Student Retention at a Community College
Nurs 674A
Module 4
Pace University
Aspect of Care: Issues that Effect Student Retention in the Nursing Program at a Community College in New Jersey
Date: July 7, 2006
Reason for Study: To determine the causes of why students either voluntarily or involuntarily exit the Nursing Program at community college in central New Jersey.
Discussion:
My clinical setting is at a community college in central New Jersey. This college offers both LPN and RN programs. My focus is on the two year RN program. This college offers both a full-time and part-time RN program. Graduates from theses programs receive an Associate in Applied Science.
The issue being examined is student retention and attrition. This school has a student retention rate of approximately 70%. That is, 30% of students admitted into the nursing program leave the program before completion. I choose the "Cause and Effect" diagram or "Fishbone" diagram for my analysis.
Student retention is an issue that has many causes. Because of the complexity of this issue, many studies have been conducted that investigate an individual cause. Marianne R. Jeffreys has addressed the nursing retention issue in depth in Nursing Student Retention: Understanding the Process and Making a Difference (2004). Jeffreys uses the NURS model (Nurse Undergraduate Retention and Success) that addresses student retention in depth. Although many nursing programs may share the same causes, I believe it is also important to look at the specific university or college due to their uniqueness. Although there are similarities, each nursing program has its differences. Some variables include the demographics of the students, the individuality of the instructors, the region of the country that the college is located in, and so forth. Issues that were a cause five or ten years ago, may now no longer be significant. New issues develop and must continually be determined. In order to discover what is occurring at ones’ facility and within their nursing program, analysis of this issue should be done and examined according to what they may be experiencing. One can use Jeffrey’s model as a guide and reference point, and may even implement one or more of her programs, but I believe it would be unwise to do this without first exploring the individual program.
The "Fishbone" diagram is a tool used to determine the root cause of a problem, but does not determine solutions. It helps the team focus on the causes, not the effect. Using a "Fishbone" diagram allows the team to explore what they believe to be the issues, even if they have no documentation at the time to prove this to be true. In other words, the team may agree that they experienced that most African American males have dropped out of the program. The nursing department may not have been collecting this data, but the team agrees that they have seen a pattern. They can brainstorm regarding why they think this is occurring. The "Fishbone" diagram allows them to analyze the cause is a systematic way and allows the team to visualize the thought process of the analysis. Brainstorming allows the team to explore the cause by allowing everyone to participate and voice their opinions. (Dhandapani, 2004, Jun 21)
Once they have explored what they believe to be their causes, they can then start collecting the data to determine if the believed cause is truly significant. To tackle such a complex task, I would suggest that the team start collecting data on the exiting students. This data would be separated into two categories: Involuntary Exit and Voluntary Exit. Data to be collected would include the following: ethnicity, race, gender, age, ESL, prior GPA, and prior education. This information can obtained from the students existing file since this information is collected on students entering the nursing program. This information can be then integrated into a Pareto diagram to determine if one or more of these factors are significant.
To gain further insight, the team should devise a survey or exit interview to determine the cause or causes of the student exiting the program, as suggested by Allen (2004). This survey or interview would need to consist of very specific questions to help identify specific causes. For instance, if a student dropped out of the nursing program due to failure to pass the exams (Involuntary Exit), questions need to be created that explore in depth why the student was unable to pass the exams. Was it poor test taking skills, language skills, or poor studying skills? Another example would be regarding gender and race of the student (Voluntary Exit). Did they experience racial and/or gender bias from their instructors, other nursing students, patients, and/or professional nurses at their clinical sites? I would suggest that a written survey be mailed to students that have exited the program. Once this survey is received and reviewed, a follow-up telephone interview should be conducted. A written survey may not allow the student the opportunity to describe in detail the reasons they left. The student themselves may not desire to or may even be unaware of the issues. A trained person can perform the telephone interview and attempt to find out in depth information, by exploring the issues presented on the written survey.
Once a determined amount of information is gathered, the data can be analyzed for its significance, and the main causes can be determined. They can then begin to implement research based solutions or programs that can be put into place at their institution. Although written this seems simple, it can be a long exhaustive process.
Awareness of the issue may allow the team to be open to exploring the causes in their own classroom or clinical setting. Perhaps they are biased in their own practice and were unaware until now. For the student that knows the material but is unable to pass the exams, they can suggest books on test taking. They may be able to create a short term solution, such as tutoring, or perhaps presenting the material in a different manner. Awareness may also allow them to see the issue as it is developing and they may be able to “nip it in the bud” before it becomes problematic for the individual student.
References
Allen, M. J. (2004). Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education. Bolton MA: Anker
Dhandapani, D. (2004, Jun 21). Applying the Fishbone diagram and Pareto principle to Domino. Retrieved on July 3, 2006 from http:// www128.ibm.com/ developerworks/lotus/library/ fishbone/
Jeffreys, Marianne R. (2004). Nursing Student Retention: Understanding the Process and Making a Difference. New York: Springer
Module 4
Pace University
Aspect of Care: Issues that Effect Student Retention in the Nursing Program at a Community College in New Jersey
Date: July 7, 2006
Reason for Study: To determine the causes of why students either voluntarily or involuntarily exit the Nursing Program at community college in central New Jersey.
Discussion:
My clinical setting is at a community college in central New Jersey. This college offers both LPN and RN programs. My focus is on the two year RN program. This college offers both a full-time and part-time RN program. Graduates from theses programs receive an Associate in Applied Science.
The issue being examined is student retention and attrition. This school has a student retention rate of approximately 70%. That is, 30% of students admitted into the nursing program leave the program before completion. I choose the "Cause and Effect" diagram or "Fishbone" diagram for my analysis.
Student retention is an issue that has many causes. Because of the complexity of this issue, many studies have been conducted that investigate an individual cause. Marianne R. Jeffreys has addressed the nursing retention issue in depth in Nursing Student Retention: Understanding the Process and Making a Difference (2004). Jeffreys uses the NURS model (Nurse Undergraduate Retention and Success) that addresses student retention in depth. Although many nursing programs may share the same causes, I believe it is also important to look at the specific university or college due to their uniqueness. Although there are similarities, each nursing program has its differences. Some variables include the demographics of the students, the individuality of the instructors, the region of the country that the college is located in, and so forth. Issues that were a cause five or ten years ago, may now no longer be significant. New issues develop and must continually be determined. In order to discover what is occurring at ones’ facility and within their nursing program, analysis of this issue should be done and examined according to what they may be experiencing. One can use Jeffrey’s model as a guide and reference point, and may even implement one or more of her programs, but I believe it would be unwise to do this without first exploring the individual program.
The "Fishbone" diagram is a tool used to determine the root cause of a problem, but does not determine solutions. It helps the team focus on the causes, not the effect. Using a "Fishbone" diagram allows the team to explore what they believe to be the issues, even if they have no documentation at the time to prove this to be true. In other words, the team may agree that they experienced that most African American males have dropped out of the program. The nursing department may not have been collecting this data, but the team agrees that they have seen a pattern. They can brainstorm regarding why they think this is occurring. The "Fishbone" diagram allows them to analyze the cause is a systematic way and allows the team to visualize the thought process of the analysis. Brainstorming allows the team to explore the cause by allowing everyone to participate and voice their opinions. (Dhandapani, 2004, Jun 21)
Once they have explored what they believe to be their causes, they can then start collecting the data to determine if the believed cause is truly significant. To tackle such a complex task, I would suggest that the team start collecting data on the exiting students. This data would be separated into two categories: Involuntary Exit and Voluntary Exit. Data to be collected would include the following: ethnicity, race, gender, age, ESL, prior GPA, and prior education. This information can obtained from the students existing file since this information is collected on students entering the nursing program. This information can be then integrated into a Pareto diagram to determine if one or more of these factors are significant.
To gain further insight, the team should devise a survey or exit interview to determine the cause or causes of the student exiting the program, as suggested by Allen (2004). This survey or interview would need to consist of very specific questions to help identify specific causes. For instance, if a student dropped out of the nursing program due to failure to pass the exams (Involuntary Exit), questions need to be created that explore in depth why the student was unable to pass the exams. Was it poor test taking skills, language skills, or poor studying skills? Another example would be regarding gender and race of the student (Voluntary Exit). Did they experience racial and/or gender bias from their instructors, other nursing students, patients, and/or professional nurses at their clinical sites? I would suggest that a written survey be mailed to students that have exited the program. Once this survey is received and reviewed, a follow-up telephone interview should be conducted. A written survey may not allow the student the opportunity to describe in detail the reasons they left. The student themselves may not desire to or may even be unaware of the issues. A trained person can perform the telephone interview and attempt to find out in depth information, by exploring the issues presented on the written survey.
Once a determined amount of information is gathered, the data can be analyzed for its significance, and the main causes can be determined. They can then begin to implement research based solutions or programs that can be put into place at their institution. Although written this seems simple, it can be a long exhaustive process.
Awareness of the issue may allow the team to be open to exploring the causes in their own classroom or clinical setting. Perhaps they are biased in their own practice and were unaware until now. For the student that knows the material but is unable to pass the exams, they can suggest books on test taking. They may be able to create a short term solution, such as tutoring, or perhaps presenting the material in a different manner. Awareness may also allow them to see the issue as it is developing and they may be able to “nip it in the bud” before it becomes problematic for the individual student.
References
Allen, M. J. (2004). Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education. Bolton MA: Anker
Dhandapani, D. (2004, Jun 21). Applying the Fishbone diagram and Pareto principle to Domino. Retrieved on July 3, 2006 from http:// www128.ibm.com/ developerworks/lotus/library/ fishbone/
Jeffreys, Marianne R. (2004). Nursing Student Retention: Understanding the Process and Making a Difference. New York: Springer
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