NCLEX-RN Glossary — Key Terms & Definitions
- False Reassurance (“Everything Will Be Fine”)
- Absolute neutrophil count
- Absolute risk reduction
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor or Angiotensin Receptor Blocker (ACE/ARB) Surveillance
- Acid-base disorder
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Acute grief
- Acute heart failure and pulmonary edema
- Acute ischemic stroke
- Acute kidney injury
- Acute Kidney Injury, Dialysis, and Urinary Emergencies
- Acute liver failure and encephalopathy
- Acute pancreatitis
- Acute severe asthma
- Acute transfusion reaction
- Adrenal crisis
- Adult cardiac arrest
- Adult Prevention, Aging, and Community Health
- Adverse reaction after first dose
- Alcohol concentration decline estimate
- Alcohol or sedative withdrawal
- Allergy versus side effect
- Alphabetical ABC use without context
- Anaphylactic shock
- Anaphylaxis
- Anion gap
- Antidepressant and mood-stabilizer surveillance
- Antimicrobial stewardship and toxicity
- Antipsychotic emergencies
- Antiseizure medication
- Arguing with a delusion
- Asking a minor child to interpret
- Aspiration risk and dysphagia
- Assessment
- Assignment, Delegation, and Supervision
- Attack rate
- Basic Care and Comfort
- Beta blocker or rate-control toxicity
- Body mass index
- Bowel obstruction versus ileus
- Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN)-to-Creatinine Ratio
- Calcium and magnesium instability
- Carbon monoxide or cyanide exposure
- Cardiac output
- Cardiogenic shock
- Cardiovascular Perfusion, Dysrhythmia, and Shock
- Cardiovascular, Renal, and Anticoagulant Pharmacology
- Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT), Ability, and the 0.00-Logit Standard
- Central-line complication
- Cerebral perfusion pressure
- Chemotherapy extravasation
- Chest-compression fraction
- Clinical Judgment
- Collecting culture after antibiotics when avoidable
- Collecting irrelevant data while the client deteriorates
- Communication, Documentation, and Continuity
- Community outbreak control
- Compartment syndrome
- Competing time-critical therapies
- Contraction frequency
- Contrast-associated risk
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Exacerbation
- Corrected calcium estimate
- Correcting chronic sodium disturbance too rapidly
- Corticosteroid therapy
- Culture before antimicrobials
- Dehydration in infants and children
- Delegating the task before assessing stability
- Delegation under changing conditions
- Delirium versus dementia
- Developmental surveillance and dosing
- Diabetic ketoacidosis
- Diagnostic Testing, Specimens, and Point-of-Care Decisions
- Digoxin toxicity
- Documenting before administration
- Dosage, Infusion, and Dimensional Control
- Dragging rather than lifting
- Drain-output rate
- Eating disorder instability
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Effective serum osmolality
- Emergency and disaster allocation
- Emergency Response, Resuscitation, and Toxic Exposure
- Endocrine Crisis and Glucose Control
- Endocrine, Neurologic, Psychiatric, and Antiinfective Drugs
- Epiglottitis versus croup
- Escalating agitation
- Estimated creatinine clearance
- Estimated date of birth
- Ethics, Rights, Consent, and Equitable Access
- Exam Architecture
- Extravasation
- Fall with possible injury
- Falls and functional decline
- First-come sequencing
- First-order elimination
- Fluids, Electrolytes, Acid-Base, and Renal Perfusion
- Flushing an infiltrated vesicant
- Forcing fluids in overload
- Fresh flowers or raw foods contrary to policy
- Gastrointestinal, Hepatic, and Pancreatic Failure
- Gestational diabetes
- Giving oral intake in obstruction
- Gravity infusion rate
- Growth, Development, and Pediatric Prevention
- Handoff failure
- Health Promotion
- Heat stroke versus hypothermia
- Hematology, Oncology, and Immune Compromise
- Hemodialysis complication
- Heparin infusion rate
- Heparin, warfarin, and direct anticoagulants
- High-alert medication system
- Hygiene, privacy, and dignity
- Hyperkalemia in renal failure
- Hypernatremia
- Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state
- Hypertensive emergency
- Hyponatremia
- Hypovolemic shock
- Identity and specimen integrity
- Immunization decision
- Incident report before client assessment
- Increased intracranial pressure in infancy
- Infantilizing communication
- Infiltration
- Initial sepsis crystalloid estimate
- Inspecting a suspected epiglottitis airway
- Insulin and hypoglycemia
- Insulin correction dose
- Integrated Practice
- Interpersonal violence or abuse disclosure
- Intracranial hemorrhage and rising pressure
- Intrapartum, Postpartum, and Newborn Transition
- Intussusception
- Intravenous (IV) Therapy, Central Lines, Blood Products, and Nutrition Support
- Late entry disguised as contemporaneous
- Leaving an unstable postpartum client alone
- Leaving items unanswered as time expires
- Loop and potassium-sparing diuretics
- Lowering severe pressure rapidly without ordered target
- Major burn resuscitation
- Major depression and mania
- Malignant hyperthermia
- Management of Care
- Mass-casualty triage
- Massaging an anticoagulant injection site
- Mean arterial pressure
- Mechanical bowel obstruction
- Medication error or near miss
- Medication reconciliation failure
- Medication Systems, Pharmacokinetics, and Adverse Events
- Medication-error rate
- Memorizing answer letters
- Meningitis or encephalitis
- Meningococcal disease
- Mixing incompatible insulins
- Mobility, Skin, Hygiene, and Dignity
- Multi-Client Prioritization and Time Control
- Multiple-organ dysfunction
- Needlestick or mucosal exposure
- Neurologic, Spinal, and Sensory Emergencies
- Neutropenic fever
- Newborn transition failure
- Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) Scoring Without Guesswork
- Non-accidental trauma
- Normalcy bias from one value
- Nutrition, Elimination, Pain, Sleep, and Palliation
- Oncologic compression emergency
- One unstable client among stable assignments
- Opioid poisoning
- Orthostatic pulse change
- Oxygen content estimate
- Pain and opioid surveillance
- Pain score without functional assessment
- Palliative symptom control
- Panic and severe anxiety
- Parenteral nutrition and refeeding
- Parenteral Therapies
- Pediatric maintenance fluid rate
- Pediatric respiratory distress
- Percent change
- Perioperative and Postprocedure Surveillance
- Peritoneal dialysis peritonitis
- Peritonitis or perforation
- Pharmacological Therapies
- Phlebitis and thrombophlebitis
- Physiological Adaptation
- Placenta previa versus abruption
- Placing a pillow under the knee after some vascular procedures without order
- Plus/minus item score
- Pneumonia and ARDS
- Pneumothorax and chest drainage
- Point-of-care test validity
- Postanesthesia airway obstruction
- Postoperative hemorrhage
- Postoperative venous and pulmonary complications
- Postpartum hemorrhage
- Postprocedure hemorrhage or perforation
- Potassium emergency
- Pounds used as kilograms
- Preeclampsia with severe features
- Prenatal Assessment and Antepartum Risk
- Pressure
- Pressure injury as a system signal
- Pressure injury prevention
- Prioritization
- Priority Algorithms That Survive Disguise
- Priority score for rehearsal
- Prolonged pulse check
- Psychiatric Disorders, Suicide, and Substance-Related Care
- Psychosis
- Psychosocial Integrity
- Pulmonary embolism
- Pulmonary tuberculosis
- Pyelonephritis and urosepsis
- Quality, Error Response, and Disaster Systems
- Quantitative Nursing
- Rasch response probability
- Reassessment debt
- Recapping a used needle
- Recurrent late decelerations
- Recurrent variable decelerations
- Reduction of Risk
- Renal or hepatic accumulation
- Respiratory Failure, Airway, and Mechanical Support
- Restraint or seclusion event
- Restraint-free fall prevention
- Rh alloimmunization prevention
- Safe mobility and transfer
- Safety and Infection Prevention
- Screening versus diagnostic evaluation
- Sedating an agitated hypoxic client before assessment
- Selecting every plausible option
- Sensitivity
- Sepsis and septic shock
- Sepsis, Shock, Burns, and Multisystem Failure
- Severe hypoglycemia
- Shock differentiation
- Shock index
- Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion (SIADH) vs. Diabetes Insipidus
- Spinal cord emergency
- Staffing workload rate
- Standard Precautions, Isolation, and Exposure Control
- Status epilepticus
- Stopping insulin when glucose normalizes but gap remains
- Suicide risk conversation
- Supine positioning during late-pregnancy hypotension
- Task completion bias
- Task slack
- Therapeutic Communication, Grief, Crisis, and Trauma
- Thrombocytopenia and DIC
- Thyroid replacement and antithyroid therapy
- Thyroid storm versus myxedema coma
- Treating the monitor instead of the client
- Trend, Laboratory, and Point-of-Care Reasoning
- Tumor lysis syndrome
- Uncontained infectious diarrhea
- Unstable dysrhythmia
- Upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage
- Urinary retention and catheter harm
- Urine output rate
- Uterine tachysystole
- Varicella or disseminated zoster
- Venous thromboembolism prevention
- Ventilator and tracheostomy emergency
- Waiting for hypotension in compensated shock
- Weight-based liquid dose
- Weighted mastery index
- NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (NCJMM)
- Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) Plus/Minus Scoring
- Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) Zero/One Scoring
- Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) Rationale Scoring
- 4-2-1 pediatric maintenance fluid rule
- Absolute contraindication
- Relative contraindication