No Room for Error

_{All 2016 nursing graduates, shown here at their pinning ceremony in May, passed the national licensure exam for RNs on their first try this summer.}

It’s literally impossible to do any better: 100 percent of Longwood’s 2016 nursing graduates passed the national licensure examination for registered nurses on their first attempt.

Just under 89 percent of BSN nurses around the country who took the test in the first half of 2016 passed—putting Longwood’s 27 alums who sat for the test early this summer significantly above the competition.

The 100 percent pass rate was a first for Longwood’s BSN program, which graduated its inaugural class in 2013. The pass rate is one of the major ways in which the quality of nursing programs is measured, said Dr. Deborah Ulmer, chair of the Department of Nursing.

“One hundred percent is incredibly difficult to achieve, and to get to 100 percent in only four years is stunning,” said Ulmer. “This is a compliment to our faculty but even more so to our students. They made it their mission— they made a promise to each other—that they were all going to pass.”

The benchmark for nursing programs is a consistent pass rate of about 80 percent, said Ulmer, adding that 93 percent was her goal this year and will remain so in the future. The first-time pass rate for the Class of 2015 was 89 percent; in 2014, 84 percent of Longwood graduates passed.

“Until my faculty colleagues and I get the results for each graduate, we’re a nervous wreck. It’s nail-biting time,” said Ulmer with a laugh. “When each person passes, it shows up on a website, which we check every day, and then we celebrate along with the graduates. We stay in close email contact and watch over the results very carefully. We try not to obsess, but it is a very important milestone for our new nurses and for our program.”

BSN students typically take the exam the summer after graduating. Most have their first jobs by that time, though they usually don’t start work until after taking the exam.

Longwood’s four-year BSN program, which began in 2009, currently enrolls about 200 students. Another 25 are enrolled in the RN-to-BSN program, which started in January 2015.