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Bethlehem, Pa., December 10, 2014—Ninety-Seven percent (97%) of ̽������ College nursing students passed the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) during the most recent testing cycle. Passage of the examination is required for students to become licensed as registered nurses (R.N.).

“We certainly are proud of our students’ performance taking the NCLEX-RN, nearly all of them pass on their first try,” said Professor Kerry Cheever, chair of the Nursing Department at ̽������ College. “It’s a benchmark that demonstrates the quality of our program and the students we attract. Once our graduates pass the exam, all of them find jobs as registered nurses.”

Cheever attributes the students’ success to a particularly strong curriculum, taught by an outstanding and dedicated faculty, which integrates nursing and non-nursing courses throughout the students' four years at ̽������ College. “Students take an introductory nursing course their first year, and begin to take their first course with a clinical component first-semester sophomore year. They log over 1,000 clinical practice hours, which is approximately 150 hours above most other baccalaureate nursing programs,” she noted.

“We have a requirement for a group-based research project for all of our seniors and a precepted internship-like experience,” Cheever continued. “Our students take non-nursing LinC courses from freshman through their senior year. The liberal arts advantage is clear—our graduates are better equipped to think critically, express their thoughts and opinions clearly and eloquently, and manipulate and make sense of data.”

The NCLEX-RN tests students on clinical problems that typically confront new graduates and the results are a measure of the student’s mastery of sufficient content and concepts and ability to engage in safe practice. “Our students have done very well with this exam over the past few years —in the past three years, our overall pass rates have exceeded both state and national average pass rates, by all programs as well as baccalaureate program-like-types,” Cheever continued. “We thank our partner St. Luke’s University Health Network for their outstanding support of our nursing programs.”

The Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing requires educational institutions to attain an 80% or pass rate. Those who don’t are placed given a probationary status and required to make substantive change reports to the accreditors that address the lower-than-benchmark pass rates. In the most recent testing cycle, approximately 25% of the institutions in Pennsylvania with nursing programs did not meet the requirement.

The ̽������ College Department of Nursing offers a traditional four-year pre-licensure baccalaureate (BS) program, a 16-month long pre-licensure accelerated BS program for college graduates, a baccalaureate degree completion program for registered nurses (RN to BS), and a master’s (MS) program in nursing that prepares clinical nurse leaders, nurse administrators, nurse educators, and nurse practitioners. Each of these programs prepares men and women for continuous learning, advanced study, and leadership in health care. Nursing students at all levels experience an education that blends compassionate art with scientific inquiry to achieve a transformative education deeply rooted in a rich liberal arts tradition. For more information visit .