For Second Consecutive Year, Tri-County's Nursing Graduates Exceed State and

National Exam Records; 94.1 Percent Passing Record is Again Top in Upstate

CONTACT: POLLY FEHLER, EXT. 2412

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/17/2000
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- For the second consecutive year, Tri-County Technical College's Associate Degree Nursing graduates have exceeded state and national records and remain top scorers in the Upstate with a 94.1 percent overall passing rate on writing the National Council Licensing Exam for registered nurses.

This score is the highest percentage in the Upstate for scores on the NCLEX-RN exam for both two- and four-year nursing programs. S.C. colleges' average passing rate is 88.2 percent, and the national average is 84.7 percent. The State Board of Nursing released these statistics this month about graduates from January through December 1999.

Graduates of any nursing program associate degree or baccalaureate must pass the same NCLEX-RN exam to become a registered nurse in the state. The NCLEX is a computerized exam that tests a graduate's basic nursing knowledge and decision-making ability on commonly encountered health care situations.

One of the keys to the students' success is our faculty, said Polly Fehler, who leads Tri-County's Associate Degree Nursing program.

"Our nursing instructors accept only the best that a student has to offer," said Mrs. Fehler. "When faculty know a student is capable of more, they don't back down and accept second best."

Smaller classes and the instructors' interaction with students contribute to a positive, familial environment. "There is a personal investment that students find nurturing," she said. "Faculty work with individual student's needs constantly, practicing particular clinical skills and major concepts," she said.

Mrs. Fehler added that many students work necessary jobs and have family responsibilities in addition to classes. "Our students have a passion for their goal. It's amazing. They aren't willing to give up because of work or home problems," she said.

The ADN curriculum prepares the student to function at an entry-level registered nurse position. Students are placed in clinical situations each semester to assure that they are able to function at this level, said Mrs. Fehler.

During the final semester, each student nurse in involved in an invaluable preceptorship, added Mrs. Fehler. "This is an advanced clinical situation where students work individually with an area hospital nurse for 120 hours in a seven-week schedule. This gives them a chance to apply and to integrate what they have learned in both in the classroom and the clinical arena," she said.

She added that job possibilities are endless for graduates. "The job market is wide open for anybody who wants to work as a nurse," she said.

Tri-County's nursing department is and has been fully accredited by the State Board of Nursing of South Carolina since the program's inception in 1981. Last year the program received initial accreditation through the year 2002 by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission.
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