Volume 48, September–October 2023, Pages 25-31Author links open overlay panelAbstractSignificance of problem

Nursing student attrition is a global issue affecting students, nursing programs, and the profession. One group of nursing students at risk for attrition are those that have failed and need to repeat a required nursing course. These students experience academic consequences such as delayed graduation and entry into the workforce, further contributing to the nursing shortage. Unfortunately, current literature about nursing student repeaters remains inadequate, and evidence of support measures is minimal.

Purpose

This scoping review aims to summarize the literature on course repetition in pre-licensure nursing students and identify gaps in the literature about this population.

Methods

Arskey and O'Malley's (2005) five-step procedure was used as the organizing framework to explore course repetition in pre-licensure nursing students.

Results

There were twenty articles relevant for this scoping review. The findings revealed nursing student repeaters are at an increased risk for subsequent failure and attrition. Students experienced shock, sadness, and uncertainty when course failure ensued. Nursing students sought additional help while repeating failed courses, but interventions solely harnessed toward student repeaters can be beneficial.

Conclusion

Nursing student repeaters are a unique population that requires a multifaceted approach, including academic and non-academic support structures, to ensure they meet the educational standards of the repeated course. Future studies regarding this population should include progression policies' impact on student success and strategies and interventions that create positive outcomes among student repeaters.

Section snippetsBackground

The current literature does not comprehensively explore nursing students who repeat failed courses (Lewis, 2018). While academic failure is the most common reason for nursing student attrition, there are varied and individualized reasons for the lack of academic progress (Handwerker, 2018; Lewis, 2018). Researchers have found that students did not expect the level of academic rigor they experienced in nursing school, while other students noted limited financial resources and social support,

Design

The methodology for this scoping review was based on the framework outlined by Arskey and O'Malley (2005). The review included the following key steps: 1) identifying the research question, 2) identifying relevant studies, 3) study selection, 4) charting the data, 5) organizing, summarizing, and reporting the results, and 6) consultation exercises. The consultation exercise is an optional step that includes advisement from experts in the area of research (Arskey & O'Malley, 2005). For this

Results

The articles included in the review consisted of six based on quantitative research, twelve based on qualitative research, and two literature reviews. Fig. 1 shows the literature review process, and Table 1 details the studies included in the scoping review.

Discussion

Findings from the scoping review revealed that nursing student repeaters are a population of great concern in both ADN and BSN programs. Mooring (2016) notes that course failure significantly impacts the student, the school, and the profession. Some studies mention that academic failure results in students' inability to master course content and perform higher-level learning behaviors, while others credit course failure to work or family responsibilities outside of school, financial challenges,

Limitations of the review

There are several limitations to this scoping review. The primary limitation was the lack of quality assessment of the included articles. However, the goal of a scoping review is to simply identify research previously conducted, not necessarily to assess quality. Arskey and O'Malley (2005) emphasize that a scoping review does not seek to appraise the quality of evidence and consequently cannot determine whether certain articles provide robust or generalizable findings. While the quality

Conclusion

This scoping review evaluated studies on nursing students who failed a required course that now needs repeating. Nursing student repeaters are a unique population that requires a multifaceted approach, including academic and non-academic support structures, to ensure they meet the educational standards of the repeated course (Elmir et al., 2019). However, public reports do not separate student repeaters in nursing education outcomes, and they are considered a hidden subgroup (Lewis, 2018; Lewis

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