ICU_JOSIE

Happy for you! Yes, it's quite an achievement passing after all your hard work. Happy New Year to you too!

I used ANA's Nurse Executive Q&A and bought some NE-BC review books off Amazon. The questions were mostly situational so be prepared to choose the best answer. Once you'll get used to the review questions, the answers pretty much stand out. Best of luck to you!

Update: I took the exam today and PASSED! It does help to read and answer practice questions. I prepared for 2 months.

I am in the same boat. I am studying for the exam and would like to know some helpful tips. I would really appreciate your feedback.

Hello all, I am planning to take the NE-BC exam sometime this year. Any tips, links, review materials my way will be much appreciated. I'm so glad to be a part of this learning community. Thanks in advance!

We have had a few cases of COVID+ patients who coded and the facility has by far been well-organized in its efforts. We limited our responders to 5 in the room (2MDs, primary RN, ICU/Code RN and RT). Each unit is equipped with a Level 2 PPE Packet for the 5 personnel initially responding to the code. The door is closed but one RN in full PPE gear is on standby to handout supplies and communicate other needs. Another team outside is listening in to the event inside the room via speaker phone. We communicate by identifying each other as "inside" or "outside" as to not create any confusion (e.g. "This is inside, please have a dose of Epinephrine ready"). One or two personnel may be added if the event takes longer to help with CPR. Once ROSC is achieved, our Transport Team takes over to send the patient to the ICU following SOP. And also, we did MOCK CODES twice a week for about a month that was led by one of our Intensivists.

Thank you. Being an experienced ICU nurse myself , I find the VA-BC questions pretty basic. It does help to study and be prepared 😁.

Yes, RNs insert PICC/Midlines. In my facility, we currently use both ultrasound with 3CG TCS and CXR for tip confirmation. Midlines however do not require CXR.

I took the VA-BC Exam today and passed :). I just would like to share my experience with everyone especially to those who are considering to take the exam in the future. I used the VACC Study Guide and CRNI textbooks for my study materials. Google was also very helpful . My appointment at Prometric was at 2:30pm but I arrived 1.5 hrs early. The receptionist asked me if I would like to take the exam earlier so I said yes. She then told me to place my belongings in the locker and bring my ID card. By the way, as of this writing, only 1 form of identification is required for the exam so I showed her my state ID. I was scanned, given instructions then asked to sign in the logbook. I was then handed a pencil and a scratch paper (which I never used). She guided me to my cubicle placing the ID card and locker key on the desk. FYI there is no break in between the test, you are actually allowed to leave but your test time will continue to run (I never went for a break myself). The exam was for 2.5 hrs (total of 150 questions but only 125 will be scored) and it took me almost 2 hrs to finish after throughly reviewing my answers. No worries, a tutorial will be shown first and will allow you plenty of time to practice. Time only begins once you're ready to end your tutorial. I knew the result right away after I pressed END. The word Congratulations in boldface was the first thing I saw (Phew!). I left the room then the receptionist told me that I passed and handed me a printed copy of the result. I'll be expecting to receive my certificate and wallet card within four to six weeks. So overall, it was a great experience . I was just happy that I passed the exam. Best of luck to you!

I think that is a great move, we do our rounding on weekdays. Our RNs in our unit have a list of things to say during rounds and this lets everyone in the IDT (Interdisciplinary Team) know about the patient's progress or plan of care. It's also a good time for RNs to raise any concerns about the patient. In the ICU we have the Attending, Fellow, Social Worker, Case Manager, Chaplain and the Charge Nurse involved in the IDR (Interdisciplinary Rounds).

UCLA and Kaiser IMHO are the best hospitals for me. I still work there, full time in UCLA and per diem at Kaiser. In terms of benefits though, I choose UCLA. They provide a lot of training opportunities, 40 hours of paid CEUs, leadership roles, etc., etc. It's just a wonderful place to be. Very supportive management, amazing co-workers. It's a dream job.

"It's nothing really .... it'll hurt just a wee-bit"

Congratulations!

I took the exam today and PASSED. I'm still in a daze, kinda hard to believe but I did it! I used Laura Gasparis-Vonfrolio's videos and the Pass CCRN CD. I took the AACN's SAE a day prior to taking the test. None of the SAE questions came out from my test but it prepared me to get used to the test environment. There were a lot of neuro questions. I wasn't prepared for that. Still made it though. And this forum really helped!

I prepared myself by not touching any reviewer the day before the exam. I stayed away from studying and just had positive thoughts my way. I took the exam in London, it was June 2006 and it stopped at 75 questions. Best of luck to you!