NursingLink

Nursing Program Improves on Tests

Brunswick Community College’s 2008 registered nursing graduates appear to be on track to mostly erase licensing exam problems that became apparent after the previous class’s passing rate led the N.C. Board of Nursing to put the school’s program on a warning status.

Fourteen of the 18 registered nursing students who have taken the licensing exam so far this year have passed it, Sharon Thompson, BCC’s vice president of academic services, reported Wednesday.

The 77.78 percent passing rate would not pull the program out of jeopardy yet. Last year, an 83 percent passing rate was needed to keep it off probation. But it is 20 points above the 58 percent passing rate of the class of ‘07, the first in the college’s registered nursing program.

Eight more of the 2008 graduates have to take the test before the final passing rate will be known, Thompson said.

The college must raise scores to the average national passing rate for the licensing exam - which was 83 percent last year - to be removed from a warning status by the Board of Nursing.

Failure to achieve the national rate could close BCC’s program.

The school added remedial mathematics coursework and hired consultants to help students prepare for the state licensing exam, Thompson said.

It also raised the entrance exam score for admitting students to the program and retooled the entire approach to the curriculum for students and faculty.

Thompson agreed that prior to this year, the registered nursing program was run much like an advanced course for licensed practical nurses. The director of the registered nursing program was also director of the practical nursing program, and all but one of five full-time faculty had taught only practical nursing courses.

Class time was weighted heavily to long-term, nursing home care that relies mostly on practical nursing skills rather than to the medical surgical care that is akin to what’s found in a hospital.

Now the college has completely separated the registered and practical nursing programs and ushered in coursework integration and faculty interaction that was previously absent, according to a program self-assessment the school sent the Board of Nursing after the 2007 scores were posted.

“I think we now have a faculty in the [registered nursing] program that seeks opportunities for students to succeed,” Thompson said.

Student test scores are being tracked in ways they were not before to let faculty decide where students may need help and what kind of help will be beneficial.

The school’s retention rate for nursing students has been far above the state average, a situation that will change with next year’s class, Thompson said. While just 16 percent of the class of ‘07 dropped out during the two-year program, about 66 percent of the 44 students who enrolled last year will not return this fall.

“What we are having to do is find that delicate balance between retention and first-time test-taker pass rate,” Thompson said.

The state average is a dropout rate of 40 percent to 70 percent. Losing 50 percent of registered nursing students between the first and second years is not unusual, said David Kalbacker, Board of Nursing spokesman.

Thompson said lines of communication are now more open than previously between students and faculty or administrators. She said college officials have learned that many of the students work in order to have health insurance for themselves and their families.

Thompson said the college has asked the program committee of the state board of the N.C. Community College System to help it find ways to get affordable health care for students.

(c) YellowBrix 2008