Abstract
At a campus in a low socioeconomic (SES) area, our University allows enrolled nurses entry into the second year of a Bachelor of Nursing, but attrition is high. Using the factors, described by Yorke and Thomas (2003) to have a positive impact on the attrition of low SES students, we developed strategies to prepare the enrolled nurses for the pharmacology and bioscience units of a nursing degree with the aim of reducing their attrition. As a strategy, the introduction of review lectures of anatomy, physiology and microbiology, was associated with significantly reduced attrition rates. The subsequent introduction of a formative website activity of some basic concepts in bioscience and pharmacology, and a workshop addressing study skills and online resources, were associated with a further reduction in attrition rates of enrolled nursing students in a Bachelor of Nursing.
Highlights
Ongoing nursing shortages in many countries have driven the need to train more nurses (e.g. USA; Janiszewski, 2003: Australia; National Review of Nursing Education, 2002; Canada/Australia; Duffield & O’Brien-Pallas, 2002)
Up to 50% of the students enrolled in the bioscience and pharmacology units at the low-SES campus were accelerated students (Table 1), and the attrition rate in 2009 was very high (~30%, Figure 1)
Oddsratio analysis showed that the attrition rates were significantly higher for the accelerated than the continuing students in both the bioscience and pharmacology units: bioscience; odds-ratio [OR] = 19.6; 95% confidence limits [CL], 1.09 to 354, p = .04: pharmacology; OR = 24.85, CL, 1.35 to 456, p =
Summary
Ongoing nursing shortages in many countries have driven the need to train more nurses (e.g. USA; Janiszewski, 2003: Australia; National Review of Nursing Education, 2002; Canada/Australia; Duffield & O’Brien-Pallas, 2002). Our Australian university offers a threeyear undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing degree at a small regional secondary campus in a low SES area. At this campus, all of the accelerated students have completed a non-University course Diploma of Nursing program for enrolled nurses. The accelerated students at our low SES campus were having problems adjusting to University, as evidenced by high attrition rates early in the course/program (Figure 1)
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