The accuracy of state NCLEX-RN© passing standards for nursing programs

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Accreditation Standards
• Statistical Analysis in Healthcare

Background:

• State licensure and accreditation mandate nursing programs meet specific NCLEX pass rate standards.
• Variability in state standards and year-to-year program pass rates causes anxiety for educators and students.
• Existing standards may not accurately reflect true program performance due to inherent statistical variation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To scrutinize the accuracy of state pass rates as a definitive standard for evaluating nursing education programs.
• To analyze the implications of pass rate variation on program accreditation and assessment.
• To determine if programs failing or meeting standards did so due to statistical chance.

Main Methods:

• Calculated 95% confidence intervals for nursing program pass rates from 2010 to 2014.
• Utilized data from state nursing boards, including statutes, regulations, and NCLEX pass rates for 1792 programs.
• Assessed whether confidence intervals indicated potential errors in meeting or exceeding state pass rate standards.

Main Results:

• Nearly 20% of programs failed to meet state pass rate standards at least once between 2010-2014.
• Among programs failing standards, 28.4% had confidence intervals overlapping the standard, suggesting erroneous failure.
• Approximately 17.4% of programs meeting standards had confidence intervals below the standard, suggesting erroneous compliance.

Conclusions:

• Applying confidence intervals reveals that state pass rate standards may be inappropriate for evaluating nursing program quality.
• The findings suggest a need to re-evaluate the methodology used for state pass rate standards in nursing education.
• Statistical uncertainty challenges the reliability of current pass rate benchmarks for program assessment.