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NCSBN presents national nursing-education core-data survey to NEWAC; offers database and dashboard
Summary
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing reviewed development of a national core-data annual report for prelicensure programs, encouraging states to adopt standardized reporting fields and previewing an aggregate dashboard of program quality indicators.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) presented its prelicensure annual-report core-data survey to the Nursing Education Workforce Advisory Committee, describing the evidence-based quality indicators the association developed for boards and programs.
Nancy Spector of NCSBN told NEWAC that NCSBN had undertaken a multi-pronged research program — literature review, Delphi panel, quantitative analysis of state reports and qualitative review of site-visit documents — to devise defensible quality indicators for regulators. “This is why our board of directors requested or really directed us to develop quality indicators for the regulators,” Spector said.
NCSBN staff said the core data instrument collects about 50 required fields for prelicensure programs (ADN, BSN, diploma and entry-level master's) and asks programs to report consistent demographic, faculty and program-quality measures. The work is intended to supplement, not replace, program-level accreditation, and sites were encouraged to use the resulting national database to benchmark and prioritize improvement before outcomes (for example, NCLEX) deteriorate.
Spector described the project’s reach: participating boards provide program-level data to NCSBN and NCSBN cleans and verifies outliers, then returns standardized reports and visual dashboards to participating states. “We are creating the first ever nursing-education database,” Spector said, and added that 35 state boards had joined the initiative to date. She also noted the board-level product includes a table that flags programs that do not meet multiple key quality indicators so state staff can prioritize follow-up and program support.
NEWAC members welcomed the material and discussed whether BRN should adopt the NCSBN core-data instrument, continue California’s existing UCSF-based survey, or use both. BRN staff said the board’s annual school survey and any national instrument can be complementary because California’s long-term dataset is valuable for trend analysis while a national dataset enables cross-state benchmarking.
NCSBN said it is developing a public-facing aggregate dashboard and is open to future conversations about how California might participate and align questions with state needs.
