Undergraduate Nursing Students Participating in Admissions Interviews – An Innovation? An Exploratory Study

In our university, Pre-registration Nursing students sit as panel members in undergraduate nursing admission interviews. The literature suggests this practice is not widespread in UK universities or internationally. We aim to evaluate the involvement of current students in admission interviews from student, graduate and NHS staff perspectives. We report findings from a survey of all Year 1 Nursing undergraduates who recently attended an admission interview at our university. A majority reported having a student present at interviews was helpful, particularly in alleviating nervousness. This finding may be useful for undergraduate recruitment and selection in other healthcare programmes in the future.