Ongoing Support Throughout the Program Admitting the “right” students is not enough to ensure student success. Even students who meet or exceed all the criteria established by the program, may struggle in some areas of nursing school. For that reason, remediation processes, often referred to as student success programs which are threaded throughout the course of study provide the most significant support. Mee and Schreiner (2016) define effective ongoing remediation as a structured process which includes multiple modes of instruction consistently implemented throughout the nursing program. Let’s consider an example of a structured process consistently implemented throughout the program. Orientation The first step in this process might include an orientation program for students as they enter the nursing program . All students will benefit from such a program. Content for such an orientation programmight include: § Expectations of the program and reasons for these expectations § Time management strategies § Studying in nursing programs § Strategies for test-taking, both faculty-made and standardized § Availability of support throughout the nursing program Support for “At Risk” Students throughout the Program Identifying students who may be at risk for failure is critical to early intervention. As a first step, students whose scores on standardized admission tests are only slightly above the benchmark established either by the nursing programor the publisher of the standardized test should bemonitored and supported. Such identification often poses an ethical dilemma. Faculty may be concerned that labeling student “at risk” before they have an opportunity to succeed can foster a sense of hopelessness and failure in these students. The faculty play a significant role in managing such a situation, pointing out that most of us have some limitations that can be shored up by learning new strategies. Other students whowill benefit fromongoing support include those whose test scores on faculty-made tests fall below the passing score established by the faculty. Similarly, students who do not meet or exceed the benchmark in standardized specialty tests may benefit from remediation. Equally important, students whose final grade in a course is only points above a passing grade will benefit from such support. At times, those students with significant problems demonstrated in clinical experience may also require remediation. Importantly, students may move in and out of the remediation program as they demonstrate increased competence. For example, a student may do poorly on an early test in a Fundamentals course. As the remediation processes are implemented, the student’s scores on faculty-made tests improve significantly. At this point, this student may not need to continue with the remediation unless they have a drop in scores in a subsequent course(s).
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