Next generation NCLEX stand-alone items: Bowtie & trend

Abstract

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is making changes to the national council licensure exam (NCLEX) to improve measurement of nursing clinical judgment. Good clinical judgment is crucial in promoting patient safety. A review of the literature reveals that one-half of all nurses make a significant error within the first year of their practice. The NCSBN is instituting new formatted questions on the NCLEX to assess candidates’ level of clinical judgment. This new format includes case studies, new formatted question types within case studies, and new format stand-alone questions. A review of some of the changes and analysis of two new question types is included. Two new stand-alone types are Bow-tie and trend. These questions require the candidate to incorporate multiple aspects of the nurse clinical judgement model to successfully answer the question. Constructing these types of questions as well as implementation strategies to incorporate these item types is described. The NCLEX will be challenging for educators and students with the new format and unfamiliar question types. Nurse educators can implement active learning strategies into the classroom to prepare students.