Statewide At-Risk Tracking and Intervention for Nurses: Identifying and Intervening With Nursing Students at Risk of Attrition in Texas
AIM The purpose of this study was to identify students at risk of attrition and implement interventions to decrease the risk. BACKGROUND The ability to identify and intervene with students deemed at risk of attrition can be a valuable tool for increasing the RN workforce. “Statewide At-Risk Tracking and Interventions for Nurses” (SATIN) involved students from 27 initial RN licensure nursing programs in Texas. METHOD At-risk status of each nursing student was identified, and each nursing program provided interventions based on students' needs. RESULTS The Weaver Reading Program was the most effective of the six intervention strategies used with SATIN participants. Lack of utilization of the interventions was the number one limitation of the study. CONCLUSION Use of the Weaver Reading Program as well as personal engagement with students, one-on-one mentoring, and continued time investment are recommended to all programs.
Strategies for retention of nursing students: A scoping review.
Retention of students in nursing programs is a costly concern that affects the supply and demand of nurses to the healthcare system. Successful retention strategies require consideration of social and academic institutional systems with attention to student integration in a program. This systematic review explores implemented retention strategies in nursing programs worldwide and provides guidance for nursing programs and researchers considering the retention question. Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methods informed this review. CINAHL, ERIC, PsychINFO, and MEDLINE, databases were searched from January 1998 to December 2019. Data was extracted from 112 full text papers and dissertations. Papers were of varying quality and inconsistently evaluated, usually lacking theoretical grounding. Student participants in strategies were preselected by racial minority status or through various markers of academic performance. Retention strategies described in the literature are single program and multifactorial, with mentorship, study skills, literacy and language approaches, and tutoring the most common components. Reports of graduation rates or attrition rates through comparison with a pre-strategy time period or a comparison group were the most informative evaluations. Whole-program strategies that provided pathway options to students based on reading assessments or other academic criteria were the most comprehensive and effective strategies presented in the literature.
Retention of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students: approaches used by California's 21 generic baccalaureate nursing programs.
A rapidly growing number of California's ethnic minority nursing students are individuals whose primary language is not English; these English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students often have high attrition rates. This research surveys the approaches used in all of California's 21 generic baccalaureate nursing programs to retain their ESL students until graduation. Comparisons between the five programs with the highest ESL student retention rates and the group as a whole show significant differences.