How to Study for NCLEX Exam | Free NCLEX RN Quizzes Questions

Nursing Fundamentals Positioning Patient Quiz

Taking the NCLEX exam in the future? Here is a free quiz to test your nursing fundamentals knowledge on positioning patients.



NCLEX Practice Questions Test Positioning Patients Nursing Fundamentals

NCLEX Sample Practice Questions Test

I remember having to study for the NCLEX exam. It was stressful and time consuming, but I passed first try. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to take it again for a second time. I only had 75 questions and was praying on question 74 that the computer would shut off. I was very relieved when it did.

RegisteredNurseRN.com has started developing free NCLEX practice tests along with dosage and calculation quizzes. If you are having to prepare for the ATIs, HESI, or NCLEX exam, you will want to take these practice test to help you study. Click the picture below to get access to the quizzes.

I hope everyone find them very useful :-)

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Will I Succeed in Nursing School Quiz

If you are thinking about nursing school and worried about if you will succeed, take this quiz to find out if you have what it takes to pass nursing school.

This quiz was created to test your personality to determine if you have what it takes to succeed in nursing school. 

Would I Make a Good Nurse? Take the Free Quiz/Test Now!

Would You Make a Good Nurse? Take the Free Quiz/Test Now!

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Free Dosage & Calculations Quizzes for Nursing Students & Nurses

As a nursing student, you are not required to know a lot of math but you do have to know how to solve dosage and calculation problems.

Dosage and calculation problems are very basic in that you are only required you to know how to multiple, add, divide, and subtract. In addition, you will need to know how to convert kilograms to pounds, ounces to teaspoons, and so on.

In order to get really good at solving dosage and calculation problems you must practice them over and over. I remember I was not good at them at first but after I practiced problems, over time, I became really good at them. I use a technique called dimensional analysis to solve them (a technique I was taught in nursing school).

So if you are needing some dosage and calculation problems to practice....here are some free dosage and calculations quizzes to help you with that.

Dosage & Calculation Quizzes

Sarah 

Supplies Needed to Start an IV as a Nursing Student or New Nurse Graduate

I remember when I got to start my first IV as a nursing student. I was so excited but nervous. I remember going to the clean hold where they keep all of the unit supplies with my preceptor. She guided me in collecting the supplies I needed in order to start an IV.

While I collecting each item, I remember thinking "wow this is a lot of stuff to get just to start an IV....how will I remember it all".

Well, I quickly remembered it all because after you do it over and over it becomes second nature. Plus, there is nothing like getting your IV and then remembering you forgot to get your extension cap. Mistakes definitely allow you to learn!

So I made a video for all you nursing students and new nurse graduates out there about what supplies is needed to start an IV and what everything is for.


Sarah

How to Prevent Varicose Veins as a Nurse & Nursing Student

Varicose veins run in my family, so when I started nursing school I knew I was entering a high risk occupation that would give me varicose veins if I did not try to prevent them. I prevent varicose veins and tiredness in my legs by wearing compression stockings. They are the greatest thing ever invented!

As a nurse and nursing student you are on your feet many, many hours. I can remember sometimes being on my feet 8 hours straight without sitting down (busy day and didn't get lunch until 3:00), and if I didn't have on my compression stockings I probably wouldn't have been able to make it through the rest of my shift.

However, before I bought my compression stockings I remember wondering what the difference was between TED hose and compression stockings. I would hear other nurses say they were wearing TED hoses. But I have found out that people mistakenly  call compression stockings TED hoses. BUT there is a big difference between the two.

Here is the difference between the two:




So as a nurse you will want to buy compression stockings for nurses that have a compression rating 15-20 mmHG.

Sarah

Easy Way to Interpret ABG (Blood Gases) using the Tic Tac Toe Method

I don't know about you but interpreting ABGs (blood gases) was so hard for me. I was always getting the lab values confused and would say to myself "now is this a base or acid level....and is this metabolic or respiratory".

Arterial Blood Gas Interpretation using the TIC Tac Toe Method

In nursing school you have so much stuff to remember and if you are able to find an easy way to help yourself remember something it helps out so much. One of my professors in my fundamentals class showed us how to interpret ABGs using the Tic Tac Toe method.

It is one of the most easiest ways I have found to solve arterial blood gas problems. It made solving ABG NCLEX and nursing exam question easy and quick. So I want to share with you how to easily solve ABGs interpret using the tic tac toe method.

Sarah

Tips for Helping You Find a Vein before Drawing Blood or Starting IVs

Being successful at IVs takes a lot of practice, skill, and some tricks (which you will learn over time). When I graduated from nursing school, I was HORRIBLE at starting IVs (99% of new nurse graduates are unless they worked as a LPN or EMS before being a RN).

As I said in my last post about IVs, my confidence was gone after the first couple of months of being a nurse and I would 9 times out of 10 try to get someone else to start them for me. I didn't want to put the patient through unnecessary pain and aggravation.

I would say to myself "well I will learn how to start them eventually". Well eventually I did and I have to say I am pretty good at them now.

One of my problems with starting IVs was finding a vein. In order to be successful at IVs you must know where to look for a vein. In the human arm there are certain areas where most people have veins and they are very easy to find and hit with the IV needle if you know where to look.

Below is a video I made demonstrating how to find veins and how to avoid those pesky "rolling" veins. The person I am using in this video is the best case scenarios and has great veins so he made the perfect candidate to educate students about veins.



Sarah

What is the Difference Between IV Needle Gauges? | 18, 20, & 22 Gauge IV Needles

While I was a nursing student in clinicals, I would always hear nurses telling other nurses in report "the patient has a 22 in the RAC". I remember asking my preceptor "I know this may be a REALLY dumb question but what does 22 mean?". I knew the reporting nurse must have been talking about an IV because she said RAC but I had no clue why she was saying it was a 22.

My preceptor sort of chuckled and said that 22 gauge meant it was the size of the IV catheter the patient had. Before that incident, it hadn't really dawned on me that there were different types of IV catheters out there and as a nurse it is important to know which IV gauge you can administer blood through and so on.

So to help you nursing students or new nurses out there learn about the different IV gauges and what they look like I have created a video. Also, click the link for more information about different IV gauge needles.




Sarah

Should You Get a Nursing Lab Jacket for Clinicals or to Work as a Nurse?

Nursing lab jackets have their benefits as a student nurse and nurse. Many nursing schools require students to wear lab coats over their scrubs in the clinical setting that has the school's logo on it, while wearing a lab jacket as a nurse is usually optional.

I love to wear my lab jacket for many reasons. One important reason I wear a lab coat is to protect my scrubs and arms from contamination. I work around radioactive materials and daily I come into contact with radioactive isotopes. If I am radiated with this material my lab jacket helps provide me a little bit of a barrier.

In this video I discuss some tips you should watch out for when buying your lab coat.



-Sarah

Tips for Buying Your First Pair of Nursing Scrubs

It is always so exciting buying your first pair of nursing scrubs! It makes you feel "official". I know as a student nurse and especially a new nurse I was so excited to buy my first pair of nursing scrubs.

However, before buying your first pair of scrubs you will want to follow the tips in the video below. I always hate returning items that don't fit or are the wrong color due to hospital policy. So here is a quick video to help guide you in buying nursing scrubs.




-Sarah

Is Nursing School Hard? | How Hard is Nursing School?

Before I started nursing school, I remember be so stressed out that I was not "smart" enough for nursing school. I had heard from many people that nursing school was the hardest thing they had ever done. I actually remember thinking that may be nursing school wasn't for me.

However, I am glad I pushed those negative feeling aside because I made it through nursing school. Here is my honest opinion, if I can make it through nursing school ANYONE can. Passing nursing school is not about how smart you are but it's about if you are willing to put in the time to succeed. 

To better answer this question "Is Nursing School Hard?", I thought it would be better for me to tell you myself in this video:

I hope this video helped alleviate some of your fears. If you have any questions about nursing school, please come over to the forum on my website RegisteredNurseRN.com and myself and others would love to help you out!

Sarah

Nursing Care Plans | Free Nursing Care Plans for Nursing Students

I remember doing nursing care plans in nursing school. I always dreaded doing them because they required so much time and research. When I started nursing clinicals, I would have to go the day before my clinical day and select a patient to do a nursing care plan on.

Our instructor recommended we pick a patient who would be there the next day and not discharged. I would go to the hospital after lecture the day before clinicals (usually around 4pm) and collect my information on the patient. Then I would go home and complete my care plan. It usually took me anywhere from 4-6 hours to complete.

At first, I thought nursing care plans were the worst thing in the world but then after I completed about 2-3 I started to get the hang of them. And now I actually like doing them (crazy I know). I like doing them so much I created a library of free nursing care plans for nursing students to use as a guide to help them in creating their own nursing care plans.

Here is access to these free nursing care plans. I have care plans for everything from congestive heart failure, to pneumonia, to hypertension (in other words a wide variety of care plans).

Here I explain what a nursing care plan is and what the difference between nursing care plans are in school and on the job are:




Sarah :-)

Great Resource for Free Nursing Resume Templates

Applying for a job is hard work, especially when the job market is competitive. In the area I live our nursing job market is very competitive. There are a total of 5 nursing schools in my area that graduates thousands of nursing students every May and December, and there are only two large hospitals in my area that employ nurses.

So every year around that time the job market gets really competitive and high demand specialties such as OB-GYN, Pediatrics, and ICU are hard jobs to secure. I remember speaking with a hiring nurse manager one time and she told me two things that are important during the hiring process are the resume and interview.

It is really important to have a great looking resume when applying for a nursing job. I compare the resume as an "advertisement" that says "Hey look at me....I'm what you're looking for...give me an interview and you won't be disappointed". Your resume is vitally important in helping you secure an interview.

So if you are in the job market and need some resume templates, here are some free nursing resume templates you can use.

Quick Tips When Creating Your Resume

Keep it short. Rule of thumb is that your resume should be one page (especially if you are just starting out in the job force) BUT you can have it up to two pages if you have been in the profession for a while

Don't lie or embellish. I know it may sound good on paper but when the interview comes and you're asked about it the hiring manager will know if you are lying or not. So keep it honest.

Make it eye-catching! If you are submitting resumes by mail or physical copies be sure to print it on nice resume paper that will catch the hiring manager's eye and make her/him want to look at it. 

Sarah :-)

Tips on How to Remove Gloves Correctly as a Nursing Student & Nurse

As a nursing student or nurse you will contaminate your gloves with some nasty, potentially lethal germs. So learning how to properly remove them is so vitally important. I know that as a nurse myself I have encountered many different situations where proper glove removal was so important.

For instance, one day I had a patient who had HIV and Hepatitis C along with the flesh eating bacteria called necrotizing fasciitis. This poor patient was so sick and felt miserable but was the sweetest person in the world, which is amazing considering what they were going through.

I had to draw blood from the patient's central line and got blood on my gloves. So my gloves were contaminated with blood that had HIV and Hepatitis C in it. So I had to carefully remove my gloves using the technique I show in the video below.

As a nurse or nursing student you should always remove your gloves using the technique below even if it seems like your gloves are clean. It is just a good habit to be in. The technique below will prevent accidental contamination on your skin, scrubs, or to others.

Video on How to Remove Gloves Correctly & Safely

For more tips on how to remove your gloves properly please see this very useful article.
Sarah :-)

Watch Me Demonstrate How to Put on Sterile Gloves

Tips on How to Study for HESI Exams & NCLEX-RN

One of the things I dreaded and feared the most during nursing school was nursing proficiency exams. At my nursing school I was required to take the HESI proficiency exams. I had to take the entrance HESI exam called the HESI A2, then during my Junior year I had to take the Mid-Curricular HESI, and before I got to graduate I had to pass the exit HESI exam. The purpose of these exams was to prepare me for the big exam which is the licensing exam called NCLEX-RN.

The HESI proficiency exams are a lot like the ATIs exams which is what other nursing schools require. It really is your nursing school's preference on what they require students to take. My school liked HESI.

Looking back (can't really believe I am saying this) I think those pesky HESI exams helped me pass the NCLEX-RN exam first try and they seriously did prepare me for it. But I still hated taking them.

I wanted to write this post to help give you some tips on if you have to take the HESI exams, especially since I have been there and done it.

My Study Guide for HESI & NCLEX

On my website I have a great study guide/log I created that tells you how I studied for my exit HESI exam and NCLEX-RN which you can find here: "NCLEX-RN study guide". The study guide includes what books I used to prepare for the exams, daily log of what I studied each day, and what I ended up scoring on the exams. Also on my site use the search bar and you will find many resources for HESI and NCLEX.  I have to say the study guide I created is very useful for the nursing student having to prepare for HESI and NCLEX-RN.

Tips on How to Prepare for the HESI & NCLEX

• Buy a study guide!! I know spending money stinks but this is an investment. For HESI buy the company's book they make. They have three different ones for each exam (HESI A2, HESI Mid-curricular, exit HESI). For NCLEX buy the Saunders Comprehensive review guide (it comes with tons of practice questions). Some people use Kaplan (I didn't) but I have also heard good things about them too. However, Saunders worked for me!
• Do practice questions over & over! Don't memorize the answer but get use to how to answer the question. HESI & NCLEX questions are not your regular fact based questions....they are critical thinking questions. Also practice select all apply and diagram questions a lot because HESI and NCLEX are starting to use these questions a lot more. 
• Start studying months in advance! I took my HESI in March and NCLEX in June. I started studying in December during the week and took weekends off usually. 

If you prepare for these exams you will pass and hopefully my tips and study guide will help you out!

Sarah :-)

How to Put on Sterile Gloves for Nursing Students

I remember one of the things that I had such difficultly learning in nursing school was on putting on sterile gloves. Looking back at it, it was so silly I had trouble with it. But you know how there are some things in life that look so easy when others do it but when you try yourself you figure out it is actually pretty tough.

I think of the things that "tripped" me up while putting on sterile gloves was trying to keep my hand with the sterile glove on "sterile" while I put the other sterile glove on the other hand.

I remember everyone in my nursing class breezing right through it during our clinical test of having to put them on in front of the instructor but I had trouble grasping it. I practiced over and over and finally I got it but it took me some work. The key to learning how to put on sterile gloves is PRACTICE!

As a nurse you will use sterile gloves for procedures such as foley catheter insertion, trach suctioning, wound care, central line & PICC Line dressing changes, subcutaneous port access etc. So it is important you are really good at putting on sterile gloves.

My tips for putting on sterile gloves:

Take your time! Don't get in a rush because if you do you will mess up.

Put the first sterile glove on your dominant hand first. For example if you are right handed put that glove on first.

Always get the correct size of sterile glove. Trust me on this one! If the glove is too large or small for your hand you will have difficulty keeping your gloves sterile while putting them on.

Here is a great video on how to put on sterile gloves.

Sarah :-)

Tips on Giving & Receiving Shift Report as a Nursing Student and Nurse

When I was in my last semester of nursing school I had to complete a Senior Practicum. The practicum required me to complete 240 hours of clinical time with a registered nurse in a hospital setting.

I was assigned to work on a PCU (progressive care unit) that specialized in cardiac nursing. I loved my practicum so much I stayed on with that unit after graduation....but that is for another post.

During my Senior Practicum I worked 12 hours shifts with my assigned preceptor. I learned so much about how to be a nurse during that clinical time. One important thing I learned was how to give and receive shift report.....the important things like what to say and what not to say during shift report.

It is so important to always give and receive a good shift report. Getting a "lousy" shift can effect your day. For example, depending on the nurse you are getting report from you may get a great detail report (which helps start your day off right) or a "crappy" report that leaves you blind and you find out through out the day your patient had to be NPO (nothing by mouth) for a surgery later that day.

I remember that a girl I worked with got a really bad shift report from another nurse. The nurse she got report from was notorious for giving 1 minute reports on their patients. However, my friend was new and she was unaware of this. So at 12:00 pm the OR called my friend and asked if her patient was ready and prepped for her lobectomy (removal of a lung....patient had lung cancer) because the surgeon was ready to operate.

My friend who was unaware of this had let her patient eat breakfast and lunch. After she got off the phone, the surgeon called my friend and pretty much "chewed" her out and reported her to our nurse manager. However, all of this could have been avoided if the previous nurse had reported that the patient was going for possible surgery later that afternoon.

Here 5 quick questions you can ask when receiving shift report as a nurse to hopefully avoid the a similar scenario:

1. Does that patient have any family?
2. Who is the patient’s primary contact if something was to happen?
3.  Does the patient have any type of testing that they must be NPO for?
4.  Does the patient need assistance eating, showering, or using the bathroom? How does the patient take their pills? Swallows them or needs them crushed?

 -For a complete list of questions to ask during nursing shift report see this how to give nursing shift report


Sarah :-)

Tips for taking the NCLEX Exam

I know that right now nursing school graduates are super busy. They just got done with school, graduated, and are now spending their Memorial Day weekend studying for NCLEX. I remember taking practice questions over and over and reading my Saunders NCLEX guide every waking hour. I've been there and done that so new nurse graduates I feel your pain but it will be over very soon.

I graduated from nursing school in May and took my NCLEX exam at the beginning of June. I wanted to get it over with so I could just concentrate on relaxing during my summer and enjoy my new job. I had a couple of friends who waited until July and even August to take it because they wanted to spend the whole summer studying.

After I took NCLEX I felt so exhausted but I felt like a weight had been lifted off me. However, I felt like I failed. From what I hear everyone feels like they have failed after they take it so that is normal. But I didn't! I pass first try with just 75 questions...woohoo!

Here are some quick NCLEX tips I found courtesy of Kaplan to help you pass while answering questions because they can be tricky:

1. Don't ask "why"
2. Don't leave the patient
3. Don't persuade the patient
4. Don't pass the buck
5. Don't read into the question
6. Don't do something

The points above are great tips that helped me. If you would like some more information on how I prepared for NCLEX and more information about it check out my NCLEX tips.

Sarah :-)

How to Start an IV for Nursing Students

Since I have been a registered nurse for over 5 years now I have mastered the skill of starting an IV. I am usually the person everyone comes to if they need an IV started. However, it has not always been that way!

After I first graduated from nursing school I was terrible at starting IVs. I was so bad that many times I would not attempt to try and would ask another nurse to try for me.  I didn't want to put the patient through all that pain and look incompetent. This strategy worked for awhile until I took a job in a department where I had to start IVs routinely on outpatients. I was usually all by myself and had no one to go to if I couldn't get the IV. Needless to say I learned how to start IVs!

I think the reason I had such trouble starting IVs was because I had no confidence at all! In nursing school we were barely taught how to start one. I remember having one day in clinicals were we started an IV on a mannquieen and that was all I got to do.

It took me about 3 years to get good at them and that was because I didn't try to get good at them but my new job forced me to do so.

If you are a nursing student or like how I was as a nurse you may want to check out this great video on how to start ivs.

Here are some of my quick tips:

1. Put the tourniquet on fairly tight. This allows the blood to pull in the extremity which engorges the vein.
2. Have the patient pump their fist. Again that causes the veins to pop out.
3. If you are using the straight IV needles (not the butterfly IVs) here is a tip: Once you get blood return slightly insert the needle a little more into the vein and then advance or glide the cannula in. This was a major issue for me. I was hitting the vein but the cannula would not advance. So I began inserting the needle a little more after I hit the vien and the cannula simply glided in.
4. Practice! Practice! Yes I do miss veins sometimes. Remember even the most experience people miss IVs.

Sarah :-)

I am a Registered Nurse

I finally decided to create a blogger account. I know, I know it is 2014 and I am just creating a blogger account lol.
So I want to introduce myself to everyone and tell you a little about myself and what I do so I created this video:




I would like to connect with you so leave a comment or come to my site and visit the nursing community forum. If you have any questions about nursing school or nursing don't hesitate to ask.

Sarah :-)