LUMBERTON — The director of Robeson Community College’s nursing program says a recent No. 2 ranking on the list of the 2019 Best Registered Nursing Programs in North Carolina is the result of “hard work.”
“I was pleasantly surprised in that we’re being recognized, but I was honored to know that the hard work that the faculty and the staff has put in, as well as the students, were being recognized at the state level,” Eva Meekins said. “I’ve been a Robeson Community College for 10 years and it’s been a quest. It’s been a goal of ours to be seen as a program of esteem, a program of honor.”
The department has raised the bar, said Kimberly Gold, RCC president.
“I am so proud of our nursing department and the standard of excellence they have set for our students,” she said. “This recognition is the result of hard work and dedication on the part of our nursing faculty and the faculty who prepare our students to enter the nursing program.”
The school’s Registered Nurse program was ranked No. 2 in North Carolina after a review of the 82 college nursing programs in the state by RegisteredNursing.org. The scores and ranking of each school were based on a historical analysis on the exam pass rates and scores from the National Council Licensure Examination over the previous five years. The test is the benchmark exam that the state’s board of nursing uses to determine whether or not a candidate is prepared for entry-level nursing practice.
After the 82 schools were reviewed, 30 colleges were eligible to be ranked. Other schools rounding the top 10 programs include Duke University, Wake Technical Community College and East Carolina. Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington earned the No. 1 spot.
“We have deliberately worked to focus on our NCLEX class rate,” Meekins said. “Our everyday effort in the classroom, our everyday effort in the lab, our everyday effort in the clinical setting is to make sure they’re ready for practice and to make sure they’re excellent practitioners but to do that, they have to pass the NCLEX.
“We actually start day one focusing on NCLEX and NCLEX success, and I think that is part of the formula.”
Robeson Community College is one of only two institutions in the state that has had a 100 percent first-time testing pass rate for the National Council Licensure Examination from 2016-2018, the other being Wingate University
In addition to the Registered Nurse program, the department has a Licensed Practical Nurse program and most recently launched a LPN to RN program and an Emergency Medical Service to RN program. In June 2017, the department received its pre-accreditation candidate status from the National League of Nursing.
Meekins is in the application process of seeking a 10 to 20 percent program expansion for the RN program, which would need approval from the N.C. Board of Nursing. The department’s current enrollment capacity is 82 seats. Meekins requested a modest growth to ensure the school’s resources were not stretched.
“We don’t want to outpace ourselves and we want to know that we have the resources and the faculty to accommodate that 10- to 20 percent increase,” Meekins said. “Smart growth is better than fast growth.”
Meekins hopes for approval by fall. She received unanimous support for her expansion plan from the RCC Board of Trustees in January.
