Concorde Career Colleges: Preparing New Nurses for a Confident Transition to Practice
- A Holistic Approach to NCLEX Success and Bedside Readiness
- Clinical Partnerships That Lead to Direct Employment
- Simulation, Skills Labs, and the Transition-to-Practice Curriculum
- Tailoring Preparation to Local Metro-Area Needs
- What Employers See During Clinical Rotations
- Focus on Retention and Long-Term Career Sustainability
- Real-World Example of Diverse Career Paths
- Faculty Who Stay Clinically Relevant
- "All Hands on Deck" Student Support
- Concorde Career Colleges: Preparing New Nurses for a Confident Transition to Practice
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In today's complex healthcare environment, new nurses face a well-documented challenge: moving from classroom learning and supervised clinicals to the high-stakes realities of independent bedside practice. While NCLEX pass rates remain an important benchmark, nurse leaders increasingly emphasize the need for programs that also build real-world clinical judgment, emotional resilience, and seamless integration with employers.
RegisteredNursing.org spoke with Dr. Shawn Higgins, PhD, RN, National Dean of Nursing at Concorde Career Colleges, to explore how the institution balances this. With more than 28 years of clinical experience across long-term care, home health, med-surg, and hospice (and a career in nursing education that spans faculty, simulation lab management, and deanship roles), Dr. Higgins brings a uniquely informed perspective to the conversation.
A Holistic Approach to NCLEX Success and Bedside Readiness
Concorde integrates NCLEX-style questions throughout the curriculum, embedding them in real-life scenarios so students repeatedly apply knowledge in context. High-fidelity simulation plays a central role, allowing learners to practice critical thinking and clinical judgment in a safe, controlled setting before ever reaching the bedside.
"We take a holistic approach that integrates theoretical knowledge with the essential practical skills," Dr. Higgins explains. "This allows students to practice critical thinking while demonstrating clinical judgment decision-making skills… thus helping to bridge any gaps between theory and practice."
Clinical Partnerships That Lead to Direct Employment
Concorde maintains strong relationships with clinical partner sites where students complete rotations. This intentional alignment creates a natural pipeline from student to employee.
When graduates transition directly into employment at a familiar site, they already know the electronic health record system, patient populations, workflows, and unit culture. The result, according to Dr. Higgins, is smoother onboarding, reduced orientation time, improved patient continuity, stronger team cohesion, higher job satisfaction, and better retention, particularly among first-year nurses. These alumni also provide valuable feedback that informs ongoing curriculum refinement.
Simulation, Skills Labs, and the Transition-to-Practice Curriculum
Simulation and skills labs serve as a critical bridge between classroom theory and live patient care. Concorde's high-fidelity scenarios replicate bedside experiences, giving students repeated opportunities to make decisions, prioritize care, and manage unexpected complications without risk to actual patients.
The program goes further with a dedicated transition-to-practice curriculum that includes real-life case studies, advanced simulations, role-playing, and interprofessional collaborative activities during clinical rotations. These elements focus on core competencies, including assessment, communication, and sound clinical decision-making.
"Our graduates leave with confidence in their ability to critically think and make strong, sound clinical judgment calls," Dr. Higgins notes.
Tailoring Preparation to Local Metro-Area Needs
Concorde prepares its graduates to succeed in both their local metro areas and the broader healthcare environments where their clinical training extends beyond campus communities. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, the program equips students to be highly adaptable in diverse clinical situations, effective collaborators with multidisciplinary teams, and culturally sensitive providers who understand the unique patient demographics and regional challenges they will encounter in their local communities.
This targeted preparation helps new nurses integrate more quickly and confidently into their first roles, allowing them to contribute meaningfully from day one.
What Employers See During Clinical Rotations
If you ask a nurse leader or unit manager at one of Concorde's key clinical partner sites what stands out about their students, Dr. Higgins believes the feedback would highlight several consistent strengths: safe and effective execution of technical skills, strong application of theory to practice, adaptability in dynamic situations, real-time problem-solving, clear communication, professionalism, punctuality, ethical decision-making, compassion, and a genuine commitment to continuous learning.
Focus on Retention and Long-Term Career Sustainability
Concorde takes retention seriously. Through its Program Advisory Committee, the school maintains a direct feedback loop with clinical partners (hospitals and facilities where graduates actually work), gaining real-time insight into the pressures new nurses face.
"What we hear consistently reinforces what we try to build into our programs from day one: nurses who stay are nurses who felt prepared, not just for the clinical skills, but for the emotional and professional realities of the job," Dr. Higgins shares. "We focus heavily on that full picture."
Real-World Example of Diverse Career Paths
While many graduates begin in acute care or skilled nursing, others move quickly into non-traditional roles. One standout Vocational Nursing graduate's journey illustrates the program's versatility: after starting in hospice (one of the most emotionally demanding specialties), he transitioned to school nursing for children with special needs, then into a lead pediatric nursing role, with aspirations to pursue certification as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.
"He has packed what many nurses do in an entire career into just a few years," Dr. Higgins says. "Each role has demanded something different from him clinically, emotionally, and professionally, and he has risen to meet every one of them… Hearing that he feels prepared every single day says everything, and he openly credits his Concorde instructors and the hands-on time in our skills labs and clinical settings for that."
Faculty Who Stay Clinically Relevant
Concorde places strong emphasis on keeping its nursing faculty clinically relevant and pedagogically current. One of the school's explicit goals is to provide faculty with regular training programs and workshops that give them access to the latest advancements in both healthcare pedagogy and specific nursing skills. The program also benefits from strong partnerships with vendors and clinical partners, who actively support faculty in staying up to date on current practices and emerging trends.
This investment ensures instructors remain connected to real-world healthcare. As a result, they can bring fresh insights to the classroom, enriching the curriculum with more authentic real-life case studies, high-fidelity simulations, and meaningful role-playing scenarios that directly strengthen student learning and preparedness.
"All Hands on Deck" Student Support
Nursing school is demanding, and Concorde acknowledges that students arrive with full lives: jobs, families, and external pressures. The institution operates with an "all hands on deck" and "it takes a village" philosophy. Faculty stay late to re-demonstrate skills, meet students before or after clinicals for targeted coaching, and personalize instruction to individual strengths and growth areas.
Student Affairs connects learners with local resources for non-academic needs such as transportation, financial assistance, or childcare. This support continues beyond graduation; many alumni reach out for ongoing advice, encouragement, or references as they advance in their careers.
"And that support doesn't stop at graduation," Dr. Higgins emphasizes. "We love hearing about the success of our grads… To us, that ongoing connection is one of the most meaningful signs that we did our job well, not just teaching nursing skills, but helping shape professionals who feel ready wherever their careers take them."
Concorde Career Colleges: Preparing New Nurses for a Confident Transition to Practice
Concorde Career Colleges demonstrates that preparing nurses for practice goes far beyond NCLEX preparation. Through integrated simulation, purposeful clinical partnerships, a dedicated transition-to-practice curriculum, robust student support, and a commitment to faculty currency, Concorde’s nursing programs strive to produce graduates who are not only prepared for licensure but truly ready to deliver safe, compassionate, and confident care from day one.
About the Interviewee
Shawn Higgins, PhD, RN, is the National Dean of Nursing at Concorde Career Colleges. A nurse for over 28 years, with clinical experience in long-term care, home health, med-surg, and hospice, she has worked in nursing education since 2007, in roles ranging from faculty member and simulation lab manager to dean. Her PhD in Education reflects a lifelong passion for improving student learning environments.
Interview conducted and article prepared by Kati Kleber, MSN RN, for RegisteredNursing.org. All responses reflect the perspective of Concorde Career Colleges.
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