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