NCLEX Simplified

1 week old. First minute in the Pavlik harness. Above is my daughter Elena, pictured at the age of 1 week of age. She is wearing what is known as a Pavlik harness, a cruel-looking device that can be confusing to understand. I certainly never thought I would have to understand it beyond the basic nursing questions. I was more than a little wrong. Elena in her harness, meeting her great-grandmother for the first time. Note how her hips could fold in but that she could not stretch her legs out, nor kick to the side. As it turns out, Elena was doomed. She and I literally had all the risk factors. Let's count them together! 1. Firstborn child. Check! 2. Female child. Check! 3. Breech position. Check! 4. Low amniotic fluid. Check! 5. Family history of hip dysplasia. Check check check! When she was first born, I remember craning my neck around from where I was positioned on the table to look at her as she was taken to the isolette. The entire NICU team was...

Ah, yes. Everyone's favorite type of question. "Select All That Apply" Questions, also known as SATAs, are a great clue that you're getting close to passing your NCLEX. They are what's referred to as a higher level question. In other words, you won't even see them unless you've answered quite a few questions in a row correctly. SATAs may have anywhere from five to seven answers. Any answer from one selection to all of them could be correct. (Don't ever leave a SATA blank. After all, that's guaranteed to be the wrong answer.) So where do you begin? The double-thinking and second-guessing is enough to drive someone insane. Here are some basic principles to help you keep your cool: 1. Read the question and get to the crux of it. Sometimes, they can be long and filled with information you don't need anyway. Sometimes they are! Either way, figure out what the question is really asking. 2. Once you read the question, come up with your own an...

The NCLEX stands for the National Council Licensure Examination and it is the only test that, once passed, allows the practice of a nurse. There are two versions of the NCLEX: PN, for associate-degree nurses (though this becomes rarer and rarer) and the RN, for bachelor-degree nurses. Either one is the most difficult test of any nurse's life. The test ranges anywhere from 75 to 265 questions. The length is based on how well the student answers the questions. If she gets a question right, she will be presented with a similar or more difficult question. If she gets a question wrong, she will be presented with a similar or easier question. Somewhere in between is a pass-fail line that the student must stay above in order to pass the exam. Important things to note about the NCLEX: There is a total time limit of six hours in order to complete the exam. Out of the first 75 questions, 15 of them do not count. These are considered trial questions that the exam writers are con...