February 24, 2014- Based on NCLEX-PN pass rates, Albany Technical College's Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) Program was recently ranked number eight in Georgia by PracticalNursing.org.
The NCLEX-PN exam is used by state boards of nursing around the country for testing proficiency and granting licensure. Many state boards of nursing use the combined NCLEX-PN exam pass rates for each school as one of the primary ways to approve or deny a school's ability to provide practical and vocational nursing education. It is one of the best ways to determine how well a school is preparing their students for a career in practical nursing.
PracticalNursing.org uses a ranking methodology that begins with retrieving NCLEX-PN pass rates from all LPN programs state by state through various methods. The requests include the previous five years of information available. The ranking process includes analyzing pass rates going back to the most recent years of data available up to five years. The pass rates are averaged together and weighted by the recency of the exam. Out of 27 schools ranked in Georgia, only 10 were ranked.
The LPN Program at Albany Tech is an 18-month-long program that includes a very skilled and content- oriented curriculum. The program's mission is to understand that building healthy relationships with students and keeping open and positive lines of communication is essential in meeting conjoint goals as related to the college, students, and the workforce.
"We are very proud of both our instructors and our students for earning this honor," said Kortney Wilson, Practical Nursing Department Chair at Albany Technical College.
Students in the LPN program at Albany Tech are offered a free NCLEX review in their fifth semester in preparation for the NCLEX. Students are assessed for areas of weakness and remediation specific to those areas prior to graduation and examination. NCLEX review is ongoing throughout the Practical Nursing curriculum. Students in the first nursing course, Nursing Fundamentals, are introduced to NCLEX style questions in preparation for the NCLEX examination after graduation.
"Both faculty and students play a vital part in overall college, program, and student success," said Wilson.
Currently, the LPN program at Albany Tech holds a 100 percent job placement rate with over 100 students enrolled in the program this term.
