NCK Licensure Exam study guide
NCK Licensure Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The NCK Licensure Exam is the credentialing examination for candidates seeking licensure as a nurse under the NCK framework. It is intended for nursing graduates and candidates completing an approved nursing program who need to demonstrate entry-level competence before practicing. The NCK Licensure Exam study guide has 9 sections and about 2,914 words.
01Nursing Fundamentals and Health Assessment
Domain 1 tests the foundation of every other paper: the nursing process, vital signs, asepsis, positioning and mobility, wound and pressure-area care, and a systematic head-to-toe health assessment. Stems usually ask for the first action, the priority assessment, or the abnormal finding, so knowing normal ranges and assessment order matters more than memorising definitions.
336 words, about 2 min02Medical-Surgical Nursing
Domain 2 covers adult medical and surgical conditions across cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, renal, endocrine, gastrointestinal and perioperative care. Questions reward prioritisation and early recognition of complications rather than list recall.
319 words, about 2 min03Maternal and Newborn Nursing
Domain 3 spans antenatal care, labour and delivery, the puerperium and immediate newborn care. The exam favours emergency sequencing - postpartum haemorrhage, eclampsia, and newborn resuscitation - plus interpretation of the partograph and the Mother–Child Health booklet.
350 words, about 2 min04Pediatric Nursing
Domain 4 tests integrated management of the sick child, growth and development, immunisation, weight-based dosing and family-centred care. Kenya uses the IMCI approach, so classification and treatment plans appear repeatedly.
337 words, about 2 min05Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
Domain 5 tests mental state assessment, therapeutic communication, suicide and crisis management, psychotropic monitoring, and the legal framework - including Kenya's Mental Health (Amendment) Act 2022, which replaced the 1989 Act and decriminalised attempted suicide. Appearance and behaviour; speech; mood and affect; thought form and content; perception (hallucinations, illusions); cognition; insight; and risk.
312 words, about 2 min06Community Health and Public Health Nursing
Domain 6 tests population health: Kenya's devolved system, levels of care, the Kenya Essential Package for Health (KEPH), epidemiology, screening and outbreak response. Level 1: community - Community Health Units served by Community Health Promoters.
319 words, about 2 min07Nursing Leadership, Management and Ethics
Domain 7 tests the nurse as manager and professional: delegation, prioritisation, staffing, conflict, quality improvement, and the legal and ethical framework, including the Nurses and Midwives Act and the Patients' Rights Charter. Five rights: right task, right person, right circumstance, right direction, right supervision.
339 words, about 2 min08Pharmacology and Medication Administration
Domain 8 covers drug action, safe administration, calculations and monitoring, drawing on the Kenya Essential Medicines List and standard formularies. Expect calculation items and toxicity recognition.
300 words, about 2 min09Infection Control and Safety
Domain 9 tests the chain of infection, standard and transmission-based precautions, sterilisation and disinfection, sharps safety, post-exposure management and environmental safety. WHO five moments for hand hygiene.
302 words, about 2 min