Preadmission characteristics of advanced practice nursing students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Advanced Practice Nursing
• Graduate Admissions

Background:

• Nurse practitioner (NP) and certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) programs require specific applicant qualifications.
• Understanding faculty perceptions of essential prerequisite experiences is vital for refining admissions criteria.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify prerequisite experiences and characteristics faculty deem necessary for success in graduate NP and CRNA programs.
• To inform admissions policies for advanced practice graduate nursing programs.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory descriptive study utilizing four faculty focus groups.
• Survey instrument developed from focus group findings, distributed to NP and CRNA program directors nationwide.

Main Results:

• Faculty prioritized personal characteristics (e.g., ethical), followed by professional characteristics (e.g., clinical competence) and clinical skills (e.g., communication).
• Clinical experience was deemed less important, with a desired range of 0-5 years, most commonly 2 years.
• Specific desired experiences included working in settings with physician-registered nurse interaction.

Conclusions:

• Faculty can articulate desired applicant traits for graduate nursing program success.
• Study findings can guide the development of more effective admissions criteria for advanced practice programs.
• Translating faculty-perceived characteristics into measurable admission criteria is recommended.