The National Council Licesure Examination for Registered Nurses

First, we must ask who the stakeholders are when it comes to any nursing program. This is a wide universe, for the stakeholders are many. First, of course, we have instructors at the university level, most of whom have been or are practicing professionals. Then there are the administrators of the program who must continually search out money and grants to keep the program going. We then move into the public sector: patients, families, physicians, support staff at healthcare facilities, healthcare administration, HMOs, private insurers, and governmental agencies (Colvin, et.al., 2008). Each has a role to play within the evaluation process.

Nurse practitioners must maintain certification as an FNP as well as maintain licensure as an APRN to be able to practice. As a new graduate, this process may seem laborious. However, the South Carolina licensure website does a great job at simplifying the process and provides a checklist of the requirements for the APRN license application. The application may be completed online or sent to the board by mail. The requirements to be sent to the board include: APRN licensure by endorsement application, proof of current RN license, masters degree from an accredited program approved by the board with official transcripts, application fees, supervising physician info if applicable, passport-type

The Kaplan website offers a wealth of information and helpful tools for nursing students. The videos in the "How to Study" section offer practical advice for beginning nursing students and those who might be struggling with topics such as, Taking Notes, Studying, Reading Textbooks, Time Management, and Preparing for the Exam. The "Remediation by Topic" section offers students summaries of topics like Confidentiality, Critical Thinking Skills, and HIPAA. "The Focused Review Test" section offers an option to create a test to use as a study aid. This paper will give a summary of the topics, Critical Thinking Skills, the NCLEX-RN, and Therapeutic Communication. This paper will also discuss which methods are the

Through my research for this paper I have found that RNs who have an associate degree or diploma are more likely to make errors during clinical practice. Nurses who hold Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees have a stronger foundation in which to build better communication, leadership, critical thinking and problem solving skills. The high demands placed on today's nurses really challenge all of these skills on a daily basis. Nurses with Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees have a better understanding of the importance to be proficient in these skills. In a study of RN-to-BSN degree graduates from 1995 to

National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) is an examination administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. to graduate nurses in the United States before they can obtain a practicing license. An NCLEX test blueprint is a document produced by NCSBN, which contains a summation of what is assessed in the NCLEX examination as well as the core values of nursing practice. The blueprint serves as a guide for aspiring nurses and nursing student who need to learn the basic requirements of nursing and nursing examination. The blueprint is valuable in exam preparation and as a study guide.

An ongoing debate for the requirements to become a Registered Nurse (RN) has been unsettled. Several different educational pathways lead to an RN licensure; however, the minimum educational requirements must be standardized at the baccalaureate level for several reasons. Spetz and Bates (2013) published that a growing number of hospitals prefer hiring nurses with a Bachelor Science in Nursing (BSN) as this increases the status of the nursing profession (p. 1). Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), as well as a certificate on-the-job training Diploma are two other educational pathways to become an RN, which can be disadvantageous to the nursing profession in several ways (Tollick 2013; Spetz and Bates 2013). If entry-level nurses

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs strive to ready student nurses for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) that tests not only pure knowledge, but the reasoning and application of that knowledge. These programs provide student nurses with the necessary knowledge base and ability to apply knowledge in practice; especially since the introduction of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) has been integrated into didactics. EBP, along with hours of clinical placement, benefit student nurses by arming them with the clinical judgment skills called for in the workplace. However, if student nurses accrue more focused clinical hours in their areas of specialty, they will be better prepared for the situations they will face in their

A required section of the Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at Ferris State University

The NCLEX PN test will have a minimum of 85 items and up to a maximum of 205 items in 5 hours, out of these items, 25 of these items on the NCLEX PN test are pretest questions, which are not scored. This is something new I never heard before, I have had learned from this chapter. All answers are scored as right or wrong, but no partial credits are given. The computer continues with questions until it determines the person passes or fails the NCLEX examination. I like this chapter explaining very well right to the point and simple to get ready for the NCLEX exam. Encourage students to practice questions and mock exam can be a great way to help us had struggled with test anxiety. Know concepts by able to apply basic nursing information in the

Healthcare systems and the way safe, quality health care is delivered are continually changing to better serve patients and communities. Professional nursing practice is a large component in the healthcare system today. Back in the 1960s, professional nursing leaders tried to adopt the bachelor degree programs as the only educational track to become a registered nurse (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). Due to nursing shortages and demands this motive did not hold fast. Individuals entering the nursing profession today must first decide which educational pathway to take to become a Registered Nurse (RN).

In the early 1980s it came to light that while the supply of nurses had reached a record high, only 80% of hospitals nationwide had adequate nurse staffing levels (American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2011, p. 8). To address this issue a taskforce was formed within the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). Through an initial study of 165 hospitals, the AAN determined the characteristics of healthcare organizations that were magnetically attracting and retaining nurses as employees (American Nurse Credentialing Center, p. 9). In this study the AAN found “Forces of Magnetism” that contributed to the high level of job satisfaction amongst nurses, superior quality of care, low job turnover, and high level of nurse involvement in leadership, decision-making, and research. In the early 1990s, catapulted by the findings of this initial study, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) developed the Magnet Recognition Program. The intention of the ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program was threefold: To reward hospitals that demonstrated “excellence in the delivery of nursing services to patients;” to encourage quality in the nursing work environment to support practicing professional nurses; and to guide navigation for the dissemination of evidenced-based clinical nursing practice (American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2011, p. 14).

There is an increasingly high demand for students going into nursing careers in our society, but there are also varying educational pathways for these students to get into these careers. Are the three educational pathways (Diploma, Associate Degree, and Baccalaureate Degree) preparing prospective nurses to be at the same competency level after schooling? Advancement in education has become an increasingly important topic amongst health care organizations. Educational preparation can indeed affect nursing care and the decision making of nurses. In this paper, an analysis of nursing history and the degree programs themselves will provide evidence of an increased level of patient care by BSN nurses vs. ADN nurses.

The Giger and Davidhizar model was “developed in 1988 in response to the need for nursing students in an undergraduate program to assess

Before the NCLEX exam was established, each state created its own nursing regulations and exams to determine the competency of nursing students (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016). In 1941, the National League of Nursing created a better exam that was adopted by all states, in order to streamline the process, and the test was called the State Board Test Pool Examination (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016). Locations to take the exam were very limited and had to be big enough to accommodate many people at once, since the test was only offered twice a year, and in order to take it, student nurses had to register about six months in advance by mailing in their approval to test (Johnson & Kappel). The exam was given using paper and pencil, and for every thirty-five students, a retired nurse was hired as a proctor (Johnson & Kappel). The questions were the same for all the students in order to make testing fair, and students had to wait for weeks before their results arrived in the mail (Johnson & Kappel). The test was officially named the NCLEX in 1982 after the National Council of State Boards of Nursing took over the responsibility of the test nationally a few years beforehand (Johnson & Kappel). The total number of questions on the test before 1982 was 720, before being reduced to 480 and then 370 questions (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016).

Becoming a nurse requires extensive schooling and training that for most students causes considerable amounts of stress to be placed on their success for the future. Nursing school places students in an environment that is rigorous and competitive which in turn results in high-stress levels experienced by these students. The stress inflicted on these students causes them to experience health problems along with deterring them from completing their studies. Additionally, the pressure and struggles these students are facing are being ignored by those placing them under these conditions, ignoring the fact that the educators of these students are responsible for ensuring the well-being of these students. Proven that nursing students experience more stress than the average college undergraduate, the stress inflicted on nursing students by their educational process results in students that are less likely to succeed and that are overall less healthy both physically and mentally.