No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

An institute of higher education located in the United States was unable to maintain the required first-time pass rate, on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) exam, by nursing graduates, as defined by their State Board of Nursing and accreditation body. Failure to meet these requirements resulted in a corrective action plan and fewer licensed nurses able to enter practice. The purpose of this study was to identify curricular changes to the associate nursing program to improve the first time pass rate by their nursing graduates. Benner's theory of skill acquisition was used as the conceptual framework to examine the perceived skill level needed to pass the NCLEX-RN exam. The guiding research question for this study explored the perceptions of nursing educators about the integration of learning activities, between clinical and didactic courses to prepare students for the NCLEX-RN exam. A descriptive qualitative design was used and 11 adjunct and full time nursed educators were interviewed. Thematic data analysis identified 5 themes that included retaining programmatic accreditation, barriers to success on the NCLEX-RN exam, the gap between nursing theory and clinical application, skill development in novice nurses and the integration of simulation education in the current nursing curriculum. This final theme led to create a faculty development project based on best practices in simulation education. Consequently, positive social change will occur with the increased number of first time nursing graduates who pass the NCLEX-RN exam and are better prepared to enter professional practice while delivering quality patient care.

Nursing candidates' overall goal is to become a professional nurse. To reach this goal, the student must graduate from an associate or baccalaureate nursing program and pass the state board, National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). Student retention in nursing programs and passing the NCLEX continue to be a problem for educational institutions throughout the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine nursing candidates' perceptions of their greatest challenges in becoming a professional nurse. Wenger's social learning systems and the community of practice comprised the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions pertained to nursing students' perceptions regarding the greatest challenges of becoming a professional nurse, strategies that could have helped the students, and the challenges that could be addressed by the nursing program. For this qualitative case study, nursing students from a second year Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program and nursing students in their last semester of a License Practical Nurse (LPN) program in North Georgia were asked to participate by attending focus group interviews. Twelve of the second year ADN program students volunteered to participate and 5 of the students in the last semester of the LPN program volunteered to participate. The data was collected from focus group interviews, and an inductive process was done for the data analysis. The findings revealed four challenges to becoming a professional nurse: family/relationship, lack of time, curriculum, and prior knowledge or skill. Insights from the analysis may enhance the institutions' understanding of the barriers faced by nursing students in North Georgia, the nursing program, the nursing profession, and help develop strategies to identify and support at-risk students.

No description available.

New nurse graduates must pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) in order to achieve nursing licensure. In Northern New Mexico associate degree nursing program with a large disadvantaged student population, the average pass rate for the licensure exam often falls below the state board of nursing mandated 80% pass rate. This study's purpose was to evaluate the effect of an NCLEX remediation program on students' ability to pass the NCLEX, using Knowles adult learning theory to guide this work. The research questions investigated the relation between the remedial instruction and the 2 dependent variables KAPLAN predictor scores and NCLEX pass rates. I used a quantitative non-experimental ex post facto design to contrast 2 purposively sampled student cohorts, the cohort from 2017 that did not participate in the remediation program (N = 14) and the cohort from 2018 that participated in the remediation program (N = 27). A t test for independent samples showed that the KAPLAN exam mean scores were significantly higher (t = 4.81, p < 0.001) for the 2018 cohort (M = 66.49, SD = 8.08) than for the 2017 cohort (M = 55.78, SD = 5.94). The Chi-square test showed that the NCLEX pass rates were independent of the remedial instruction (χ2 = 0.58 , p = 0.45 and χ2 = 0.17, p = 0.68 after the Yates correction). Based on the findings and guided by theory, a policy recommendation was formulated for the nursing department's management. The inconclusive results will generate social change by challenging nursing program leaders to discuss why the pass rates did not increase while the Kaplan predictor scores did. Based on this discussion and further research, the remediation program could be improved.