Use of the HESI A2 Entrance Exam and GPA as Primary Admissions Criteria for Baccalaureate Nursing Education: A Secondary Analysis of Proposed and Existing Admissions Policies
Keywords:
Nursing Education, Admissions criteria, HESIAbstract
Current employment opportunities for registered nurses are emphasizing the need for new graduates who are prepared to engage in critical thinking activities that demand on-the-spot decision-making. These market pressures have caught the attention of academic institutions to assess and refine their admissions policies to enroll the most qualified applicants for nursing educational programs. Schools of nursing also need to maximize existing resources for nursing education in a budget-tight economy. Selecting the best-qualified applicants and facilitating their retention presents one way to meet the demands of future employers and maximize dwindling resources. The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate, compare, and contrast existing admissions criteria and selection policies from a pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing education program in the state of New Mexico with a proposed new state-wide admissions criteria.
Existing selection criteria for the study institution and a proposed state-wide admissions policy both produce a rank-ordered, prioritized listing of students deemed best-suited for success in nursing education. The study compared and contrasted the results obtained using both methods from six consecutive cohorts of pre-licensure baccalaureate students enrolled in a four-year traditional program.
Conclusions from the analysis support the use of the proposed state-wide model as an acceptable equivalent to the existing admissions process for the study institution. Further investigation is indicated to consider results from other institutions of similar size and location as well as comparisons with program exit exams and National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) NCLEX-RN first attempt pass rates.
References
Grainger, P., & Bolan, C. (2006). Perceptions of nursing as a career choice of students in the baccalaureate nursing program. Nurse Education Today, 26, 38-44.
Grossbach, A., & Kuncel, N.R. (2011). The predictive validity of nursing admission measures for performance on the National Council Licensure Examination: A meta-analysis. Journal of Professional Nursing, 27, 124-128.
Wolkowitz, A.A., & Kelley, J.A. (2010). Academic predictors of success in a nursing program. Journal of Nursing Education, 49(9).
Kowitlawakul, Y., Brenkus, R., & Dugan, N. (2013). Predictors for success for first semester, second degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing students. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 18, 38-43.
Ali, P.A., & Naylor, P.B. (2010). Association between academic and non-academic variables and academic success of diploma nursing students in Pakistan. Nurse Education Today, 30(2), 157-162.
Cook, S.S., Fintan, S., Bancel, S., & Gomes, J.C. (2012). Curriculum Meeting Points: A transcultural and transformative initiative in nursing education. Nurse Education in Practice, 12(6), 304-309.
Magnussen, L., Niederhauser, V., Ono, C.K., Johnson, N.K., Vogler, J., & Ceria-Ulep, C.D. (2013). Journal of Nursing Education, 52(2), 77-84.
Tanner, C.A., Gubrud-Howe, P., & Shores, L. (2008). The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education: A response to the nursing shortage. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 9(3).
New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium (NMNEC). (2013). Connecting all New Mexicans to high quality healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.nmnec.org/
HESI iNet (2013). Retrieved from https://hesiinet.elsevier.com/Default.aspx
Brodman, S. (2012). Predicting Success Using HESI A2 Entrance Tests in an Associate Degree Nursing Program. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest LLC, Accession number ED536591.
New Mexico Board of Nursing (NMBON). (2013). National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) program summary of first time candidates in New Mexico. Retrieved from http://nmbon.sks.com/uploads/FileLinks/477c210bc0f64b1c94a6be28fc76e60f/2011_NCLEX.pdf
New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium (NMNEC). (2013). Connecting all New Mexicans to high quality healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.nmnec.org/
Lenth, R. V. (2006-9). Java Applets for Power and Sample Size [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~rlenth/Power.
Lenth, R. V. (2006-9). Java Applets for Power and Sample Size [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~rlenth/Power.
IBM Corporation (2012). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, New York: IBM Corporation.
Pett, M.A. (1997). Nonparametric statistics for health care research: Statistics for small samples and unusual distributions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Landis, J., & Koch, G. (1977). Measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159-174.
Altman, D.G. (1991). Practical statistics for medical research. London: Chapman and Hall.
Fleiss, J., Levin, B., & Paik, M. (2003). Statistical methods for rates and proportions, 3rd Ed. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons.
Pett, M.A. (1997). Nonparametric statistics for health care research: Statistics for small samples and unusual distributions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pett, M.A. (1997). Nonparametric statistics for health care research: Statistics for small samples and unusual distributions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pett, M.A. (1997). Nonparametric statistics for health care research: Statistics for small samples and unusual distributions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
