CCRN review courses are essential for increasing your first-time pass rate odds.
CCRN certification is an essential step in any critical care nurse’s career. This designation sets you apart from other nurses because it shows your commitment to your career and your patients. As you may imagine, getting your CCRN is not easy. It requires you to have a few years of critical care nursing under your belt and demands thorough preparation. A CCRN review course is one of the best ways you can prepare, and it saves you time and money in the end. Here’s a look at two well-known and effective courses: Laura Gasparis CCRN Review Courses and Critical Care Academy.
The Laura Gasparis CCRN Review Course
Laura Gasparis is a critical care nurse and educator who has been training nurses to pass the CCRN for years. She has helped numerous nurses enhance their critical care knowledge and has readied them to pass the CCRN exam. She offers in-person and online review courses. Her in-person review courses are generally offered on the east coast and are one-day intensive sessions. Most people utilize the online review course because of location and convenience.
The online review course delivers material in the following ways:
- A study book that is mailed to you
- 12 hours of CCRN review videos that show Laura Gasparis presenting the content you need to know.
- Over 500 practice questions
- Live phone support from board-certified nurses if you have questions about the material or the CCRN certification process in general
- Unlimited access to the program content for 90 days
Upon completing her course, nurses can get 12 credits of Continuing Nursing Educations (CNE).
The 12 video modules in Laura’s program cover the different body systems and pathophysiological processes you need to know. Each module is divided into body systems, making it easy to jump to the system you need to study (for example, gastrointestinal system or hematological disorders). For a preview of what Laura’s video content feels like, head to her YouTube channel here.
Laura is not only a well-known name in CCRN review courses, but she is an activist for nurses everywhere. She has played an important role in helping further our profession through policy and education.
Critical Care Academy
Enter Critical Care Academy, a modern CCRN review program that utilizes cutting edge technology and educational resources to help you know what you need to know. Critical Care Academy has a mission to save 1 million lives by helping 100,000 nurses get their CCRN certification. Critical Care Academy is one of the most engaging and comprehensive CCRN review courses.
Keeping the adult learner in mind, Critical Care Academy designed its course around the busy nursing professional. Nurses have little free time between their professional and personal lives, and they are usually on-the-go. Therefore, studying can take a backseat despite our best efforts to follow a self-guided study plan.
With Critical Care Academy, you can study on-the-go. Our high-quality video modules are each one hour long, but the modules are chopped into short, digestible segments that are easier to retain. So, if you need to take advantage of a few minutes of downtime in a waiting room before an appointment, you can easily access small segments of content. You can find an example of the video modules here.
The 10 video modules cover everything you need to know to pass the CCRN based on the test plan outlined in the CCRN Exam Handbook prepared by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Alongside video modules, you have access to the following resources:
- 100 practice questions, because CCRN practice questions are one of the best ways to assess your understanding
- Supplemental handouts that boost your understanding
- Practice quizzes to verify you can apply what you just learned
- Discussion boards where you can connect to other nurses studying for the CCRN and experts
- A final exam that gives you a good idea of what the exam will look and feel like on test day
An added bonus is you can get up to 30 Contact Hours for completing your review course and passing the exam.
Cost of each program
The cost of a CCRN review course can be a prohibitive factor for nurses who wish to pursue their CCRN certification. The test is already expensive, and there are likely other costs you may have to factor in so that you can take the test (child care, travel expenses, time off of work, etc.). Yet, despite the excess cost, nurses who take a CCRN review course have a better first-time pass rate than nurses who do not. If you do not pass the test, you have to pay a re-test fee.
Here is the cost comparison between these two courses:
- Laura Gasparis CCRN Review Course: $349 for 90 days of access
- Critical Care Academy: $179.98 for 180 days of access PLUS a 100% money-back guarantee if you do not pass the first time.
What do adult learners need?
We know that it can be tough to decide between two review courses that have incredible offerings. Sometimes, it comes down to just picking one or choosing one based on cost-effectiveness. Before you commit to a CCRN review course, or no review course at all, first consider the unique needs that you as an adult need when you pursue higher training.
Adults require different learning methods to understand the material they need to know. Therefore, the methods meant for school-age learners rarely applies to adult learners. Adults learners face the following barriers:
- Lack of time: Nurses are busy in their professional and personal life. Squeezing in review courses that are not effective is time-consuming and adds unnecessary stress to your life.
- Lack of support: Many adult learners do not feel they have the support and resources to succeed in pursuing further education and certification.
- Self-doubt: There is a lot of worry, fear, and self-doubt in adults who pursue further education.
- Financial barriers: Additional training and pursuing higher education are often quite costly. Regrettably, there are few scholarships and financial support programs available to learners seeking further education.
- Learning needs change with age: School-age children have much more neuroplasticity than adults. Thus, it can be harder to learn something new and unlearn misinformation in adulthood.
With the adult learning theory as its guide, Critical Care Academy takes all of these barriers adults face and changes the way material is delivered so that you can succeed.
Ready to join a league of nurses who are committed to saving lives and furthering the career?
Register for Critical Care Academy today.