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ETBU School of Nursing achieves fifth consecutive 100% NCLEX pass rate

July 15, 2019

The East Texas Baptist University School of Nursing has attained a 100 percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for the fifth consecutive year. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) recently confirmed that all ETBU Spring 2019 nursing graduates passed the NCLEX.

“We are grateful to ETBU Dean of the School of Nursing Rebekah Grigsby, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Thomas Sanders, and their excellent team of Christian nurse scholars,” ETBU President J. Blair Blackburn said. “These faculty and staff dedicate themselves to teaching, training, and equipping our nursing students to become registered nurses. These graduates represent the ETBU distinctive – nurses with skilled hands and caring hearts.”

NCSBN, a regulatory body for the vocational practice of nursing, ensures that nurses enter the workforce with the necessary knowledge and skills. This nonprofit organization is devoted to developing a psychometrically sound and legally defensible nurse licensure examination consistent with current practice. Measured by analyzing the current and historical NCLEX pass rates, the Annual RegisteredNursing.org Registered Nurse (RN) Program State Rankings recently recognized ETBU as the sixth-ranked RN Program in Texas out of 119 programs evaluated and 50 ranked.

“Six years ago when we set out to redesign our nursing program, Leslie Borcherding, interim program director, used evidence-based decisions to develop admissions criteria, personnel, and curriculum around a program that would have a high success rate on the NCLEX,” Dr. Sanders shared. “We wanted students, parents, and administration to have confidence that the end result would be highly trained nurses, who could withstand the scrutiny of testing and practice. We could not have predicted five consecutive years where all of our graduates would pass on the first testing of the NCLEX. In this case, the plan developed six years ago and the execution by our current dean, Dr. Grigsby, and our collective faculty and staff along with the excellence of our students have shown incredible results.”

With the continued success of the ETBU School of Nursing, the program is developing further by relocating to the historic Marshall Grand in downtown Marshall. This renovation is an investment in student innovation, sustainable growth for the nursing program, and the City of Marshall and East Texas region. The expansion to the Marshall Grand will also allow the University to launch graduate programs in nursing education and speech pathology this next year.

“2019 marks our fifth year in a row of achieving a 100% pass rate on the RN-NCLEX® Exam. As I reflect on this accomplishment for our school, my immediate thought goes to each student who had that first moment of seeing their results, this is truly an unforgettable moment for each of them. It represents commitment, hard work, and a calling to our nursing profession, shared by the students and our nursing faculty,” Dr. Grigsby commented. “My second thought is immense gratitude. God has richly blessed our school. Our graduates are entering the healthcare workforce and will be blessings to so many people through Christ-centered holistic patient care!”

For the Fall 2019 semester, over 195 students have declared nursing as their major. Nearly 500 nurses have graduated from ETBU since the program’s inception in the 1990s. ETBU nurses continue to receive job offers within three months of degree completion.

“Our classes equipped us to pass the NCLEX through rigorous exams, challenging scenarios, and the support of professors and classmates,” Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center-Longview Registered Nurse Elizabeth Blackmon said. “Even after graduation, our professors provided plenty of resources to prepare. I was able to secure a job prior to graduation and look forward to starting soon. As a nurse, I will see patients and their families in vulnerable times. I will have the opportunity to show how Christ is compassionate and caring as I meet their physical and emotional needs. My professors taught this concept well and helped us understand how special a nurse to patient relationship can be.”

As a Christ-centered nurse education program, the ETBU School of Nursing faculty teach through a Christian worldview. East Texas Baptist’s health care philosophy integrates biblical faith, infuses care and compassion, and pursues innovation. Beginning in August 2019, the ETBU School of Nursing classes and training will take place at the new Marshall Grand campus in the historic downtown district of Marshall. The 1929 building, formerly known as the Hotel Marshall, was donated in 2013 by Marshall native and businessman Jerry Cargill and his wife, Judy Cargill, along with former Texas State Senator and former Harrison County Judge Richard Anderson and his wife, Christina Anderson.

“My time with the ETBU Nursing Program confirmed what God had in store for me,” Christus Trinity Mother Frances-Tyler Registered Nurse Joseph Earle shared. “It was a blessing to study under the leadership and teaching of my professors at ETBU. As they showed us their daily walk with the Lord, it was evident how they represent Christ. I would not be where I am today without my professors ministering to and molding me. I am excited to work at Mother Frances, where I have the freedom to pray over my patients at any given time. I am doing what the Lord has called me to do.”