Reduction in Student Withdrawals

Abstract

of students withdrawing from the Harper Hospital School of Nursing has decreased 10 percent. This figure seems particularly significant at a time when extensive efforts are being made to interest young people in nursing. Important as it may be to foster the initial interest of high school students so that they will be stimulated to apply for admission to a school of nursing, it is equally important for schools to improve their programs of nursing education so that a larger percentage of students who do enter the schools will complete their programs. The Harper Hospital School of Nursing offers a 3-year course in basic nursing education. Since 1947 the school has taken part in a cooperative program with Wayne University. A battery of tests was devised which would measure the applicant's ability to meet the university's entrance requirements and at the same time give the nursing school necessary pre-entrance data about the applicant as well as valuable material for guidance purposes. Some students were able to matriculate at the university on the basis of their acceptable secondary school records while others did so by satisfactory performance on the battery of tests. Other applicants who were not able to matriculate but