JACook1

I have been a CNRN for almost a year with 5yrs of nursing experience 4 of those years concentrated in neuro-trauma. For those who have taken the CCRN, imagine the CNRN harder. This test is very tedious. We took an eight month reveiw course that focused on anatomy, physiology, out comes, and rehab. Ellen Barker is the neuroscience nursing goddess and has published several books on Neuroscience nursing (she is also on the committee that creates test questions) I would recommend finding someone who is a CNRN to develop a reveiw course utilizing your Neurosurgeon, neurologists, and rehab. There are allot of diseases that we don't see in the unit. Less than 10% of the test is TBI. Hope this helps. Jaime A. Cook RN,BSN,CNRN

Our Class I hospital supports seven neurosurgeons & a neuroradiologist, we often collect CSF on our patients. After working with an infectious disease doc on a case in which we were collecting daily CSF samples, he said that it must be drawn from the closest port to the brain. He stated that you run a risk of a higher nucleated cell count if collected in the chamber. This will lead to incorrect use of antibiotics. To obtain my sample, I will close the drain for a short time (as long as the ICP does not increase beyond parameters) to let the csf collect in the ventricle. Our lab has to have at least 3cc of CSF to perform the standard tests. Using sterile technique, I will place my syringe on to my port only aspirating 1cc, I will then wait 5-10min and draw another 1cc, and so on.......I never remove the syringe from the port, maintaining a closed system. I place a sterile towel on the bed where the syringe and line are placed and clean the port before drawing the sample. Hope this helps. Jaime A. Cook RN,BSN,CNRN