The WNMU Nursing program’s recent pre-licensure BSN graduates have a 100% passing rate on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), the test that is required to become licensed as a nurse. The most recent national average passing rate for baccalaureate students is approximately 90%.
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing and Kinesiology (SONAK) Kimberly Petrovic attributed the success in part to state appropriations to the university, which allowed SONAK to make substantial changes to its prelicensure BSN curriculum.
Professor of Nursing Charnelle Lee who has been taking a lead role in these revisions, said that some of the changes were in conjunction with changes to the NCLEX exam itself. “At every level [of the nursing program], we changed our testing policy, adding clinical judgement questions to exams,” she said, “Those give the student scenarios that they have to go through. It replicates the real clinical environment much more than multiple choice questions do.”
The clinical judgement process involves recognizing and analyzing cues, prioritizing hypotheses, generating solutions, taking action and evaluating the outcomes of any intervention undertaken—all steps that are crucial in a clinical environment.
In addition to changing the testing policy, the pre-licensure BSN program has also made significant modifications to its clinical courses according to Assistant Professor Fran Driver. There has been an increase in the number of clinical hours required, and the college has added a didactic portion to each clinical course. For the didactic part of the course, Driver said, the SONAK faculty identifies each student cohort’s knowledge deficiencies and develops alternative instructional strategies to emphasize these areas.
Even before entering the nursing program, students are being set up for success. SONAK faculty have been coordinating with a number of departments in the arts and sciences to ensure that pre-nursing students are equipped with the skills and knowledge they will need when enrolled in the nursing program.
Petrovic also attributed the nursing graduates’ success to a program that provides students funding for lodging and travel when they are completing their clinical rotations, which allows them to focus more fully on their nursing studies. Driver, who coordinates this compensation program, said the program “has allowed students to expand their exposure to new areas and facilities during their last year in the nursing program, providing crucial growth opportunities for our students and well-rounded nurses for our communities. It has also made it so students can focus more on their studies and work a little less to meet the expenses of nursing school.”
Another key to students’ recent success has been adding a nursing coach to the team, said Lee. When students encounter any obstacle to their success, they can go to the nursing coach for assistance. “I think that has really helped,” she said.
Additionally, Driver has set up a program that encourages nursing graduates to complete the NCLEX within three months of graduation. According to Petrovic, taking the exam within this timeframe has been shown to increase the likelihood of passing it on the first attempt.
Driver said she was proud of the students in the 2022 and 2023 graduating classes. “Without their openness to the above changes, willingness to help faculty figure out the best way to teach the needed material and ownership of their success, this pass rate would not have been possible,” she said, “Daily I am grateful to work with such a cohesive and supportive faculty team.”
Lee said that the 100% passing rate on the NCLEX shows that “We have achieved our goal. Our students are going to be able to enter their career, it puts more nurses in the field to care for patients, and we can feel confident that they will be able to provide high quality care.”