Relationship between academic scores and performance on national qualified examination for registered professional nurses (NQEX-RPN).
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the academic scores of school subjects and the performance in national qualified examination for registered professional nurses (NQEX-RPN).


METHODS
One hundred and seventy-seven graduates of the two-year Associate Degree in Nursing at one of the junior college of nursing in Taipei, Taiwan were included in this study. Information of student academic records and NQEX-RPN results were reviewed. The data were entered into the statistical software (JMP-IN 3.2.1, SAS Institute Inc.) for analysis.


RESULTS
(1) In total, 34 subjects (16 nursing subjects and 18 non-nursing subjects) were included in this two-year nursing curriculum. Nine nursing subjects were statistical significant and were positively related with the performance in NQEX-RPN. (2) Year 1 grade point average (GPA) of nursing subjects was significantly correlated with the performance in NQEX-RPN but not Year 2 GPA. (3) The performance of two subjects in NQEX-RPN, namely Fundamental Nursing and Psychiatric-Community Nursing, were not significantly correlated with their related school subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The academic scores in only half of the nursing subjects were found to be weakly associated with the performance in NQEX-RPN, although the association was statistically significant. Also, performance in NQEX-RPN was not associated with the final year GPA. Thus, the nursing curriculum and teaching contents may need to be redesigned in order to match with NQEX-RPN.
Lin
Rose S J
RS
School of Nursing, Kang-Ning Junior College of Nursing, No. 137 Lane 75 Sec. 3, Kang-Ning Road., Neihu 114, Taipei, Taiwan. roselin@knjc.edu.tw
Fung
Bill K P
BK
Hsiao
Jui-Kuo
JK
Lo
Hsiao-Fen
HF
D003479:Curriculum; D004507:Education, Nursing, Associate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D013624:Taiwan