Is your state changing nurse aide test vendors? Are you confused about the changes? Are you wondering where you go for more information about your new test vendor's certification requirements?
Well, these are all valid questions and valid concerns! So let's take a step back and look at what causes a state to change test vendors and the ensuing impact to nurse aide educators, students, testing candidates, and stakeholders.
It's been over 13 years since I started my journey as a nurse aide educator and I have never seen what I now jokingly call, "test vendor musical chairs". Within the past 6 months, there's been an unprecedented number of states changing from one test vendor to another. Unfortunately, much of the changes are related to the pandemic highlighting deep fractures in test vendor services.
The decision to change test vendors is made at the state level, specifically the agency regulating nurse aide training programs. State regulators consider several key points when shopping for a new test vendor such as (but not limited to):
- Pricing
- Customer service
- The technology used in testing
- Timeliness in providing candidates and training programs with test results and other statistics essential to pass rates
- Ease in registering for the certification test by both candidates and training programs
However, on a more poignant point, before making test vendor changes, states rarely consider the opinions or request feedback from nurse aide educators - the very people in the trenches and the main user of test vendor services! Nurse aide educators are in a unique position to offer valuable insight about improvements needed in test vendor services and assist with the selection process. Sadly, this is not the case and is a missed opportunity for service improvement. Too often, the selection process occurs behind closed doors, under a veil of secrecy, and it is unknown whether the decision-makers have experience in nurse aide education or are qualified to make such decisions.
On another key point, once the state selects the new test vendor they only give training programs, nurse aide educators, and students a few weeks and rarely a few months to prepare for the changes. The short notice is insufficient time to prepare and often a cause of stress and urgency among training programs, educators, and students - all unnecessary if the change was handled with greater consideration of the end-users. By comparison, imagine the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) changing the nursing test plan (NCLEX Test Plan) and only giving boards of nursing, nursing schools, and nursing students a few weeks or a few months to prepare for the test changes. The outcry would be unprecedented; in reality, it would be a blood bath and nursing schools would simply not comply! So why the preparation disregard toward nurse aide training programs? Certified Nursing Assistants often speak of a lack of respect towards their work and their vital role - the proverbial "low man on the totem pole", receiving disparaging treatment, and utterly discounting their vital contributions to healthcare. Does this same disregard also apply to the entire nurse aide community?
In addressing these issues, the hope is to improve the process states use for changing test vendors and how to manage the change to best meet the needs of nurse aide training programs, students, and stakeholders.
Please send your comments to Vicky at v.castillo@facetshc.com
