Nursing students improve licensing exam results

There has been a major improvement this year in the scores on a new licensing exam for nursing students, says the Association of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island.

The test, developed in the U.S., was first introduced on P.E.I. and in several other provinces last year. Graduating nursing students must pass it to get their credentials, and are given three attempts at it.

Some nursing graduates found it difficult last year. The pass rate on the first attempt was 87 per cent. All the students passed it on the second try.

"The first group that wrote in 2015 didn't do as well as what we had expected," said Becky Gosbee, executive director of the Association of Registered Nurses of P.E.I.

The association likes the new exam, said Gosbee, but it is different than anything nurses had taken before, and that led to some difficulties for some students.

An interactive experience

The computer-assisted exam includes graphs, video and audio clips, and is much more interactive than traditional paper-based exams.

It's the result of the exposure, the change in the university getting them prepared for the type of exam that they were writing.- Becky Gosbee

UPEI does not administer the exam, but instructors there have been trying to better prepare students this year for the kind of testing it involves. Gosbee said it is making a difference, and the first results back from this year are better.

Students from the accelerated nursing program wrote the exam in February.

"There has been a dramatic improvement from 2015 to 16," said Gosbee.

"The 2016 [students] have done tremendously well and I think it's the result of the exposure, the change in the university getting them prepared for the type of exam that they were writing."

All the students passed on the first try this year.

Students not in the accelerated program will write this exam this spring, and Gosbee is confident they will do much better as well.