After carefully thinking about it, I have decided not to do nursing. I do however thank everyone for the advice they gave me. I would like to do nursing, but virtually all of the schools in my area use exit exams, which I find are unfair. The more I research them, the more I dislike them. Here is just one recent article I found, in which the ENTIRE nursing class failed the exit exam. Unbelievable.
Specializes in Gerontology, Case Management, Pediatrics.
Exit exams are beneficial on many fronts: checking the competency of the graduating students, predicting pass rate for licensure, providing experience in test taking, and evaluating weaknesses and strengths of a school's program to name a few. That being said, a school where all the students failed the exit exam brings up the question: what is wrong with this program? What teaching methods are used? What are the competencies of the instructors? Does the school use the results of this exam to improve their program? Do they analyze where the weaknesses are? Do they offer refresher courses to help students? Is critical thinking an important component of all the courses taught? As other posters have indicated, one needs to be able to think critically to function effectively in the health care arena, but one does not automatically know this skill. it must be taught and used during the program.
I am sad you have decided not to be a nurse. I have found it to be rewarding. I would encourage you to review other schools you might be able to attend. If you are able to find an experienced nurse to act as a mentor during school, it would be a meaningful relationship. Mentors always learn along with their mentees.
I think llg put it very well, as did mcmgal. It is not that exit exams are inherently wrong, it is that they are gravely misused by some nursing schools (such as the one mentioned in the article). The exit HESI exam should NOT be the first indication that a student might have trouble passing the NCLEX. If a student (or, more condemning, a large percentage of a nursing class) has passed all of there classes throughout the program but can't pass an exit exam...there is a serious problem with the nursing program. And the nursing program has to take responsibility for that and make some significant improvements, not simply rely on exit exams to "screen out" students and artificially inflate their NCLEX pass rates.
I have no problem with schools that use the exit exam, or even use it to identify problems in their program AND THEN work to make real changes and improvements for the future. I have a BIG problem with schools that instead choose to blame the students and say they didn't study enough, work hard enough, etc.
(caveat: 1 student failing out of 100 might be blamed for not have worked hard enough, but not when it's the majority of the class...)
What does taking an exit exam got to do with choosing to be a nurse
When picking a school and nursing program, pick one that has a high passing percentage rate, check your state BON, why would anybody go to school that is on probation or has a poor passing rate
Exit exams are required in my state to be accredited by BON, also schools that don’t have enough students pass state boards loose there accreditation.
I would want someone who wants to be a nurse working with me or taking care of me or my family, not one who went to nursing school or choose a nursing school based on how easy it was
Nursing is hard, nursing school is hard, as it should be
Sorry, choosing to be a nurse should be about trying to be the best not the least.
If you want to be a nurse, start with a good school that will help you
Specializes in OR 35 years; crosstrained ER/ICU/PACU.
Sorry you feel that way regarding exams. If you think about it, you'd want RN's taking care of your loved ones to be able to pass with a high grade, wouldn't you? We had to have a passing grade of at least 85% in our nursing courses at the college I went to....quite a few students didn't make the cut, but again, if you think about it, you want your family cared for by an RN who is competent & confident in his/her practice, right??!! Which leads me to another point to make to you: we don't "do" nursing; we're a profession, we're "licensed to practice" nursing. Again, I'm sorry you didn't feel confident about taking an exit exam; a good program should prepare you well for such a test. Our college exams were tough, but they were based on the state board exams (as they were termed 32 years ago when I took them), so we were already used to taking exams like the NCLEX. Good luck in whatever path you choose! :)
My first thought when I read this was "You are not stuck to your area, you can move or commute to another place"!! If you want to become a nurse VERY bad-then you CAN make it work. Even if you have to wait a year to move or whatever. Nothing is really permanent in America. Maybe you don't really want to become a nurse or maybe you are doubting yourself or have fear/anxiety & this information is acting as an excuse/ cop out.... What type of program were you pursuing? If just an LVN or ADN-Then maybe consider pursuing a BSN (besides the benefits of obtaining a BSN outway a lesser degree). BELIEVE in yourself & know that anything is possible. You can MAKE ANYTHING work (only if you want it BAD enough). So decide-are u relieved or are you devastated or scared/nervous.... Then go from there, but if you TRULY want to become a nurse-then you CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN! Maybe you need to move?? Maybe a different career is waiting for you... Remember, critical thinking skills are crucial for being a nurse-get started using them, now! :) good luck
Gosh. You sure showed them. I dont know how those schoolsl are going to get along without your attendence. Every class on every subject I have ever taken had an exit exam. Usually they are called a final.
Specializes in Med Surg, Homecare, Hospice, Rehab.
This is from one who is now retired (PTL) (from several career paths, including nursing, which I blended into one that fit me), and in looking back, as others have said, yes, schools can misuse the exit Exam.
However, the Exit Exam might be known now, in practice in times past, it was known as a Comprehensive Exam, (which has been the basis of moving from Grade Level to Grade Level as well as from subject to subject, in Europe for centuries) meaning it was designed to assess the level of knowledge retained from all phases of the progression though the curriculum, which is the basis for the NCLEX-RN.
In my nursing school years 89-93, each subsequent class' final exam also covered material covered in the previous classes, because in real-life nursing you cannot "get it and forget it". When a nurse walks into a patient's room, or in my case, a patient's home for Home Health / Hospice, he/she is expected by the patient, family and physician to be "bringing all in". How else can one make a comprehensive assessment of the patient and his/her history, as well as manage the on-going case progress? How can you, in reporting to the physician regarding you findings and recommendations to the physician if you do not view the patient and environment comprehensively?
Truly, If you are not willing to pursue nursing in this mindset and commitment, I wish you well in whatever you may choose, but Nursing is not for you.
One of the most problematic areas I continually encountered, both as a Field Nurse and as a Field Nursing Supervisor, is how many of our number were just trying to skate by, doing as little as possible for patients and their families. It is difficult enough just trying to do the best, most comprehensive job one can without making mistakes, teaching and encouraging proper patient compliance, without adding conscious negligence into the mix.
To try to keep myself on my toes, I always tried to consider my patients as my immediate family - even the Dragon Lady/Man" types - because that is how I want to be treated, as if I were their only patient.
Please, think hard and long before making other career decisions - the same principles of competent and prudent practice apply elsewhere as well.
As I think about my advancing senior years, you can bet I will keep a weather eye out in order to eliminate the "just trying to skate by" doctors, nurses and nonclinical personnel from my health care team who seem not to have my best interests at heart.
We were taught that the patient is the leader of his/her health care team - and so I am and shall continue to be.
Apologies for the long post (putting soapbox back into retirement.)
i do think that exit exams are necessary, however; they should not be used as a pass fail to the completion to the school. as i seem in the posing the hesi, is a test that is used to assess student before starting school and the duration of the course. the school that i went to used ati (tea test). many of the school in california use this religiously. i found it to be useless because the first entrance test showed that i would most likely fail. that did not happen i passed with a b average and an a for the final semester. i am not saying this to brag, but to show the unreliability the tea test and other ati tests. i found these test questions contradictory to the course curriculum and some cases just plain wrong. i my school's tests for the most part they were fair, but the test always had grammar errors or question that were messed up making it hard to take the test. this was even harder for student who primary language was not english. there was one test that all seniors had to take. the fail rate was about 95%. the students in the pervious class all failed, most of my class failed and the same with the other section failed. this was failure rate was repeated often. i barely passed, the point is, maybe it was the test and how it was written and not so much the students. the instructors refused to see this point and they refused to change the test stating it was the students fault for failing the test.
when it comes to making of testing it becomes be problematic because the test makers do not conceder that the student may interpret the questions in a different way. in addition, any questions with numbers may differ from state to state and book to book.
practical skills are great but just having practical skills doesn't make you a better nurse either. some experienced nurses don't know how to put in iv's or have difficulties due to small veins on the patient ect. (some people don't even do that during nursing school and even if you did if you're in a specialty where that rarely happens you're going to lose that skill). hands-on skills can be taught to most people what sets you apart is the knowledge you have of it.
the practical skills are an important part of nursing. a nursing student can get a's in school and be completely useless as a nurse if he or she does not have any practical skills such as assessments, iv, im injections, to changing a soiled patient. the take home message is book knowledge is not a predictor of how well a nurse will perform.
I wanted to weigh in on this debate. At my school we took a Hesi exam after each rotation and had an exit Hesi as well. We had two chances to pass the exit Hesi. If we did not pass the Exit Hesi in two attempts we had to take a remediation course (such as Kaplan) before our school would send our ATT to the state board. I failed all of the Hesi's except for the Peds Hesi and the Exit Hesi II. With that being said, I graduated in May Cum Laude and passed the NCLEX in 75 questions on my first try. I'm not a huge fan of the Hesi exams because after taking the NCLEX I don't think it's a true indicator of whether or not someone is going to pass the NCLEX or be a good nurse.
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I agree concerning practical skills. How else would a nurse be proficient in caring for patients? I graduated at age 55, and thought the NCLEX was rather tough, but the machine turned off early. I got my license on the first try. But then I loved what I did in the EMS field and I loved nursing, because I don't like to see people suffer. I love to see smiles on their faces, and if I was able to put one there for them, that made me happy. I'm just sorry I'm not able to do it any longer. My career was cut short by illness. I
It might pay to consider this from the school's perspective. They have a vested interest in making sure that as many of their students as possible pass their NCLEX. One way they do that, and at the same time check that they are delivering a quality program, is with exit exams. As a student it is also important that you have every opportunity to practice sitting exams. An exit exam is perfect for that. Failing an exit exam is as much a reflection on the quality of training provided by the school as it is a reflection on the student. If entire classes are failing exit exams the school has some very deep thinking to do because that is a certain indication of a real disconnect between their teaching and the standards they have set for themselves. Wishing you the best with radiology :)
RNCCMMS, RN
47 Posts
Exit exams are beneficial on many fronts: checking the competency of the graduating students, predicting pass rate for licensure, providing experience in test taking, and evaluating weaknesses and strengths of a school's program to name a few. That being said, a school where all the students failed the exit exam brings up the question: what is wrong with this program? What teaching methods are used? What are the competencies of the instructors? Does the school use the results of this exam to improve their program? Do they analyze where the weaknesses are? Do they offer refresher courses to help students? Is critical thinking an important component of all the courses taught? As other posters have indicated, one needs to be able to think critically to function effectively in the health care arena, but one does not automatically know this skill. it must be taught and used during the program.
I am sad you have decided not to be a nurse. I have found it to be rewarding. I would encourage you to review other schools you might be able to attend. If you are able to find an experienced nurse to act as a mentor during school, it would be a meaningful relationship. Mentors always learn along with their mentees.
Good luck with whatever you choose!