Preadmission characteristics of advanced practice nursing students

To determine the nature of prerequisite experiences of applicants to nurse practitioner (NP) and certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) programs that faculty believe are necessary for success in graduate nursing programs.

An exploratory descriptive study based on findings from four focus groups of faculty from four different universities and a written survey mailed to program or admissions directors of a random sample of 50% of the 295 credentialed NP or CRNA programs in the United States.

Themes from the focus groups revealed 20 personal characteristics, 14 professional characteristics, and 9 clinical skills, all of which were used to create a survey instrument. A 33% response rate was achieved (n = 48). Personal characteristics were considered most important, professional characteristics and clinical skills moderately important, and kinds of clinical experience of lesser importance. Length of desired experience ranged from 0 to 5 years, most often 2 years. The most important characteristic under personal was "ethical;" under professional, "clinically competent;" under clinical, "interpersonal communication;" and under clinical experience, "to work in a setting with MD-RN interaction."

Information from this study may be useful for examining admissions policies of advanced practice graduate programs. Faculty were able to articulate the characteristics, proficiencies, and experiences that are likely to produce success in NP and CRNA programs. These desired characteristics need to be translated into meaningful criteria for admission.