Nursing Grads Excel in Licensure Exam

Published: August 12, 2014 | Author: Jessica Young | Read Time: 2 minutes

Lying in a hospital bed only with a flimsy gown to cover you was never a relaxing situation, and then to top it off, a pointy needle is poked and prodded into you. But in that time of nerves and hysteria, SUU alumni come in to calm the hearts of patients across the state.

As they should, seeing that the entire Southern Utah University recently graduated nursing students passed the NCLEX-RN on the first try, making SUU the only university in the state with this accomplishment.

Now, whom should you trust in your time of need? Most definitely recent SUU nursing graduates like Samantha Dischbein and Trevor Peterson who breezed through the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) and now hold prestigious positions in hospitals across the region.

SUU’s students have consistently shined, soaring above the state’s average pass rate of 84 percent. With 53 percent working in Utah as RNs and another 27 percent working in Cedar City, the SUU Nursing program has a 100 percent placement rate of graduates working in their field.

Dischbein said of the exam, “When I finally learned that each one of us passed the NCLEX, it was the best feeling and a huge wave of relief. I am just now full of excitement that comes with being a nurse,” exclaimed Dischbein, who was just hired at the Medical Center of Aurora in Denver, Colorado.

Donna Lister, department chair of SUU Nursing, is completely thrilled with her students’ success and is proud of what this says for SUU’s Nursing program at large.

“We have a great team of faculty, who are well practiced in their fields, who prepare the students from the beginning to become registered nurses,” said Lister.

Trevor Peterson, a recent nursing graduating, echoed Lister, saying that he went into the NCLEX nervous, but completely prepared.

“When I learned I passed, it was like hitting a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game,” described Peterson. “My professors were invested in my learning and wanted me to achieve my goals.”

Lister explained that from day one students are being prepared to pass this test with practice exams and 12 hours of clinical work each week. But Dischbein says it was ultimately the confidence the professors instilled in the students is what caused the high scores.

“Everything we did in nursing helped me prepare. But of course, the professors were the real reason. They always had the confidence in each and every one of us from the start,” declared Dischbein.

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