Nursing grads earn high test scores

By Destanie Ellis, News Writing Student

The nursing graduates at OCCC have exceeded the state and national pass rates on their license test, known as NCLEX-RN exams, said Rosemary Klepper, nursing program director.

Klepper said the NCLEX-RN is a national licensure exam for registered nurses.

The NCLEX-RN pass rate for OCCC graduates in 2008 was 92.78 percent, exceeding the state pass rate by seven percentage points and the national pass rate by six percentage points, she said.

Prof brings experience to OCCC nursing program, aims to help students succeed

By Destanie Ellis, News Writing Student

Nursing professor Sarah Brown is on a mission.

She is half of a two-person team whose goal is to graduate more nurses through a special OCCC program that takes students with bachelor’s degrees in other fields and retrains them to become registered nurses.

The program is called BADNAP, which stands for Baccalaureate to Associate Degree Nurse Accelerated Pathway. The program has been going for about three years, Brown said.

This year, 60 students have been accepted. BADNAP’s biggest class thus far, she said.

“BADNAP is very intense and educationally demanding,” Brown said. “The pace is twice as fast as the traditional nursing program.”

Courses which traditionally require 16-week semesters are taught in four eight-week terms. Half of the instruction is online.