To help the next generation of nurses, clinical associate professor Dr. Audrey Cornell, PhD, CNE, RN, knows that learning the content is more important than what a student’s grades might reflect.
“I don’t mind how many times they have to go in to complete the test, as long as they’re in that content and they’re getting to that minimum score,” Cornell says. “It’s low stress, low key—this is to get them back into the content.”
Having solutions like HESI and Elsevier Adaptive Quizzing (EAQ) available in the nursing program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) helps students have the opportunity to test themselves. Cornell says they also better prepare her students for the NCLEX.
“I can’t cover everything on the NCLEX in my course, so I needed something where the scores are normed nationally, where I can look at where we are in relation to other students in other parts of the US and how we are measuring up,” Cornell says.
WKU’s trust in Elsevier products that has already shown an increase in their pass rates. Introducing HESI Compass into her capstone course was the next natural step for the nursing program.
Finding Everything In One Place
In order to help her students work harder on their areas of weakness, Cornell would handpick different case studies, practice tests and EAQs for each of her students. After trying to address the needs of over 100 students, she realized it was taking an extraneous amount of time.
When she found out about HESI Compass, which offers personalized NCLEX review for each student, Cornell volunteered for the pilot. She says she was excited to find something so close to what they were already doing.
“We’re not trying to scramble and come up with answers to questions like where were your weaknesses, where were your strengths, where do you need to focus. Now we’ve got it and they’ve got the remediation,” Cornell says.
As part of her capstone practicum course, Cornell incorporated NCLEX review through HESI Compass, along with 120 clinical hours. Students in the nursing program seeking help after graduation could have an easy transition with a product they were familiar with.
NCLEX Prep After Graduation
Cornell says students have been very receptive to HESI Compass, with students from her last semester asking how they can use it as they prepared to graduate. With HESI Compass, students can easily see the areas that need improvement as they prepare for the NCLEX.
Allowing students to continue preparing for the NCLEX during their down time before taking the test is something Cornell and her students found beneficial as students make decisions about their testing.
“They’ve still got that product and they can still stay in it, it’s already there, they’re familiar with it, and they can keep going with it,” Cornell says. “It gives them a study plan after graduation so they can keep going in that study plan and stay in that content.”
Cornell says specific, individualized content, along with the ease of use, can give students the confidence they need to pass the NCLEX. During exit interviews with students, study plans available through HESI Compass, as well as their final HESI results, helps guide their next steps that Cornell says met a need for faculty.
Faculty Encouragement Made Easy
Compared to their previous system of finding student data in each individual program, Cornell says faculty in the nursing program at WKU appreciate the time saved using HESI Compass. By alleviating the time burden from their previous system, Cornell says faculty could focus more on students individually.
“It’s made our work much more efficient so we can work on other things with them,” Cornell says. “Instead of us trying to look through and develop the plan, we’re working with the student and saying ‘ok, show me what you’ve done, what you’ve been assigned, how are you doing with that, what have you found as your weakness, what have you found as your strength, do you feel better about it’. So we can interact with them better.”
With the focus on student readiness and expert support available in HESI Compass, faculty can feel assured their students have access to guided learning and self-regulation skills they need to have confidence taking the NCLEX. Faculty can use their limited time working on other important tasks to ensure student success.
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