NCSBN Regulatory Guidelines and Evidence-Based Quality Indicators for Nursing Education Programs

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nursing Education Programs

BACKGROUND

The U.S. Boards of Nursing (BONs) collect annual report data from their nursing programs as part of their approval process. This paper highlights the 2020 and 2021 annual report data on the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on all nursing programs in 17 BONs in 2020 and 19 in 2021.

METHOD

Nursing programs answered 16 questions on the effect of COVID-19 on their programs. Because BONs require annual report data, all programs in the participating states answered the questions, which included 798 programs in 2020 and 929 in 2021.

RESULTS

Major disruptions in nursing education occurred during the pandemic. Clinical experiences and didactic classes were greatly affected, though alternative strategies were used. Student and faculty attrition rates were particularly high in 2021.

CONCLUSION

The authors call for a national forum where nurse leaders analyze what happened and make recommendations for future crisis events. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(5):312-319.].

Addressing the Shortage of Academic Nurse Educators: Recommendations for Educational Institutions Based on Nominal Group Technique Research

AIM

The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold: 1) explore factors contributing to the shortage of academic nurse educators (ANEs) and 2) identify opportunities to address these factors from the perspectives of nursing education institutions.

BACKGROUND

The nurse faculty shortage is a major national concern, with inadequate recruitment and retention. Addressing the nursing faculty shortage is important to maintain a sustained nursing workforce.

METHOD

Using a nominal group technique (NGT), a group of 45 diverse nurse educators from across the United States formed a virtual workgroup.

RESULTS

Findings led to an action plan formulated to guide educational institutions with ways to decrease the ANE shortage through recruitment and retention.

CONCLUSION

The evidence demonstrates the need for educational institutions to concentrate efforts on recruiting and retaining ANEs to combat the nursing shortage. The analysis offers recommendations to institutions to increase the number of qualified ANEs.

Are Working Nurses Enrolled in Graduate School Aware of Medical Librarians at Their Workplace? A Survey to Close the Research-to-Bedside Gap

This article reports the results from an anonymous survey sent to working graduate nursing students. The survey asked about nurses' awareness of medical librarians at the healthcare institutions where they work. Less than half of the survey respondents were aware that medical librarians were available to them at work. Less than half of the survey respondents claimed they consulted with a medical librarian at work or witnessed another nurse consulting with a medical librarian. The disconnect between academia and patient care is part of the 15-year research-to-bedside gap that exists in nursing. Medical librarians can help to close the gap.

Course repetition in pre-licensure nursing students: A scoping review

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROBLEM

Nursing student attrition is a global issue affecting students, nursing programs, and the profession. One group of nursing students at risk for attrition are those that have failed and need to repeat a required nursing course. These students experience academic consequences such as delayed graduation and entry into the workforce, further contributing to the nursing shortage. Unfortunately, current literature about nursing student repeaters remains inadequate, and evidence of support measures is minimal.

PURPOSE

This scoping review aims to summarize the literature on course repetition in pre-licensure nursing students and identify gaps in the literature about this population.

METHODS

Arskey and O'Malley's (2005) five-step procedure was used as the organizing framework to explore course repetition in pre-licensure nursing students.

RESULTS

There were twenty articles relevant for this scoping review. The findings revealed nursing student repeaters are at an increased risk for subsequent failure and attrition. Students experienced shock, sadness, and uncertainty when course failure ensued. Nursing students sought additional help while repeating failed courses, but interventions solely harnessed toward student repeaters can be beneficial.

CONCLUSION

Nursing student repeaters are a unique population that requires a multifaceted approach, including academic and non-academic support structures, to ensure they meet the educational standards of the repeated course. Future studies regarding this population should include progression policies' impact on student success and strategies and interventions that create positive outcomes among student repeaters.

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nursing Education: A National Study of Prelicensure RN Programs

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on prelicensure nursing education, leading to widespread disruptions that may have implications for nursing students' learning and engagement outcomes. Understanding how the rapid shift to online and simulation-based teaching methods has affected new graduates' clinical preparedness is critical to ensure patient safety moving forward.

Purpose

To assess the impact of institutional, academic, and demographic characteristics on prelicensure nursing students' academic, initial postgraduation, and early career outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We conducted a mixed-methods longitudinal study focused on prelicensure registered nurse (RN) students entering the core of their didactic and clinical nursing coursework during the pandemic. This study uses a combination of real-time student and faculty self-report data, including externally validated instruments, within and end-of-program standardized test scores, and focus group findings. Various statistical methods, ranging from simpler descriptive and non-parametric methods to Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models and detailed textual analysis, are applied to assess student, faculty, and institution-level data.

Results

The final sample includes more than 1,100 student and faculty participants affiliated with 51 prelicensure RN programs located across 27 states. Leveraging more than 4,000 course observations collected from fall 2020 to spring 2022 and supplemented by the rich personal narratives of over 60 focus group participants, this study illuminates the breadth, scale, and ever-evolving nature of prelicensure RN programs' efforts to maintain the continuity of nursing students' education during the public health crisis. In doing so, it captures the many ways in which nursing administrators, faculty, and students sought to address the unparalleled challenges they confronted on a day-to-day basis. In particular, the findings provide critical insights into the efficacy of the changes nursing programs made to their course delivery formats to adjust to the confluence of rapidly evolving federal, state, and private restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Conclusion

This study stands as the most comprehensive assessment of prelicensure nursing education in the United States since the onset of COVID-19. It extends knowledge by linking potential deficiencies in students' didactic and clinical education during the pandemic and their early career preparedness, clinical competence, and the patient safety implications therein.

Applying Principles of a Fair and Just Culture to a Student Scenario

BACKGROUND

This article reviews national efforts toward promoting fair and just cultures in schools of nursing. A real-life vignette in which a nursing student made a medication error is presented, and the nursing program contacted the nursing regulatory body for advice on how to handle the situation.

METHOD

A framework was used to analyze the causes of the error. Commentary is offered regarding how applying the principles of a fair and just culture could improve student performance and advance the school's culture to reflect one that was fair and just.

RESULTS

A fair and just culture requires a commitment of all leaders and faculty within a school of nursing. Administrators and faculty must recognize that errors are part of the learning process, that errors can be minimized but not eliminated, and that learning can occur from each incident to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

CONCLUSION

Academic leaders must engage faculty, staff, and students in a dialogue about the principles of a fair and just culture to develop a tailored plan of action. [J Nurs Educ. 2023;62(3):139-145.].

Strategies Used in Canadian Nursing Programs to Prepare Students for NCLEX-RN® Licensure Exam

Nursing educators need strategies for preparing students to be successful in the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN^®). Understanding the educational practices used is an important step in informing curricular decisions and helping regulatory agencies evaluate nursing programs' efforts to prepare students for practice. This study described strategies used in Canadian nursing programs to prepare students for the NCLEX-RN^®. A cross-sectional descriptive national survey was completed by the program's director, chair, dean, or another faculty member involved in the program's NCLEX-RN^® preparatory strategies using the LimeSurvey platform. Most participating programs (n = 24; 85.7%) use one to three strategies to prepare students for the NCLEX-RN^®. Strategies include the requirement to purchase a commercial product, the administration of computer-based exams, NCLEX-RN^® preparation courses or workshops, and time dedicated to NCLEX-RN^® preparation in one or more courses. There is variation among Canadian nursing programs in how students are prepared for the NCLEX-RN^®. Some programs invest considerable effort in preparation activities, while others have limited ones.

Supporting student success on the practical nurse (PN) licensure exam: The Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) PN Exit Exam Study

BACKGROUND

Practical Nurses or Vocational Nurses (PNs/VNs) complete a 12-month certificate program and must successfully complete the National Council Licensure Exam for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN) prior to practice. While the scope of their practice is more circumscribed than the Registered Nurse (RN), they contribute significantly to healthcare throughout the U.S.A. Current research to support their learning and success is needed. Elsevier's Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) PN Exit Exam (E2) has been used to determine students' NCLEX-PN readiness for over 20 years. Given regular updates to the NCLEX test plan, ongoing research is needed to assess the E2's continued predictive validity and examine E2 program policies to enhance PN/VN student success.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the predictive validity of the E2 on NCLEX-PN first-time pass rates (NCLEX-PN FTPR) and determine which E2-related program policies are related to higher E2 scores and NCLEX-PN FTPR.

METHOD

Sixteen PN/VN program directors participated in the study, providing E2 program policy information and NCLEX-FTPR outcomes for 1371 students who took the E2 between 2018 and 2021.

RESULTS

Students passed the NCLEX-PN 96-98 % of the time when they scored 900 or higher on the E2 and passed 94 %-96 % of the time when they scored 850 or higher. Out of 16 programs, most required E2 test preparation (n = 13, 81.25 %) and allowed students more than one E2 attempt (n = 11; 68.75 %). Requiring minimum E2 scores and specific E2 test preparation were associated with higher NCLEX-PN pass rates, in each case mediated by higher E2 scores. Requiring remediation for students with low initial E2 scores led to higher E2 scores but not higher NCLEX-PN pass rates.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence for program policies and educational resources to support students' NCLEX-PN success. Setting an expected performance benchmark and requiring PN students to engage in E2 preparation prior to their first attempt are recommended strategies emerging from this study.

Nursing Student Errors and Near Misses: Three Years of Data

BACKGROUND

Understanding the magnitude of errors and near misses in all health care situations is crucial to preventing them from occurring in the future. However, little research is available on the type or extent of nursing student errors in the United States.

METHOD

Nursing student error and near miss data were submitted by more than 200 participating prelicensure nursing programs via a secured online repository.

RESULTS

Medication errors represented more than half (58.8%, n = 613) of the total error and near-miss data (n = 1,042) submitted. Errors and near misses were attributed to students not adhering to three major patient safety procedures: checking the patient's identification, checking the patient's allergy status, and following the rights of medication administration.

CONCLUSION

Results indicate collecting data on nursing students' errors and near misses can help nursing programs identify system issues, promote transparency, and make quality improvements. [J Nurs Educ. 2023;62(1):12-19.].

Meta-Decomposition of Efficacy, Incidence of Pressure Ulcer, and Prognosis of Stroke Sufferers after Applying Evidence-Based Ministration

In order to meta-analyze the effect of evidence-based ministration on the efficacy, incidence of pressure ulcers and prognosis of stroke are used. Literature retrieval is carried out in Wanfang Medicine, PubMed database, biomedical literature, and other medical databases through medical data and computers, focusing on the efficacy, pressure ulcer incidence, and prognosis of stroke sufferers after applying evidence-based ministration. For the relevant medical information literature on the effect, RevMan 5.2 software is used for meta-decomposition. For stroke sufferers, the application of evidence-based ministration intervention can notoriously enhance the clinical therapy effect of stroke sufferers, reduce the incidence of clinical pressure ulcers, and enhance the prognosis and quality of life of sufferers.

A New Framework for Practice-Academic Partnerships During the Pandemic-and into the Future

ABSTRACT

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many health care facilities closed their doors to nursing students, depriving them of the experience of caring for patients, a foundation of nursing education. The purpose of this article is to report on how the National Council of State Boards of Nursing convened nurse leaders from around the country to explore this problem and develop possible solutions.Coming together virtually, these leaders recommended a national model, the practice-academic partnership, to provide nursing students with in-person clinical experiences during the pandemic. This model is unique in its recognition of the important role of nursing regulatory bodies in these partnerships. The practice-academic partnership model creates clinical education opportunities for students during a public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the model could be applied to meet the chronic challenges nursing education programs have often faced in securing clinical sites, even in the absence of a global or national public health emergency. We provide the context in which the practice-academic partnership model was developed, along with keys to its successful implementation and suggestions for its evaluation. We also discuss the implications of using this model once the pandemic ends.

Simulation in Undergraduate Education

Simulation is an integral component of undergraduate nursing education because it allows for a safe, timely, and prescriptive approach to meet learning objectives at the levels of individual simulations, courses, and academic programs. This review of the literature provides an overview of steps taken to move simulation forward in undergraduate nursing education, and it highlights educational theories, research, best practices, and policy statements underpinning modern nursing simulation. This chapter outlines simulation and curriculum integration approaches and provides examples of participant, course, and program outcomes.