Entry Requirements as a Predictor of Academic Performance at Nursing and Midwifery Training Colleges in Ghana - A Case Study at Dunkwa-on-Offin

Abstract

Introduction: The standard of nursing education in Ghana is frequently brought to focus by stakeholders in the educational industry. This is obviously due to the emphasis placed on education by every nation as a means of economic, social and political development. The public outcry of the poor academic performance of nursing students in their semester and licensure examinations arouses researchers’ curiosity to uncover the root cause of the problem. Objectives: To assess students’ academic performance from 2014 to 2019 at Dunkwa Nurses’ and Midwifery Training College. Methodology: This was a retrospective quantitative study conducted at the Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region of Ghana. The study made use of all past students of both RGN (1-5) and RM (1 & 2) form Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Dunkwa-On-Offin.  Since the researchers had all the information needed for the study at their disposal, there was no need to sample the study population. All the files for the past students both Registered General Nurses and Registered Midwives were retrieved from the Administrator of the College. The files were distributed among the researchers to assess variables like age, sex, entry grade, SHS attended, CGPA and Licensure results. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 and findings presented in charts and tables as well as texts. On the Ethical Considerations, prior to the data collection, permission was obtained from the Principal of Dunkwa Nursing and Midwifery Training College. The permission obtained helped the researchers to get the needed assistance and cooperation from the school administrator and other staff responsible for the students’ files and other vital information.  Results and Findings: An overwhelming majority of the students 591(64.0%) were within the age range 18-21 years followed by 22-25 years 296 (32.1%) while the minority were within the age range of 26-30 years. Majority of the students 763(82.7%) were able to pass their licensure examination once, 133(14.4%) students were able to pass in the second chance while minority of the students 27(2.9%) passed during their third chance. On the relationship between the students’ demographics and their licensure performance, majority of the students for all the demographic variables passed 770(83.4%) while minority 153(16.6%) failed with no statistical significance. An overwhelming majority of the students 159 (71.3%) were able to pass their licensure examination once with 61(27.4%) writing twice while 3(1.3%) writing thrice. With no statistical significance, majority of the students (49.6%, 48.7% and 58.3% respectively) within the age groups had CGPA of 3.1-3.5 while the minority of the students had CGPA  below2.0 with p-value = 0.29. Conclusion: Students’ ages had no significance on their CGPA. Sex of the students had significance on their CGPA as most of the male students had CGPA of 3.1-3.5 while majority of the female students had CGPA of 2.6-3.0. Again, majority of the students who entered the institution with aggregate 10-16 had CGPA of 3.1-3.5 while majority of students who came with aggregate 31 and above had CGPA of 2.6-3.0 with a very high statistical significance. Moreover, most of the students who offered general science at the SHS had CGPA of 3.1-3.5 while other courses (Arts, Agric and Home science) had CGPA of 2.6-3.0 with no statistical significance. With no statistical significance, students from all levels of Senior High Schools (Regional, District and Sub-district) fell within the CGPA of 2.6-3.0.