Designing and Utilizing Practice Tests To Prepare Patient Care Technicians For National Certification.

The Medicare Conditions for Coverage for End Stage Renal Disease facilities, published April 15, 2008, mandated national certification of hemodialysis patient care technicians (PCTs). PCTs working before October 15, 2008, had until April 15, 2010, to become certified. PCTs hired after October 15, 2008, had 18 months to become certified. Unfortunately, PCTs have had difficulty with the certification examination. Many PCTs have had to take the examination multiple times before eventually passing, and some have still not passed. A lack of standardized education programs and exposure to standardized testing, as well as test anxiety, can all contribute to this outcome. This article addresses a strategy for remediating the lack of exposure to standardized testing and discusses domains of learning, the test blueprint, and the development of quality test questions. The steps needed for the development of practice tests for PCTs are reviewed. The development and administration of such tests can serve to familiarize PCTs with both the required content and testing procedures of a national certification examination and can contribute to their successfully meeting the certification requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]