CNA Skills Review Video

A Pulse. Everyone has one but they are not all the same. Normal values are between 60-100 and everything else must be reported to the nurse. They are calculated and reported as the number of thumps you feel over a minute, but you won’t always have to count for a WHOLE minute. In some cases, you will simply count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to make this skill faster. In other cases, you are required to count for one whole minute because the patient has an irregular heart rate or the nurse needs a more accurate reading. So, how do we know what we are supposed to do? Read the care plan!

See that little red button above the video? That is the care plan for the state exam. Click on it. Go ahead, I’ll wait. You are graded on reading and following the care plan – this is the most important part of the test! This care plan instructs us to count the radial pulse (measured at the wrist) for one whole minute. Since this care plan is very specific, and tells us to count for a WHOLE minute, following it will count big for the exam. Doing anything else will cause you to fail. But measuring (counting) the pulse is only half of the skill. The care plan also tells us to RECORD our reading (so the nurse can use that information to plan care). If you don’t record the reading, you could fail because you aren’t following the care plan! Always read and follow the care plan!

This video shows this skill demonstrated according to the specific testing care plan used by Prometric for the exam.