Written test before being hired?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have been curious about this for a long time:

Did you have to take a written test before you were hired? If yes, what type of questions were on it? (Like: dosage calculations, various disease knowledge questions, etc. or ??) Also, if you did have to take a test, was it specific to the job you were applying for or more general nursing knowledge stuff?

Thanks :redbeathe

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

The tests I have taken were usually drug calculation and pharmacology questions; IV drip rates, conversions, insulin questions, and the most common medications. An agency I went to had a on line exam that was sort of like a watered down NCLEX-not hard at all, but you did have to think a minute. Sometimes, it is abbreviations, and yes, sometimes, it may be an exam that relates to where you will be hired. I have had psych and med-surg tests. A small NCLEX book and reviewing dosage calculations was enough for me.

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I too have been ask to take test before hiring. I guess they want to see if you are capable of caring for your patients??? I have work home health in the past and the agency would ask about charting, emergency situations, abbreviations, etc. I even had to do 3 skills in front of them the CORRECT way....

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

When I got hired into SICU, I had to take a critical care test and a dosage calc test before I could officially complete my orientation. It's not uncommon, depending on where you work.

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Specializes in NICU.

I had to take several different ones, at different points in the hiring process.

The first set were general knowledge, computer skills and one of those personality assessment things. The second were RN specific about safety, HIPAA, and laws regarding delegation. The third were unit specific at the end of orientation, and covered P/P as well as chain of command issues and pharm stuff.

None of them were what I would call "hard," but it did scare the pants off of me to have to take them! :no:

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

I had to take a pharm, math, and basic nursing test prior to being hired. It was pretty basic stuff and not that difficult at all. The pharm questions were mostly related to critical medications. The math was dosages/drip rates/etc. The basic nursing was just common sense stuff

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What agencies don't require written & skills tests before hiring?

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