Promoting Academic Success in Nursing Education Through Academic Coaching: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Academic support services can improve undergraduate and graduate nursing program outcomes such as program completion and passing the NCLEX. Academic success coaching complements traditional support strategies by providing study skills and time management tools, promoting goal setting and self-efficacy, and referring students to support resources. This review examined interventions that academic success coaches use to improve student success and retention, licensing examination pass rates, and academic success.

METHOD

A scoping literature review identified types of interventions that resulted in significant improvement in student academic and holistic success.

RESULTS

Four classes of interventions were identified as effective in supporting student success: (1) academic support; (2) social and emotional support; (3) clinical guidance; and (4) course and program design.

CONCLUSION

Academic coaches are educated to identify student needs, provide support, and refer students to resources to improve academic outcomes. Future research should evaluate the need for academic success coaches to promote academic nursing student success. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(8):515-524.].

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing Education: A Christian Perspective

ABSTRACT

Nurse educators must prepare graduates who advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across healthcare to decrease health disparities among diverse populations. Defining DEI and reflecting on personal implicit bias can help nurse educators intentionally integrate DEI throughout the nursing curriculum. This article explores DEI in the Bible and examines the Christian educator's role in promoting classroom diversity, providing equitable support for all students, and developing strategies for inclusive teaching. Addressing DEI from a biblical viewpoint can give nursing students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to impact the well-being of all patients.

Topic: Intentional diversity in academia: Recruiting, admitting, enrolling, and retaining underrepresented students in nursing programs

Currently, 60 % of the United States population is White, while the remaining belong to ethnic or racial minorities. By 2045, the Census Bureau predicts that there will no longer be any single racial or ethnic majority group in the United States. Yet, people across all healthcare professions are overwhelmingly non-Hispanic and White, leaving people from underrepresented groups severely underrepresented. The lack of diversity in healthcare professions is an issue because there is overwhelming evidence that patients from underrepresented groups experience disparities in healthcare at alarmingly high rates when compared to their White counterparts. Diversity is especially important in the nursing workforce since nurses are often the healthcare providers that engage with patients the most frequently and intimately. Additionally, patients demand a diverse nursing workforce that can provide culturally competent care. The purpose of this article is to summarize nationwide undergraduate nursing enrollment trends and discuss strategies to improve recruitment, admissions, enrollment, and retention of nursing students who belong to underrepresented groups.

Recruiting Underrepresented Students for Nursing Schools

Preparing a richly diverse nursing student population is essential to improving health outcomes for the nation and achieving a robust supply of health-care providers who better reflect the society we serve. As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, cultural competence is necessary among health-care professionals in order to practice with cultural humility. Cultural humility refers to a commitment and active engagement in a lifelong learning process that allows individuals to better meet the complex health-care needs of patients, communities, and colleagues. The design of an effective recruitment strategy should be driven by the mission of the educational institution and aligned to reflect the targeted population of potential students. Recruitment efforts and activities should be designed to improve the ability to attract a diverse population and more firmly establish a continuing pipeline of possible students. This article presents strategies such as building relationships and partnerships with 2-year community colleges with upper division nursing programs, and employing technology solutions to enhance recruitment and admissions of a diverse pool of applicants. Technology solutions can help manage large applicant pools, help staff coordinate a communication campaign so there is frequent contact with prospects, and capture notes throughout the recruitment process that can be utilized in a holistic admission strategy. Recruitment is the first step; to address retention, students must be welcomed into an inclusive learning environment where they can successfully advance, in order to achieve the goal of a more diverse nursing workforce.