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NCLEX-RN · 8 Essential Terms
NCLEX fundamentals for safety: medication rights, fire response, restraints, fall precautions, airborne and droplet precautions, and incident reports.
These are licensure study notes, not orders for patient care. Follow your program, your facility policy, and the current test plan.
Study desk
The core medication rights: right client, drug, dose, route, time, and documentation. Some lists add right reason and right response. Documentation happens after the dose is given.
Flip cards, the timed match, and the quiz open in this panel. The full glossary below is ready either way.
Every term, pronunciation, definition, memory hook, and exam trap is written out here so you can review the whole set or print it.
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The core medication rights: right client, drug, dose, route, time, and documentation. Some lists add right reason and right response. Documentation happens after the dose is given.
Mnemonic. Give the right drug to the right person, then document what you actually gave.
Exam trap. The trap is documenting the dose before it is given, or identifying the client by the room number alone. A barcode does not replace looking at the client and the order when the scan disagrees.
rays
The fire sequence: Rescue anyone in immediate danger, Activate the alarm, Confine the fire by closing doors, and Extinguish the fire or evacuate if it is beyond a small extinguisher.
Mnemonic. Race starts with the person, then the alarm, then the doors, then the extinguisher.
Exam trap. The trap is hunting for an extinguisher while a client is still in the room with the fire. Rescue and alarm come before heroics. Oxygen and doors matter because airflow feeds a fire.
pas
How to use a fire extinguisher: Pull the pin, Aim at the base of the fire, Squeeze the handle, and Sweep side to side.
Mnemonic. PASS is the extinguisher: pin, base, squeeze, sweep.
Exam trap. Aiming at the flames instead of the base is the trap. PASS is not the order for the whole fire response. RACE decides whether you should be extinguishing at all.
fawl prih-KAW-shunz
Keeping the bed low, the call light and belongings in reach, the floor clear, and non-skid footwear on. A risk score does not prevent the fall; the environment does.
Mnemonic. Low bed, call light, clear floor, shoes that grip.
Exam trap. The trap is all four side rails up as a fall plan. That can be a restraint and a reason to climb. Stay with a client who is impulsive rather than tying them down.
rih-STRAYNT SAYF-tee
Restraints are a last resort, used with an order and a circulating-check plan. Use a quick-release knot, check circulation, and never tie a restraint to a side rail.
Mnemonic. Last resort, quick release, check the limb, never tie to a moving rail.
Exam trap. The trap is a restraint for staff convenience or for a client who is annoying but not unsafe. Offer the bathroom, the call light, and a sitter plan first. A chemical hold is still a restraint.
AIR-born prih-KAW-shunz
Precautions for infections that ride small particles, classically tuberculosis, measles, and varicella. The room is negative pressure and the respirator is an N95 or higher.
Mnemonic. Airborne is a negative-pressure room and an N95. A surgical mask is not the respirator.
Exam trap. The trap is a surgical mask on the nurse for active tuberculosis, or a positive-pressure room. The client wears a surgical mask during transport; the door stays shut.
DROP-lit prih-KAW-shunz
Precautions for infections spread by larger respiratory droplets, such as influenza and meningococcal disease. A surgical mask is used for close care. A negative-pressure room is not the usual requirement.
Mnemonic. Droplet means a surgical mask up close. It is not the airborne room.
Exam trap. The trap is putting every cough on airborne precautions, or standing at the door without a mask because the droplets are supposed to fall. Follow the distance your item gives.
IN-sih-dunt rih-PORT
A factual report to the organization's quality system about an error, a fall, or an unexpected event. It is not part of the medical-record narrative, and it is not a place to blame.
Mnemonic. Chart the facts in the record. File the incident report in the quality system. Do not write that you filed it.
Exam trap. The trap is writing incident report completed in the nurse's notes, or leaving the clinical facts out of the chart because the report exists. Document the assessment and what was done. Do not hide the event.