WEBVTT 00:00:03.101 --> 00:00:07.344 position:50% align:middle - [Kelly] Everything happened so fast when the pandemic hit. 00:00:07.344 --> 00:00:10.254 position:50% align:middle ♪ [music] ♪ 00:00:10.700 --> 00:00:16.182 position:50% align:middle - [Jacklyn] We started to get information from our Asia test centers that it was getting bad. 00:00:16.182 --> 00:00:18.200 position:50% align:middle ♪ [music] ♪ 00:00:19.507 --> 00:00:22.596 position:50% align:middle And that's when we knew, "Okay, we're into something." 00:00:22.596 --> 00:00:25.002 position:50% align:middle - [Jen] that day, we were asked to go home at noon. 00:00:25.002 --> 00:00:28.173 position:50% align:middle And that was my first inkling that, you know, things were going to change. 00:00:28.173 --> 00:00:30.706 position:50% align:middle ♪ [music] ♪ 00:00:31.110 --> 00:00:34.610 position:50% align:middle - No one really knew anything about the virus and everything was shutting down. 00:00:34.610 --> 00:00:36.640 position:50% align:middle Travel was closing down between states. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:38.847 position:50% align:middle And so, people were really concerned. 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:46.170 position:50% align:middle - [Jason] On March 16th, I received an email that Pearson VUE needed to close 00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:49.664 position:50% align:middle all of its testing centers in the U.S. and some internationally. 00:00:49.664 --> 00:00:52.992 position:50% align:middle - That's when we knew it was bad because that had never happened before. 00:00:54.098 --> 00:00:59.065 position:50% align:middle - Now, understand, for us, the only way we can test NCLEX candidates is 00:00:59.065 --> 00:01:02.014 position:50% align:middle through those Pearson VUE testing centers, something that, in other words, 00:01:02.014 --> 00:01:07.882 position:50% align:middle would have an absolutely drastic impact on the influx of new nurses into the healthcare system. 00:01:07.882 --> 00:01:10.000 position:50% align:middle ♪ [music] ♪ 00:01:15.541 --> 00:01:18.621 position:50% align:middle As we were thinking about a worst-case scenario, that's really what it was, 00:01:18.621 --> 00:01:21.343 position:50% align:middle prolonged closure of the testing centers. 00:01:21.343 --> 00:01:28.104 position:50% align:middle - We knew that that would have impacted 15,000 student nurses at a time when the country needed more nurses. 00:01:28.104 --> 00:01:37.655 position:50% align:middle - We knew that our state boards were depending on us to find a solution. 00:01:37.655 --> 00:01:37.671 position:50% align:middle - We got our hands dirty, rolled up our sleeves, put our heads down, and just started thinking 00:01:37.671 --> 00:01:44.960 position:50% align:middle of anything and everything we could do to get the test running again and to get nurses into the workforce. 00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:47.736 position:50% align:middle ♪ [music] ♪ 00:01:48.858 --> 00:01:53.362 position:50% align:middle - [Phil] So, in a crisis, you plan a plan and you work that plan. 00:01:53.362 --> 00:01:58.115 position:50% align:middle Focus on the signal, don't get distracted by the noise, right? 00:01:58.115 --> 00:02:01.293 position:50% align:middle - [Joe] We've really got a culture of being able to solve problems. 00:02:01.293 --> 00:02:04.871 position:50% align:middle When something happens, we don't kind of stand back, we don't point fingers. 00:02:04.871 --> 00:02:07.145 position:50% align:middle We just say, "What's happening and how can we fix it?" 00:02:07.145 --> 00:02:12.049 position:50% align:middle - The test centers needed to be open, the NCLEX had to be administered. 00:02:12.049 --> 00:02:15.078 position:50% align:middle And we needed to look at the NCLEX. 00:02:15.078 --> 00:02:19.979 position:50% align:middle - Is there a way for us to amend the exam to keep all of the psychometric and statistical properties 00:02:19.979 --> 00:02:23.817 position:50% align:middle of the exam exactly the way they are today, but shorten the amount of time 00:02:23.817 --> 00:02:25.763 position:50% align:middle without jeopardizing any public safety? 00:02:25.763 --> 00:02:31.811 position:50% align:middle - It will help if, instead of having a six-hour exam, we can get the same valid result in four hours. 00:02:31.811 --> 00:02:32.852 position:50% align:middle Let's do that. 00:02:32.852 --> 00:02:36.567 position:50% align:middle That way, if a testing center is open for 12 hours, we may be able to get 00:02:36.567 --> 00:02:38.656 position:50% align:middle three people through instead of two. 00:02:39.271 --> 00:02:46.786 position:50% align:middle - We had 10 years of data that we could analyze and know that shortening an exam would have no impact 00:02:46.786 --> 00:02:52.289 position:50% align:middle on the measurement of safety and effectiveness of nurses passing the exam. 00:02:52.289 --> 00:02:55.660 position:50% align:middle - So, we had thought about a number of different options of shortening the test, 00:02:55.660 --> 00:02:58.224 position:50% align:middle so we sort of knew where the right area was going to be to look. 00:02:58.224 --> 00:03:02.945 position:50% align:middle So, we basically spent every day and every night running numbers of different simulations 00:03:02.945 --> 00:03:05.483 position:50% align:middle under many different configurations. 00:03:05.483 --> 00:03:10.482 position:50% align:middle Not only were we doing the simulations, we were fine-tuning the discussion. 00:03:10.482 --> 00:03:14.701 position:50% align:middle So, there were lots of discussions going on late at night about, "What does this mean? 00:03:14.701 --> 00:03:16.542 position:50% align:middle How can we test this out? 00:03:16.542 --> 00:03:18.981 position:50% align:middle What are some opportunities to make it better?" 00:03:18.981 --> 00:03:23.903 position:50% align:middle - We were the ones who essentially put together a test and now, we were being tested. 00:03:23.903 --> 00:03:28.605 position:50% align:middle - It was a reminder of how important the work that we do is. 00:03:28.605 --> 00:03:31.300 position:50% align:middle - It wasn't a question. It was, "We had to do it." 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:35.631 position:50% align:middle Nobody complained. Nobody said, "This is... You know, I'm going to log off." 00:03:35.631 --> 00:03:40.569 position:50% align:middle It was, "Let's get this done. Get some rest and do it again the next day." 00:03:41.493 --> 00:03:46.820 position:50% align:middle - Once we got those few areas that we really wanted to look at, we went all the way back and we took all 00:03:46.820 --> 00:03:51.926 position:50% align:middle of the test records for all of 2019 and we re-scored them under the new modified examples. 00:03:51.926 --> 00:03:56.088 position:50% align:middle And what we found, when we did that, was spot on with what we have been finding with our simulation. 00:03:56.088 --> 00:04:00.480 position:50% align:middle So, that's what gave us a lot of encouragement the results were going to be stable 00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:02.423 position:50% align:middle when we went out into the field with them. 00:04:02.423 --> 00:04:07.636 position:50% align:middle - We knew we needed to explore other options to reopen those centers a lot faster. 00:04:07.636 --> 00:04:13.413 position:50% align:middle - So, we worked collaboratively with our boards of nursing to get a request to each governor's office 00:04:13.413 --> 00:04:18.354 position:50% align:middle to allow us to go to full capacity at the test centers. 00:04:18.354 --> 00:04:20.458 position:50% align:middle And we were successful in doing that. 00:04:20.458 --> 00:04:25.653 position:50% align:middle - Now, we've got to take the idea of how do we want to adapt the exam and now actually publish it. 00:04:25.653 --> 00:04:30.863 position:50% align:middle We took a publication cycle that normally runs a month and basically got it all done in one week. 00:04:30.863 --> 00:04:33.745 position:50% align:middle And when I say got it all done in one week, we did not skip one step. 00:04:33.745 --> 00:04:35.342 position:50% align:middle That was not acceptable. 00:04:35.342 --> 00:04:39.882 position:50% align:middle Any of the QAs that we go through, whether it's test publishing or software QA, 00:04:39.882 --> 00:04:44.491 position:50% align:middle everything that we normally do, content reviews, whatever it is, none of it was spared. 00:04:44.491 --> 00:04:46.440 position:50% align:middle It was actually really amazing. 00:04:47.621 --> 00:04:52.400 position:50% align:middle - After all the work we put in, it was really gratifying, on March 25th, to see that, 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:56.519 position:50% align:middle in fact, candidates were in testing centers and they were taking the NCLEX. 00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:00.418 position:50% align:middle - Customer Service and Exams Operations worked really well together. 00:05:00.418 --> 00:05:06.510 position:50% align:middle They took triple the amount of calls and emails than we would normally get in a peak testing season, 00:05:06.510 --> 00:05:08.349 position:50% align:middle so they just did a phenomenal job. 00:05:08.349 --> 00:05:13.334 position:50% align:middle - A lot of candidates just wanted to know when they would be able to take the exam so that they can be 00:05:13.334 --> 00:05:16.673 position:50% align:middle licensed and get out there and assist with the pandemic response, 00:05:16.673 --> 00:05:19.335 position:50% align:middle to go to the places where they were the most needed. 00:05:19.335 --> 00:05:24.255 position:50% align:middle - We created a process so that the candidates and the boards of nursing remain aware 00:05:24.255 --> 00:05:26.126 position:50% align:middle of any test center updates. 00:05:26.126 --> 00:05:28.508 position:50% align:middle This is actually a process that we're still using today. 00:05:28.508 --> 00:05:33.498 position:50% align:middle We also work closely with the boards of nursing to allow candidates to extend their authorization 00:05:33.498 --> 00:05:35.065 position:50% align:middle to test validity dates. 00:05:35.065 --> 00:05:40.737 position:50% align:middle - Another thing that we were able to do working with Pearson VUE simply to expand hours at testing centers 00:05:40.737 --> 00:05:44.387 position:50% align:middle where there were testing centers that were open, if they had been open 12 hours a day, 00:05:44.387 --> 00:05:47.621 position:50% align:middle could they be open 16 or 18 hours a day? 00:05:47.621 --> 00:05:53.152 position:50% align:middle We had 10 different temporary testing sites opened that weren't part of the network before. 00:05:53.152 --> 00:05:57.468 position:50% align:middle And one of the nice things about the temporary sites was they tended to be higher capacity. 00:05:58.679 --> 00:06:04.918 position:50% align:middle - We actually tested more nurses, got more nurses in the workforce during the pandemic 00:06:04.918 --> 00:06:06.765 position:50% align:middle than we did the previous year. 00:06:06.765 --> 00:06:09.859 position:50% align:middle It was just an amazing accomplishment. 00:06:09.859 --> 00:06:15.430 position:50% align:middle - Every single thing we did was so critical because we just had to get everything right. 00:06:15.430 --> 00:06:20.522 position:50% align:middle It's like when you take a test and you have to get 100, a 99 would be disappointing, right? 00:06:20.522 --> 00:06:23.426 position:50% align:middle We couldn't do a 99, we need to do 100, but we did. 00:06:23.426 --> 00:06:29.141 position:50% align:middle - I have never, in a crisis, seen a group coalesce that quickly, 00:06:29.141 --> 00:06:32.688 position:50% align:middle to focus on the mission that we needed to accomplish. 00:06:32.688 --> 00:06:34.190 position:50% align:middle It was just some brilliant work. 00:06:34.190 --> 00:06:39.322 position:50% align:middle - I am just really impressed by the different departments and teams coming together 00:06:39.322 --> 00:06:41.973 position:50% align:middle and that sense of community you have. 00:06:41.973 --> 00:06:47.205 position:50% align:middle - I'm extremely proud of the work that our teams did, for the amount of time, effort, work, 00:06:47.205 --> 00:06:48.856 position:50% align:middle and just dedication that they put into it. 00:06:48.856 --> 00:06:52.865 position:50% align:middle - I feel like we're a really strong team, having had that experience, 00:06:52.865 --> 00:06:56.645 position:50% align:middle and I think we're just going to continue to really grow from it. 00:06:56.645 --> 00:07:03.168 position:50% align:middle Being a part of an organization like NCSBN made me feel like I was able to actively do something 00:07:03.168 --> 00:07:06.017 position:50% align:middle about the situation and be able to help people. 00:07:06.017 --> 00:07:09.291 position:50% align:middle - All of the hard work, all the different interventions, 00:07:09.291 --> 00:07:13.449 position:50% align:middle all the different things that we did in conjunction with the state boards, 00:07:13.449 --> 00:07:16.181 position:50% align:middle it all added up to an incredible amount of success. 00:07:16.181 --> 00:07:18.139 position:50% align:middle I feel like we genuinely made a difference. 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.601 position:50% align:middle - That is exactly why we do what we do. 00:07:21.601 --> 00:07:24.843 position:50% align:middle ♪ [music] ♪