About this event
Patient Care Technician is a solo two-round event for the Secondary and Postsecondary/Collegiate divisions, sponsored by the National Healthcareer Association. Round One is a 50-question multiple-choice test in 60 minutes written from NHA's PCT SkillsBuilder Plus online course and the CPCT/A study guide. Patient care is 44 percent of the test, followed by compliance, safety and professional responsibility (20 percent), phlebotomy (14), infection control (12) and EKG (10). Top scorers advance to Round Two, a secret scenario drawn from seven skills: discontinuing a peripheral IV (5 minutes), applying sequential compression devices (6), measuring an infant's length and weight (7), urinary catheter maintenance (5), routine evacuated-tube venipuncture with a lab requisition (10), obtaining a 12-lead EKG with correct lead placement (10), and a glucometer reading by capillary puncture (8). Bring two pairs of non-latex gloves, gown, eye protection and mask. A 70 percent skill score is required 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 10 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
What's on the test
Study resources
Bookmark to saveCurated by ChapterPrep. Free unless noted. External links open in a new tab.