Enhancing the success of NCLEX-RN retesters

The widely recognized shortage of nurses, together with uncertain trends in nursing school enrollments, poses a dilemma for the health care industry. This dilemma is aggravated by the loss from the work force of graduate nurses who fail the registered nurse licensure examination. Employer institutions fail to reap the benefits of expensive recruiting and orientation, the graduate nurses face a personal and professional crisis, and a shadow is cast over their nursing school. Out of mutual concern, a tertiary care hospital and its affiliated university school of nursing collaborated to develop a model for a clinically based remedial program to increase the likelihood of passing a licensure retest. Developmental aspects and advantages of this model are described. Issues for consideration prior to implementation of such a program are discussed.