NCLEX Test Blueprint
National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) is an examination administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. to graduate nurses in the United States before they can obtain a practicing license. An NCLEX test blueprint is a document produced by NCSBN, which contains a summation of what is assessed in the NCLEX examination as well as the core values of nursing practice. The blueprint serves as a guide for aspiring nurses and nursing student who need to learn the basic requirements of nursing and nursing examination. The blueprint is valuable in exam preparation and as a study guide.
Client Needs in the NCLEX Test Blueprint
In an NCLEX blueprint, client needs are the actions and expectations of
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It is vital for the nurse to understand all aspects of human growth and development, such as nutrition and pregnancy complications in order to be prepared for any situation.
Psychosocial Integrity
This category deals with caring for the psychological, social and emotional health of the client. Examples of areas under this category that nurses ought to pay attention to include stress management, support systems and therapeutic communication.
Physiological Integrity
This category deals with the physical well being of the client through care. The category is made up of four subcategories, which include reduction of risk potential, physiological adaptation, basic care and comfort and pharmacological and parenteral therapies. Examples under this category include non-pharmacological comfort interventions, pharmacological pain management and therapeutic procedures.
How I plan to use the NCLEX blueprint
I plan to use the blueprint throughout my studies as a guiding resource not only for the purposes of examination, but also to learn about the expectation of nursing practice. The blueprint will be an encyclopedia to remind me of the core principles that govern nursing. The four categories covered in the blueprint encompass the key scenarios that nurses find themselves in and the factors that they need to take into consideration as they embark on patient centered care. Most importantly the blueprint
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recognized five key core competencies (CCs) that all healthcare professionals should be aware of during practice. The initial competency described concentrates on patient-centered care. Throughout history, the nursing community has continued to evolve, both in the practicing aspect and in level of caring for patients. During this evolution of nursing care, nurses providing hands on care to patients must refer to the Institute of Medicine, peer reviews and/or evidenced-based research to guide them properly as it applies to the core concepts of nursing. The first core competency according to the IOM is patient-centered care.
Articulate the role of the BSN-prepared nurse to support the strategic plan related to selected IOM core competency.
The intention that the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) has in requiring you to pass the NCLEX is to ensure that you are able to give the best care possible to patients. All nurses in the United States are required to pass the test. The standards set are intended to protect the public. It is agauge to help make sure that nurses know how best to perform all the duties of a nurse.
To become an RN, one must not only have the compassion and empathy for others but have the skills to care for those in need. To learn those skills, a student can attend a college or university program which can offer an Associate Degree or a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing. There are also hospital-based nursing programs which offer a Diploma of Nursing. All nurses are required to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), whether they have an AD or BSN. The NCLEX is the national exam required for licensing and practice as a nurse in the United States. For someone to make the right decision on which program to attend it is best to compare and look at their differences, strengths, and weaknesses.
Five of these entities include the individual nurse, employers of nurses, the nursing profession, boards of nursing, and nurse educators. Each state has a state board on nursing. Each state board of nursing belongs to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). The NCSBN is one such regulatory agency whose mission it is to provide leadership to advance regulatory excellence for nursing practice (NCSBN, 2006). Nursing educators develop competency in students through the use of curriculum content including findings from current research, through evaluation of student performance, and as role models for students (Exstrom, 2001). Ensuring nursing competence is a combined partnership among all the above stated entities. As educators in higher educational settings, they are required to teach the curriculum which will produce competent nurses whom are eligible to sit for and attempt to pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) exam. The educator is ultimately guided by the state board of nursing and subsequently the NCSBN to uphold the criteria necessary for the student to graduate and be considered competent. Educators can collaborate with the NCSBN's education department to help with mentoring, curriculum review, and graduate transition.
caring and supporting our patients. For us, health and social care workers they are six principles which
It is evident that patient care and safety should be a priority within the healthcare system. In the inpatient hospital setting, nurses are there to provide overall quality patient outcome. To this end, nurses are aware that to provide the best care to their patients, nursing practice must be based on the best evidence available. However, nurses are also aware that there are barriers to overcome before EBP would find its way in the clinical settings. One way to overcome these barriers is to take time to be educated on the process of integrating EBP initiative into practice and understand some of the models of EBP and adapt one that they can easily use to “organize the practice change and provide them with a step-by-step process on how make
These programs are designed to help graduates manage complex nursing situations and heavy cases loads. Students are taught how to apply leadership skills and decision-making models to a variety of nursing practices. Students will be prepared to translate the principles of patient safety and quality improvement into their daily tasks and routines. BSN programs also help students to understand health policies, engage in professional communication and translate current research into nursing practices. Finally, students will be trained in the latest health care IT information and patient care management technologies. In order to graduate, they must be able to demonstrate the critical thinking and clinical skills necessary for the delivery of competent and compassionate care to all
According to the IOM report, the nursing profession is undergoing fundamental changes within the underlying operations of the field. A new regulatory environment coupled with increased scrutiny of the profession will dramatically impact the nursing profession. As the report indicates nurses, in the near future, will have job requirements that are business oriented. Nurses will need to have a better understanding of quality management methods in addition to overall concepts of management. As the health care system continues its rapid reform nurses must also be cognizant of the effects these changes will have on their overall roles and responsibilities. This involves a transformation of the roles and responsibilities of nurses as they enter the profession. As the health care landscape continues to change, so too must the nurses of the future. A dedication to continual learning is therefore needed to help diminish the influence of antiquated and obsolete knowledge regarding the profession.
I define my philosophy of nursing within the three nursing domains of person, health, and environment. My goal is to communicate the importance of nursing as a knowledge-based career, depending not only on the nurse fulfilling her role but also on the patient’s compliance. A patient must learn to provide self-care at home in the same capacity as the nurse would provide care in the clinical setting. I discuss various subjects within nursing. I explain why I want to be a nurse, what I believe a nurse’s role is, the different domains of nursing, and where I believe nursing will be in the future. My philosophy demonstrates the interdependence of the nursing domains. You cannot fully evaluate a person without evaluating their health,
These include providing information to the clients as well as the members of staff who are taking care of the clients and the reason for this is because there are some clients who are not able to do things for themselves. An example of this may include if there is a client who has a health condition, then the Nurse may provide information to the career of the
In the article “What Do Nurses Really Do?”, Suzanne Gordon explores what nurses truly do. She concludes that nurses “save lives, prevent complications, prevent suffering, and save money” (Gordon 2006). Nurses provide care for their patients in the physical and emotional sense. Emotionally caring for a patient and being sensitive to his or her needs result from interacting with patients while performing the skills and using the knowledge that nurses learned in school. Nurses grow in their skills, knowledge, and attitudes through practice. Quality and safety education for nursing incorporates competencies that all nurses must use in their practice. These nursing competencies include evidence-based nursing practice, quality improvement, safety, teamwork and collaboration, patient-centered care, and informatics.
In this module’s Assignment, you will draft a formal paper expressing your personal philosophy of nursing paper. In this paper, you will provide a framework for your personal practice of nursing and reflect on why you chose nursing as a profession. Your paper will define how you interact with patients, family members, other nurses, and other health care professionals.
Before the NCLEX exam was established, each state created its own nursing regulations and exams to determine the competency of nursing students (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016). In 1941, the National League of Nursing created a better exam that was adopted by all states, in order to streamline the process, and the test was called the State Board Test Pool Examination (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016). Locations to take the exam were very limited and had to be big enough to accommodate many people at once, since the test was only offered twice a year, and in order to take it, student nurses had to register about six months in advance by mailing in their approval to test (Johnson & Kappel). The exam was given using paper and pencil, and for every thirty-five students, a retired nurse was hired as a proctor (Johnson & Kappel). The questions were the same for all the students in order to make testing fair, and students had to wait for weeks before their results arrived in the mail (Johnson & Kappel). The test was officially named the NCLEX in 1982 after the National Council of State Boards of Nursing took over the responsibility of the test nationally a few years beforehand (Johnson & Kappel). The total number of questions on the test before 1982 was 720, before being reduced to 480 and then 370 questions (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016).
Application to take the RN licensing exam is filled out with the applicant’s signature, fingerprint and license fees paid for and done, their transcript which is sent straight from the school, and submitted (Nevada State Board of Nursing, n.d.). If all the eligibility requirements are met, which includes a criminal background check, the applicant can register to take the NCLEX exam, which includes another additional fee for that service as well. The Board of Nursing reviews the application and determines if the applicant is eligible or not. If the applicant is eligible, an Authorization to Test is sent to them, in which allows them to schedule their NCLEX testing date. A total of 4 attempts is given to each applicant. If the applicant is successful in passing their exam, the board will get the results and send out the scores via mail (Nevada State Board of Nursing, n.d.).