A Bayesian Approach to Gateway Course Identification With Implications for the Prenursing Curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Analysis of student performance in gateway courses has been an important predictor of successful admission into upper-division nursing. PURPOSE: The aim was to explore the utility of a Bayesian statistical framework for determining threshold grades in prenursing courses that serve as gateways for successful admission into upper-division nursing programs. METHODS: Records of 3500 prenursing students who entered the prenursing program of a midsized public university during the past decade were analyzed. The Bayesian framework was used to incorporate conditional probabilistic concepts of sensitivity and specificity to calculate gateway impact of various grade level cutoffs on successful upper-division nursing admission. RESULTS: Identification, sequencing, and combination of grades attained in these gateway courses revealed different pathways to successful admission into upper-division nursing based on first-semester grade point average and ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Identification of primary/secondary gateway courses enhances successful matriculation and provides valuable information for advisors and curriculum planners for prenursing majors.

The Language of Scholarship: How to Write an Abstract That Tells a Compelling Story.

This article is for nurses and nursing students who are writing abstracts for poster or oral presentations, journal articles, or grants. The use of storytelling principles for scholarly writing demonstrated how a potentially dreary abstract can be created to captivate a reader. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2019;50(3):107-108.].

Successful Modeling of Factors Related to Recruitment and Retention of Prenursing Students.

BACKGROUND: The traditional admission methodology used by many schools of nursing is the second-tier admission based on specified criteria. This method has been associated with a student body that is predominately female, white, and English speaking. PROBLEM: Rational judgment modeling (points assigned to criteria) used to evaluate applicants for admission into prenursing programs potentially overlooks students who do not fit into the traditional model. APPROACH: This study compared predictive logistic regression with traditional rational judgment models to classify potential nursing school applicants. OUTCOMES: A higher number of Hispanic and black prenursing students were identified for potential upper-level nursing program admission. CONCLUSIONS: The use of logistic regression modeling can identify a more diverse student population. Advisors at both high school and university/college levels can use results of this model to help students determine their progress, identify academic weaknesses, and develop individual plans of action to help students successfully complete the prenursing curriculum requirements.

The experiences of new graduate nurses hired and retained in adult intensive care units.

BACKGROUND: It is a common practice that new graduate Registered Nurses are hired into adult intensive care units as initial entry into practise. There exists a practice readiness gap between nursing curricula and actual clinical practise expectations at adult intensive care settings; this has led to negative consequences and subsequent nurse turnover, a concern nationwide. Nonetheless, some new graduate nurses survived their initial transition and continue to practise in adult settings. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses who were hired into adult intensive care as a new graduate and survived their transition from novice to competent, starting the third year of practise. METHODOLOGY: The study used the hermeneutic phenomenology research approach. FINDINGS: Data analysis revealed the overall meaning of the experience: coming to terms with being comfortable with being uncomfortable. The six themes associated with being comfortable with being uncomfortable were: confidence and uncertainty, gaining experiences and forever learning, intuitive knowing and intuition, difficult and stressful, being courageous and assertive, and the team and support people. CONCLUSION: New graduate nurses can survive to become competent adult intensive care nurses. This study reveals the need to promote exposure to a variety of clinical situations early, to promote resilience and self-care, and to foster unit teamwork and mentoring to ensure successful transition and overall retention of new nurses hired into in adult intensive care.

Developing professional competence among critical care nurses: An integrative review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Professional competence is the ability to base clinical decisions on prior experiences with particular clinical situations. METHODS: An integrative review of the literature using the methodology of Whittemore and Knafl. The guiding question was: What is the extent and nature of the published literature on intensive care nurses developing professional competence? RESULTS: This review analysed 21 peer-reviewed articles obtained from electronic databases. The three main domains of professional competence were managing situations, decision-making and teamwork. Three instruments, the Critical Care Competency Assessment instrument, the Self-Assessment Competence Tool, and the Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Competence Scale (intensive care unit), measure professional and/or clinical competence. Demographic factors are experience, education, age, figure tow near here certification status, gender and location. CONCLUSION: Perception of self-competence, seeing beyond the technical aspects of care to the patient, and perceptions of and bonding with intensive care patients and their families are other facets of professional competence that warrant further study.