NLN NEX study guide
NLN NEX · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The NLN NEX is a standardized exit assessment produced by the National League for Nursing and taken by students nearing completion of a prelicensure nursing program. Faculty use the results as one source of evidence about a candidate's readiness for the NCLEX licensure examination and as feedback for curriculum review; students experience it as a computer-delivered, proctored test scheduled near the end of the program. It is an assessment tool, not a license, and it does not substitute for NCLEX. Content is organized into four broad areas: safe and effective care environment, health promotion and maintenance, psychosocial integrity, and physiological integrity. The NLN NEX study guide has 4 sections and about 1,400 words.
01Safe and Effective Care Environment
Safe and Effective Care Environment splits into management of care (delegation, prioritization, informed consent, advance directives, advocacy, confidentiality, continuity, and conflict resolution) and safety and infection control (hand hygiene, standard and transmission-based precautions, restraints, fall and injury prevention, sentinel events, fire response, disaster triage). The RN keeps anything requiring nursing judgment: initial assessment, teaching, evaluation of outcomes, care planning, and any unstable patient.
364 words, about 2 min02Health Promotion and Maintenance
Primary prevention stops disease before it occurs - immunizations, seat belts, nutrition education, smoking cessation counseling. Secondary prevention detects disease early - mammography, Pap smear, blood pressure screening, colonoscopy, TB skin testing.
354 words, about 2 min03Psychosocial Integrity
Use open-ended questions, reflection, restatement, exploring, silence, and offering self. Avoid false reassurance ("you'll be fine"), giving advice, closed yes/no questioning, "why" questions, changing the subject, and agreeing with a delusion.
349 words, about 2 min04Physiological Integrity
Basic care and comfort (mobility, nutrition, elimination, sleep, pain), pharmacological and parenteral therapies, fluid/electrolyte and acid–base balance, reduction of risk, and physiological adaptation (managing acute and chronic illness). Memorize core values: pH 7.35–7.45, PaCO2 35–45, HCO3 22–26, K 3.5–5.0, Na 135–145, Ca 8.6–10.2, BUN 10–20, creatinine 0.6–1.2.
333 words, about 2 min