Examination of success rates of traditional nursing students and accelerated nursing students in a four-year nursing progra

The nursing shortage has increased in recent years. As a result colleges of nursing have been challenged to educate more nurses at a faster pace. One program that has emerged is the Accelerated Nursing Degree program. Students with a baccalaureate degree in another field are accelerated through the traditional nursing program in a shorter time frame. This study investigated the relationship and differences between the traditional nursing student and the accelerated degree nursing student.;An Ex post facto retrospective design was used. Data from one hundred fifteen traditional students and twenty-four accelerated students were examined for a relationship among selected factors (Science GPA, HESI exam scores, and nursing clinical course grades) related to passage of the NCLEX licensure exam in these programs. This study also compared the accelerated nursing student to the traditional nursing student to determine if there was a significant difference in the academic achievement of these students related to the above selected factors and the passage of the NCLEX-RN. Results from this retrospective analysis indicated a statistical significance between the science GPA of the traditional students who passed the NCLEX-RN and those who failed; however, there was no statistical significance between the accelerated students who passed and those who failed the NCLEX-RN. The maternity HESI specialty exam and the Exit HESI exam were found to be statistically significant for the traditional students who passed the NCLEX-RN, but only the Exit HESI exam was statistically significant for the accelerated students who passed the NCLEX-RN. Students in both groups who passed the NCLEX-RN made fewer Cs in nursing clinical courses than those who failed the NCLEX-RN. The science GPA, HESI Exit exam, and the number of Cs in clinical courses contributed significantly toward the predication of success on the NCLEX-RN for all students.