The Total Learning Environment and Implications for Rural Student Nurse Retention

Background: Student cohorts are becoming more diverse and universities need to respond accordingly to meet their needs. Differences within cohorts are a priority area for research, in order to identify how universities can best tailor resources to deal with this diversity. Preventing attrition is a significant factor in planning to meet students needs. In the nursing arena, the attrition rate has widespread implications for the nursing workforce, which is experiencing major shortages especially in rural areas. Method and Results: Themes emerging from a review of the literature include the identification of the first year of university as the most difficult. The literature identifies school leavers and mature aged students as having particular problems, as do students from rural areas, and first generation university students. Mature aged women have more issues associated with the pressures of balancing family, part time work and study and may identify with more than one of these categories. Research supports the claim that students from rural and geographically isolated areas and, particularly, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, are more at risk of failure and attrition (Bambrick 2002, Lawrence 2002, Howells 2003). Conclusions: A review of literature on this subject has shown that in order to improve the retention of students from diverse groups, universities must ask students what they perceive to be their needs, and then offer appropriate support (Lawrence 2002). Universities need to get to know their own students. What may be suitable for one cohort and one university may differ from what is suitable for others.