This CHPN cheat sheet boils the HPCC Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse exam down to a printable rundown of the pain, symptom, and end-of-life facts examiners test most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free CHPN toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CHPN exam at a glance
- Certifying body: Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC / HPNA)
- Questions: 150 multiple-choice (135 scored + 15 unscored pretest)
- Time: 3 hours, computer-based via PSI
- Passing score: Scaled score at or above the criterion-referenced (Angoff-set) cut — total score decides pass or fail
- Cost: About $305 for HPNA members and $455 for non-members; lower retest fee (dated anchor — verify on advancingexpertcare.org)
What’s on the CHPN cheat sheet
- Assessment & Planning (~18%) — hospice vs. palliative care, the roughly six-month prognosis rule, PPS/KPS scales, and the four Medicare hospice levels.
- Pain Management (~19%) — the WHO analgesic ladder, opioid equianalgesia and rotation, breakthrough dosing, and adjuvants for neuropathic and bone pain.
- Symptom Management (~21%) — first-line fixes for dyspnea, the death rattle, nausea by cause, opioid-induced constipation, and terminal delirium.
- Support, Education & Advocacy (~21%) — advance directives and POLST, breaking bad news, grief and bereavement, and family caregiver teaching.
- Practice Issues (~21%) — the principle of double effect, palliative sedation vs. euthanasia, the interdisciplinary team, and professional self-care.
How to use it in your final week
- Lock in the pain math: oral-to-IV morphine is about 3:1, breakthrough dosing is 10-20% of the 24-hour total, and rotating to a different opioid means cutting the new dose 25-50% for incomplete cross-tolerance.
- Drill the symptom-to-first-line pairs until they are reflex — low-dose opioids for dyspnea, haloperidol for terminal delirium, a stimulant laxative started with the first opioid dose, and an antimuscarinic (not suction) for the death rattle.
- Front-load the three patient-care areas — Assessment, Pain, and Symptom Management make up roughly 60% of the exam, so spend most of your final passes there.
- Read the sheet the morning of the exam for a last pass on the memory hooks — hospice needs a roughly six-month prognosis, the comfort-focused answer usually wins, and double effect permits proportionate symptom relief.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CHPN practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
CHPN cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CHPN cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no payment. It sits alongside Career Employer's free CHPN practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so you can cram the facts and then test yourself in one place.
It condenses the highest-yield hospice and palliative nursing facts into a quick reference: the WHO analgesic ladder and opioid equianalgesia, the first-line fix for each end-of-life symptom, prognostic scales, the four Medicare hospice levels, and the ethics of double effect — organized by HPCC's five content areas.
The CHPN is reported on a scaled score, and the passing cut is fixed by a criterion-referenced Angoff standard — not a curve. Your total scaled score across all five content areas determines pass or fail, so the sheet is built to shore up every area rather than a single weak spot.
No — the sheet is a review and last-week cram aid, not a full course. The CHPN rewards applied clinical judgment on patient scenarios, so pair the sheet with worked practice questions and the study guide to build the reasoning the exam actually tests.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull the sheet back up during your final review week before test day.
References
- 1.Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC). “CHPN Certification — Candidate Handbook & Detailed Content Outline.” advancingexpertcare.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.World Health Organization. “WHO Guidelines for the Pharmacological Management of Cancer Pain (the analgesic ladder).” WHO, 2026. ↑
- 3.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Medicare Hospice Benefit & Conditions of Participation (42 CFR Part 418).” Medicare.gov, 2026. ↑
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