A correlational study of the relationship between grades earned in prerequisite biological science and nursing courses in an associate degree nursing progra

Nurse educators, along with institutions of higher learning, have long been concerned about the attrition rate experienced in undergraduate nursing programs. Concerns regarding attrition rates have been documented in professional journals throughout the past three decades. A review of professional publications alert the profession of nursing to the concern that as long as nursing education and educators are ineffective in determining the factors that reliably predict academic success of undergraduate nursing students, a shortage of nurses will continue. Unfortunately, as the rate of attrition increases the pool of graduate nurses decreases. Because of this inverse relationship, it is critical to society that nurse educators research and find the factor(s) that reliably predict student academic success in undergraduate nursing programs. Recent National League of Nursing statistics show that more students enroll in an associate degree nursing program than in baccalaureate degree nursing programs. Therefore, it is vital that nursing research focus on attrition rates in associate degree nursing programs (ADN). Research that identifies predictive factor(s) will not only aid nurse educators in addressing increasing attrition rates in ADN programs but also help promote the admission of students more likely to achieve academic success leading to increased numbers of graduate nurses available to address current and future nursing shortages. This study focused on identifying the relationship between grades earned in prerequisite biological courses (anatomy and pathophysiology) and nursing courses (beginning and advance medical/surgical) from two ADN programs in Michigan.