The effectiveness of nursing grades in predicting performance on the NCLEX-RN.

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine whether grades in nursing courses required of all students could predict National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) performance. This approach was particularly useful because transfer students, eliminated from a previous analysis in which admission data were used, could be included. Graduates of a baccalaureate program were divided into two groups on the basis of whether they passed or failed the NCLEX-RN on the initial attempt. Discriminant analysis revealed that graduates who passed the NCLEX-RN on the initial attempt did differ, with respect to grades in nursing courses, from graduates who failed. Grades in an introductory nursing course taken during the sophomore year and in a medical-surgical nursing course taken during the junior year were substantially and directly related to NCLEX-RN performance. Grades earned in all other nursing theory courses had positive correlations with the discriminant function. Grades in the practicum courses were relatively poor predictors of NCLEX-RN performance. A classification procedure permitted correct classification of the performance of 74.9 per cent of the sample. These results indicate that grades in nursing courses can be used to predict NCLEX-RN performance and therefore should be useful in counseling students.