Predictors of Success in R.N. Licence Examination

Abstract

The usual outcome criteria against which schools of nursing science are measured are the graduation of their students, and their success in getting licensed to practise. Unfortunately not all graduating students obtain this licence - at least not on their first attempt. In a volatile marketplace characterised by peaks and troughs in personnel availability, some may view these first time failures as usurpers of limited access-to-programme places. Others note the potentially significant loss of revenue to the unsuccessful graduate, and the loss of one more professional to the system. These problems on their own would seem important enough to generate some attention to predictors of success on registration examinations. As the literature review that follows will indicate, previously published material on the subject reveals that study of the problem was predominantly American based. Non-baccalaureate programmes have come under scrutiny more often than baccalaureate programmes. In addition, most of the studies reviewed concentrated their attention on predictors of success in graduating from a programme, rather than predictors of success in obtaining a licence to practise. All of this then, would seem to be another factor suggesting that this area might need further exploration in a Canadian context. When the authors noted the above, and significant fluctuation in failure rates among Laurentian University students across the years 1978 to 1986 (Table 1), they were prompted to carry out this study.