What you practice
Each set draws new instruments and records with invented residents: a graduate, urinal or specimen hat to read for output; a meal tray card to work out fluid intake; an intake and output record to total by shift and for 24 hours; a physician beam scale with its height rod; and an aneroid blood pressure dial. Readings are marked right inside the tolerances of the NNAAP skills test (Credentia), and a wrong answer that matches a common slip gets a note. Teachers can print a class set with a different set for each student.
Example: a breakfast tray with ice chips
In set TRAY47 the resident drank half of a 120 mL juice glass (60 mL) and a quarter of a 240 mL milk carton (60 mL), and ate three quarters of a 240 mL cup of ice chips. Ice chips count as half the cup, so 120 mL, and three quarters of that is 90 mL. Toast and eggs are food, not fluid. Breakfast intake: 60 + 60 + 90 = 210 mL. Open set TRAY47
Questions
What counts as fluid intake?
Drinks and anything that melts at room or body temperature: water, coffee, milk, juice, broth, gelatin, ice cream, sherbet and ice chips, plus IV and tube fluids the nurse records. Solid food is not fluid intake. Facilities differ on soup and pudding, so check your unit's list.
How do I change ounces to mL for the I&O sheet?
Multiply by 30, because charts use 1 oz = 30 mL. An 8 oz cup is 240 mL. If the resident drank half, record 120 mL.
How do ice chips count?
North Carolina's Nurse Aide I curriculum counts ice chips as half the volume of the cup. The Open RN Nursing Assistant textbook lists ice chips as fluid without a half rule. This page states the half rule on every tray that has ice chips; follow your own facility's policy.
How do I read a graduate for urine output?
Set it on a flat surface and read at eye level. The short lines mark 25 and 75 mL and the longer lines every 50 mL. Between two lines, the NNAAP listing says round up to the nearest 25 mL; you must be within 25 mL. Urinal and hat markings vary by maker; ours use a typical layout.
How do I read a physician beam scale?
Add the two poises. The lower one sits in a 50 lb notch; the upper bar has pounds as long lines and quarter pounds as short ones. A lower poise at 150 and an upper one at 32 1/4 is 182 1/4 lb. On the skills test the weight must be within 2 lb.
How do I read a blood pressure dial?
Long lines are 10 mm Hg apart and short lines 2. The systolic is where the needle points at the first sound, the diastolic at the last. If the needle is between two lines, round up to the next even number. The skills test allows 8 mm Hg either way.
Do all states use the same tolerances?
No. The tolerances here (25 mL, 2 lb or 0.9 kg, 8 mm Hg) come from the Credentia NNAAP skills listing. Other test vendors and states can differ; one Arizona checklist allows 6 mm Hg for systolic. Check your state's candidate handbook.
Sources, read October 26, 2026: Credentia, PA skills listing for the 2023 NNAAP (PDF) and Colorado nurse aide candidate handbook 2024 (PDF): output, weight and manual blood pressure tolerances and rounding; NC DHHS Nurse Aide I curriculum, Module AA (PDF): graduate, urinal, serving sizes, ice chips, beam scale, height rod and manometer markings; Module J (PDF): intake and 1 oz = 30 mL; Texas curriculum for nurse aides (PDF): intake and output guideline; Open RN Nursing Assistant, 5.7 (CC BY 4.0): ounces to mL and what counts as fluid.