NCLEX-RN - the final stepping stone!

September 2009 will bring closure to Excelsior’s Nursing Concepts curriculum. Many of you have been working diligently to complete all of your nursing courses by this deadline and are now preparing for your CPNE. In last quarter’s newsletter we talked about organized and effective preparation for this challenging clinical experience. There is probably no other exam after which one has a greater sense of relief than after leaving the hospital on Sunday having heard the words “Congratulations. You passed!” At that point the reality hits you that you’ve made it through all of the academics and now also through that very daunting clinical component you’ve been thinking about and fretting about for the last 2, 3, 4 or more years. At last… graduation and that longed for Associate’s Degree in Nursing, an accomplishment to be very proud of.

Enjoy and celebrate, and when the stars begin to lift and you catch your breath, your mind tells you there is one last huge step to take before you own your goal of being a registered nurse, and that is the NCLEX-RN, or as it is commonly referred to, the “State Boards,” "Nursing Boards" or just “The Boards.” It takes about 9 weeks for Excelsior to send your transcripts to the state boards of nursing after you pass your CPNE. Each state has different fees for this process. Usually there is a state board fee which may include an application fee, licensing fee and background check/fingerprint fee. These run between $50 or $60 in many states and up to $263 in Arizona. And then of course there is the $200 test fee. It’s never too early to start saving for the nursing boards.

The NCLEX-RN is a nationally standardized exam prepared by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. The goal of every state is to assure that the individual it is licensing as a professional registered nurse will provide safe, competent and effective care at all times. The nursing boards test the minimum competency, the knowledge and skills required to practice professional nursing at an entry level. Unlike many other exams you will have taken by then which required the ability to memorize facts, and be able to recall them and recognize them in an answer, the NCLEX-RN focuses on your ability to take the knowledge you learned in nursing school, be able to analyze situations, problem solve and apply various levels of understanding to a scenario. Critical thinking is the key. Questions will often expect you to be able to correlate knowledge about lab work, diagnostic tests, developmental ages and specific conditions, rather than just asking: “What is the normal hematocrit for a 10 year old?” Just remember that you did learn it all at one time and this is your grand opportunity to tie it all together and show that you can make safe judgments and decisions about patient care. The NCLEX-PN that many of you took was structured in a very similar manner. You passed that one and you can pass this one. Read the questions calmly and carefully and make sure you understand exactly what the question is asking and who it’s about. Do not read information into the question which is not really there.

All NCLEX-RN study texts agree that cramming at the last minute and hoping you remember the many thousand facts you learned in school will not in any way help you pass this exam. Many of you out there are just beginning this educational journey. Now is the time for you to master critical thinking skills and practice answering NCLEX-type questions throughout all of the courses you will be taking. By doing this you will increase your analytical skill and achieve a comfort level with this type of testing.

The NCLEX-RN has a minimum of 75 and a maximum of 265 questions. The computer is set to choose your next question based on the level of difficulty of the last question you answered correctly. Every question counts so plan to answer all 265. Remember, as long as the computer keeps assigning you questions things are still looking up, i.e., you have not failed. You will keep answering questions until you have correctly answered the type and number that reflect minimum competency. By the time you sit for this exam you will have studied and answered tens of thousands of these questions. If you have used the educational opportunities you were provided with from Rue to master the information and critical thinking skills, then you will be more than prepared. Be confident! Go and show the nursing world that you have much to bring to this myriad of patients who need your safe and competent care.

Belief is the knowledge that we can do something, It’s the inner feeling that what we undertake, we can accomplish. For the most part, all of us have the ability to look at something and to know whether or not we can do it. So in belief there is power; our eyes are opened; our opportunities become plain; and our VISIONS BECOME REALITIES.