The High Demand for Nursing Schools Shortage in the United States

When considering the enormous nursing shortage which is expected to ravage. The nation for years to come, it may seem counterintuitive. For schools of nursing to be more selective in granting students entrance into their programs. However, even with a national lack of nurses, universities. And Boards of Nursing must be confident that all students. Who they award diplomas and licenses to are capable of providing safe. And competent healthcare when entering the profession. This is no elementary task, particularly when considering the fact that healthcare is in a state of constant growth and change. With this in mind, it becomes clearer why more rigorous student selection processes. Are in order as a means of saving unprepared students time and money. Saving space in classrooms for students who are more likely to be successful, and saving the public from negative outcomes as a result of inadequate patient care by unequipped nurses. The following text provides an example of one such attempt by a nursing program which is making an effort to exclusively enroll students who are prepared for the often harsh demands of nursing school.

In Sherri Ellis’ journal article, “Nurse Entrance Test Scores: A Predictor of Success” (2006). The author poses the question as to whether or not requiring students to score higher on all components of a critical thinking appraisal portion of a particular school’s Nurse Entrance Test, or NET, would increase retention rates of the students who were granted admission into the school’s nursing courses. The article goes into further explanation as to why critical thinking skills are so essential in nursing practice. In reviewing the results of this change, it was shown that retention rates increased nearly 20% following the implementation of the higher critical thinking test score requirement (Ellis, 2006). In her conclusion, the author makes several comments in regards to a nursing instructor’s responsibility of assisting students to increase their critical thinking skills and why amplifying the aforementioned requirements of the NET will help make this goal more achievable (Ellis, 2006).

Not unlike nursing as a profession, nursing education is oftentimes a daunting task. This major commitment not only has implications for the students, but for the instructors as well. In order to increase efficacy, this particular nursing college had experimented with increasing its admission requirements, and was subsequently able to achieve an improved student success rate. This particular example should evidence the positive correlation between the two variables, and thus, can help shape the blueprint for other schools which are facing obstacles similar to those that were once experienced by the school included in the study.

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