COAL GROVE — Collins Career Technical Center was notified recently by the Ohio Board of Nursing of their 100 percent NCLEX Pass rate through the second quarter of 2016.

Sandy Falls, the director of nursing for Collins, said the school is “very blessed to find ourselves in this position.”

“We’re very thankful that our students are so successful,” she said.  “And that they have the opportunities they have to remain local with their families and find employment in a well-paying and fulfilling career.”

She said the National Council of State Boards of Nursing tracks statistics on all schools educating nurses in each state. Pearson Vue executes the NCLEX licensure exam for all states, then reports the results to both NCSBN and the board of nursing for the states.

“If you include our students from previous classes, from June of 2015 forward, the Collins NCLEX pass rate still remains 97.5 percent, which is still very impressive,” she said. “I attribute the high NCLEX scores to a couple factors: Committed students who persevere through a rigorous curriculum, while managing the struggles of working and family life, and dedicated faculty who are themselves excellent nurses.”

Falls spoke of the instructors’ background.

“I think it’s our staff and the instructors we have in place,” she said. “We’re really particular about the instructors we hire. We want people who are really good about being a nurse. Education is one thing, but we want people to be excellent bedside nurses.”

Falls said the instructors teach by example and always put the students’ educational needs first.

“They show how to do things in a clinical setting,” she said.

She said the program curriculum is another factor in the school’s success.

“I left out one significant factor and that is the program curriculum,” she said. “It is already a strong curriculum, but it is evaluated frequently for weaknesses and promptly adjusted as necessary. That keeps the program content up to date and fresh.”

Falls said the school works be in tune with students and meet their needs, offering counseling if there are family issues.

She said Collins takes their job of educating future nurses very seriously.

“We want them to remain local,” she said. “We want them to be the ones caring for us and our family. We want to prepare competent, caring and reliable healthcare providers for our community.”