[NPInfo] Re: [ACC-Circle] Fwd: Wall Street Journal DNP article

[suernfnp at iwon.com]

To those who think the NP boards were easy, this is what it takes to write the exams. I wrote 75 of the ANCC FNP board certification questions in 2006 & 2007. I was restricted to using certain references as support for my questions. See the list at http://www.nursecredentialing.org/cert/testrefs/FNP22refs.html

I was given a list of what type and how many questions they needed to add to existing questions. They were very specific about what types of questions were needed from me. Besides the clinical areas, some of the topics included ethics; teaching/coaching; advocacy. I wonder how many docs would answer those types of questions correctly? I found the clinical based questions easy to write and support with a reference source. The ethical and nursing standard type questions were more difficult to write. Here is the breakdown of questions per topic.

Category Domains of Practice & Questions Percent 
I Clinical Management 53 34.00% 
II Professional Role and Policy 7 6.00% 
III Nurse Practitioner and Patient Relationship 16 11.00% 
IV Assessment of Acute and Chronic Illness 39 26.00% 
V Research 4 2.00% 
VI Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 31 21.00% 
  Total 150 100 

A greater breakdown of these topics is found at:
http://www.nursecredentialing.org/cert/TCOs/FNP22TCO.html

I was required to ask questions in a straightforward manner. "Negative" type or "except" type questions are not allowed. I had a 3 day training session at ANCC headquarters, and it was tough! I learned a lot about the correct way to write exam questions. I don't know how the physician exams are written, but I was instructed to write entry level type questions. 

If anyone else in interested in writing exam questions for their  specialty, you can apply for this volunteer postition at the ANCC site: http://www.nursecredentialing.org/cert/testdev.html You get CEU credit for this work.

There are other NPs who volunteer as Content Experts, and these are the people who ultimately decide which questions are used on the board exams. There are openings for this type of volunteer.

Currently there are no openings for writers for the FNP board questions. Maybe I did such a great job, no more questions are needed!

Sue D in MI




 --- On Sat 04/05, Lisa Meyer < meyerlm at chartermi.net > wrote:
From: Lisa Meyer [mailto: meyerlm at chartermi.net]
To: npinfo at nurse.net
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2008 09:52:44 -0500
Subject: Re: [NPInfo] Re: [ACC-Circle] Fwd: Wall Street Journal DNP article

Just my humble opinion here.  I don't think I'm God's gift to NP practice, <br>but I did think that my FNP board exam was ridiculously easy.  Many major <br>areas weren't even tested.  I was done in under an hour.  I really haven't <br>heard what other's have thought of the ANCC exam...<br><br>Lisa<br><br>----- Original Message ----- <br>From: <Nbalkon at aol.com><br>To: <npinfo at nurse.net><br>Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 12:30 AM<br>Subject: Re: [NPInfo] Re: [ACC-Circle] Fwd: Wall Street Journal DNP article<br><br><br>><br>><br>> In a message dated 4/4/2008 1:15:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time,<br>> dmittman at comcast.net writes:<br>><br>> Connie  et al: How do we best show that NPs are comparable to docs?<br>> This is  one way... Although this is a strange way to do it- but<br>> taking a  test equivalent to the clinical section of the Med Boards is<br>> an  interesting concept<br>><br>> Dave, with all due respect.... I disagree with this  idea....<br>> Why must NPs and other APRNs 
for that matter "prove"  themselves by taking<br>> medical board equivalent?  Why? Why?  Why?<br>><br>> National Board Certification exists for NPs...  First ask  are these exams<br>> valid and reliable predictors of competence for entry into  practice? What <br>> do<br>> you think?<br>><br>><br>> Nancy Balkon,  PhD, ANP-C, APRN-CS, NPP<br>> Southern New York State Representative --  AANP<br>> Clinical Associate Professor, Stony Brook University School of  Nursing<br>><br>><br>><br>> **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.<br>> <br>> (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> NPInfo mailing list<br>> NPInfo at nurse.net<br>> http://lists.nurse.net/mailman/listinfo/npinfo<br>> *****************************<br>> <br><br>_______________________________________________<br>NPInfo mailing 
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