Colby-Sawyer College Nurses Achieve Perfect NCLEX-RN Pass Rate

One hundred percent of Colby-Sawyer’s 2016 undergraduate nursing class passed the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), on their first attempt. By comparison, the 2015 national pass average was 86.77 percent.

The NCLEX measures the competencies needed to perform safely and effectively as an entry-level nurse and are used by boards of nursing and other regulatory bodies to assist in making licensure/registration decisions and to ensure public safety.

“What makes this news even more special is that the 2016 graduating class was the largest in the history of the program,” said Dr. Susan Reeves ’88, dean of the Colby-Sawyer College School of Nursing and Health Professions and Gladys A. Burrows Distinguished Professor of Nursing. “The majority of our graduates will stay in the area and contribute their talents to the New Hampshire workforce. Twenty-five of them will enter practice at Dartmouth-Hitchcock this summer.”

This spring, Colby-Sawyer also graduated its first cohort in its RN to BS degree program. The online program provides a flexible and affordable way for practicing nurses with associate degrees to earn a BSN

Colby-Sawyer is the long-time affiliated Nursing Program for Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., the state’s only academic medical center. The baccalaureate and master's degree programs in nursing at Colby-Sawyer College are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org/).

The baccalaureate nursing program is fully approved by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing.

This fall, Colby-Sawyer will expand its nursing education options to offer its first graduate program, a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). In collaboration with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Colby-Sawyer’s MSN program, co-designed by nursing leaders from Colby-Sawyer and Dartmouth-Hitchcock, will initially enroll a cohort of 12 part-time students from a segment of DHMC employees to fill the demand for the new role of Clinical Nurse Leader. Applications for the MSN program are now being accepted.