| Nursing schools face the challenge of improving student academic performance and completion rates. The current supply of newly graduated nurses fails to meet the increasing demands of society. In 2009, Cochise College responded by implementing a major change in their curriculum to improve student retention and academic performance. The problem identified by Cochise Community College was that they were uncertain if the significant curriculum changes implemented in 2009 led to improved student academic achievement or program completion. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative study was to examine archived student data from the 2008 and 2009 class years and to determine if there is a relationship between the additions of course prerequisites in the nursing education program, and student outcomes. This research study took place at a 2-year community college nursing program in southeast Arizona where 75 nursing students were accepted into the nursing program each year. The researcher obtained stored research data from the nursing department that included student nursing course grades, HESI scores, and program completion. The participants consisted of two freshmen nursing student cohorts from the years 2008 and 2009. Chi-square tests were used to compare categorical dependent variables (nursing course grades, and program completion status). A two-sample t test was used to compare average HESI scores between the two groups. In the nursing 122 course there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups, χ² (2) = 2.32, p = .31. In the nursing 123 course there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups, χ² (2) = 1.32, p = .52. Evaluation of HESI scores found that there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups, t (112) = -.695; p = .488. Program completion rates were not statistically significantly difference between the two groups, χ² (1) = 2.31, p = .13. In each of the four hypotheses the null hypothesis was not rejected and it was concluded that there are no differences in student outcomes between the two groups. The recommendations for future research include increasing the sample size and timeframe by including nursing class years 2007 and 2010. |
