Changing demographics in New York State: implications for nursing education and practice

In the past, most women and men entering nursing in New York State were the children of European immigrants. In recent years, with changes in federal immigration laws, the ethnic composition of high-school and college age students has become more diverse. Demographic changes, combined with the fact that more career opportunities are available to women, have resulted in an increasingly heterogeneous population in nursing schools statewide. One effect of this diversity has been that many schools of nursing now have varying percentages of students who are non-primary speakers of English. The findings of a study conducted in one such baccalaureate school of nursing with an extremely ethnically and linguistically diverse student population indicated that language was the major variable predictive of success on the NCLEX-RN, exerting a greater effect than the academic parameters of grades and scores on standardized tests. The effects of the demographic changes on the recruitment and retention of nursing students able both to complete a program and to achieve success on the NCLEX-RN has implications for nursing education and practice in New York State.