A quality improvement project: Defining and operationalizing a holistic admission selection policy

Holistic Admission: What Is It? How Successful Has It Been in Nursing, and What Are the Possibilities?

“…As of 2020, there is limited published information on how nursing schools are implementing holistic admissions (Davis, Grobbell, Mallette, & Poly-Droulard, 2020; Lancaster, Baseman, & Smolinski, 2020; Rosenberg, 2019; Scott & Zerwic, 2015; Wross & Noone, 2018; Zerwic et al, 2018). Most of the articles in the literature are reporting on how nursing schools would set up holistic admissions, what they did set up, and lessons they learned.…”

“…Wross and Noone (2018) assessed for applicant experiences with “adversity (economic, educational, ethnic/cultural, family), paid or volunteer healthcare experiences, coming from host campus (for regional campus applicants), state resident, rural resident, first generation college student, underrepresented minority, leadership experiences, (and/or) experience with diverse or underserved population” (p. 214). Other SONs searched for applicants with many of the same already named experiences above; with Rosenberg (2019) adding cocurricular activities while Lancaster et al (2020) specifically looked for applicants with diverse population experiences.…”

“…Other attributes Rosenberg (2019) searched for were “applicants that were underrepresented in nursing, were military/veterans, exemplified perseverance (or were distance travelled ), had excellent language skills, focus on underserved populations, and had professional attributes (such as integrity)” (p. 671). Lancaster et al (2020) added attributes of economic disparity, nontraditional students with diverse life experiences, and the ability to overcome challenges as well as concepts important to their SON: altruism, autonomy, social justice, human dignity, and integrity. While many SONs looked at similar attributes and experiences, it is clear that each SON will vary its HAR practices depending on its mission and values and will need to spend purposeful time identifying qualitative data that has meaning for their SON, faculty, and the profession.…”

“…First, they encouraged systematic planning for this programmatic change. Lancaster et al (2020) even described their project as a quality improvement process, using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model. Moving toward holistic admissions will be a paradigm shift for many faculty, and the better a SON plans, the smoother the transition will be.…”

The Teacher Role Guiding Students Entering Higher Education

“…Therefore, schools have a huge responsibility and role in increasing students' absorption to enter higher education. The process of admitting students to higher education requires a quality that can meet the standards of the intended higher education institution (Lancaster et al, 2020). Thus, students must have prepared themselves with information related to the entry requirements for state universities to meet the qualifications set by the campus (Cahyono et al, 2019).…”