Basic science course grades predict success in the Israel mandatory nursing certification test among students...

With the constant urgent need to meet the demands of the future workforce, nursing education institutes are under increasing pressure to graduate more quality students. One way to achieve higher numbers of graduates would be to identify factors that predict nursing students' academic success. No reports of such predictors were found for students in accelerated programs for non-nursing Bachelor's degree graduates.

This study was designed to examine the relationships between demographic characteristics, course grades in basic science and medical-surgical courses, and the final scores achieved by students in the Israel mandatory RN certification test.

164 students, enrolled in four courses of a second career in nursing program (accelerated program) in an academic nursing school in central Israel, participated in this retrospective study.

Socio-demographic data and the final grades for basic science courses (chemistry and biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, pathology, and pharmacology), the major Medical-Surgical course, and the RN certification test, were collected from the institutional database and analyzed.

Positive correlations were found between the mandatory RN certification test score, and the final grades of all the studies except the pathology course and Medical-Surgical course. The final RN certification test score was predicted by the final grades, with anatomy and physiology (p < 0.001), and pharmacology (p < 0.003), explaining 40% of the variance of the dependent variable. There were no statistical effects of demographic variables.

Early evaluation and prediction of academic success for nursing students in the second career program may guide effective interventions designed to promote students' skills and improve their ability to complete the mandatory RN certification test successfully.