4 Questions Nurses Ask Before Giving NCLEX Exam

Always remember, fortune favors the prepared. Apart from this, there are other points to be taken before you appear for your NCLEX exam. We know, undoubtedly, this exam is the most comprehensive exam that you’ve probably appeared for in your whole life. This exam determines your future in the nursing profession. Therefore, the fear you must be feeling about the exam is justified in its full entirety.

Not to worry, this kind of fear is faced by everyone who is in the same situation as yours. Moreover, many nurses ask questions related to the exam and create some misconceptions about the same.

Down here, we've listed 4 questions nurses ask before giving their NCLEX exam -

Question #1 - Do SATA (select all that apply) kind of questions always have at least two correct answers.

The truth is that the questions that have the option of selecting all that apply as a response to the multiple choices have minimum two correct answers out of the 5 or 6 choice provided.

Question #2 - Is the number of questions the majority of students get 75? 

Many students ask this question. There is no majority or minority group of students. The students appearing for NCLEX-RN do get an average of 119 questions and the students appearing for NCLEX-PN do get an average of 117 questions. This is how the number of items is administrated for each candidate.

Question #3 - If I do not finish the exam before the time runs out, do I ultimately fail the exam? 

The exam is set in a way that the students get sufficient time to cover the exam. So, each candidate is meant to answer at least 60 operational questions to pass the same.

Question #4 - Are candidates randomly selected to receive 265 questions?

No. The candidates are not at all randomly selected to get 265 questions in their NCLEX exam. The questions are distributed in a way that they follow the principles of CAT (Computerized Adaptive Testing). The items, which the candidate gets during the examination, are based on the response he/she gives to the previous items.

Further, the exam ends when it can be easily figured out with 95% confidence whether the person who is sitting for the exam is above or below the passing criteria. However, NCLEX-RN lasts for a maximum time period of 6 hours and NCLEX- PN exam lasts for a maximum time period of 5 hours, regardless the number of items answered.

There are many other questions that the potential candidates ask about, but these questions are asked much more frequently that they needed to be answered correctly. If you too have some queries regarding NCLEX examination, then you can get them answered at http://www.inscol.com and follow the link to explore some helpful NCLEX-RN study tips shared by professional nurses.

What Phrases Nurses Say Most While at Work?

Seems like an unconventional topic of research, a popular portal for nurses conducted the World’s Most Unscientific Survey! Around 37,034,686 nurses participated in the survey and asked to answer one simple question - What phrase you say most during the day?

The responses were overwhelming and surprising too as some of them shared conventional, practical, useful answers that made us to take them out as clear outliers. Next was the remaining ones and from approximately 65,023 responses, we found the below listed phrases said by nurses more frequently as compared to others. Let’s take a look here - 

• "No problem! I'd be happy to change your TV station again. What else would I do with all of my free time?"
• "Sorry, your insurance doesn’t cover the good Tylenol."
• "You won’t feel a thing."
• "You’ll have to ask your doctor that. And after he answers, could you clue me in?"
• "This won’t hurt a bit. Trust me, all the times I've attended this procedure, I've never felt a thing!"
• "Ring that call bell one more time and just see what happens." (Generally not said very loudly.)
• "No, I will not give you a sponge bath."
• "And how do you wipe your butt at home?"
• "You're going to feel a little prick…unless you don't settle down, in which case it's square needle time... those suckers hurt!"
• And the best one, always said with a big smile: "I’m sorry to wake you, Doctor.."

If you are a nurse and often say something that sounds unusual or rare, list them in the comments. We would be glad to include and share them with the nursing fraternity.

Top Five Nursing Jobs with Best Pay Packages

Nurses are tangled in multitudes of practices to provide health care to people suffering from diseases and disabilities, psychological imbalances or any other health problems. Apart from this, clinically trained nurses are needed to assist doctors, physicians, surgeons and other specialty experts in a healthcare setting. With such a huge demand in healthcare industry, nurses ought to look for the best-paid jobs among them. 

Nursing Anesthetist

The top-paying nursing specialty is CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists). Being a nurse anesthetist, you can work in hospitals, surgical suites, dentist offices and plastic surgery centers. Nurse anesthetists are well paid as compared to other nursing specialties, with a median salary of $135,000

To become a certified registered nurse anesthetist, an RN license and good experience in critical care is mandatory along with a two-year education program in anesthesia. Once you complete the program, you also need to have a certification from the NBCRNA (National Board of Certification and Re-certification of Nurse Anesthetists).

Nurse Practitioner

Nurse practitioners are at all times in demand, mainly in primary healthcare facilities as well as to work collaboratively with doctors to provide health care to patients. The area of specialization of nurse practitioners includes women’s health, family care practice & pediatrics in nursing homes and private clinics. According to CNNMoney.com, the Nurse Practitioner Job was ranked the four Best Jobs with a median salary of $78,000. To be a nurse practitioner, a RN license is required, with a Master’s degree.

Dialysis Nurse

Dialysis Nurse is the fastest growing and highly paid specialty in nursing that involves assisting patients who depend on dialysis. Dialysis Nurses work in medical hospitals, emergency care centers and dialysis clinics, enjoy great benefits, and earn competitively. The median salary of a certified Dialysis Nurse is $63,500. 

To be a Dialysis Nurse, RN license and the experience of minimum 2,000 hours in taking care of dialysis and nephrology patients in the previous two years is essential. In order to be a certified Dialysis Nurse, you need to pass an official certification test as well.

Certified Nurse Midwife

A certified nurse midwife is another specialty with high payouts. Being a nurse midwife involves taking care of pregnant women from the initial stage of pregnancy until the birth of the infant. A Certified Nurse Midwife can work in nursing homes, healthcare settings, clinics and communities. Their median salary ranges from $80,000 to $100,000. After successfully completing a nurse-midwifery program along with a master's degree in nursing, you can practice and make a career as a certified nurse midwife.

Pediatric Endocrinology Nurse

Pediatric Endocrinology nurses take care of children suffering from endocrine ailments, which involves instructing patients and their families about food and nutrition, best health practices, possible physical growth and precautions they can take.The median salary of a pediatric endocrinology nurse is $81,000.

You need to be a registered nurse to practice as a pediatric endocrinology nurse and to get a RN license, BSN (Bachelor of Science degree) in nursing is essential. Moreover, a certification or training in endocrinology field is an added advantage and can give brighter career prospects. 

An Overview of Tracheostomy Care

There comes a time when someone may face certain severe obstruction to breathing and might need an incision of a tube into the windpipe. This tube is called tracheostomy tube or simply a trach-tube and the surgical procedure to create an opening through the neck into the windpipe (trachea) is called Tracheostomy.

Patients May Need A Tracheostomy Tube?

Patients having paralyzed muscles that affect swallowing, having large object blocking the airway, having the inability to breathe on their own, severe neck and mouth injuries, cancer of the neck which can affect breathing by pressing the airway, just to name few, would require incision of tracheostomy or trach tube. It may also be inserted to the patients who have normal breathing and swallowing problems due to a surgery around their voice box.

Tracheostomy Tube Care

The procedure of tracheostomy is quite painful and so, if the situation is critical, not only a general anesthesia is used. A numbing medicine is placed into that area to help the patient feel less pain during the procedure. This procedure comes with certain complications and risks such as erosion of the trachea, puncture of the lung and lung collapse, scar tissue that causes pain or trouble breathing, reactions to medications (including heart attack and stroke), scarring, infection, bleeding, nerve injury (including paralysis) etc.

When it comes to the patient end, after training and practice, they can learn to talk with a tracheostomy tube. However, it will take some time to learn how to communicate with others. Most patients need one to three days to adapt to breathing through a tracheostomy tube. In addition, such patients are able to go back to their normal lifestyle. They may wear a loose covering such as a scarf or other protection over the tracheostomy stoma (hole) and use safety precautions when they are exposed to water, aerosols, powder, or food particles.

On a surgical point of view, cuts are made to show the tough cartilage rings that form the outer wall of trachea and the surgeon creates an opening into the trachea. That’s when the tracheostomy tube is inserted.

Therefore, since tracheostomy is a procedure with lot of risks and complications, there has to be skilled nursing care to prevent these risks and complications. There are certain poor outcomes of such critical procedures, which can be avoided if nurses follow evidence-based guidelines or practice tracheostomy in a simulation-based environment.

For more info on simulation based training & learning visit at http://www.inscol.com/india/cce

Nurses – It's Time to Study and Work in New Zealand

New Zealand is a beautiful country, internationally recognized for its excellent education system and innovative teaching techniques. Healthcare industry of the country is booming at an unparalleled rate providing a huge scope for career growth and opportunities for healthcare professionals. Further, NZ is known for its liberal laws for immigrants and has become one of the preferred destinations for Registered Nurses from all over the world giving them ample options to practice in numerous specialties in a variety of settings.

If you are aspiring for a nursing career in New Zealand, you can enroll in a nursing course from a recognized institute. INSCOL in collaboration with Waiariki Institute of Technology, Rotorua. Offers two exclusive academic collaborative programs such as: 

• Graduate Diploma in Health Studies (Duration 1 Year)
• Diploma in Health & Rehabilitation   (Duration 1 Year)

These programs are specially designed to well acquaint students with role of health care professionals in the New Zealand besides giving them exposure on practices adopted in health care sector. Moreover, students also develop a thorough understanding of other substantial topics like Palliative Care, caring for elderly patients, infection prevention & control, health rehabilitation and more.

Career Opportunities

Students after successfully completing these courses can find ample career opportunities in variety of health care settings such as 

• Disability Support Services
• Aged Care
• Palliative Care Centre
• Rehabilitation Centers

INSCOL is a leader in providing nursing education and offers PG Specialty Programs in collaboration with leading Universities/Colleges in Canada/UK/USA/AUS/NZ. As a nurse, you can select from broad array of courses depending upon your interest and passion such as:

• Post Graduate Certificate in Nursing Leadership & Management
• Post Graduate Certificate in RN-Critical Care Nursing
• Enhanced Nursing Practice- Gerontology & Chronic Illness
• Acute Complex Care-Post Graduate Certificate for Internationally Educated Nurses
• Post Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care – Multidiscipline

More information about the courses can be found here:

http://www.inscol.com/philippines/academic-courses

Nurses! Here are Some Useful Tips for Preventing Burnout

Nursing profession is driven by a desire to care for others though this profession is rewarding but is extremely exhausting. Every nurse is at a substantial risk of experiencing nurse burnout, this is a serious issue facing healthcare industry but it can be prevented.

What Exactly is a Nurse Burnout?

Studies reveal that a nurse's level of burnout is directly correlated to lower patient satisfaction. Nurse burnout can be defined as a feeling of prolonged sickness, stress, and fatigue accompanied with unhappiness. Moreover, external factors like time limitation, challenging shifts, physical and emotional demands results in an extremely stressful environment which can affect an individual's performance at work and their mental stability. 

Here are Few Symptoms of Burnout -

• Prolonged sleeping disorder and eating difficulty
• Experiencing high anxiety
• Suffering from physical ailments like chronic pains and restlessness
• A feeling of emotional numbness
• Developing an indifferent attitude towards relationships
• Withdrawn from job Responsibilities
• Feeling burdened & trapped by job responsibilities
• Feeling physically and mentally drained
• Lack of professional enthusiasm

Once you find these signs, the first step to heal the burnout is stop it an early stage by preventing the buildup of stress. Here are some tips to overcome burnout:

• Regular Breaks - Working ceaselessly throughout the day can be exhausting. Taking small breaks in between is essential as it refuels the body and mind.
• Maintaining a work/life balance - Time management is required to effectively balance your work & life. Make sure you get some time for your personal life, to pursue your hobbies be it yoga, biking or music and to socialize with your friends & family. So, when you manage to take out some time for self-care, you can certainly go a long way in fighting nurse burnout.
• Collaboration and communication at the workplace - Nurses work individually however importance of team work cannot be ruled out. Thus, it is essential to maintain lines of communication with the co-workers so that workload is managed efficiently. Moreover, having a social support system at workplace is important that helps you to sail through the tough times smoothly.

These tips will help you fight the burnout however, if burnout seems inevitable, it is good to take a break from work. Use your sick leaves and go on a vacation, recharge your batteries and join back with a fresh perspective and zeal to work.

INSCOL in collaboration with BPP University, London and Seneca College, Canada offers Nursing Leadership & Management programs at world class hospitals to help nurses progress their careers and take up managerial roles in healthcare settings!

For more information visit at: 

http://www.inscol.com/philippines/academic-courses/

http://inscol.com/philippines/academic-courses/post-graduate-certificate-in-nursing-leadership-management/

Transcultural Nursing and its Importance in Healthcare

As per the U.S Bureau of the census in the year 2000, over 30% of the total population has people of different ethnicities other than whites. Thus, this statistic highlights that U.S is comprised of multicultural population today.

With the ever-increasing multicultural population in society, trans-cultural nursing has become a significant aspect of healthcare industry today. This has also brought a bigger challenge to nurses in terms of providing individualized care to the patients. In order to provide holistic care to their patients, they need to understand, appreciate and accept cultural differences in healthcare beliefs and values.

Nurses in their everyday practice, treat patients from numerous cultures, and it is highly difficult for them to be well versed about health-related belief and values of all persons. However, to ensure patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes, nurses must acquire required knowledge & skills to become deft at cross-cultural communication. When nurses develop skills in cross-cultural communication they will be able to provide effective care based on cultural practices.

Here are two steps nurses can follow to attain cultural competence:

Adoption of Attitudes to Promote Trans-cultural Nursing Care

Adoption of certain attitudes have been associated with culturally competent nursing care that includes nurses should display an empathetic and flexible attitude towards patients. So that patient feel reassured that their cultural beliefs and ways are also been considered. This also develops a sense of security among patients that their cultural ways are well received and appreciated by nurses caring for them.

Performing a Cultural Assessment

To provide culturally competent care, nurses can perform a concise cultural assessment to acquire important information about patients’ perspectives regarding essential aspects of their care.  This information can be of great help for nurses when designing care plan for the patient. Additionally, nurses must conduct pain assessment on patients from diverse backgrounds as different patients have different tolerance level and it is good to conduct this test as well.

Conclusion

To deliver culturally sensitive nursing care, it is essential that practicing nurses should be given a staff development program that prepare them for providing transcultural nursing. In this program nurses can develop an awareness of different cultural ways in healthcare and learn to conduct effective cultural assessments.

These conscious efforts can play a great role in overcoming communication issues in nursing. However, for developing a culturally- fluent approach to good communication skills in nursing takes patience, practice and experience.

If you are an Internationally Educated Nurse and want to accelerate your nursing career in abroad. Join specialty nursing programs offered by INSCOL in partnership with leading Universities/Colleges in CANADA/UK/USA/AUS/NZ offers wide range of programs including Critical Care, Palliative Care, and Leadership & Management etc. More information about the courses can be found here http://www.philippines.inscolacademy.com/academic-courses/