Baccalaureate student nurse success prediction: a replication

The use of group testing that predicts success in understanding and using the nursing process suggests a tempting solution to a vexing problem: selecting those students from an applicant pool who have the potential to successfully complete a nursing program. Failure to replicate or extend previous studies has been recognized as a major limitation in nursing research (Brown, Tanner, & Padrick, 1984). The purpose of this research was to replicate a study using a set of four short test instruments identified as being successful predictors (Kissinger & Munjas, 1982). As part of a larger research project, four successive classes of students admitted to the school of nursing (N = 155) were tested and followed over a 4 1/2-year period with 100% participation. The results were not supportive of the findings in the previous study. The importance of cross validation of prediction studies, as well as the need for periodic sampling of previously validated prediction batteries due to changing elements in selection programs, was demonstrated. The study's outcome and the nursing literature suggest that some configuration of prerequisite grade point average, with all of its limitations and student manipulations, and a required verbal SAT/ACT score may still be the most efficient predictors available to admission committees in schools of nursing.