Is the NCLEX a barrier that protects U.S. jobs?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2004

If they can't pass NCLEX now, chances are they wouldn't have passed it before. I'm not sure what the motivation was in changing the NCLEX. But foreign nurses who work in the US need to meet the US standard of education IMO, if it's good enough in deciding who in America becomes a nurse, then it's good enough for them.

Are more people failing NCLEX with these changes? Where do you get your information? Thanks.

fergus51 · Sep 8, 2004

No. It's simply one of the requirements of belonging to the profession. It's no different than requiring certain educational experiences. For instance, UK trained midwives can't practise here as nurses unless they do coursework in adult/peds/psych. It wasn't meant to keep them out specifically.

cns48 · Sep 8, 2004

In my opinion, the NCLEX isn't the only thing that US nurses should be measured against. The NCLEX only tests the minimum competencies needed for entry to practice. All nurses should want to be way above the minimum requirements. Also, there needs to be a process in place to make sure that nurses are continually competent to practice. I believe most nurses are, but there are some nurses that aren't.

So to answer you question, the NCLEX is necessary not for US nurses, but for the public who receive the care.

memphispanda, RN · Sep 8, 2004

No.

The NCLEX is a barrier to protect U.S. patients from nurses who fall below the minimum standards required to be a nurse. The reason for being below the standard doesn't really matter--language barrier, different standards, etc. The U.S. uses the NCLEX to ensure that whatever the education or license background of a person coming into the U.S. that was trained as a nurse in another country that person meets the U.S. standards.

francine79 · Sep 9, 2004

I feel the NCLEX was changed to help ensure that nurses are really competent. Multiple choice questions with only one correct answer are less difficult than those with more than one answer or questions in which you actually have to type the answer. It is easier to answer a question that helps you jog your memory than to have to know the answer without any suggestions. However, I have seen nurses pass this new test and it makes you wonder how they even made it through nursing school and then I have seen really great nurses who know there stuff fail the new test 4 times before they passed. So I guess I don't feel the boards were changed just to ensure U.S. citizens jobs. I think it was a way to help ensure quality of nurses whether it has worked or not.

bluesky, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2004

Hello fellow nurses and students. I have what I feel is an important, and somewhat sensitive, question I would like feedback on. Does the NCLEX, which has recently changed again, protect U.S. nurses and U.S. educated nursing students who are seeking first time employment after passing their NCLEX? Many hospitals are recruiting from overseas. However, once in the U.S., many of these nurses have trouble passing the NCLEX and thus can't work as RNs here. Are the changes and difficulty of the NCLEX specifically, or even partially designed to protect U.S jobs? In other words, is this a strategy created by the ANA, or an accidental "side effect" of the NCLEX test?

The questions on the NCLEX are exclussively clinical in nature. It is very possible that U.S. programs are more effective at preparing students for the NCLEX since, after all, that is the country they are preparing their graduates to work in whereas other countries' programs are preparing their students to practice in the context of their own system which does not include the NCLEX.

Sheri257 · Sep 9, 2004

Since these 2004 stats show that about 80 percent of U.S. students pass and, versus only 40 percent of foreign nurses, I'd say yes. Whether it's intentional or not is another question, but it does seem to be a barrier.

http://www.ncsbn.org/pdfs/NCLEX_fact_sheet.pdf

:clown:

hypnotic_nurse · Sep 9, 2004

I think the NCLEX is less of a barrier than the pre-NCLEX state-by-state 3-day marathon boards would be...

Perhaps the problem with the foreign nurses is that their English skills are not good enough for the medical language on the tests, or perhaps they are not prepared well enough in their schools. Or maybe the nurses who want to come here are not the ones who were at the top of the class. There could be many causes.

tdstines · Jan 9, 2006

I am a firm believer in equal opportunity, but let's just face it. English is our native language. If you want to come and play on our playground, then learn it. If that is the barrier that is holding them back from passing the NCLEX then there is a problem. Even if it is only language, think about what that means. One of my best friends is a nurse who tried for literally years to get pregnant and managed to have only one child before an early hysterectomy. If that is the nurse who doesn't understand English that fails to give her child the correct medication or do something the doctor orders because she doesn't understand what he is saying, and my friend's child dies, that would be devestating. NCLEX is a basic level of competency. Very basic in fact. If they can't pass the NCLEX then there is obviously a problem that needs to be corrected for them to be safer practitioners and they need to work on that further.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2006

The NCLEX, in my opinion, is definitely not a barrier intended to protect U.S. nursing jobs from foreign-educated nurses.

The NCLEX is a protection to the American citizens who are in need of competent healthcare. If an individual cannot pass the NCLEX examination, they cannot demonstrate a very minimum competency that is needed to practice nursing in America.

Foreign-educated nurses successfully pass the NCLEX if they possess solid English skills and display enough knowledge about American healthcare standards. Foreign nurses do pass this exam, so it is not a barrier.