By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College Glasgow campus was recently awarded top ranking as the best registered nursing programs in the commonwealth.
Recently RegisteredNursing.org, a website with the mission of “Promot[ing] excellence in nursing by enabling future and current nurses with the education and employment resources they need to succeed,” compiled a list featuring the top 20 of the best RN programs in Kentucky. Out of the 49 RN programs available to Kentuckians the website chose the top 20 by “analyzing current and historical NCLEX-RN pass rates.”
National Council Licensure Examination is a test given to all nursing school graduates. The two letters that follow NCLEX designate whether the exam is for practical nurses or register nurses, PN denoted practical nurses while RN denotes registered nurses. The exam is then reviewed by the National State Board of Nursing, which was founded in 1978, to see “how nurses are really doing in their field.”
The State Avenue campus was given a score of 100, calling SKYCTC nurses “an excellent addition to the healthcare team.” This score is followed closely by the SKYCTC Boling Green Campus, which has a score of 99.19.
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College is one of the 16 colleges within the Kentucky Community and Technical College system, and Glasgow’s campus of SKYCTC is one of more than 70 campuses spread throughout Kentucky.
Sally Worthington, outreach coordinator with RegisteredNursing.org, citing information available through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, wrote via email that programs such s SKYCTC’s was important as the U.S. undergoes a RN shortage.
“This is more timely than ever as the United States is anticipated to face a growing scarcity of Registered Nurses as the aging Baby Boomer population and increasing healthcare needs heighten demand,” Worthington wrote. “Adding to the challenge, nursing schools nationwide are finding it difficult to expand capacity to match the rising demand for care.”
According to the college’s website there are roughly 63,468 currently employed with more than 6,500 jobs currently available in the nursing field.
