Starting EC- LVN to ADN

caliotter3 · Mar 3, 2007

Chancellors is a publishing company that creates study guides for tests for the EC program, but they have no official affiliation with EC as your statement might be interpreted. Read many of the lengthy threads on distance learning on this site before you make any decisions. You can take the Nursing Concepts 1 test prior to enrollment. I suggest you do this to get an idea how the tests are. Your LVN license should get you exemption from NC 2. Like many others, I highly suggest that you not waste any money on Rue, Chancellors, or TCN (The College Network). If you want any of their study materials, buy them for a fraction of the cost on ebay. There are many study groups for EC on Yahoo that have study materials in their files sections. Join some of them. Meanwhile, spend a lot of time on the EC website. Download the study guide for NC 1. Download the nursing school catalog. Evaluate your own transcripts to get an idea of what you will need to take. Take all classes and NC1 before you enroll, to save money. Then don't procrastinate. Every year you have to pay a fee to stay enrolled, and every year they send out a new list of fees. The fees increase every year. MAKE YOUR DECISION AND ENROLL BEFORE OCT 1 OF THIS YEAR. Otherwise you will come under new criteria. They are rearranging the written tests-adding one, taking away one credit hour from the others. They are adding a hands on component-head to toe physical assessment, as well as other criteria, like taking care of more than one pt. This is in addition to the regular CPNE, which is difficult and expensive enough. All of the new rules can be read about on the EC website. Also make sure that your state accepts EC. Don't be afraid to call the school and talk to one of their counselors over the phone if you have any ?s. Good luck.

chriso · Mar 3, 2007

Thanks for the advice, I will definetly research it a little more before I commit and buy books etc... I would still like anyone who has completed the CPNE to reply (thanks)!!!

coolvibesRN · Mar 3, 2007

I went through EC and finished all the concepts in less than a yr, while also working full-time and attending a community college full-time 12hr credits. I took the CPNE in Amarillo on Feb 2005. The CPNE was very very stressful, but i had great CEs.You have to memorize pneumonics. Try www.alittlesarcasm.com. People post their CPNE experiences there. Also try join some groups. Go to yahoo, then groups. Search for allexcelsior nurses, ADN-Excelsior, nursing through excelsior. Also make sure the state you are going to work in accepts excelsior grads for licensure.

And as for waiving nc 2, being an LVN doesn't automatically qualify you for the waiver. It depends which LVN school you graduated from, and if its accredited by i think it was NLN. TCN told me that i didn't need NC2 only to be told by EC that my school wasn't NLN accredited. Guess one way to make money.

Good luck.

Mudwoman · Mar 3, 2007

I'm taking the CPNE in 3 weeks and what I'm about to post I may have to eat my words after the test. I'm trying hard to keep this test in perspective!

The test is pass or fail. Approximately 1 out of every 3 that take the test fail it. Pass= No mistakes, so you get in your mind that the test is 100% pass or you fail. The test is "best practice" and by the book. As nurses, we tend to have bad habits and cut corners, and we still have scars from nursing school of that one teacher that caused us to almost go into cardiac arrest as soon as she came on the floor and if she watched us do something, we died a thousand times. We put the Examiners of this test in the same category.

BUT.......There are 4 simulation labs that you must pass. These are just like what we had to pass in nursing school to be checked off on certain skills before we could go to the floor and do the skill. You are given 2 chances to pass each simulation lab. You must pass 3 patient care assignments. One is for a pediatric patient and you have given 2 chances to pass this one. The other 2 are adult patients and you are given 3 chances to pass 2 adult patient care assignments. Each patient care assignment will have 2 required areas of care: vital signs and fluid management and 3-4 assigned areas of care from a list of 16 possible. Each of the areas of care have certain things you must do. These are also referred to as the "critical elements". Mneumonics is a way of memorizing the "critical elements" so that you can write down in a type of shorthand on the blank paper you are provided a list that you can refer to during the PCS (pt care assignment) so that you don't forget anything----including your name if necessary:uhoh21:

Areas that students tend to fail are:

Asepsis: Not washing hands, not wearing gloves when appropriate, putting dirty laundry on the floor, not setting up a sterile field properly.

Vital Signs. We all are bad about pumping up the BP cuff and you aren't sure you heard the first beat and so you stop and you pump it back up immediately. Fail. Best practice is that you only pump the cuff up 20-30 mls over the highest baseline systolic pressure (oh, did you remember to write down your baseline VS's?) and you don't pump the cuff up on the same arm for at least 2 minutes. So, in this test, if you don't think you heard correctly, you do the BP over in another arm immediately or you wait the required time and do it in the same arm.

Fluid management. Forgetting to count the water used to take medications as "intake" Forgetting to glove to check the IV site. Forgetting to put a note on the food tray so that it isn't taken away before you can count intake. Forgetting to count the normal saline used to flush the IV site as "intake".

Evaluation: One area asks for Patient's response and not what you implemented. Many a student does this wrong.

Critial elements: Forgetting an element and not referring to your grid to remind you. Not referring to your notes when you chart and forgetting to chart a critical element. If it isn't charted, you didn't do it.

Other: Not properly identifying the patient before doing a procedure---especially medications. Time management. The test is timed and you have certain things that must be done in a certain window of time. If you aren't paying attention and time runs out, you fail.

So, in 3 weeks, I have to go through this test and I hope I can keep my nerves in check and pass. I may come back and post that I failed this test. If I do fail, it will be my own fault for not staying focused and I will have done something really stupid and not just ONCE, but TWICE!----cause as you can see, you are allowed to do something stupid at least ONCE and still pass.

I'm sure others that have already passed this test, will have more info for you.

CLH87 · Mar 3, 2007

To Mudwoman:

GOOD LUCK! You sound like you've really prepared, so I'm sure you're going to do fine. Please let us know how you did.

I'm thinking of starting with Excelsior, and I just wanted to hear your opinion on the whole thing. I keep reading good and bad, and I've been burned by one school (local-online-LPN to ADN program) and I don't want this to happen again.

All I want is a good education to go with my ADN.

And seeing how you've almost finished, I would really like your opinion.

What do you think about buying books from Ebay? I'm afraid of having outdated material (my last school did that to us) and not being prepared.

Any tips you can give me on anything would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry to ask so many questions, especially seeing how busy you are. But, I'm really concerned about all the comments out there.

Thanks in advance!

Mudwoman · Mar 4, 2007

A lot of us on this board highly recommend Excelsior. Make sure that your state board of nursing recognizes it for licensure.

As far as books go.....I mostly used my nursing books that I had in LVN school back in 1993. I bought the Wong's pediatric text used off Ebay for less than $20 and I bought 2 of the books recommended for NC7 off Amazon used for $7 and $10. I also bought a book on cultural diversity in nursing for $15 I think. I got suckered into the College Network study guides, but they are way overpriced for what you get in my opinion. You can find these used also for a fraction of the price. You don't need to go out and spend a fortune on books. I used several NCLEX exam study guides. You don't have to have the newest editions either.