Studying for RNC-NIC

Specialties NICU

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Specializes in NICU.

Hi all, I was interested in taking the RNC-NIC certification and was wondering if any of you used the NICU Solutions Review book to prep for the exam? Unfortunately, I'm unable to attend any of the review courses and would love to purchase the book and study at home. I read through the Merenstein & Gardner book for my CCRN and it was really dense (I cannot read through that again)

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Specializes in NICU.

I am scheduled (Coronavirus permitting) for a 2 day review class at the end of April with the test given the day after the course.

https://www.proedcenter.com/2020-nicu-comprehensive-review/

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On 3/19/2020 at 7:05 PM, Thenewnicunurse said:

Hi all, I was interested in taking the RNC-NIC certification and was wondering if any of you used the NICU Solutions Review book to prep for the exam?

I love that book. I actually took her in-person class before my exams, and she's amazing.

I don't have the book with me right now (it's at my parents' house), but I think it was a mixture of bullet points and actual narrative text.

The only area where I think the book is possibly lacking is in the cardiac section. For 95% of the of the class she lectured straight from the book, but during the cardiac section she lectured from a bunch of handouts instead. She had printouts of each of the cardiac defects (just the picture, no text), and we talked through the direction of flow. There is an actual cardiac section in her book with text about the defects, but I don't think it had any of the visuals.

I would recommend studying from her book, but possibly supplementing for the cardiac section (either with Merenstein and Gardner or perhaps with the STABLE cardiac book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stable-cardiac-module-kristine-a-karlsen/1114149125). Even with her review class, I still reread the Merenstein and Gardner cardiac chapter, although her lecture helped it make more sense.

AWHONN also has a great review book you could check out: https://www.amazon.com/Curriculum-Neonatal-Intensive-Nursing-AWHONN/dp/032322590X/

Kudos to you for slogging all the way through Merenstein and Gardner. That is commitment. I tried it once and only made it to Chapter 4.

You mentioned that you've taken the CCRN. I took both the RNC and the CCRN within a couple of months of one another. Honestly, I found the RNC to be a bit easier. They both have the same level of content difficulty, but the CCRN questions were poorly framed and much more ambiguous IMO. In the RNC, it's way easier to tell what they're getting at.

Best of luck!

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Specializes in NICU.

Thank you all so much for responding to this thread! I really wanted to self study so I think I will go ahead and grab the NICU Solutions book and supplement with the STABLE cardiac module. I will let you know how it goes!

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On 3/26/2020 at 1:18 AM, Thenewnicunurse said:

Thank you all so much for responding to this thread! I really wanted to self study so I think I will go ahead and grab the NICU Solutions book and supplement with the STABLE cardiac module. I will let you know how it goes!

Sounds great.

If you have any cardiac-specific questions, I took a brief sojourn from the NICU to work in a peds cardiac unit, so I'm always happy to answer questions. You might also find this exchange helpful (it includes some fundamental principles for all of the cardiac defects):

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