2nd Edition Release of RNC-NIC Question Book
I am happy to announce the release of the second edition of my high risk neonatal review question book!
My first edition was published in late 2019 (a different world!) and I thought I would take some time to discuss the natural history of this book and what the new edition includes.
I started writing questions for the RNC-NIC back in 2018. Part of the drive was to create quality questions in a space where there was access to few. I took the RNC-NIC exam back in 2011 and despite scouring the internet, I could only find one book of questions. While that book is now out of print, the questions did not seem to be of great quality- it didn’t feel like the person who wrote them was a specialist in the NICU world.
Fortunately with a lot of study time, I was able to pass the exam on the first try. I remember at the time thinking that it would have been nice to have more exam questions with which to practice in order to improve my own confidence. I compared this experience with when I took the NCLEX- there were dozens of books available, even back in 2008 (yes I just dated myself). For any non-nurses out there reading this, NCLEX is the final licensure exam to become a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse.
With these thoughts in mind (and a few years break from the education grind of graduate school), I started writing questions based on my past education and clinical experience in the NICU. I spent about a year and a half writing 350 questions from the topics listed in the National Certification Corporation’s outline for the exam.
I then published the book in November 2019 and sold my first book a few weeks later- and I haven’t looked back! In subsequent years I published question review books for several other exams offered by the NCC, including for low risk neonatal nursing, care of the extremely birth weight infant, neonatal nurse practitioner, neonatal neuro intensive care, & neonatal pediatric transport. For the last one, I admit that my pediatric knowledge is not nearly as comprehensive as compared to neonatology and I had a current clinician look over my content to ensure accuracy & nuance.
Coming up on the 5 year anniversary of my first book, I knew that I would need to not only update the content to be in alignment with new evidence-based practice, but to also improve the questions themselves and offer more questions. I have 25 total more questions in this book (375 vs 350), but there are 90 entirely new questions.
Some of the questions that I took out were out of date based on current evidence and others I edited or removed since they were more “knowledge-based” questions. This second piece actually came from feedback from current nursing professors who reviewed my book. They suggested that I add in more “critical-thinking” based questions rather than “knowledge-based” questions and add more depth into why certain answers were right or wrong.
A knowledge-based question refers to questions that require simple understanding of basic concepts. For example,
Which of the following countries is located in North America?
a. Belize
b. Ecuador
c. Mexico
This type of question takes a binary approach to the reader’s knowledge- they either know the answer or they do not, based on past learning.
A critical-thinking based question refers to questions that require a greater understanding of the concepts and draw conclusions based on the information given. For example,
Maria was born in Belize and speaks the national language. In which of the following countries would she be able to communicate most easily?
a. Brazil
b. Canada
c. Mexico
This type of question requires more critical thought. The basic knowledge required is understanding that the national language of Belize is English. The national language of Brazil is Portuguese, for Canada, English & French, and for Mexico, there is no official national language, but is widely recognized as Spanish. With deductive reasoning, we can infer that Maria, speaking English, would be able to communicate most easily in Canada, where English is also a national language.
Practicing this type of reasoning is valued highly by exam creators. It also makes us stronger health care workers because patients don’t always “follow the rule book.” We need to have a strong grasp on pathophysiology in order to adapt our knowledge to our patient’s current circumstances. For example, an experienced nurse understands that even though their premature infant with bronchopulmonary dysplasia needs both caffeine & albuterol, they attempt to time the two medications as far as away as possible from each other. This is because they know their particular patient is sensitive to the tachycardia side effects of both medications.
In conclusion, I want to thank everyone who purchased the first edition of my book over the past 5 years and I wish the best of luck to anyone taking the exam in the future! If you would like to buy the new second edition, you can find it here on Amazon.
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