Michele J. McCarthy, RN, MSN, CNE

Lead Medical Reviewer, All Healthcare Careers

About Michele

Michele J. McCarthy is a registered nurse and certified nurse educator with 30 years of combined clinical and nursing education experience. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) credential from the National League for Nursing—a certification awarded to nurses who have demonstrated advanced expertise as academic educators.

Her clinical background spans medical-surgical and obstetric nursing. Over her teaching career, she has prepared CNA, LPN, and RN candidates for state and national certification exams, giving her a direct view of where candidates consistently get stuck and why.

Michele’s nursing career began many years ago with an 8-week Nursing Tech class at a local hospital. At the end of the program, the instructor congratulated her and said, “You really need to continue to nursing school.” She has never forgotten that moment. She did go on to nursing school and eventually became a nurse educator—and throughout her career, she has hoped to give her own students the same encouragement that changed her life.

Her Role at All Healthcare Careers

Michele serves as the lead medical reviewer for All Healthcare Careers. She writes and reviews CNA, HESI A2, TEAS 7, and NCLEX practice questions published on the website, and her work also extends to clinical blog articles.

When Michele reviews a practice question, she checks four things:

Clinical accuracy: Is the answer correct by current clinical standards?
Scope of practice: Is the action the question asks about actually within the CNA role?
Explanation completeness: Does the rationale teach something, or does it just restate the answer?
Safety hierarchy: Does the correct answer reflect patient safety as the top priority, before task completion or efficiency?

Questions that don’t meet this standard are rewritten, not just flagged.

Why This Matters

CNAs work at the bedside. The decisions a new nurse aide makes on their first shift affect resident safety, dignity, and quality of care. A practice question that teaches the wrong thing—whether it’s an inaccurate explanation, an outdated protocol, or an ambiguous answer—doesn’t just cost points on an exam. It shapes how a nurse aide thinks about care.

That’s why answer explanations on AHC explain not only why the correct choice is correct, but also why each incorrect choice is wrong. It’s also why the review standard is strict: CNAs observe, report, and document. They do not assess, diagnose, or administer medications. Questions that blur those lines are fixed before they are published.