By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western State University’s nursing program has received a prestigious honor.
Registerednursing.org has ranked it the best nursing school in the state.
“Missouri Western being ranked number one in Missouri and we obviously have some pretty tough competition out here in Missouri. So, we’re super proud that we are considered number one,” Chelsea Norton, Nursing and Health Professions Admissions and Advisement Director at Missouri Western, tells KFEQmmunity, adding MoWest’s small class sizes and remarkable performance on the licensure tests propelled the program to the top.
Assistant Professor, Laura Nold, points out 98.8% of Missouri Western nursing graduates pass the national licensure test the first time.
“We strive for 100% pass rates and we have been successful in that several times, which is not a very common thing for programs to achieve that,” Nold says during her joint appearance with Norton on KFEQmmunity.
Norton says that high a rate in passing the NCLEX-RN test on the first try just isn’t common.
“So, the national average on pass rates (is) typically high 80s, low 90s percent,” according to Norton. “So, to have so many cohorts that every single student who graduated passed, 100%, on that first try is huge.”
Nold says the program emphasizes hands-on learning in which students practice on mannequins before moving into clinical experience.
“So, we give them that opportunity before going and interacting with real patients and then they learn from that,” Nold says. “And I have students frequently tell me, hey, I really messed this up, but I learned so much when we debriefed. And debriefing is very important process in that learning. We are able to talk through what went wrong, what went well, and how do we fix it next time.”
Norton says the ranking will help as Missouri Western recruit students to its nursing program.
“We have something really special here that not a lot of people know about,” Norton says. “So, to finally have that recognition and it to be official and it’s out there, it feels like we’re finally being recognized for the amazing program that we are.”
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ