dolphins84te

Yes, I did Excelsior's online program. I have been a paramedic for several years and their program allowed me to bridge over to RN.

I didn't expect to have a pediatric patient either. Especially when the woman in front of me in the rotation in the morning had an adult substitute. Imagine my surprise when I was led to the pediatric floor. I was a bit shocked, but prepared. Still, when we checked a pulse oximeter to see if it was working, my pulse rate was 91. My normal resting is around 55. I just tried to relax and do it. The most difficult part was getting a nursing diagnosis for a baby who was admitted with a fever and is now afebrile. I ended up getting my nursing diagnosis (plural) and started implementation. I just had to do abd assessment, respiratory assessment, v.s. and comfort measures. The baby was sleeping so the whole thing took only 20 mins. It was TOO EASY!

I'm not a nervous person by nature. However, a lot was hinging on my firs test in August and I put too much pressure on myself and failed. Largely, I failed because of a lack of experience in the hospital (I am a paramedic). I made stupid mistakes that the LPN's mostly would not make. I would recommend finding some way of doing a mock PCS (which is the patient care scenario in the CPNE). I don't know if any companies offer this, but it could be set up relatively easily by someone who has been through the CPNE process. I would highly recommend that you do that, but if you can't. Use the video that Excelsior sends out showing the PCS (you have to buy it separately) and then visualize yourself going through each step. I wrote down EACH STEP on my PCS form (wash hands, introduce myself to patient, explain I's & O's, etc. -- were my first steps on each PCS. Don't fail for something stupid like I did the first time. This second time after watching the DVD and knowing what it was like and finally arranging a few hours of hospital time the week before, I walked in confident, cool and collected. I walked out having passed everything first time through with no retakes. That's the way to go because there isn't as much pressure if you haven't failed because you can fail and retake.

My two pennies: Don't stress too much about your nursing care plans. Just keep them simple. If you have comfort as an assigned area of care, choose "altered comfort" or "pain" for your patient so that many of your interventions will overlap. I passed my CPNE and I think that I used "risk for injury" for all 3 of my patients and for different reasons - a baby has altered perception, an old person is mobility impaired, and a person on pain meds is altered perception. AND you can use it as your priority on ANY patient because safety is most important. Keep it simple and easy. Be ready to analyze your patient and think about what diagnostic labels would be appropriate for them.... What is their diagnosis. What is wrong with them? What could go wrong with them? Basically everyone in the hospital is at risk for skin integrity, altered comfort and risk for injury. Many are in pain and a lot have breathing problems (ineffective gas exchange). Start with those and don't worry about ALL of them. When you write your nursing care plans on the CPNE write EXACTLY what it says in the book and don't deviate, no matter how silly it is. (I put impaired speech as a nursing diagnosis for a patient who was dysphasic following a stroke. One intervention in my Carpenito was to tell the patient to point at things rather than talk if they can't get the word out. Pretty simple intervention, but the instructor was a bit nonplussed and looked it up in my book to verify. There it was in black and white and I passed!)

My two pennies: Don't stress too much about your nursing care plans. Just keep them simple. If you have comfort as an assigned area of care, choose "altered comfort" or "pain" for your patient so that many of your interventions will overlap. I passed my CPNE and I think that I used "risk for injury" for all 3 of my patients and for different reasons - a baby has altered perception, an old person is mobility impaired, and a person on pain meds is altered perception. AND you can use it as your priority on ANY patient because safety is most important. Keep it simple and easy. Be ready to analyze your patient and think about what diagnostic labels would be appropriate for them.... What is their diagnosis. What is wrong with them? What could go wrong with them? Basically everyone in the hospital is at risk for skin integrity, altered comfort and risk for injury. Many are in pain and a lot have breathing problems (ineffective gas exchange). Start with those and don't worry about ALL of them. When you write your nursing care plans on the CPNE write EXACTLY what it says in the book and don't deviate, no matter how silly it is. (I put impaired speech as a nursing diagnosis for a patient who was dysphasic following a stroke. One intervention in my Carpenito was to tell the patient to point at things rather than talk if they can't get the word out. Pretty simple intervention, but the instructor was a bit nonplussed and looked it up in my book to verify. There it was in black and white and I passed!)

Don't stress too much about your nursing care plans. Just keep them simple. If you have comfort as an assigned area of care, choose "altered comfort" or "pain" for your patient so that many of your interventions will overlap. I passed my CPNE and I think that I used "risk for injury" for all 3 of my patients and for different reasons - a baby has altered perception, an old person is mobility impaired, and a person on pain meds is altered perception. AND you can use it as your priority on ANY patient because safety is most important.

The CPNE tests your ability to take the CPNE. It does not test your ability to be a nurse or anything else. Hence, I think that the workshop helped me tremendously. However, I come from a paramedic background, so it's totally different/new for me.

I agree. I liked Utica. Just a tip: if you want to stay cheap (like me) look up the Pine Crest Motel. It isn't great, but it is quiet and runs about $45/night. It's about 2 miles from the hospital.

Okay, so as a "good test taker" is it even necessary to study? I took my paramedic "boards" several months after our classroom study was done and never cracked a book and scored very high on it. It certainly does not have the 85% pass rate that the NCLEX does.

I'm thinking to do the same thing. I just finished my CPNE and would like to pursue my BSN. I wanted to do it right away, but have to finish the NCLEX first. Then, I think I will probably get enrolled in the BSN program and take the general education classes through local community colleges, which will be cheaper. Any suggestions to the contrary?

So, I passed the dreaded, high-pressure CPNE at Excelsior (for those curious, I went to Utica and found the hospital to be very poorly equipped, but the Excelsior CE's and CA's to be helpful and courteous. This was my second attempt (first one I had too much nerves and made stupid mistakes) and I passed everything the first time through with no retakes. Anyhow, the next step is getting my RN. So, the NCLEX.... I don't know anything about it or where to start. I'm thinking to do "Suzanne's Plan", but I need 15 posts first. Any other advice on where to start? I see terms like "prioritization" and I'm not exactly sure what they are even referring to....

Everyone is different. Just be aware of your strenghts and limitations and work on both to make yourself a successful RN.

Does anyone know if Arizona allows GN's to work prior to NCLEX?

In what state did you work as a GN?

Do they pay the same for GN's as for RN's? Do they require you to sign some sort of contract stating that you will work for them as an RN if/when you pass your test or can you just work as a GN and go elsewhere when you get your RN?