The lived experience of NCLEX failure

Educators help coach, focus, and prepare students for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), but often fall short in providing support when graduates are not successful. Most research to date has focused solely on predicting failure, with little to no attention given to interventions after failure. This study presents the voices of unsuccessful candidates, their responses to failure, their perspectives of the factors that contributed to their failure, and the changes they made that led to subsequent success. The results demonstrate common themes related to the failure experience, successful remediation strategies for retesting, and recommendations for faculty interventions during this vulnerable period. Nurse educators have a responsibility to identify, inform, and intervene with students who are at high risk of failing the NCLEX, and this responsibility is executed capably. However, the role extends beyond graduation. The responsibility to help nursing graduates transition from failure to licensure is the final step of successful undergraduate nursing education.