1. David Peruski, RN, Ed.D. September 28, 2017
Nursing Program Readiness, Impact on Completion and NCLEX-RN Pass Rates: Dissertation Findings
David Peruski, RN, Ed.D.
September 28, 2017

2. Significance of Understanding This Topic
Aligns with Completion Agenda
Provides Opportunity to Review Impact of Developmental Education/Curriculum
Help Understand Attrition and Impact
Student Perspective
Programmatic
Workforce
Minorities & Men
Identify Interventions that may Positively Impact Completion
Identify ways to improve completion rates
Higher education leads to better opportunities for employment/Self-Improvement
Student motivation
Poor study behaviors
Competing demands
Nursing programs have varying rates of completion at times exceeding 50%
Retention is important-nursing shortage looming

3. Models Persistence to Completion Models Commonalities Tinto
Karp & Bork
Jensen
Demetriou & Schmitz-Sciborski
Commonalities
Academic Preparation
Academic Engagement
Social Integration/Engagement
Seeking Assistance
Understanding College/Expectations
External Support
Balancing Multiple Roles
Lack of effective study skills
Working in excess of 20 hours per week

4. Considerations Other Considerations Leading to Persistence/Retention
Underprepared
Greater risk for not completing
Developmental education
Focused on raising student’s aptitude
Also seen as a deterrent
Other Considerations Leading to Persistence/Retention
Faculty Interaction
Finances
Attitude-Self Efficacy, Optimism, Goal Setting
Identifying With Others
Minorities/Men

5. Identified Challenges
Selection processes into nursing programs
Open versus selective
Improving the number of minorities in nursing
First generation
Lower socioeconomic status

6. Making a Difference Persistence & Retention
No one approach seems to make a difference
Some Impact on Attrition
GPAs
Standardized Exams
Prerequisite course work

7. Nursing Programs No more than one failure Attrition is Problematic
Courses specific to nursing
Not usually transferable to other programs
Costly
May drop out of college
Incurred debt and not employable
Measure of Quality
Cohorts with empty seats
High attrition/Low Completion versus Low Attrition/High Completion
Have to maintain acceptable NCLEX rates

8. Approaches Bailey, Jaggars & Jenkins (2015) Eliminate barriers
Strong advising
Clear pathway
Placement into college-level courses in an accelerated manner
Eliminate barriers
Support college completion
Who completes Traditional, more affluent, residential, full-time
Who struggles low income, part-time, commuter

9. Research Design Sample=453 students Fall 2011-Winter 2014
Registered Nurse Program
Full-time
Part-time
Transition

10. Research Questions
Do nursing students who enter college program-ready in reading, writing, and Math complete the nursing program at a significantly greater rate than students who are not program-ready in any area of reading, writing, or Math at the time they enter college?
Do statistical differences in program completion exist among racial groups or by gender?
Do nursing students who enter college program-ready in reading, writing, and Math pass the NCLEX-RN exam at a significantly greater rate than students who are not program-ready in any area of reading, writing, or Math at the time they enter college?

11. Findings 223 Students Program-Ready (49.23%)
230 Students Not Program-Ready (50.77%)
272 Completed
159 Program-Ready 71.30%
113 Not Program-Ready 49.13%
Program Attrition 39.96%

12. Findings Program Readiness Program Completion FT 63% FT 54.4% PT 55%
Transition 53%
FT 54.4%
PT 39.7%
Transition 39.4%
Program Readiness and Completion Appear to have a Relationship
Program-Ready Students in All Program Tracks Completed at a Greater Percentage than Not Program-Ready Students

13. Findings Females 88% Males 12% Gender Female Completed 61.2%
Males Completed 51.9%
Larger percentage of program-ready males (25.9%) did not complete as compared to females (12.5%)

14. Findings Caucasians 85% Minorities 15% Race Caucasian Completed 61.2%
Minorities Completed 53.6%
Minorities represent a larger percentage of not program-ready students who both complete and do not complete

15. Findings
223 Students Program-Ready in all three areas (71.3% Completed)
398 Reading-ready students (55.2% Completed out of total sample)
340 Writing-ready students (49.7% Completed out of total sample)
292 Math-ready students (40.8% Completed out of total sample)
159 students completed that were program ready in all areas
Math ready who completed was the lowest number at 185
Writing ready who completed was 225
Reading ready who completed 250
Math lowest completion because not really college ready only at elementary algebra level.
COMPASS
Reading-89
Writing-77
College Algebra-52

16. Percent of Program Ready Students who Completed and were:
Math Ready 85.9%
Writing Ready 70.6%
Reading Ready 63.6%
In this particular study students who were math ready and program ready had a very high success rate.

17. Findings NCLEX-RN Exam Pass Rates (First Attempt) FT 90.91% PT 90.63%
Transition 88.68%
Program-Ready 89.31%
Not Program-Ready 92.04%

18. Analysis Program Readiness did statistically impact program completion
Reading, Writing and Math preparedness had an impact on completion
No statistical differences in completion between Male and Female or in Minorities and Caucasian
NCLEX-RN Exam completed equally between program-ready and not program-ready

19. Conclusions Program-Readiness impacts completion positively
Attrition is a concern
Not program-ready students are as likely to complete as not
Persistence & Completion
Retention Models
Grit/Intrinsic Motivation/Self-Efficacy
Guided Pathways
Minority student completion
Male student completion
NCLEX-RN pass rates are comparable among all groups
Better academic prep, reading and writing may demonstrate ability to complete.
Attrition
Non-completers
Twice as likely to be not program ready
Minorities
Role Models-Faculty, Representation to improve health practices
May have motivation to complete and so even though underprepared they persist. Achieve a better life.
Financial Support
Males
Lack of role models –social isolation
Communication difficulties
Men drawn to technical aspects does not equate to lack of caring
Biases impact completion…asking men to do things that would not ask women…lift a patient, etc.
FT students seem to have better completion rates
Clearly defined academic plan
Cohort groups have benefits of LCs such as satisfaction with classes and enhanced faculty/student relationships.

20. Recommendations Enhance Academic Preparedness Decrease Attrition
Decrease Repeat Courses/Selective Admission
Provide Advising and Orientation
Evaluate Part-time Program Length on Completion
Increase Support for Men and Minorities
Evaluate Math Requirement
Decrease Attrition
Look at programs of similar size with lower attrition and see what steps they have taken to improve retention.
Look for promising practices for students who are not program-ready but have the potential to impact completion.
Decrease Repeat Courses/Selective Admission
Grades, GPA, Intention to become a nurse all linked with completion.
Limit retakes of course especially key courses that are linked with success like A&P to only two attempts.
Selective admission criteria
Impact on completion
Have other colleges seen improvements in retention
Important to assure equity to underrepresented groups.
Advising/Orientation
Required counseling and advising with faculty
Mentoring opportunities, strengthen faculty/student interaction, passion
Help understand rigors of nursing program, provide effective study habits
Socialization
Minorities and Men
Focus Groups to gain opinions and ideas
Evaluate Math Requirement
Not at College Ready level
Encouraging students to go onto get BSN need much higher level math
Math-readiness and program completion the lowest
Significance factor not significant at 0.01 level
Evaluate students who have attained college level math scores and their completion rates

21. Further Research Program Completion and Prerequisite GPA
Non-cognitive factors that impact completion
Number of semesters enrolled in college and completion of the program
Gateway GPA in A&P