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WEST JORDAN — The future of Broadview University's two-year-old nursing program now hinges on exam results from just a few students.
Three have yet to take the National Council Licensure Examination, and with 19 completed, the school sits at about an 85 percent passing rate. The school's passing rate must be within 5 percent of a fluctuating national average, which won't be posted until January but can be as high as 90 percent, to avoid termination under state law.
"It is entirely possible that if we did achieve the results, we can continue with the program, but if we did not, then it is entirely possible that they would ask us to stop the program altogether," said Mark Staats, Broadview's West Jordan campus director. He said school officials are in the process of working out a transfer arrangement with "several" local programs in the event that their own program is ordered to cease operation.
The remaining students have until the end of the year to complete the NCLEX and all students have been notified of a warning status of Broadview's Atlanta-based accrediting agency, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission.
Broadview University, which hosts classes at locations in Layton, Orem, Salt Lake City, West Jordan and online, also offers academic degree programs in business, entertainment arts, health sciences, information technology, legal sciences and travel abroad.
Broadview's two-year, $60,000 nursing program was first approved in late 2009. The first quarter of 2010, however, elicited a 75 percent pass rate, when the national pass rate was 89.9 percent. In the third quarter of that year, the student pass rate fell to 66.7 percent when the national pass rate average was 84.9 percent, according to documents from the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.
A warning letter was issued to the school, mandating improvement, but again in the first quarter of this year, Broadview's pass rate (63.16 percent) fell below the national average of 89.33 percent. In the second and third quarters of 2011, Broadview produced 72.73 percent and 66.67 percent pass rates, whereas the national rates were 91.44 percent and 85.07 percent, respectively.
National averages fluctuate each quarter, but Utah's Nurse Practice Act Rules state that after five quarters of low performance, an academic nursing program must be terminated.
Broadview, formerly Utah Career College, stopped admitting new students to the program last quarter, a standard also written in the rules for programs that have had four periods of lower than national average performance. After three quarters, the school was placed on probationary status by the education committee of the state nursing board, which operates under DOPL.
The board meets regularly with officials from the various nursing programs offered throughout the state.
Broadview is one of nine registered nurse associate degree programs in Utah, and just three in the Salt Lake County. However, the degree offered at the school's West Jordan campus is technically termed an applied associate degree, which is not necessarily transferable to larger programs in the state should a student desire to continue with a bachelor's degree in nursing.
Staats said that since recently being notified of probationary status, the nursing program at Broadview has made significant improvement efforts, including professional development of faculty, enhanced study resources, facility and curriculum upgrades, as well as implementation of stricter admission criteria.
"All it takes is just one cluster of individuals to not adhere," he said. "If you do have a couple who step out of bounds and choose to consciously test before they are ready, that can have a significant impact on your ratio."
While the school has seen an increase in the number of students passing the nursing licensing exam, "it still does not matter," Staats said. "We must be within 5 percent of that national average."
Given the small size of each quarter's cohort, which is between 18 and 20 students, each can impact the passing rate by about 7 percentage points.
"We cannot make them utilize the resources that are in place," Staats said. "You cannot make people do the right thing."
Email:wleonard@ksl.com
