Post by Admin on Jun 21, 2015 3:49:57 GMT
Here is another test experience from my past files.....
Good morning group! I would just like to say "What a feeling!" I went to Syracuse, NY this weekend to St. Joseph's and SUNY Upstate. Two pretty large facilities. I stayed at the Genesee Grande (recommended by Excelsior). The staff were great and very supportive of the students who came for the weekend to stay. The doorman would even check on your progress each and every day you returned.
Day 1: The labs are pretty much exactly what we were told they would be. You have plenty of time to get through them. Wound was a bit tricky. My tape peeled up on the one end once I was completed and the CE called the CA over and just as she was heading over to us I noticed it and pushed it back down and she stated to the CA when she got over to us, "Nevermind, she just fixed the error." WOOHOO! Otherwise it would appear that I would have failed that station. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS! My IVP station was easy 4ml over 1 min. I feel the greater the volume of dose, I was better able to control the syringe. They do push hard at first but then they practically want to push themselves, so be careful there and have good grasp of it. I had IM injection for IM/SQ station. Was very easy! IVPB station I had to have 17 gtts/min and ended up getting 13 when the CA counted with me. Was a bit hairraising toward the last 15 sec.!!! It seemed to act like it had slowed down and I was not going to get the + or - 5 gtts/min. They were very fair! AND...our group of instructors definitely gave the impression that they wanted us to pass!!!
There were 6 in our group. I believe 4 passed total. Hard to tell because you all get done at different times.
Day 2: My first pt was a 60+ yr old with diverticulitis and had ileostomy done 1 day prior to. I was assigned fld mgmt, v.s., I&O, mobility, PVA lower extrem., comfort measures, oxygen mgmt. For careplan, Impaired Comfort r/t tissue trauma AEB facial grimacing with movement. Pt will relate effective relief during PCS after comfort measures provided. Interventions: Assist pt to wash face and hands. Reposition up to edge of bed to dangle (ordered under mobility). Risk for injury r/t unfamiliar surroundings and unfamiliar equip. (SCD's and TEDS, JP drains, IV is why I picked this). Pt will remain injury free during PCS. Interventions: SR's up x 2 while in bed. Bed in lowest position. ACCEPTED without problem. The only area during this PCS that caused me frustration was the time factor because she got her first tray and was not feeling well and was taking her time and I had nothing that I could do other than her 20 min checks because she wanted to work on her tray. It was very hard to get her moving and the time was getting away from me. I did end up finishing with 15 min. to spare. Be very careful with your V.S. There was a discrepancy with my diastolic # and the CA was consulted and I was told that I would need to repeat another on the next pt instead of using the automatic cuffs. So the V.S. are tricky because it is a interpretation on their part and yours. It is very subjective! Depends on how picky they want to be.
My next pt was an 89 yr old, fell and broke RT hip and was waiting to go to surgery. She was so cute!!! Just had Morphine before I took over her care and she was "high" and was very cooperative with everything. I had V.S., mobility (bedrest, T&R upper 1/2 of body if able), I&O (but NPO and foley was not assigned), PVA to lower extrem., comfort mgmt, Resp. assess.
Care plan essentially same as above d/t emphasis on comfort measure written in by CE. ACCEPTED without any problem. V.S. done and no problems with readings received (meaning manual BP). Care done and complete. Had 1 hr and 10 min to spare of the PCS. Was a nice case!! Got back to hotel at 12:00. Nerves are definitely BIGGEST factor! I was a wreck all weekend and my husband was the GREATEST!!! I could not imagine going without a support person. I think I ate maybe one full meal from Thur-Sunday.
Day 3: We had to go to SUNY Upstate for PEDS cases. There were only 5 of us that reported to cafeteria that a.m. (By the way 2 of the 6 of us were 2nd timers). Anyway, there was not enough PEDS cases for all so LUCKILY I got another adult and I received a 61 yr old that had RT TKR 5 days ago and developed an ileus and had N/G down to LCS. Pretty familiar with that coming from pretty much all Med-Surg background so was elated to say the least! Areas assigned, V.S., I&O (pt had IV,NPO and using urinal), mobility (get pt OOB), PVA lower extrem, abd. assess, and meds assigned (Tylenol PRN), pain mgmt and offer prn pain meds. Pt was great!!! Careplan: Acute pain r/t right knee incision aeb facial grimacing with movement of Right lower extremity. Pt will report pain level less than 3 on scale of 0-10 during PCS. Interventions: Offer prn pain med. Give pt a backrub. Risk for injury r/t decreased movement of right lower extrem. Pt will remain injury free during PCS. Interventions: Assist with all OOB activities. Bed in lowest position. ACCEPTED! Did all the assigned areas of care and eval done with an hour to spare. Pt did not require any pain med. So I did not have to give down N/G or anything like that. This CE was so helpful too. She helped with T&R and getting all the necessary equip. to do his care. GREAT BUNCH of CE's, and CA was awesome too!!!
So all in all....through all the stress and worrying it is definitley DOABLE. BUT the main key to passing is knowing those critical elements!!! You cannot skip one thing! If you know your stuff and they see that, they will do everything to see that you make it through! Believe in yourself and pray too. I am not really all that religious but I know God was with me this weekend. And special thanks to Donna who just graduated this past month too. You were wonderful to me this past month!!! Hope this helps all of you fellow CPNE'ers.
The greatest feeling in the world was when they took me to the conference room after and hugged you and told you what a great RN you will be and that they knew from the start, who knew their stuff and brought it and who DIDN'T. April, GN
Good morning group! I would just like to say "What a feeling!" I went to Syracuse, NY this weekend to St. Joseph's and SUNY Upstate. Two pretty large facilities. I stayed at the Genesee Grande (recommended by Excelsior). The staff were great and very supportive of the students who came for the weekend to stay. The doorman would even check on your progress each and every day you returned.
Day 1: The labs are pretty much exactly what we were told they would be. You have plenty of time to get through them. Wound was a bit tricky. My tape peeled up on the one end once I was completed and the CE called the CA over and just as she was heading over to us I noticed it and pushed it back down and she stated to the CA when she got over to us, "Nevermind, she just fixed the error." WOOHOO! Otherwise it would appear that I would have failed that station. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS! My IVP station was easy 4ml over 1 min. I feel the greater the volume of dose, I was better able to control the syringe. They do push hard at first but then they practically want to push themselves, so be careful there and have good grasp of it. I had IM injection for IM/SQ station. Was very easy! IVPB station I had to have 17 gtts/min and ended up getting 13 when the CA counted with me. Was a bit hairraising toward the last 15 sec.!!! It seemed to act like it had slowed down and I was not going to get the + or - 5 gtts/min. They were very fair! AND...our group of instructors definitely gave the impression that they wanted us to pass!!!
There were 6 in our group. I believe 4 passed total. Hard to tell because you all get done at different times.
Day 2: My first pt was a 60+ yr old with diverticulitis and had ileostomy done 1 day prior to. I was assigned fld mgmt, v.s., I&O, mobility, PVA lower extrem., comfort measures, oxygen mgmt. For careplan, Impaired Comfort r/t tissue trauma AEB facial grimacing with movement. Pt will relate effective relief during PCS after comfort measures provided. Interventions: Assist pt to wash face and hands. Reposition up to edge of bed to dangle (ordered under mobility). Risk for injury r/t unfamiliar surroundings and unfamiliar equip. (SCD's and TEDS, JP drains, IV is why I picked this). Pt will remain injury free during PCS. Interventions: SR's up x 2 while in bed. Bed in lowest position. ACCEPTED without problem. The only area during this PCS that caused me frustration was the time factor because she got her first tray and was not feeling well and was taking her time and I had nothing that I could do other than her 20 min checks because she wanted to work on her tray. It was very hard to get her moving and the time was getting away from me. I did end up finishing with 15 min. to spare. Be very careful with your V.S. There was a discrepancy with my diastolic # and the CA was consulted and I was told that I would need to repeat another on the next pt instead of using the automatic cuffs. So the V.S. are tricky because it is a interpretation on their part and yours. It is very subjective! Depends on how picky they want to be.
My next pt was an 89 yr old, fell and broke RT hip and was waiting to go to surgery. She was so cute!!! Just had Morphine before I took over her care and she was "high" and was very cooperative with everything. I had V.S., mobility (bedrest, T&R upper 1/2 of body if able), I&O (but NPO and foley was not assigned), PVA to lower extrem., comfort mgmt, Resp. assess.
Care plan essentially same as above d/t emphasis on comfort measure written in by CE. ACCEPTED without any problem. V.S. done and no problems with readings received (meaning manual BP). Care done and complete. Had 1 hr and 10 min to spare of the PCS. Was a nice case!! Got back to hotel at 12:00. Nerves are definitely BIGGEST factor! I was a wreck all weekend and my husband was the GREATEST!!! I could not imagine going without a support person. I think I ate maybe one full meal from Thur-Sunday.
Day 3: We had to go to SUNY Upstate for PEDS cases. There were only 5 of us that reported to cafeteria that a.m. (By the way 2 of the 6 of us were 2nd timers). Anyway, there was not enough PEDS cases for all so LUCKILY I got another adult and I received a 61 yr old that had RT TKR 5 days ago and developed an ileus and had N/G down to LCS. Pretty familiar with that coming from pretty much all Med-Surg background so was elated to say the least! Areas assigned, V.S., I&O (pt had IV,NPO and using urinal), mobility (get pt OOB), PVA lower extrem, abd. assess, and meds assigned (Tylenol PRN), pain mgmt and offer prn pain meds. Pt was great!!! Careplan: Acute pain r/t right knee incision aeb facial grimacing with movement of Right lower extremity. Pt will report pain level less than 3 on scale of 0-10 during PCS. Interventions: Offer prn pain med. Give pt a backrub. Risk for injury r/t decreased movement of right lower extrem. Pt will remain injury free during PCS. Interventions: Assist with all OOB activities. Bed in lowest position. ACCEPTED! Did all the assigned areas of care and eval done with an hour to spare. Pt did not require any pain med. So I did not have to give down N/G or anything like that. This CE was so helpful too. She helped with T&R and getting all the necessary equip. to do his care. GREAT BUNCH of CE's, and CA was awesome too!!!
So all in all....through all the stress and worrying it is definitley DOABLE. BUT the main key to passing is knowing those critical elements!!! You cannot skip one thing! If you know your stuff and they see that, they will do everything to see that you make it through! Believe in yourself and pray too. I am not really all that religious but I know God was with me this weekend. And special thanks to Donna who just graduated this past month too. You were wonderful to me this past month!!! Hope this helps all of you fellow CPNE'ers.
The greatest feeling in the world was when they took me to the conference room after and hugged you and told you what a great RN you will be and that they knew from the start, who knew their stuff and brought it and who DIDN'T. April, GN