Holistic Admissions Criteria in Prelicensure Nursing Programs

Photo by Christina via Unsplash

As a high school student, Gaby worked nearly full-time to support her family. She also helped care for her grandfather who was in failing health, giving him daily insulin injections and attending to his care. She dreamed of going to nursing school after graduation. Still, her classroom grades, which suffered because of her other commitments, were insufficient for admission to the nursing program of her choice.

Philip, a high school athlete, was captain of a championship basketball team. He had the passion and personality to be a great nurse and wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps in the profession. Unfortunately, his grade point average (GPA) was below the cutoff for admission to his local nursing program.

Dreams of joining the nursing profession were halted for both of these potentially excellent nurses, both of them first-generation Americans and members of populations underrepresented in nursing. Some prelicensure nursing schools use a comprehensive approach for admission, but far too many still use academic achievements and standardized test scores as the sole criteria for accepting students into their program. Admission to nursing schools in the United States remains far from standardized, even though all nurses must pass the same national licensing […]

2024-03-20T13:47:18-04:00March 6th, 2024|Nursing, nursing students|1 Comment
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Understanding Imposter Syndrome Among Nurses

Photo by Elina Krima/Pexels

The self-doubt began when I applied for nursing school. I’d think, “What makes you think you should have this sort of responsibility?” or “I can’t possibly do this— everyone says nursing school is so hard.” I’d been accepted into two different programs, but this only heightened my suspicion that there had been some mistake. I worried that once I was in school people would realize that I didn’t belong there.

These beliefs were hard to shake. I thought I was the only one with such doubts, but it turns out that I’m not alone and this phenomenon has a name. Imposter syndrome (IS) is the feeling of being a fraud. It often affects women and minorities, and it tends to occur at times of career transitions and in high-achieving individuals. Nurses can be particularly affected.

What is it?

In 1978, Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes published their study on what they called the imposter phenomenon. Now commonly called imposter syndrome, it is described as having deep feelings of unworthiness and doubt of one’s capabilities, coupled with the fear of being “found out” or exposed as a fraud. It’s accompanied by an inability to acknowledge one’s accomplishments.

People with IS are […]

2021-08-14T12:24:25-04:00August 11th, 2021|Nursing|1 Comment
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How Research Starts: Choosing a Question That Passes the ‘So What’ Test

As an undergrad at the University of Michigan School of Nursing more than 40 years ago, I was among the few students who loved the required “research” course. I don’t know whether I looked forward to that class because I was an avid reader of Nancy Drew and saw research as detective work, or simply because nursing was so new to me that everything about it seemed exciting.

The main idea behind the course was that all nurses should be able to read and understand research reports. We didn’t get into the nuts and bolts of study design, complex statistics, or modeling, but we were expected to be able to analyze basic nursing research articles and to identify a study’s strengths and weaknesses.

This early experience didn’t lead me to pursue a career in research, but it left me with a respect for the research process and an interest in asking clinical questions.

Research basics explained.

Now, I have a chance to update my understanding of the field through AJN’s new series on research basics, Nursing Research, Step by Step. The first installment, “How Does Research Start?” is in the October issue of AJN. In this introduction to the subject, author Bernadette Capili makes it clear […]

2020-10-29T08:57:25-04:00October 29th, 2020|Nursing, nursing research, nursing students|0 Comments
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Bringing Escape Room Games to Nursing Education

The popularity of escape rooms has grown exponentially in the past decade, with these simulated group activities becoming an established part of gaming and pop culture. But the concept offers more than just a fun distraction or chance to work cooperatively with friends and family. Increasingly, these games are being incorporated into simulation-based clinical education.

An opportunity for collaboration.

In an escape room activity, a group of people work together to find clues, solve puzzles, and complete tasks within a set period of time. As they do so, they may progress through one room or several, but the goal is typically the same: for the group to “escape” from a simulated situation.

Step-by-step guide.

Educators have been exploring the use of this approach in nursing education to reinforce knowledge and engage students. As nurse educator Janice Hawkins and her colleagues at Old Dominion University School of Nursing in Virginia point out:

“By requiring a group of learners to solve a series of skills-related puzzles, educational escape rooms can help to build critical thinking, communication, and cooperative problem-solving skills.”

In “Behind the Scenes of an Educational Escape Room,” they provide a step-by-step guide to developing an effective educational escape room. Their advice stems from their yearlong experience […]

2020-10-13T12:50:15-04:00October 13th, 2020|Nursing, nursing students|2 Comments
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On Ethical Short-Term Medical Missions: An Argument from Experience

“In the absence of clearly articulated intentions and approaches, how can we be sure that short-term medical missions won’t have unintended long- or short-term consequences?”

Garrett Matlick

That’s the central question posed by Garrett Matlick’s Viewpoint essay, “Short-Term Medical Missions: Toward an Ethical Approach,” in the April issue of AJN. Matlick, currently enrolled in the Family Nurse Practitioner/Master of Public Health Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, had an opportunity to observe short-term medical missions (STMMs) that succeeded as well as some that failed.

What works and what doesn’t?

Having considered the current paucity of quality research on STMMs and their effects, Matlick both calls for more rigorous future research and offers a few basic considerations that he believes should be applied to all STMMs that offer direct care to local communities. His case is immensely strengthened by the use of multiple real world examples he observed or participated in while in Cambodia.

AJN sometimes receives Reflections essay submissions from nursing students and others about their experiences in STMMs in various countries. (Unlike the Viewpoint column discussed in this post, Reflections essays tend to focus more on personal reflections and story than on making an argument.) Some submissions reflect a nuanced awareness of limitations and benefits […]

2018-04-11T11:53:31-04:00April 11th, 2018|Ethics, nursing students, Public health|0 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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