Student Success Centers in Nursing Education: A Case Study Example

Abstract

Background: A student success center was established at an academic health science center in an effort to address student performance in a diverse undergraduate nursing program. Method: A process for determining student needs and narrowly tailored support interventions was determined through a modified Delphi focus group of students enrolled in a Hispanic Serving Institution's undergraduate nursing program. Results: Findings of this study are presented along with the 5-year outcomes associated with the center's efforts. Implementation of these narrowly tailored interventions has led to a considerable improvement in student engagement, as well as higher first-time pass rates on the NCLEX-RN ® examination by graduates. Conclusion: To address the critical shortage of diverse nurses in the United States, schools of nursing must provide all necessary support mechanisms to ensure underrepresented and first-generation college students have every opportunity to graduate and enter the nursing workforce. [ J Nurs Educ . 2020;59(7):396–399.]

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing Education

“…Supplemental instruction-regularly scheduled informal review sessions of course content-is another method to provide academic support (Byrd & Meling, 2020). Yue et al (2018) examined how supplemental instruction helped reduce performance gaps (Barnes, 2017).…”

Recruiting Underrepresented Students for Nursing Schools

“…Many schools are investing in Student Success Centers as a mechanism to deliver individualized and narrowly tailored support programs for their students. Schools must first study their students to determine what obstacles/challenges might exist that are preventing students from achieving higher levels of success (metrics can include first-year retention, graduation, and licensure examination pass rates), and then design interventions based on those findings (Byrd & Meling, 2020). Interventions might include supplemental instruction, peer mentoring, individualized tutoring, academic coaching, or the implementation of high impact practices like undergraduate research or residential learning communities (Kuh, 2012).…”