Attrition is a serious issue among Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students with attrition rates around 50% nationwide. To help minimize BSN student attrition, many nursing programs use commercially available standardized nursing aptitude tests as adjuncts to scholastic aptitude
data, usually operationalized as pre-nursing grade point average, to
select students for admission. Little is known regarding the usefulness
of scholastic and nursing aptitude data for predicting long-term
retention in a BSN program and readiness for the National Council
Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the relationships among
scholastic aptitude, nursing aptitude, BSN student attrition prior to
the final semester of the curriculum, and BSN student readiness for the
NCLEX-RN. This study's findings, along with other findings in the
literature, suggest the need for a parsimonious explanatory model of
BSN student attrition that can be used to guide admission and
progression policies, and ensure that students ready for the NCLEX-RN
are the ones graduating from BSN programs.
Associate Professors Sarah Newton and Gary Moore, of the School of Nursing, recently published are article titled "Use of Aptitude to Understand Bachelor of Science in Nursing Student
Attrition and Readiness for the National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse" (Journal of Professional Nursing, Volume 25, Pages 273-278, 2009).
Created by Brad Roth (roth@oakland.edu) on Friday, October 16, 2009 Modified by Brad Roth (roth@oakland.edu) on Friday, October 16, 2009 Article Start Date: Friday, October 16, 2009
