CSUN nursing students practice their skills on a mannequin in the university’s nursing lab. CSUN Photo by Jenny Donaire.

California State University, Northridge nursing students have achieved a near-perfect pass rate on the national pre-licensure exam.

Recent rankings from the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), which measures the competencies needed to perform safely and effectively as a newly licensed entry level nurse, show that CSUN students achieved a 97.06 percent pass rate. For the past several years, Cal State Northridge’s nursing students have been receiving a pass rate of more than 90 percent.

“The ability of our students to pass the board exam is a conformation of the high quality of our program here at CSUN, and the quality of students attracted to the program,” said Marianne Hattar-Pollara, chair of CSUN’s Department of Nursing.

CSUN offers several nursing programs, includeing an accelerated bachelor’s of science in nursing (A-BSN), the Registered Nurse (RN) to BSN program and a public health nursing certificate. The mission of CSUN’s bachelor of science in nursing degree is to develop professional nursing leaders in all areas of practice who can apply new and past nursing knowledge and build upon existing competencies.

The NCLEX exam is required to be taken by every candidate wishing to become a nurse. The examination measures the competencies needed to perform safely and effectively as a newly licensed, entry-level nurse. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, develops two licensure examinations, the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) and the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN), that are used by boards of nursing to assist in making licensure decisions.

“The A-BSN, attracts a highly qualified pool of applicants, but we are normally able to only admit about 9 to 10 percent,” said Hattar. “Currently we run two cohorts per year. We are working on expanding the program to include one more cohort per year.”

For more information on CSUN’s nursing program visit their website at http://www.csun.edu/~nursing/.

CSUN Nursing programs offer options for students with a bachelor’s in any discipline who do not have their RN but wish to earn the BSN. Students entering programs with an RNs can enhance their education through the BSN or thepublic health nursing certificate.. Options include taking advantage of a partnership between CSUN and College of the Canyons which allows students to enroll in both nursing programs concurrently, taking courses for their BSN from CSUN while completing their associate degree at College of the Canyons.