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NCLEX-RN Roadmap

Your NCLEX review, mapped

Organized by the eight client needs categories of the 2026 NCLEX-RN test plan (effective April 1, 2026), each labeled with its share of the exam. Tap any stop to see its high-yield topics, each linking to a full guide. Your progress is saved on this device.

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Try 3 real questions

Straight from the Progress Note question bank, each with a cited explanation. No account needed.

A nurse reviews results for a client in shock: pH 7.20, bicarbonate 12 mEq/L, an elevated anion gap, and a lactate of 6 mmol/L. How should the nurse interpret these findings?

A nurse is caring for a confused older client who is at high risk for falls. Which intervention by the nurse is most appropriate?

A nurse is preparing to give a client a prescribed oral potassium chloride supplement. Which action by the nurse is most appropriate?

Practice med math: free dosage calculation problems with worked steps →

Full NCLEX-RN curriculum outline

Every stop on the roadmap above, in order — 57 study guides and tools across 10 sections. Open any guide to study it; your progress is tracked on the map.

Orientation How the 2026 NCLEX-RN works

  1. How to Study — Build an NCLEX study plan and understand how the adaptive exam is scored.
  2. Next-Gen Format — The NGN item types and the clinical-judgment model they test.

Management of Care 15–21% of the exam

  1. Prioritization & Delegation — ABCs, Maslow, the five rights of delegation, and what the RN keeps.
  2. Legal & Ethical Practice — Informed consent, advance directives, confidentiality, documentation, and ethics.
  3. Care Coordination — SBAR handoffs, chain of command, referrals, and safe discharge planning.

Safety & Infection Control 10–16% of the exam

  1. Infection Control — Chain of infection, standard and transmission-based precautions, PPE order.
  2. Falls, Restraints & Fire — Fall-risk factors, least-restrictive alternatives, restraint rules, and RACE.
  3. Tuberculosis — Airborne precautions, reading a skin test, and RIPE drug toxicities.

Health Promotion & Maintenance 6–12% of the exam

  1. Maternity — Prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum nursing care.
  2. Pediatrics — Growth and development, immunizations, and pediatric-specific care.
  3. The Older Adult — Delirium vs dementia, normal aging, atypical illness, and polypharmacy.

Psychosocial Integrity 6–12% of the exam

  1. Mental Health — Psychiatric conditions, therapeutic communication, and psych medications.
  2. Depression & Suicide Risk — Asking directly, warning signs, safety precautions, and ECT care.
  3. Bipolar & Lithium — Mania safety, lithium levels and toxicity, sodium and fluid teaching.
  4. Abuse, Crisis & Grief — Recognizing and reporting abuse, crisis intervention, grief, and end-of-life care.

Basic Care & Comfort 6–12% of the exam

  1. Pain & Comfort — Pain scales by population, reassessment timing, and non-drug comfort measures.
  2. Elimination — Catheter care, retention, constipation and impaction, enemas, and ostomies.
  3. Pressure Injury & Immobility — Staging, risk factors, turning schedules, and the hazards of immobility.
  4. Enteral Nutrition — Tube placement checks, feeding positions, aspiration, and refeeding risk.

Pharmacological & Parenteral Therapies 13–19% of the exam

  1. Medication Safety & Math — Rights of administration, high-alert drugs, dosage calculation, transfusions.
  2. IV Therapy & Central Lines — Infiltration vs phlebitis, IV fluids, central lines, PICCs, and TPN.
  3. Antibiotics — Allergy checks, cultures first, peaks and troughs, and anaphylaxis response.
  4. Beta Blockers — Apical pulse and BP checks, hold parameters, and never stopping abruptly.
  5. Warfarin — INR targets, vitamin K antidote, diet consistency, and bleeding precautions.
  6. Heparin & Enoxaparin — aPTT monitoring, protamine, HIT platelet checks, and SubQ technique.
  7. Corticosteroids — Glucose and infection monitoring, tapering, and adrenal crisis.
  8. Opioids — Sedation before respiratory depression, naloxone, and PCA safety.
  9. Insulin & Diabetes — Insulin timing, the 15-15 rule, DKA vs HHS, and sick-day teaching.
  10. Antidepressants — Delayed onset, suicide-risk monitoring, serotonin syndrome, MAOI diet.
  11. Antipsychotics — EPS by timing, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and clozapine ANC checks.

Reduction of Risk Potential 9–15% of the exam

  1. Lab Values — The normal ranges and critical values the NCLEX expects you to know cold.
  2. Cardiovascular Assessment — Heart sounds, pulses, edema, JVD, orthostatics, arterial vs venous disease.
  3. ECG Basics — A five-step strip method, rate counting, electrolyte changes, lead placement.
  4. Airway & Respiratory Care — Hypoxia cues, pneumonia, suctioning, tracheostomy emergencies, vent alarms, ABGs.
  5. Perioperative Care — Pre-op checklist, post-op assessment, and the timing of complications.
  6. Diagnostic Procedures — Contrast and MRI safety, endoscopy and cath aftercare, and post-sedation care.
  7. Chest Tubes — Tidaling vs bubbling, disconnection response, and tension pneumothorax.

Physiological Adaptation 11–17% of the exam

  1. Fluids & Electrolytes — Deficit vs excess, daily weights, IV fluid tonicity, and electrolyte cues.
  2. Shock, Sepsis & Anaphylaxis — Types and stages of shock, the sepsis bundle, and epinephrine first.
  3. Heart Failure — Left vs right cues, daily weights, digoxin and diuretic safety.
  4. Hypertension — Accurate BP technique, hypertensive emergency, and antihypertensive checks.
  5. Chest Pain & ACS — ECG within 10 minutes, nitroglycerin safety, and post-PCI care.
  6. Dysrhythmias — Assess the client first, shockable rhythms, and cardioversion vs defibrillation.
  7. Atrial Fibrillation — Pulse deficit, rate control, anticoagulation, and stroke teaching.
  8. COPD & Asthma — Rescue vs controller inhalers, peak flow zones, and silent-chest danger.
  9. Oxygen Therapy — Devices and flow rates, early hypoxia cues, and oxygen fire safety.
  10. DVT & PE — Prevention, never massaging a DVT leg, and first actions for sudden dyspnea.
  11. GI Bleeding & Liver Disease — Upper GI bleed priorities, varices, ascites and paracentesis, lactulose.
  12. Stroke — BE FAST, ischemic vs hemorrhagic, treatment windows, and left vs right deficits.
  13. Increased ICP — Early vs late signs, Cushing triad, and positioning to lower pressure.
  14. Seizures — Seizure first aid, status epilepticus, and antiseizure drug teaching.
  15. Kidney Failure & Dialysis — AKI vs CKD, AV fistula care, and hemodialysis vs peritoneal dialysis.
  16. Thyroid & Adrenal — Hypo vs hyperthyroidism, thyroid storm, post-thyroidectomy care, adrenal crisis.
  17. Burns — Burn depth, rule of nines, Parkland fluids, inhalation injury, burn phases.
  18. Hematology & Oncology — Neutropenic and bleeding precautions, sickle cell crisis, transfusion reactions, oncologic emergencies.

Pass Day The home stretch

  1. Practice Questions Practice — Drill NGN-style questions and review every rationale.
  2. Pass Rates & Goals — Understand pass rates and what a passing performance looks like.

More NCLEX prep: How to study · Practice questions · Knowledge Hub

Original educational material · Progress Note · progressnote.us.com