Nursing Students and Students

¶ … students who took multiple online NP courses had higher statistical odds of failing the test the first time around than students who only enrolled in one course at a time. There was no correlation between race, ethnicity, gender or age with regard to failure and statistical ratios. The significant variable identified in this study was the number of courses taken by a student at one time. Any number of online NP courses greater than 1 increased odds of testing failure. This is in line with the findings of Bambara et al.

(2009) and Roblyer (2006) who identify increased course load level as a stress factor. The findings for the multiple clinical course taking were reversed. Students who took one multiple clinical course as opposed to those who took two or more were at greater odds of failure. Again, there was no correlation between race, age, ethnicity or gender. Reasons for this could be that students felt pressure to achieve more and speed through courses so as to fill gaps in the industry more quickly but failed to take time to study and prepare.

Research by Odeh (2014) and Taylor (2014) both show that in order for nurses to succeed in new areas, they must be thoroughly supported with adequate support infrastructures in place to help them through difficult transitions and times of adaptation. Without such systems in place, the nurse is less likely to find support and follow-through. This same idea can be applied to student nurses enrolled in NP courses online. They may initially think they are prepared, but the reality may indicate that they are lacking in adequate supports.

Likewise the study by Deary, Watson and Hogtson (2003) shows that nursing students can suffer from "stress, burnout and attrition" which could cause the students to fail by the conclusion of the term (p. 71). This indicates that students like nursing workers can be overwhelmed in practice and study. Mean age statistically differed where those who took multiple clinical courses per quarter had a younger age than those who did not take multiple clinical courses per quarter.

Race/ethnicity statistically differed where the pattern suggested that whites took lesser percentages of multiple clinical courses per quarter while African-Americans took greater percentages of multiple clinical courses per quarter. Specialty statistically differed where the pattern suggested that FNP took greater percentages of multiple clinical courses per quarter while AGACNP took lesser percentages of multiple clinical courses per quarter. Gender did not statistically differ for taking clinical courses per quarter. As Henzinger et al. (2004) show, race is typically a variable in statistical differences but not always.

Those who took multiple clinical courses per quarter had a greater percentage of failure than those who did not. This can be explained by the fact that a test is considered a significant measure of one's progress and can be extremely stressful for the taker, especially if it determines whether one can proceed onward in one's career. As Deary et al. (2003) note, "Students experience increasing levels of stress and use of negative coping mechanisms as the programme progressed and psychological morbidity increased" (p. 71).

Among whites and blacks, risk factors were common, which indicates that these variables are not ethnically correlated but are determined by external and internal pressures that have no relation to culture or ethnicity. As Likewise, age showed no correlation with any factors or outcomes. Limitations of the study include the sample and the type of causal-correlation performed. A greater sample may present a significantly different set of outcomes. While studying one university can provide a first step into discovery, more needs to be done to support conclusions.

Thus, external validity may be an issue as results may not extend to traditional universities. This must be studied further. Future qualitative study should be performed in order to better and more deeply understand the needs of nursing students. The clinical implication of the study is that there is higher demand for NP, big Nursing faculty shortage and less preceptors, and that schooling is expensive; therefore,.