Since the day I received permission to sign up for the CPNE, I visited the CPNE discussion forum on the Excelsior site several times a day to learn about careplans and CPNE tips. I submitted every practice care plan I could to the Excelsior advisors for their critique, and also submitted a few care plans to the discussion board for others' thoughts. I implemented the requirements of the lab/skill stations while I was caring for my patients on the ambulance at work (my EMS partner was very accommodating to my more time-consuming ways on our non-critical patients :) ). Almost every day for the last 3 months before the CPNE, I spent at least 30 minutes on a "mock patient" so I could know my critical elements inside and out. I bought the skills kit and set up my labs in the kitchen. And, I tried to think of "backup nursing diagnoses" and practice a care plan with it in case one of my CPNE patients was relatively problem-free, which helped with one of my adult patients during the actual exam.

As a previous poster confirmed, the patients will not be textbook-perfect. But, *you* need to be. And, patients are human. Some patients will like you, and some will not. Some patients are enthusiastic about the extra care and attention they are receiving (and knowing they are helping a student nurse's education), while others require some creative interaction (my pediatric patient, for example). All this while being timed, of course.

Back to the other students that weekend. One LVN only read the CPNE guide twice, and never set up a skills lab at her home. She never heard of the CPNE discussion board on the Excelsior site. And, the CPNE was the first time she ever laid hands on a piggyback infusion. However, I learned that this student passed the second time around; she took a workshop, set up a lab at her home, and practiced daily. Another student blew off the importance of the nursing diagnosis, not seeing the importance of it since he never saw it used in the emergency department where he worked as a tech. I don't know if he or the others attended workshops or passed on their next attempts.

A long post... sorry about that. Just want to reassure that the CPNE is not impossible, but it's also difficult to offer a perfect exam situation beyond the skills lab due to the fact that we are dealing with live, human patients. And that imperfection can sometimes cause great students to have to retake the CPNE. It's the hardest practical exam I have ever tackled, but also gave me a hellava lot of respect for those nurses who graduated from the Excelsior program. The largest two hospitals in my area are very accepting of Excelsior graduates, and there was no problem at all finding my perfect job after I obtained my RN.

Aliakey, I'd like to thank you for the awesome information and for expending the time and effort to post it. I feel a little better after reading this post, your last one had me in terror ha ha, no cancel the ha ha's..actual terror.

I hope to start the FCCA in July and be done with them in 8 weeks then on to CPNE. When that time comes I'll review this thread for your advice. I like the EC program so far but this CPNE deal has me quaking and I am an over preparer if anything. I plan on taking a workshop and practicing my butt off. I am of an age and in a life situation where failure is not an option at all.

[KitkatPRN]

Good for you, congrats X 10..must feel great. Where did you test? Would you recommend that site?

I tested at St. Mary's in Madison, WI for my first time and agian for the second time. I highly recommend this site, I thought the CA was fair and supportative, the hospital was very nice and each room had it's own vital sign machine and pulse ox, it was also organized and the floor nurses were great, they even congratulated me when I passed (they were rooting for me, as well).