National Certification Exam Candidates

I'll jump in and ask the first question.

I have looked at the online practice test.  I haven't read through all of the questions, however at a glance, there seems to be quite a few medication questions.  As an elementary school nurse, the medications I administer can be very different from some of the medications a nurse at a high school may administer.  Any tips on review of medications???

The flash cards that were recommended earlier this week should be delivered by the time I get home this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to those.

Sharon Hughes, RN, BSN

Waccamaw Elementary School

1364 Waverly Road

Pawleys Island, SC  29585

Phone: 843.237.4233

Fax:     843.237.2015

"You cannot educate a child who is not healthy, and you cannot keep a child healthy who is not educated".-

Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Former U.S. Surgeon General

I hope some of the other NCSNs will jump in and contribute to this conversation.

Interesting observation, I looked at the practice test and noticed only 2 questions on medications (they are both within the first 10 questions).

Remember that medications that are administered in school are generally medications that are necessary for a student to be in school. I have worked at all levels and have not found that the medications administered in school are all that different from level to level.  You may find that some medication questions are less related to meds that are given in school, but more related to a specific condition such as Diabetes or seizures, you may not necessarily give the meds in school, but it is important to know about the meds related to side effects, expected actions, the consequence of missing a dose. Of course emergency medications given in school are important to be familiar with.

One of the most important things to remember when preparing for the exam is that it does encompass all age groups preK-12.  It is important to be familiar with prek, elementary, middle and high school.  The exam is global and you will or may find questions related to all age groups. If you are very familiar with one particular level, in your case elementary make sure that you prepare to answer questions related to other age groups.

Please let the list know what you think about the resource you ordered. I have discovered that with the Kindle editions of the resources you can get samples for free for some of them. I have not  had a chance to look at all the samples I downloaded but the ones I have looked at have basically dealt with general nursing information, there was not really anything related to school nursing so far. I will continue to look at these as time permits.

I'll jump in and ask the first question.

I have looked at the online practice test.  I haven't read through all of the questions, however at a glance, there seems to be quite a few medication questions.  As an elementary school nurse, the medications I administer can be very different from some of the medications a nurse at a high school may administer.  Any tips on review of medications???

The flash cards that were recommended earlier this week should be delivered by the time I get home this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to those.

Sharon Hughes, RN, BSN

Waccamaw Elementary School

1364 Waverly Road

Pawleys Island, SC  29585

Phone: 843.237.4233

Fax:     843.237.2015

"You cannot educate a child who is not healthy, and you cannot keep a child healthy who is not educated".-

Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Former U.S. Surgeon General

Heather, I am not sure I am understanding your question. The Practice exam on the NBCSN web site is directly related to school nursing and while obviously not the same questions that are on the exam, they are similar questions.  The blueprint is similar to the blue print on the actual exam meaning the domain percentages are similar.  The questions were written by subject matter experts, meaning school nurses.

I really have no information about any other practice exams or products because I don't know who writes them.  Most of them are produced by companies who produce test taking products for many specialties.

Hope this info is helpful.

Again, I can't say if something is beneficial to an individual person.  I don't know what Mountain AHEC is, although it seems I have heard something like that from NC. The practice test on the web site is 75 questions of a similar type of what would be on the exam.  If you feel you need more practice and what questions written specifically for school nursing you might find them helpful. If you feel you are comfortable with computerized questions and don't feel you need more practice it would be up to you. It won't give you a "score" as such, it will tell you which questions you got incorrect and what the correct answer, rationale and reference for those questions are.

That is really the best that I can tell you.