Health ProfessionsTest + Skills

Clinical Nursing

A 50-question nursing test weighted toward systems diseases, then skills such as injections, NG tube insertion, catheterization and wound irrigation for the top scorers.

The AI judge does not score skill stations. Use the practice test for Round One.

About this event

Clinical Nursing is a solo two-round event for the Secondary and Postsecondary/Collegiate divisions, sponsored by the U.S. Army, and is meant for students at the practical nursing level rather than nursing assistant level. Round One is a 50-question multiple-choice test in 60 minutes written from Clinical Nursing Skills and Techniques (Perry and Potter) and the Textbook of Basic Nursing (Rosdahl and Kowalski). Sixty percent of the test is clinical care for diseases and disorders by body system (structure and function, signs and symptoms, assessment and diagnosis, pharmacology, nutrition and fluids, medical and surgical treatment); the rest splits evenly between basic care and care across the life span. Top scorers advance to Round Two, a secret scenario that includes physician's orders. The approved skills are intramuscular, subcutaneous and intradermal medication administration (11 minutes each), inserting a nasogastric tube (15), straight urinary catheterization (15), sterile wound irrigation (14), postmortem care (10), postoperative exercises (8), eye prophylaxis for a newborn (5) and donning and doffing PPE (5). Dose calculations on the medication skills are checked by the judge. Competitors bring their own PPE, sterile gloves and a disposable straight catheterization tray. A 70 percent skill score is needed to place; test and skill scores are added and ties go to the higher test score.

Test day

What to expect

Round One test, then skill stations

Round One is a 50-question test in 60 minutes; the top scorers advance to Round Two, the skill stations. Official format: 50-question test, 60 minutes, then Round Two skill scenarios of 5 to 15 minutes each for top scorers.

Written from the test plan

Questions follow the event's published test plan, section by section, and are written from the listed reference texts. Practice questions here are drawn in the same proportions.

How you advance

How many advance from regionals to states and on to the International Leadership Conference (ILC) depends on your association's rules. Study the official test plan: it lists each section and its share of the test.

What judges score

Skill I-A: Administer Medication, Intramuscular (11 minutes)Skill I-B: Administer Medication, Subcutaneous (11 minutes)Skill I-C: Administer Medication, Intradermal (11 minutes)Skill II: Inserting a Nasogastric Tube (15 minutes)Skill III: Urinary Catheterization, Straight (15 minutes)Skill IV: Performing a Sterile Wound Irrigation (14 minutes)Skill V: Postmortem Care of the Body (10 minutes)Skill VI: Assisting the Patient with Postoperative Exercises (8 minutes)Skill VII: Prophylaxis for the Eyes of the Neonate (5 minutes)Skill VIII: Donning and Doffing PPE (5 minutes)

What's on the test

Basic Care · 20%Clinical Care Through the Life Span (maternal/newborn, pediatrics, adulthood and gerontology, mental health, home care, extended care, rehabilitation, hospice) · 20%Clinical Care for Systems Diseases and Disorders (structure and function, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and diagnosis, pharmacology and medication management, nutrition, fluid and electrolyte balance, medical and surgical treatments) · 60%

Study resources

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