Annexe B: nursing procedures
7 marks of the 100 in Part B, which runs for 150 minutes.
Annexe B is the procedural half of the standards, and it is where the CBT asks about technique. Taking and interpreting observations, managing a line, taking a specimen, keeping a field aseptic, relieving pressure and pain.
What this section asks about
- Taking, recording and interpreting vital signs, manually and with devices
- Venepuncture, cannulation and interpreting common blood results
- Setting up and interpreting an ECG, and managing monitors and pumps
- Managing and monitoring blood component transfusions
- Collecting and observing specimens: sputum, urine, stool and vomit
- Comfort, pain, rest, positioning and pressure area care
- Infection prevention technique: hand hygiene, PPE, isolation, sharps, asepsis
- Wound care and drainage using an aseptic technique
Where the marks go
7 marks of the 100 in Part B, which runs for 150 minutes. The NMC splits this section across the levels of Bloom's taxonomy:
- Remember and understand: 3
- Apply and analyse: 2
- Evaluate and create: 2
Where candidates lose marks
- Knowing a procedure but not its escalation point. Most of these questions turn on what an abnormal finding means.
- Getting the order wrong. Donning and doffing PPE and drawing up insulins are both sequences, and the sequence is the answer.
- Reaching for alcohol gel by reflex. Spores need soap and water.
Questions people ask
- Does the CBT test practical skills?
- It tests what you know about them. Performing them is what the OSCE is for, but the CBT asks about technique, sequence and what a finding means.
- How many Annexe B questions are on the paper?
- The test specification draws them as one of the nine Part B categories, so a small and predictable share of the clinical paper.
Practise this section
Practice is filtered by section, so you can work on this one on its own. Every account gets 10 new questions a day without a card.