An epidemiologic approach to addressing student attrition in nursing programs

The retention of students in nursing programs continues to be a major challenge for nurse educators and deans of nursing programs. Student attrition negatively impacts the needed supply of registered nurses to fill staff, administrative, and teaching positions. There is little recent research in the nursing literature related to the factors that influence undergraduate attrition among the new population of nursing students. Tinto's model of student retention has been used widely to explain factors that influence retention. In this article, the author suggests that Tinto's model may not be appropriate for explaining attrition among the new population of undergraduate nursing students. An epidemiologic framework is offered as a way of rethinking and reconceptualizing the problem of undergraduate student attrition. Primary, secondary, and tertiary approaches are presented to show that high rates of student attrition can be prevented by identifying critical points for intervention.