Sent in my CPNE application...now what?

[LaxNP, DNP]

So it has finally been sent in.I need to get this done with ASAP. I have decided to spend the extra money for travel and attempt to get a cancellation date anywhere, at any site, at any time. Is there anyone out there that can tell me what the quickest time was for a cancellation date was. I called EC and talked to someone about this but thy were very vague about it. Also, I an on my second way through the study guide. I have been reading it cover to cover. I finished most(3 of 4 semesters) of my traditional RN program and I am also an LPN. The assessment stuff I am very comfortable with and the careplans I can wipe out at a drop of a hat. I think for me, the hardest things is to learn to play thier game and adapt my skills to thier way. Is anyone else fell like this. I could really use some guidence on both of these things. I printed some mnuemonics from the yahoo groups and most of it I already know by heart and have been tested on.

[evenanne]

I know just what you are feeling now. I sent in my application on March 3, 2006 and was testing by June 26th, 2006. That's pretty quick for the CPNE (at least at that time). What I did was accept a Tues, Wed, Thurs CPNE which they sometimes have instead of the weekend CPNEs which are always packed. I tested at Racine. Small hospital, CE's are OK. Passed with no repeats. TIP: If you bomb on your vitals (manual BP) like I did, act like you don't know what their talking about and ask that the head CE re-take the vitals with you. You get another try. Remember: it's worth it. After the CPNE, the NCLEX was a complete joke (that's how easy it was for me: 25 minutes, 75 ridiculously easy questions). I work now as a work-at-home disease mgmt nurse and I'm going to school for my BSN. Being an RN really opens up a whole new world of opportunities.

[Mudwoman]

Take some of the practice PCS's and write out, think about how you would organize your care for that patient. Do a couple of "mock" PCS's and time yourself. Make sure that you have a grasp of the time element. Since you are really competent on the care plans, make sure that you understand the evaluation phase and know the critical elements of the documentation phase. There are critical elements for the areas of care and there are critical elements on the documentation. They are not necessarily the same. The evaluation phase is a high failure area. So are the vital signs and ID the patient. Simple, but you would be surprised.

Good luck. It is an incredible feeling to be able to write out RN after your name.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Good luck, BigKenny!

[LaxNP, DNP]

Mudwomen: you said there are critical elements for the AOC and also for the documentation. My plan for the documentation was to follow the critical elements for the AOC and chart on every step. Is that what you mean? My thinking is this will eliminate any missed topics in my documentation. Does this sound right?

[Mudwoman]

Mudwomen: you said there are critical elements for the AOC and also for the documentation. My plan for the documentation was to follow the critical elements for the AOC and chart on every step. Is that what you mean? My thinking is this will eliminate any missed topics in my documentation. Does this sound right?

NOPE. That isn't what I meant. The study guide says "records, blah, blah, blah. They mean that. You are to ONLY document what they ask for. Document more or document less and it is a fail. Learned that at the EC workshop.

Also, note the first critical element of every AOC. "complies with established guidelines". They mean that every skill is to be performed exactly as it is taught in the recommended skills book. This is best practice, not real world. For instance if you pump the blood pressure cuff up more than 30 above their top baseline, you will fail. If you have to do a linen change, you must change gloves between touching the dirty linen and the clean linen----every time.

Be sure that your care plan is worded correctly. That your interventions are the critical elements that you are assigned. That your goals can be accomplished and measured during the PCS. Watch the area of the evaluation when it asks the Patient response. Be sure that your priority NCP relates to Maslow's Hierarchy/physiological need. Be sure that your last sentence has "would prolong healing and cause the patient prolonged hospitalization".