Nursing program in West Jordan on brink of termination

WEST JORDAN — The future of Broadview University's two-year-old nursing program now hinges on exam results from just a few students.

Three have yet to take the National Council Licensure Examination, and with 19 completed, the school sits at about an 85 percent passing rate. The school's passing rate must be within 5 percent of a fluctuating national average, which won't be posted until January but can be as high as 90 percent, to avoid termination under state law.

"It is entirely possible that if we did achieve the results, we can continue with the program, but if we did not, then it is entirely possible that they would ask us to stop the program altogether," said Mark Staats, Broadview's West Jordan campus director. He said school officials are in the process of working out a transfer arrangement with "several" local programs in the event that their own program is ordered to cease operation.

The remaining students have until the end of the year to complete the NCLEX and all students have been notified of a warning status of Broadview's Atlanta-based accrediting agency, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission.

Broadview University, which hosts classes at locations in Layton, Orem, Salt Lake City, West Jordan and online, also offers academic degree programs in business, entertainment arts, health sciences, information technology, legal sciences and travel abroad.

Broadview's two-year, $60,000 nursing program was first approved in late 2009. The first quarter of 2010, however, elicited a 75 percent pass rate, when the national pass rate was 89.9 percent. In the third quarter of that year, the student pass rate fell to 66.7 percent when the national pass rate average was 84.9 percent, according to documents from the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.

A warning letter was issued to the school, mandating improvement, but again in the first quarter of this year, Broadview's pass rate (63.16 percent) fell below the national average of 89.33 percent. In the second and third quarters of 2011, Broadview produced 72.73 percent and 66.67 percent pass rates, whereas the national rates were 91.44 percent and 85.07 percent, respectively.

National averages fluctuate each quarter, but Utah's Nurse Practice Act Rules state that after five quarters of low performance, an academic nursing program must be terminated.