Next Generation NCLEX (NGN)?!? - Let Me Help!

Hey everyone, it's Damion Jenkins here with The Nurse Speak to discuss the Next Generation NCLEX and how I can help you or someone you know develop strategies for NGN success. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Damion Jenkins. I'm a master's prepared registered nurse, and I am on a mission to help get more nurses into the profession and stay in the profession by developing strategies for success. I've been a registered nurse for over 12 years and I have experience in staff development, professional development, entrepreneurship, critical care, intermediate care, progressive care, cardiac observation, cardiac cath recovery, oncology, orthopedics, OR, PACU, med surg, rehab, long-term care, home health, and nursing academia. I have had many travel opportunities in the past where I've gained clinical experiences in Florida, California, Washington, New York, and Maryland., and I've been teaching as a master's prepared nurse since 2014. Out of the 12 years that I've been a nurse, 10 of those years have been served as a nurse educator. I have been a clinical instructor, I've been college faculty, I've worked as program coordination, online education design, NCLEX and test prep, staff development, education training and coaching. Including mentoring and tutoring for not only nursing students, new grads, but also for professional nurses. I have helped thousands of individuals master strategies for nursing success, and over 2,800 individuals pass the NCLEX. And these are people who have come to me who are repeat test takers and were struggling to pass. So many people want to know Damion, why is it that you decided to dedicate so much time and energy into NCLEX prep? And the number one reason is because we need more high-quality nurses to join the profession. You know, I became a nurse because I wanted to improve the process, because as a patient and receiving substandard care, I knew that I could develop solutions to improve the process because I knew the nurses who were struggling to take care of me who I may have at the time been focused on them as being the cause for my substandard care, really understanding that it's more of a systems type situation or issue. I knew that I could create solutions to help the system so that the nurses could perform better. And that's exactly what I did with the NCLEX. I knew there was a lot of gaps and missing information that we should have learned in nursing school, or maybe we did learn it in nursing school, but it was so you know, quick and fast, and we didn't have opportunities to continue to apply that information. So I knew right away, in order to get more high-quality nurses into the profession, we had to start with making sure they were adequately prepared to enter into the profession. And so I became a nurse educator. The second reason that I wanted to focus so much on NCLEX prep is because before the pandemic, the statistics for pass rates was about 80% of new grads were passing the exam, which means more than 20% were having unsuccessful attempts at passing, which delays getting nurses into the workforce. This to me was unacceptable, and I was tired of working short on my units with my colleagues. So if I could help get more nurses into the profession, which would help me and my colleagues, that's exactly what I wanted to do. Now fast forward to many years later, and now our pass rates are even worse. Because of the pandemic, we lost so many opportunities to help our students connect the dots, and, uh, we lost clinical experience time, we lost simulation time, we lost skills lab time, and we are now facing more than 40% of new grads having unsuccessful attempts. This is frightening. And so here we are really working diligently to try to improve the process and shift our students from focusing so much on content to focusing more on concepts. And the number 3 reason why I decided to focus so much on NCLEX prep is because too many people over the years have come to me with the same gaps and lack of understanding on how to apply and analyze information to make safe and sound clinical judgments effectively. And also develop a systematic way to answer NCLEX-style questions. Now, some programs are really good at teaching their students this, and they don't have, um, as much of an unsuccessful pass rate as some others, but I've helped thousands of individuals now, and it's the same story. People keep coming to me with the same problem, and so I developed a program that really gets right to the problem, and that is developing a systematic approach of using the nursing concepts that govern decision-making and really embracing the roles and responsibilities of the registered nurse, or PN if that's the test you're taking, so that way you can answer these NCLEX-style questions with confidence and high accuracy. I knew I had to do something to make a difference, so I did, and my program has been effective now since 2016, and I'm getting ready to really put in a lot more work into leveling it up to be ready for Next Generation NCLEX. So for those of you who aren't quite sure what to expect for Next Gen NCLEX prep, I wanted to really kind of outline 3 main things that you could expect to see with the Next Gen NCLEX. Number 1 is that the NCLEX is really leveling up the difficulty substantially. They are really emphasizing critical thinking, nursing, and clinical judgment, and they're challenging a candidate's ability to apply and analyze information to make decisions. There's going to be a lot less emphasis of memorization of facts. So this is actually good news for nursing students and new graduates. They're going to start providing some of the information that you need to make the decisions because they're more interested in seeing what you can do with that information rather than just memorizing that information. So you have to know what to do with that information, which is going to be a step in the, in the direction of being more difficult. And so that's kind of how Next Gen is really going to challenge candidates to apply and analyze information. The second thing that you need to know about NGN is that they have introduced several new question formats that will prove to pose a significant learning curve, not only for NCLEX candidates, but also for nurse educators. These new question formats are designed to capture layered assessments of a candidate's competence in knowledge and critical thinking capacity. So we're introducing case studies, we're introducing bowtie questions, we're extending our multiple choice options into columns, which they call a matrix, which now you have several options to maybe place priority or significance. Um, we are now using, um, progress notes that you have to highlight key information to answer the questions and satisfy whatever the concept is that that question is challenging. We've extended how many options you can have for Select All That Apply. They've extended the drag and drop order response to include more options. So the, the question types are really layered so that way we can figure out where the candidates are in their capacity of critical thinking and safe and effective clinical judgment. The third thing that NGN is introducing is that these questions need to be written in a way that really reflect the new question formats and new framework for measuring candidate competence. This is going to require careful understanding of the conceptual framework that NGN is challenging. And so as a nurse educator and NCLEX expert, I have been doing my due diligence in researching how to create these items at a high level so that way, one, other nurse educators and nursing programs can benefit from my hard work so that I can give you the, you know, the format and basically the key to writing these questions effectively. And then also so my candidates, my clients, the individuals that I help tutor and mentor through this program will understand the components of these questions so that way they can have an educator's perspective when approaching the questions, which is what I already teach in my NCLEX Strategies for Success program. So years of experience to fill the gaps offers new horizons for us to learn new truths. And so this is kind of— we're working through this together. Uh, but one thing I'm confident in currently is that I've already been teaching to the standards of the Next Generation NCLEX because my entire program for all these years has been focused on conceptual thinking and clinical reasoning and clinical judgment, the roles and responsibilities of the nurse, and how are you going to effectively answer a question when there's key content that you just don't know or that you don't remember. And so one thing that we haven't done in the past is given partial credit, and that's something else that Next Gen is going to be doing. So you're actually going to get credit for incomplete answers so long as you answer them correctly. I have the formula for exactly how that's gonna work. So if you want more information about that, please feel free to reach out to me and I would love to have a conversation with you about that. So yeah, the NCLEX is leveling up. It is going to go live April 1st, 2023. So any candidate who's going to be taking the NCLEX on April 1st or after will be taking the Next Generation NCLEX despite your previous attempts. So any of you who are going to be graduating around that time, or if you are a repeat test taker and you're looking to take it around that time, I got you. Don't stress out. It's going to be more difficult than the current test plan, but there's pros and cons with each new test plan, and I'm really working hard to make sure everyone is gonna have everything they need to be successful. So if you're a nursing student or a new grad nurse, I got you. If you are a nurse educator or a group of faculty who would like some additional information or maybe an outsider's perspective to see how we can improve the process for you and your school, uh, please reach out to me. I would love to help you. So thank you so much for watching this presentation. Again, my name is Damion Jenkins. I am considered number one in CLEP Strategies program and tutor. Where I've helped over 2,800 repeat test takers, uh, develop strategies for NCLEX success so they can go on to earning their license and starting their nursing career. If you have any questions or want to learn more about my products or services and how I can help you, please visit thenursespeak.com/passnclex. I'm planning on doing some live seminars in 2023 in addition to helping organizations optimize their curriculum so that they can include more opportunities for developing critical thinking and the systematic way to answer NCLEX-style questions. The NGN is going to show our candidates, our students, and our future nurses no mercy. So we really have to make sure we're doing everything we can to prepare our future nurses, cuz I don't know about you, but I am tired of working short And we have the potential to make our healthcare system and the nursing profession the best it has ever been. So thanks again for watching this video. Please visit thenursespeak.com. I have so many wonderful resources for you. I have a podcast, I have blog articles, I have lots of professional development tools and resources, and I can't wait to meet with you and help you or someone you know develop strategies for success. Success. Take care, we'll be talking soon.