NCLEX© Olympics: An Innovative and Interactive Approach to NCLEX© Preparation

A challenge identified for Baccalaureate in Nursing (BSN) programs  is to keep graduates engaged in preparing for the National Council State Boards of Nursing exam (NCLEX-RN©) in the weeks between graduation and taking the exam.   One BSN program developed the “NCLEX Olympics” as an interactive, participative one-day event, with several intentions for this strategy.  First, the faculty felt it was important to keep students engaged with their instructors in a learning environment immediately after graduation.  Secondly, faculty wanted to increase graduate’s confidence as they prepared to answer multiple choice, alternate format, and innovative-style questions..  The third aim was to demonstrate to graduates that their faculty truly cared about them and their success.  By inviting graduates to return to campus for a fun, interactive day, faculty hoped to facilitate engagement in identified weak and challenging curricular areas, test-taking strategies, and provide a “high-touch” environment with a caring, collaborative atmosphere.

Prior to graduation, all graduates were required to achieve a benchmark score on the HESI Exit Exam. For each graduating group, faculty analyzed HESI Exit Exam results, particularly at the comparison of institutional results to national results.  The faculty identified each high-risk, specialty areas.  Four high-risk categories areas were recognized, categorized, and developed into fun interactive, mini simulation stations.  Graduates were provided guidance and criteria, and asked to work through each scenario individually, with no prompting. At each simulation station, the graduates were awarded stars on a scorecard by a faculty, based on previously-established criteria. At the end of the day, the student’s scorecards were tallied and a gold, bronze, and silver medalist was awarded on an Olympic-like podium.

The “NCLEX Olympics” was a high energy day, with faculty “pumping-up” and interacting with the graduates.  After the “NCLEX Olympic”, graduates were paired with a coach who contacted their graduates weekly to offer encouragement and support leading up to taking the NCLEX-RN©.  By creating a learning environment that was engaging, fun, and non-threatening, graduates were able to address critical areas needed for NCLEX-RN© preparation and entry into nursing practice.  For this campus, the NCLEX-RN© first time pass rates increased significantly as compared to the NCLEX-RN© pass rates prior to this intervention.