The University of Southern Indiana, Ivy Tech Community College and University of Evansville all have nursing programs with graduating classes this spring. To begin working as nurses they must pass the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX.)
All three cohorts performed above the national average, which is 87 percent.
All USI and Ivy tech students who attempted the NCLEX, passed. UE passed 98-percent of their students.
This isn’t just good for academics — it’s also good for answering that critical nursing shortage, where The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that more than 275,000 additional nurses are needed from 2020 to 2030. Ivy Tech graduated 58, USI 78, and UE, 34.
“Over the past five years, we've had a pass rate that ranges from 94 to 100-percent. And so we're really excited to have 100-percent pass rate, again, on this new version of the NCLEX test called the next gen NCLEX,” said Dr. Ryan Butler with USI. She’s the associate professor of nursing chair of undergraduate nursing.
She said this new exam tests the same knowledge essentially, but from a “clinical judgement” perspective.
“This is a decision-making process that really uses nursing knowledge to observe and assess different situations as they're happening, identify and better prioritize client concerns, and just generate best possible evidence, so basically to deliver the safest care.”
The exam changed in response to research, which revealed that “poor clinical judgement” caused the majority of medical errors.
She gave the example of a question containing an “unfolding case study” — a scenario about patient with a bevy of information, such as their lab reports. “And then you're asked to answer several questions about that same patient,” Butler said. “And those questions can build on one another, as you work through that case, and that's, that's different from the way that the old version of NCLEX used to ask questions regarding that type of content.”
USI also did better on a national scale in 2022, which revealed the lowest NCLEX results in 10 years at 80.9 - percent. This might be from the lack of hands-on learning at clinics and hospitals during the pandemic.
“Local area hospitals in our community partners allowed our students to come into the clinical setting,” said Dr. Marilyn Ostendorf, clinical assistant professor of nursing. “… we were allowed to come in. And that did not happen nationally. And it certainly didn't even happen within the state of Indiana.”
She said their students only missed eight weeks of clinicals due to the pandemic.
In the same period, UE happened to experience a dip in first-time passes due to factors like the pandemic, a modified clinicals experience, said Jerrilee LaMar chair of the Dunigan Family School of Nursing at UE.
“I think students really just struggled that year because they felt isolated,” she said. “You know, they didn't have quite the same opportunities as they had in the past. And even though we did get into clinical, those clinical experiences were different than they'd been in the past.”
All students eventually passed, and students rebounded this year with a 98-percent pass rate.
This year all three institutions are also experiencing 100-percent job placement.
LaMar said 21 of the 34 graduating students have chosen to stay here in the tri-state and practice nursing. She said there is still a nursing shortage locally and elsewhere.
“In fact, I think it's a pretty critical shortage throughout the United States and actually worldwide. And I know, our clinical partners here locally, have been extremely generous to our nursing students.”
According to The American Nurses Association (ANA), more registered nurse jobs will be available through 2022 than any other profession in the United States.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than 275,000 additional nurses are needed from 2020 to 2030.
This shortage is also amid an aging American population.
Both UE and USI offer more 1,100 hours of clinical experience for students. Ivy tech offers 534. The state minimum is 500.
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