The Academic Impact of Prerequisite Coursework for Second Degree Students in an Accelerated Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing Program PDF Download

Author: Philip R. Martinez (Jr)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nursing
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
There is a lack of available literature on the correlations between completion of prerequisite courses and second degree student success in accelerated Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing (GEPN) programs. There is also little uniformity among GEPN programs on specific prerequisite requirements. Therefore, the goal of this study was to identify the impact of prerequisite courses and other preadmission variables on student success in a GEPN program. A retrospective, descriptive, correlational design was guided by the adult and transformational learning theories. A strong positive correlation (r = 0.90) was found between students’ grade point average (GPA) in the pre-licensure year and in the overall program. The number of prerequisite courses taken identified a weak association with success. Further analyses revealed that taking anatomy & physiology, microbiology, or chemistry significantly increased student GPA in both the pre-licensure year and overall GEPN program, although the actual improvement in GPA was negligible. Furthermore, statistics or human growth and development did not significantly improve student GPA. There was also little to no correlation between a student’s undergraduate degree, undergraduate GPA, or Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores and success in the GEPN program. Finally, this study revealed that students who completed a graduate degree had a significantly lower GPA than students who did not. The lack of strong correlations between the number of prerequisite courses taken and other preadmission variables indicates a need for further examination to better quantify which requirements are necessary for second degree nursing students’ success.