The Picmonic-TrueLearn Solution: The Future of Nurse Practitioner Education and Success

The nurse practitioner (NP) curriculum is demanding and challenging, requiring students’ utmost commitment, dedication, and focus to learn, remember, and recall large amounts of complex concepts and technical terms. On top of that, students need to be able to apply this knowledge to clinical settings to succeed on either the AANP^® or ANCC^® certification exam. What can programs and faculty do to ensure students’ exam readiness and optimize their chances of certification success?

Leading audio-visual mnemonics and assessment platforms Picmonic and TrueLearn, when paired, deliver a highly effective and efficient solution that powers students through the intensive NP curriculum. Here’s how.

The Picmonic-TrueLearn Learning Loop

Picmonic makes learning more exciting and engaging by bringing NP concepts to life through whimsical characters, memorable stories, and animated videos. TrueLearn elevates students’ test-taking stamina and preparedness through a rich bank of board-style practice questions, customized quizzes, and robust data-driven features.

Students watch a Picmonic video, then take a low-stake quiz of board-style practice questions on TrueLearn. If they miss an answer, they revisit the material on Picmonic, then return to TrueLearn to assess again. This means students build concept mastery with Picmonic and evaluate their critical thinking skills and knowledge application with TrueLearn.

Repeating this learning loop across the curriculum stimulates faster and better learning, remembering, and recalling of information and for a longer period. It also builds an in-depth understanding of key NP concepts and sharpens their knowledge application in clinical practice—an essential component of both the AANP^® and ANCC^® exams. This is possible through a fusion of active learning activities, science-based methods, and data-driven tools that both platforms are enriched with.

Picmonic: Audio-Visual Mnemonics as an Active Learning Resource

Science has shown that using audio-visual cues, images, humor, and weird or odd elements help strengthen memory formation, whereas the Baker-Baker Paradox, which links acronyms with a phonetic component and a visual character, enforces storage. Picmonic leverages these proven science, resulting in active learning resources that align with the brain’s natural functions and support the three-step memory process of encoding, storage, and retrieval. In a randomized, double-blind, controlled study, students who used Picmonic showed a 331% improvement in long-term memory retention and a 50% increase in test scores.

To understand why, watch this two-minute Picmonic lesson on the JNC-8 Hypertension Management guidelines:

Educators can utilize Picmonic to help NP students lock in advanced nursing concepts, strengthen their understanding of these concepts, and facilitate knowledge recall and application when sitting for their certification exams and in practice. Educators can also choose from Picmonic’s data bank covering thousands of NP topics and concepts and add these videos to lecture slides or assign them to students, who can easily access the platform on their computers or mobile phones. This will also allow educators to shift their focus to helping students deepen their understanding and support the advanced learning required of NP students.

TrueLearn: Proven Data Solutions for Advanced Learning and Test-Taking

To further accelerate learning, Picmonic can be combined with TrueLearn’s data-driven teaching and learning tools to improve exam outcomes. TrueLearn’s SmartBank of more than 1,800 high-quality practice questions test the application of knowledge as assessed on the AANP^® and ANCC^® exams, allowing educators to hone students’ exam readiness and improve their performance on high-stakes recall. SmartBank provides detailed answer rationales, which help students understand why incorrect answers were wrong and why the correct answer was the best choice. Additionally, the assessment platform supports comprehensive data analytics that enables educators to readily track student progress and performance and spot comprehension gaps in specific body systems or clinical areas, so they can tailor more effective student remediation.

Here’s a sample of a practice question from our SmartBank:

Your First Free FNP Practice Question

A 4-year-old boy presents to the office with a chief complaint of fever for 6 days. Except for the fever, the patient had been asymptomatic until the development of “bloodshot eyes” 1 day ago. His father indicates that the patient has no past medical problems. Vital signs show a temperature of 103.2°F. Physical examination reveals right-sided cervical lymphadenopathy; painful induration on the soles of both feet with associated edema; and a diffuse, maculopapular, erythematous rash on the trunk. Laboratory analysis reveals an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 107 mm/hr.

Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis?

• A) Acute rheumatic fever
• B) Kawasaki disease
• C) Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• D) Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome
• E) Stevens-Johnson syndrome

The Answer and Explanation

The correct answer is: Kawasaki disease

The differential diagnosis for a child with a history of fever and skin manifestations is extensive. Careful history and physical examination can help to quickly narrow the differential and formulate a diagnosis. Kawasaki disease is diagnosed based on clinical criteria as follows:

Fever, usually greater than 102 °F, for at least 5 days

At least 4 of the following:

• Oral mucosal changes
• Bilateral conjunctival injection
• Cervical lymphadenopathy
• Swelling or redness of the extremities
• Polymorphous rash.

Treatment includes an initial single dose of intravenous immunoglobulin (2 g/kg) and high-dose aspirin (80–100 mg/kg/day, divided into 4 doses). Complications of Kawasaki disease include ischemic heart disease, coronary artery aneurysms, and sudden death.

Incorrect Answers:

Answer A: Acute rheumatic fever is a clinical sequelae of infection associated with group A streptococci that presents with cardiomegaly, friction rub due to pericarditis, heart murmur, and congestive heart failure. It is diagnosed using the Jones Criteria.

Answer C: Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a tickborne illness caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, that leads to sudden spiking fever, headache, myalgias, weakness, and confusion. A rash on the extremities spreading centrally to the trunk is a hallmark of the disease.

Answer D: Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome produces bullous lesions causing cleavage of the stratum corneum. It is diagnosed clinically by way of Nikolsky’s sign, whereby gentle pressure on the lesion causes rupture of the bullae and reveals underlying skin.

Answer E: Stevens-Johnson syndrome is associated with a wide variety of infections (e.g., mycoplasma) or drug allergies. It leads to severe mucosal erosions and high fever; severe bullous erythema multiforme is sometimes seen.

Bottom Line

Kawasaki disease is indicated by fever, usually greater than 102 °F, for at least 5 days; and at least 4 of 5 of the following:

A Synergistic Effect That Delivers Results

Both Picmonic and TrueLearn apply retention algorithms to help students overcome the effects of the “forgetting curve”—as hypothesized by Hermann Ebbinghaus, learned information fades over time if there are no attempts to relearn it—by delivering timely prompts and reminders to keep information fresh in their minds. Both also enable educators to assign low-stakes practice exams via quizzes, or embed them into their lecture materials to create active learning experiences in the classroom.

Leveraging the synergy between Picmonic and TrueLearn will bolster learners’ confidence, resulting in students who are exam-ready for the AANP^® and ANCC^®, thus maximizing their odds of achieving a first-time pass and leading to more significant program outcomes for institutions.

_{*AANP^® and ANCC^® are trademarks of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) and the American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC) respectively. This content is not endorsed or approved by AANPCB or ANCC.}