Nursing Learning Pathways

Every Nurse Has a Journey.
Find Yours.

Whether you're preparing for your boards, surviving your first year, or leveling up to a new specialty — ClinicalRN has a structured learning pathway built exactly for where you are right now.

How ClinicalRN Tracks Work

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Choose Your Track

Pick the pathway that matches your current nursing goal — board prep, new grad, specialty certification, or APRN.

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Practice Real Cases

Work through clinical scenarios built specifically for your track. Each case comes with detailed rationales explaining the reasoning.

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Watch Yourself Improve

Track your accuracy by case type and clinical area. See exactly where you're strong and where to focus next.

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NCLEX Prep

200+ cases

Pass your boards on the first attempt

Who This Is For

Nursing students in their final semester, new graduates awaiting licensure, or repeat test-takers building confidence for another attempt.

What You'll Practice

  • Questions mapped to the official NCLEX-RN Next Generation test plan
  • All four client needs categories: Safe Care, Health Promotion, Psychosocial, and Physiological Integrity
  • Detailed rationales that teach the 'why' behind each answer, not just the right letter
  • Clinical judgment measurement model questions — the newer, harder format NCLEX uses

Skills You'll Build

Clinical JudgmentPriority SettingSafety & Infection ControlPharmacologyLab InterpretationDelegationPatient Education

⏱ Recommended Timeframe

6–12 weeks of focused study

🎯 Expected Outcome

First-attempt NCLEX-RN pass rate for prepared candidates exceeds 90%. Consistent daily practice is the single strongest predictor of success.

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New Grad Survival

150+ cases

Thrive in your first year on the floor

Who This Is For

New nurses in their first 1–2 years, nursing students approaching graduation, or preceptors who want realistic cases to discuss with their orientees.

What You'll Practice

  • Real floor scenarios — the messy, complex patients that nursing school's clean case studies never prepared you for
  • Rapid patient deterioration recognition: when to call the rapid response team and what to say
  • Prioritization drills: five patients, one nurse — who do you see first and why
  • Delegation confidence: knowing what can and cannot be safely handed off to unlicensed personnel
  • Time management: how to build a shift structure that survives the unexpected

Skills You'll Build

Rapid AssessmentSBAR CommunicationPrioritizationSafe DelegationTime ManagementCare PlanningDocumentation

⏱ Recommended Timeframe

Ongoing — use throughout your first year

🎯 Expected Outcome

New nurses who actively practice clinical reasoning report feeling significantly more confident and less likely to experience new-grad burnout by the 6-month mark.

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Specialty Transition

180+ cases across 6 specialties

Hit the ground running in your new unit

Who This Is For

Experienced nurses moving to a new specialty — whether it's your first ICU shift, first ER orientation, or first night in Labor & Delivery.

What You'll Practice

  • Six specialty sub-tracks: ICU, ER, OB/L&D, Pediatrics, Psych, and advanced Med-Surg
  • Specialty-specific pharmacology: drips, reversal agents, and drugs you've never pushed before
  • New monitoring skills: how to read an arterial line, interpret a fetal strip, or decipher a psych patient's risk
  • Unit culture and communication norms that vary dramatically between specialties
  • Equipment and protocol familiarization through clinical scenarios

Skills You'll Build

Hemodynamic MonitoringCritical DripsFetal MonitoringPediatric DosingMental Health AssessmentSpecialty Protocols

⏱ Recommended Timeframe

4–8 weeks before and during orientation

🎯 Expected Outcome

Nurses who pre-study specialty-specific content before orientation report faster competency check-off times and reduced anxiety during preceptorship.

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CCRN Certification

250+ advanced cases

Earn the credential that defines critical care excellence

Who This Is For

ICU nurses with 1,750 hours of direct care experience in the past 2 years who are preparing for the AACN CCRN-RN examination.

What You'll Practice

  • AACN exam blueprint alignment: cardiovascular (17%), pulmonary (15%), neurology (12%), and more
  • Advanced hemodynamics: SVR, cardiac output, wedge pressures, and when to intervene
  • Mechanical ventilation scenarios: modes, troubleshooting, weaning protocols
  • Vasoactive medication titration and hemodynamic targets
  • Multisystem organ failure: recognizing and managing the cascade
  • Sepsis, ARDS, DIC, and other high-acuity syndromes

Skills You'll Build

Advanced HemodynamicsVent ManagementVasopressors & InotropesNeuro AssessmentRenal ReplacementMultisystem FailureAACN Protocols

⏱ Recommended Timeframe

8–16 weeks of structured review

🎯 Expected Outcome

CCRN-certified nurses demonstrate measurable improvements in patient outcomes and earn on average $5,000–$10,000 more annually than non-certified ICU peers.

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APRN Prep

120+ advanced-practice cases

Develop the autonomous reasoning of an advanced practice provider

Who This Is For

NP or CRNA students in graduate school, new APRNs building clinical confidence, or RNs exploring the transition to advanced practice.

What You'll Practice

  • Differential diagnosis frameworks: how to systematically rule in and rule out across presenting complaints
  • Prescribing scenarios: drug selection, dosing, interactions, and how to counsel patients
  • Deep pathophysiology dives that connect mechanism to management decisions
  • Autonomous clinical reasoning without a physician safety net — how APRNs think
  • Evidence-based guideline application: when to follow the protocol and when to individualize

Skills You'll Build

Differential DiagnosisPrescriptive AuthorityPathophysiologyClinical Decision-MakingPatient CounselingEvidence-Based Practice

⏱ Recommended Timeframe

Throughout graduate school and beyond

🎯 Expected Outcome

APRNs who practice systematic clinical reasoning before entering independent practice report higher diagnostic confidence and lower rates of over-ordering.

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Other Certifications

100+ cases per certification

CEN, RNC-OB, PCCN — prove your specialty expertise

Who This Is For

Specialty nurses pursuing certification in Emergency (CEN), Obstetric (RNC-OB), or Progressive Care (PCCN) nursing.

What You'll Practice

  • CEN Track: BCEN exam blueprint — triage, trauma, toxicology, and mass casualty management
  • RNC-OB Track: NCC blueprint — antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, and neonatal care
  • PCCN Track: AACN progressive care blueprint — telemetry, step-down, and transitional care
  • Each track follows the official certification body's content outline percentage by percentage
  • Cases include the clinical edge scenarios that trip up otherwise experienced nurses on exam day

Skills You'll Build

Triage & TraumaObstetric EmergenciesTelemetry InterpretationNeonatal AssessmentToxicologyProgressive Care Protocols

⏱ Recommended Timeframe

8–12 weeks before your exam date

🎯 Expected Outcome

Specialty-certified nurses are recognized as clinical experts by employers, patients, and peers — and consistently command higher salaries in their fields.

Not sure which track to start with?

The best track is the one that matches your next exam or your next career move. You can switch tracks anytime — your progress is always saved.