“If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”-Henry Ford
As a school, we’re moving fast to improve NCLEX pass rates. Dr. Anita Bralock, Prelicensure Program Director, is leading a new task force to analyze the situation and brainstorm ways to maximize students’ performance on the NCLEX exam. Last week, the Bruin Brief reported on recent NCLEX pass rates that have fluctuated for BS and MECN cohorts over time. To strengthen students’ NCLEX performance, the newly-established Prelicensure NCLEX Work Group is taking a look at past patterns, current practices, and future goals. It’s not impossible to imagine UCLA SON with a steady-state pass rate in the 95-100% range.
The NCLEX Work Group Considers Root Causes of NCLEX Dips over Time
Contributors to NCLEX performance deserve serious consideration. We all play a part in the success of our students. When teachers show up under-prepared or indifferent, students set lower expectations for themselves, too. As one student said, “If I’m paying you thousands of dollars for an education and you’re not doing your job, then I don’t have to do mine either.” Focusing on the short-term, students who are looking to ‘get by’ or ‘pass the course’ inadvertently undermine their own long-term goal of passing the NCLEX. If they realize they’re struggling, students find it hard during the pandemic to get help during regular office hours or to access tutoring or coaching. Sometimes cheating appears to be the only option on the table. Although cheating reports went up, no one can say for sure if we just found better ways of spotting cheaters or if an actual rise in student misconduct was detected. To sum up, the pandemic spurred mental distress, loss and grief, clinical experience substitutions, and Zoom fatigue. Few students—or faculty—perform at their peak at times like this. Yet we can do better, particularly in the days ahead as we return to campus and a more regular educational routine.
The fishbone diagram (below) examines some of the factors that could be depressing the NCLEX pass rate at UCLA SON.
The NCLEX workgroup recently prepared a Gap Analysis and Deliverables. Our colleagues on the Workgroup noted that the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) will be offered to students who graduate in 2023. That means the MECN students who join us in Fall 2022 and the BS III students will be the first classes we prepare for the new exam. All of us will work together to adopt the new AACN Essentials, revise program curricula to be competency based, and simultaneously incorporate NCLEX testing strategies congruent with expectations outlined by the National Commission of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) for NGN. “The NGN exam asks better questions to help nurses think critically when providing care and make the right decisions,” explains the NCSBN. Talks and videos about the NGN explain even more.
The NCLEX workgroup is building on our strengths to do even better. In 2015, the Prelicensure program adopted a new set of quality practices to address NCLEX pass rate concerns. For example, nurse specialty coaching became available to students who self-identified or were referred for additional help. We’re revisiting all of those plans, and asking how those changes worked and what more we can do. One promising approach is to give the Kaplan predictor exam earlier in the program to give students time to respond to predictive scores and revise their study plans. Other suggestions are welcome.
Do you want to help? Please reach out to Dr. Anita Bralock who is spearheading the NCLEX Work Group. Other members of the taskforce include Linda Majoub, Glenda Totten, Emma Cuenca, Dottie Wiley, Barbara Demman, Zarenna Khan, and Lauren Clark. You may want to review the NGN site to update your course testing questions, discuss with Dr. Bralock how to increase the value of Kaplan testing in your course, and study more about competency based evaluation. Progress is in the air, and we can all be part of raising standards and teaching more effectively to match the expectations of the NGN and new Essentials.
A tremendous thanks to all of the NCLEX workgroup members and Dr. Bralock, the leader of the group. We appreciate your attention and guidance as we strive to improve students’ performance.