Exam (elaborations) NCLEX-RN NCLEX-RN For Dummies with Online Practice Tests, ISBN: 9781119692805

Exam (elaborations) NCLEX-RN NCLEX-RN For Dummies with Online Practice Tests, ISBN: 2805 Contents at a Glance Introduction. 1 Part 1: Demystifying the Complexity of the NCLEX-RN. 5 CHAPTER 1: Meet the NCLEX-RN: Your Ticket to Getting a License . 7 CHAPTER 2: Preparing for T-Day: Paperwork and Whatnot. 17 CHAPTER 3: The NCLEX-RN Blueprint . 25 CHAPTER 4: Buffing Up: Study Tips and Test-Taking Strategies. 43 Part 2: Testing Your Knowledge of Client Needs. 71 CHAPTER 5: Management of Care. 73 CHAPTER 6: Safety and Infection Control. 89 CHAPTER 7: Health Promotion and Maintenance. 107 CHAPTER 8: Psychosocial Integrity. 121 CHAPTER 9: Basic Care and Comfort. 133 CHAPTER 10: Meditating on Meds: Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies. 153 CHAPTER 11: Reduction of Risk. 173 CHAPTER 12: Physiological Adaptation. 195 Part 3: Just What You Were Looking For: A Full-Length Practice Test. 213 CHAPTER 13: A Story of Blood, Chills, and Pain: A Practice NCLEX-RN. 215 CHAPTER 14: The Answers to All Your Questions (and Explanations to Boot). 257 Part 4: The Part of Tens. 287 CHAPTER 15: Ten Myths about the NCLEX-RN. 289 CHAPTER 16: Ten Common Phrases Found in NCLEX-RN Questions. 293 CHAPTER 17: Ten Rules to Remember When Prepping for the NCLEX-RN. 301 Part 5: Appendixes. 307 APPENDIX A: Additional Info about Exam and Licensing Logistics. 309 APPENDIX B: Information for International Nurses Moving to the United States. 337 APPENDIX C: Glossary of Nursing Terms . 351 Index. 371 Table of Contents ix Table of Contents INTRODUCTION. 1 About This Book. 1 Foolish Assumptions. 2 Icons Used in This Book. 2 Beyond the Book. 3 Where to Go from Here . 3 PART 1: DEMYSTIFYING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE NCLEX-RN. 5 CHAPTER 1: Meet the NCLEX-RN: Your Ticket to Getting a License. 7 The Big Deal behind the Big Exam . 7 You Must Remember This: Nursing Basics to Know by Heart . 8 The NCLEX-RN — Not Your Average CAT Scan!. 9 Thinking the NCLEX-RN Way . 10 Getting to the root of the question. 10 Navigating the grand inquisition, or the integrated exam . 11 Avoiding test-taking missteps . 12 Finding the real question behind the long scenario. 13 Keeping your cool when answering select-all-that-apply questions. 13 When All Is Said and Done. 14 Hey, nurse? Yeah, you! . 14 So, you failed — it’s not the end of the world. 14 CHAPTER 2: Preparing for T-Day: Paperwork and Whatnot. 17 How Long Should I Wait after I Graduate? Deciding When to Test . 17 Applying to Take the NCLEX-RN. 18 Completing the application process. 18 Paying your dues. 19 Hitting a bump: Potential problems with the licensure application. 19 Scheduling the Time and Place. 21 Planning Ahead for the Big Day. 22 Help, My Car Won’t Start! Rescheduling the Test. 24 CHAPTER 3: The NCLEX-RN Blueprint. 25 Considering the Four Main Categories of Client Needs. 25 Client need #1: Safe and effective care environment . 26 Client need #2: Health promotion and maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Client need #3: Psychosocial integrity . 28 Client need #4: Physiological integrity. 30 Queuing Up Question Types . 32 Putting knowledge into action: Application questions. 33 Becoming an assessor: Evaluation questions. 34 Slipping into Sherlock’s shoes: Analysis questions. 34 Getting creative: Synthesizing and creating questions . 35 Exercising individuality: Alternate test questions. 35 CHAPTER 4: Buffing Up: Study Tips and Test-Taking Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Setting Up an NCLEX-RN Study Schedule. 44 Identifying Your Weak Points and Hitting the Books. 45 Remembering Dear Maslow and His Needs. 47 x NCLEX-RN For Dummies, 2nd Edition with Online Practice Applying the Nursing Process in Test Questions . 48 Assessing the situation. 49 Analyzing the situation. 51 Planning your actions. 52 Implementing care . 54 Evaluating your actions. 55 Dissecting the Questions and Finding Keywords. 57 Pinpointing the keywords. 58 Putting the keywords in context. 59 Developing Critical-Thinking Strategies. 60 Knowing the expected outcomes. 60 Finding the elusive question topic . 61 Making an educated guess. 62 Picking the best answer when you’re completely clueless . 62 Knowing how to prioritize when all the answers are right . 64 Avoiding Test Question Pitfalls . 67 Don’t read into the question . 67 Read the whole question and reword it. 68 Eliminate wrong answers. 68 Try not to predict answers. 69 PART 2: TESTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF CLIENT NEEDS. 71 CHAPTER 5: Management of Care. 73 First Things First: Knowing Your Patient’s Rights . 73 You must heed prearranged treatment options. 74 All lips must remain sealed . 75 Information and technology changes. 76 Nothing happens without informed consent . 76 Ethical decisions don’t require your opinion. 77 Rallying the Troops: Managing Care. 78 Assuring the quality of patient care . 78 Prioritizing when your hands are full: Group care. 79 Tailoring care for each patient: Case management. 80 Collaborating with other medical team members. 81 Getting others to lend a hand: Delegation. 82 Recognizing Legal Rights and Nursing Responsibilities. 84 Knowing Where to Get the Support You Need. 86 Keeping up with education and training . 86 Expecting adequate supervision. 87 Making referrals. 88 CHAPTER 6: Safety and Infection Control. 89 Preventing Accidents and Injuries. 89 Using electrical equipment safely. 90 Keeping clients from falling. 91 Disaster Planning and Emergency Response . 92 Sounding the alarm: When fires break out. 93 Responding to terrorism or bioterrorism . 95 Keeping Infectious Bugs at Bay. 95 Maintaining medical and surgical purity . 95 Differentiating among the types of infection precautions . 97 Handling hazardous and infectious materials. 100 Table of Contents xi Keeping Clients Down in a Way That Lifts Them Up. 101 Accidents Happen: Knowing the Next Steps and Preparing an Incident Report. 103 Code Pink: Understanding the Protocol for Infant Abduction . 104 CHAPTER 7: Health Promotion and Maintenance. 107 Surveying the Stages of Growth and Development. 107 For children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 For normal pregnancy and the birth of newborns. 110 For older adults. 111 To Your Clients’ Health! Promoting Well-Being. 111 Creating and Implementing Care Plans. 112 Assessing your patient’s physical condition. 112 Teaching patients from the moment of introduction . 114 Understanding and explaining screening tests. 116 Handling High-Risk Behavior and Alternate Lifestyle Choices . 117 Preparing Patients to Leave Your Care. 118 Helping patients take care of themselves. 118 Embracing the family system. 118 CHAPTER 8: Psychosocial Integrity. 121 Looking beyond the Surface: Factors That Influence Behavior . 121 Behavioral basics: Important development theories. 122 The spice of life: Cultural and family diversity. 123 Coping, Counseling, and Crisis Intervention. 124 Dealing with defense mechanisms. 125 Talking through troubles . 126 Teaching stress management. 128 Helping Patients through Grief and Loss. 129 Caring for Patients with Abuse Issues . 130 Recognizing different types of abuse. 130 Identifying stages of substance abuse. 131 CHAPTER 9: Basic Care and Comfort. 133 Giving Patients First What They Need Most. 133 Ensuring Adequate Nutrition and Hydration. 134 Identifying the building blocks of nutrition. 135 Modifying your patient’s diet. 135 Recognizing malnutrition. 136 Administering tube feedings. 138 Hydrating your patient. 138 Resting Easy, Sleeping Soundly. 139 Keeping ’em Clean: Personal Hygiene . 140 Understanding the Process of Elimination . 142 Measuring your patient’s urinary health. 142 Keeping bowels healthy. 144 Wading through Irrigations . 145 Providing Holistic Care with Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 147 Decreasing Pain without Pills. 148 Helping Patients Get Around (and What to Do if They Can’t). 149 Training patients to use crutches, walkers, and canes. 149 Avoiding complications from immobility. 150 xii NCLEX-RN For Dummies, 2nd Edition with Online Practice CHAPTER 10: Meditating on Meds: Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies. 153 Remembering the Factors You Must Verify before Giving Meds. 153 Medicating Patients Safely. 155 Assessing before medicating. 155 Calculating dosages. 156 Recognizing the effects of meds. 159 Answering questions about unfamiliar meds. 161 Using Medicine to Manage Pain . 162 Giving Meds and More with a Stick and a Poke: Parenteral Therapy . 165 Solving the puzzle of solutions . 165 Providing med therapy all in vein. 168 Hanging blood and blood products . 169 CHAPTER 11: Reduction of Risk. 173 Interpreting Lab Results without a Hitch. 173 Separating the oozing red stuff. 174 Looking closely at immunity defenders. 178 Examining pee (ha-ha) . 179 Recognizing the Main Diagnostic Assessments . 180 The daily routine: Checking vital signs. 180 Respiratory tests. 181 Cardiovascular tests . 183 Gastrointestinal tests . 184 Musculoskeletal tests. 184 Neurological tests. 184 Being Ready for the Bumps: Complications with Testing and Treating. 185 Taking stock of diagnostic risks. 186 Preventing postsurgical complications. 186 Taking a Load Off: Therapeutic Procedures and Diagnostic Tests. 190 Administering Conscious Sedation Safely. 193 CHAPTER 12: Physiological Adaptation. 195 Understanding What’s Normal So You Know What Isn’t. 195 The water of life: Accounting for fluid . 196 Getting the right pH: The key to acid-base balance. 198 Keeping an eye on respiratory health — the sum of water and pH. 199 Monitoring hemodynamics. 201 Anticipating the Results of Imbalance . 202 Knowing what to do when the body systems are out of whack. 202 Looking down the road to infection. 204 Pathophysiology: Recognizing and Managing Illness and Disease . 205 Houston, we have a problem: Focusing on microsystems . 206 Doing damage control of the medical kind. 208 Taking a Patient for Tests and Therapy. 208 Facing an MRI, the hot potato of medical tests. 209 Handling therapies, from dialysis to radiation . 209 Table of Contents xiii PART 3: JUST WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR: A FULL-LENGTH PRACTICE TEST. 213 CHAPTER 13: A Story of Blood, Chills, and Pain: A Practice NCLEX-RN. 215 CHAPTER 14: The Answers to All Your Questions (and Explanations to Boot). 257 Answers and Explanations. 258 Answer Key. 284 PART 4: THE PART OF TENS. 287 CHAPTER 15: Ten Myths about the NCLEX-RN. 289 Length Matters. 289 Every Question Counts. 290 Computer Savvy Is Essential . 290 You Can’t Stop ’til You’re Done. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .290 The Test Plays Off Your Weakness. 290 You Have to Wait Eons to Retake a Failed Test. 291 Your First Instinct Is Probably Wrong. 291 The Same Question Popped Up Twice. 292 Your Test Schedule Chooses You . 292 Choice (3) Is the Magic Answer, and Other Multiple-Choice Fails. 292 CHAPTER 16: Ten Common Phrases Found in NCLEX-RN Questions. 293 Assessment and Priority. 293 Diagnosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 Planning and Assigning Care. 295 The Teaching Plan. 296 Outcomes and Goals. 296 Best Response. 297 Priority Action. 298 Interventions . 298 Further Teaching. 299 CHAPTER 17: Ten Rules to Remember When Prepping for the NCLEX-RN. 301 Read Each Question in Its Entirety . 301 Don’t Read into the Question . 302 Answer Questions with the Ideal Situation in Mind. 302 Avoid Changing Your Answers. 302 Don’t Call the Doctor until You’re Sure You Need To. 303 Avoid Answers That Make You Choose All or Nothing. 303 Don’t Memorize Facts, Questions, or Other Useless Trivia. 303 Don’t Think You Can Be Ready without Hard Work. 304 Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses. 304 Be Kind to Yourself . 305 xiv NCLEX-RN For Dummies, 2nd Edition with Online Practice PART 5: APPENDIXES. 307 APPENDIX A: Additional Info about Exam and Licensing Logistics. 309 Identifying Individual State and Territory Licensing Requirements. 310 Testing and Licensing Information Arranged by State and U.S. Territory. 310 Alabama . 311 Alaska . 311 American Samoa. 312 Arizona . 312 Arkansas. 312 California. 313 Colorado. 313 Connecticut. 314 Delaware. 314 District of Columbia. 315 Florida. 315 Georgia. 316 Guam. 316 Hawaii. 316 Idaho. 317 Illinois . 317 Indiana . 318 Iowa. 318 Kansas. 319 Kentucky. 319 Louisiana. 320 Maine. 320 Maryland. 321 Massachusetts. 321 Michigan. 322 Minnesota. 322 Mississippi. 322 Missouri. 323 Montana. 323 Nebraska. 324 Nevada . 324 New Hampshire. 325 New Jersey . 325 New Mexico . 326 New York. 326 North Carolina. 327 North Dakota. 327 Northern Mariana Islands . 328 Ohio. 328 Oklahoma. 328 Oregon . 329 Pennsylvania. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329 Puerto Rico. 330 Rhode Island. 330 South Carolina. 330 South Dakota. 331 Tennessee. 331 Texas. 332 U.S. Virgin Islands . 333 Table of Contents xv Utah. 333 Vermont . 333 Virginia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .334 Washington. 334 West Virginia. 335 Wisconsin. 335 Wyoming. 336 APPENDIX B: Information for International Nurses Moving to the United States. 337 Following the Two-Step Process for Becoming Eligible to Take the NCLEX-RN. 338 Getting a VisaScreen certificate. 338 Securing a CGFNS certificate. 338 Getting the NCLEX-RN go-ahead without a certificate. 340 Taking the NCLEX-RN Abroad . 340 Navigating Nursing Roles in the U.S. . 342 Forming partnerships with clients . 342 Teaching and instructing . 342 Providing care . 343 Working with other professionals. 343 Getting Accustomed to U.S. Cultural Values. 343 Communicating Therapeutically. 344 Practicing therapeutic communication . 344 Steering clear of nontherapeutic techniques . 345 Applying U.S. Nursing Know-How to the NCLEX-RN. 347 APPENDIX C: Glossary of Nursing Terms. 351 INDEX. 371 Introduction 1 Introduction Welcome to NCLEX-RN For Dummies. Don’t worry, you’re definitely not dumb for picking up this book. Like millions of other future nurses worldwide, you want straightforward advice and information without having to carry around 4,000-question test prep books. Trust me, you don’t want to tackle the NCLEX-RN without understanding how the test is put together and what it’s really all about. The NCLEX-RN is one important test. Clearly, you need a readable, concise, structured resource to help you tackle the exam. You’ve come to the right place. NCLEX-RN For Dummies puts everything you need to know to conquer the exam at your fingertips. I give you a complete review of concepts covered on the test and provide insight on how to avoid the pitfalls that the test developers have designed to test your knowledge. And I do all this in an enjoyable, easy-tounderstand way. I take NCLEX-RN test prep one step farther by guiding you through some of the more difficult areas of the exam and sharing techniques for answering questions when you don’t know the answers. I even cover what you need to do throughout the exam process, from registration to test day, and how you become licensed in a state of your choice in the United States or its territories. I also share information about compact or multistate nursing licensing. If you’re coming from an international school to practice nursing in the United States, I tell you what you need to do, too. You may have heard horror stories about the NCLEX-RN, perhaps about how you have to take it on a computer or how the questions get more difficult as you go along. Yes, the NCLEX-RN is no walk in the park, but it’s not the hardest test you’re ever going to take. The NCLEX-RN measures minimal competency and your clinical judgment, and the fact that you’ve graduated from nursing school is an indication that you’ve attained minimal knowledge competency already. From there, the NCLEX-RN expects you to be able to read carefully and quickly and then apply what you know from your nursing program classes to the situation presented in the question. You already have the nursing knowledge you need to succeed on the NCLEX-RN — you just have to apply your critical thinking skills to each situation to come up with the right answers. This book helps you refine those skills and apply them to the questions on the examination. Reading through this book and doing the practice questions (and I provide a lot of them both in the book and online) can give you a pretty good idea of what you’