LPN's who can't pass NCLEX-RN??

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Sep 11, 2004

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I picked A!!! Well folks, I guess I know what to expect now...I think that being an LPN before you take the NCLEX can be a CURSE instead of a BLESSING!
Now I'm more scared than before! :uhoh21:
Edited to add: I don't know any nurse who would go after the doctor AGAIN to explain something like that to a patient....what kind of masochists do these test makers think nurses are???

Explaining the surgery and what to expect is beyond the scope of your practice and it is not your responsibility. It is the doctor's responsibility to do this and it is the doctor's responsibility to answer EVERY SINGLE QUESTION and address EVERY SINGLE CONCERN the patient has. It's also the doc's responsibility not to proceed until the patient is clear and understands. Even if that means answering the same question 50000 times!!

I'll say it again - NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY - do not take it upon yourself to do this.

Think about it - surgery does not go as patient hoped/wanted/expected due to complications or unrealistic expectations of the patient. When the patient turns around and wants to blame someone because he didn't know that could happen, whose shoulders do you want that responsibility to fall on?

YOURS???? or the surgeon's?

This is what those kinds of questions are geared to get you to think about. They are very important issues in nursing.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2004

I was a LPN for 10+ years myself then went back and got my ADN and i agree you have to take yourself and your thought process out of the LPN mode and put it back into student/RN mode. Its not just a matter of doing LPN duties with the RN license behind you, its a matter of thinking it through like a RN. The whole process is different.

I only took my boards once.

KacyLynnRN · Sep 12, 2004

Meownsmile,

thanks for posting...yes I totally agree with you, that the RN thought process and the LPN thought process are completely different...I have been really shocked to learn this as I am getting through school. I know a lot of LPN's think there is not much difference between their jobs and an RN's jobs, (I know because I have thought that way myself in the past) but it IS very different...and I guarantee any LPN that is back in school for their RN WOULD agree with me.

Anyway...again, thanks for posting.

:) Kacy

rnmi2004 · Sep 12, 2004

Don't worry too much! There is learning how to be a nurse, and there is learning how to take the NCLEX. Please don't think the one is an exact measure of your ability in the other.

I spoke with a nurse last year who remembered one of the questions on the test; As you move a pt from bed to gurney for a trip to OR, the pt asks you exactly what is going to happen to him. Dr has visited with pt, consent is signed...What do you do?
A. Tell him what to expect
B. Print off a copy of the procedure and give to the pt
C. Tell him not to worry, everything will be fine
D. Have the Dr return to the pt's room to explain the procedure, again
The 5 seasoned nurses in the room all jumped on "A". We do it every day!
The test wanted "D". Not gonna happen in the real world.

In the real world, I know that what would happen is "A." However, I saw that and instantly knew that the test wanted "D." I have taken many, many prep questions for the NCLEX-PN and the -RN that include the rationale when explaining what you got wrong. It didn't take me long to realize that The People In The Ivory Tower who make up these tests say that any explanation of any procedures performed on clients is to be given by the one who does the procedure--in other words, the M.D.

So my suggestion is to do as many prep questions as you can do--and I am talking in the thousands. One of the things the instructors at my school have stressed time after time is the strong correlation between the number of prep questions a person does and the NCLEX pass rate.