CRRN study plan

Map the CRRN exam blueprint to your own practice setting by listing every rehabilitation nursing role you perform and matching each to a functional area of rehab care (bowel/bladder, mobility, self-care, skin, cognition, family teaching).

Define and differentiate the core rehab-nursing concepts of function, disability, impairment, and handicap, and write a one-paragraph plain-language explanation of each that you could give a patient's family.

Build a personal terminology glossary of at least 40 rehabilitation terms (e.g., ADL, IADL, contracture, spasticity, neurogenic bladder, orthosis, transfer training) with your own definition for each.

Identify the members of the interdisciplinary rehab team and write the distinct role, documentation responsibility, and referral trigger for at least eight disciplines.

Explain the phases of rehabilitation (acute, subacute, inpatient, outpatient, home/community) and state the nursing priorities and discharge criteria typical of each.

Describe how functional assessment tools are used in rehab nursing (e.g., functional independence measures, Barthel-type ADL scoring) and practice scoring three written patient vignettes.

Outline the nurse's role in goal-setting with the patient and family, including how to write a measurable, patient-centered functional goal.

List the safety and environmental considerations for a rehab unit, including fall prevention, restraint alternatives, and equipment checks.

Detail nursing management of neurogenic bowel and bladder, including bladder training programs, intermittent catheterization teaching points, and bowel program scheduling.

Explain mobility and positioning interventions: bed mobility, transfer techniques, pressure-redistribution, and prevention of contracture and deep vein thrombosis.

Describe skin assessment and wound prevention specific to immobility, including staging vocabulary and turning schedules.

Connect each intervention above to a measurable patient outcome you would document.

Summarize nursing care priorities after stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury, focusing on complications nurses must detect early.

Explain cognitive and perceptual rehab nursing: memory strategies, attention retraining, safety awareness, and unilateral neglect precautions.

Describe swallowing and nutrition considerations after neurologic injury, including aspiration precautions and altered feeding routes.

Write five short case summaries from your own or hypothetical practice and identify the priority nursing action in each.

Describe rehab nursing for orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions, including post-fracture and post-arthroplasty mobilization and weight-bearing precautions.

Explain cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation nursing: activity progression, monitoring parameters, and patient education on energy conservation.

Outline pediatric and geriatric rehab considerations, including developmental milestones and age-related functional decline.

Identify common rehabilitation medications and their nursing implications (e.g., antispasticity agents, anticoagulants, bowel regimens).

Explain the nurse's role in patient and family education, including teach-back, learning readiness, and adapting teaching for cognitive or sensory limits.

Describe psychosocial rehab nursing: adjustment to disability, depression screening, caregiver strain, and sexuality and body-image concerns.

Outline discharge planning and community reintegration, including home safety evaluation, durable medical equipment, and referral to community resources.

Draft a patient education plan for one functional goal using teach-back and a measurable mastery criterion.

Integrate all prior content by writing 60 original practice questions across the functional areas you have studied, with rationales for correct and incorrect options.

Review every missed or uncertain item and convert each into a one-line fact you can recall.

Rehearse documentation and interdisciplinary communication by writing a sample shift report and a referral note for a rehab patient.

Identify your three weakest content areas from the practice questions and rank them for final review.

Re-study your three weakest areas using your glossary, tables, and case summaries, then rewrite each weak-area fact from memory.

Complete a timed mixed review using your own question set and record accuracy by content area.

Rehearse the practical reasoning of priority-setting by talking through five cases aloud in under two minutes each.

Finalize a one-page pre-exam summary sheet of high-yield facts, safety priorities, and assessment sequences.