Critical Thinking

• Prioritization: Be prepared to determine the best option when answering exam questions.
• Delegation: Understand when the nurse should delegate tasks versus when not to delegate.
• Pre-Skill Considerations: Essential steps to take before performing any skill on a patient.
• HIPAA Principles: Review and understand principles related to patient privacy and confidentiality.

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Nursing Process

• Steps: Review the steps in the nursing process.
• Scenario Interpretation: Be prepared to interpret scenarios and determine the corresponding step in the nursing process.
• Nursing Diagnoses: Consider applicable nursing diagnoses for given scenarios.

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Infection Prevention and Control

• Clean vs. Sterile Technique: Know the difference and examples of skills/procedures requiring each technique.
• Infection Prevention: List strategies and interventions to prevent infection transmission.
• Sterile Field Principles: Understand principles for creating and maintaining a sterile field.
• PPE: Identify types of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and isolation precautions, including the order of removal.

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Vital Signs

• Normal Ranges: Know the normal ranges for each vital sign.
• Measurement Techniques: Review principles and techniques for measuring vital signs.

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Activity and Exercise

• Client Teaching: Important points to include in teaching sessions for clients using gait belts, canes, walkers, or crutches for the first time.

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Immobility

• Complications: Identify potential complications of immobility.
• Prevention Strategies: List strategies to prevent complications of immobility.

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Skin Integrity and Wound Care

• Risk Factors: Factors that contribute to the risk of impaired skin integrity.
• Skin Breakdown Prevention: Strategies to minimize or prevent skin breakdown.
• Wound Care: Considerations for performing wound care and findings associated with each stage of skin breakdown.

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Hygiene

• Promoting Independence: Strategies to promote independence in hygiene practices.

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Oxygenation

• Safety Considerations: Apply safety considerations for oxygen administration.
• Oxygen Devices: Types of oxygen administration devices and their indications.
• Clinical Interventions: Interventions to prevent clinical decline and promote optimal oxygenation.
• Hypoxia: Causes, clinical manifestations, and interventions related to hypoxia.
• Chest Tube Care: Considerations for caring for a patient with a chest tube and managing the collection device.

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Urinary Elimination

• Catheter Care: Considerations for placing and removing an indwelling urinary catheter, and care strategies to reduce UTI risk.

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Nutrition

• Wound Healing: Nutritional considerations related to wound healing.
• Aspiration Risk: Interventions to assess for and minimize the risk of aspiration.

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Bowel Elimination

• Psychosocial/Cultural Considerations: Factors related to bowel elimination.
• Assessment Findings: Normal findings and those warranting immediate action.
• Constipation & Paralytic Ileus: Causes, assessment findings, and interventions.
• Stoma Care: Considerations for stoma care and pouching.

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Medication Administration

• Needle Lengths & Techniques: Sites and techniques for subcutaneous, intramuscular, and intradermal injections.
• Medication Routes: Fastest and slowest absorption times for different routes (po, SQ, IM, IV).
• Minimizing Medication Errors: Strategies to prevent errors and steps to take if an error occurs.
• Contaminated Medication: What to do if medication becomes contaminated before administration.
• Critical Medication Checks: Purpose, number, and locations of critical medication checks.
• Medication Orders: Components of a medication order and steps to take if a component is missing or illegible.