TDNet Discover

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare mean first-time pass rates on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) of nursing graduates who were trained in hybrid versus traditional prelicensure nursing programs in California from 2018 to 2023. A theoretical framework in constructivism connects this research with prior literature. The participants in this study were graduates from traditional or hybrid prelicensure RN programs who earned either an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at a California Board of Registered Nursing (CBRN)-approved college or university. This study used secondary data from a public data set available on the CBRN website and employed a non-experimental and correlational design. The Welch’s t-test with an alpha level of 0.05 was used to statistically analyze the differences between mean first-time pass rates. The results of this study indicated no statistically significant differences between mean NCLEXRN pass rates of traditional and hybrid graduates in both ADN and BSN programs in each annual period as well as in the five-year cumulative comparison from 2018 to 2023. These findings indicate that learning modality does not impact the standards required for graduates to pass the NCLEX-RN. Further research into the effectiveness of hybrid learning models in nursing education could identify the optimal balance of online and in-person learning activities to achieve effective student learning outcomes, evaluate other metrics of student success besides NCLEX-RN performance, and use larger sample groups that include nursing programs across different states or countries.