Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107617

Kathy Perzynski, MS¹, Deborah Vargo, MSN¹, Elizabeth Cain, EdD¹, and Alice Parisi, MA². (1) Department of Nursing, Lourdes College, 6832 Convent Blvd, Sylvania, OH 43560, 419-824-3788, kperzyns@lourdes.edu, (2) Department of Institutional Advancement, Lourdes College, 6832 Convent Blvd, Sylvania, OH 43560

The pivotal question of “How to recruit and retain a student population that reflects the composition of the communities in which we serve” is many times elusive. In the midst of a well documented nursing shortage students from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds are underrepresented in the nursing workforce. Creative programs of study for selected populations currently working in healthcare can assist in recruiting students of diverse backgrounds into professional nursing education programs. Yet these students are many times faced with day to day stressors that impede their retention and progression in the collegiate setting. Nursing faculty of a small private college in Northwest Ohio identified a number of characteristics of “at risk students” including difficulty establishing student peer connections, inability to accurately self-assess personal learning needs, and lack of time and/or interest in accessing supportive resources on campus. With assistance of funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) programs of study were implemented specifically for the LPN to BSN and the CNA to BSN student populations. However, the implementation of these special programs soon revealed additional barriers to progression towards graduation. Students needed an intervention prior to the courses in the nursing major to assist them in dealing with external stressors. This presentation will describe how the collaboration of a variety of partners within the educational institution and within the community can facilitate retention of student at risk of not progressing toward graduation.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify recruitment strategies to improve the diversity of student populations in nursing education programs.
• Examine selected methodologies for designing curricula for CNA to BSN and LPN to BSN populations.
• Identify the internal and external stressors that impede student retention and progression in education programs.
• Articulate the collaborative resources needed to meet the needs of “at risk” students to facilitate success in the collegiate setting.

Keywords: Education, Collaboration

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Career Ladders Grant.

Recorded presentation