The U.S. Army Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) dates back to the fall of 1947
and evolved from severe professional nursing shortages of World War II. Today, as in
the past, to sustain U.S. Army readiness the highly medically trained combat soldier
must possess skills and competency of an LPN, which is a result of successful
completion of a 52-week 91WM6 training program.
The purpose of this two-part descriptive study includes evaluation of
quantitative and qualitative data. The Delphi technique and a retrospective student
record review were utilized to gather data. Dependent variables included student
demographics such as age, rank, gender, years of military experience, marital status,
prior education and medical related experience, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery (ASVAB) scores, specifically Skilled Technical (ST) and General Technical
(GT), students interpretation of stressors of military life, occupational goals, number
of college units attained, number of examinations failed and physical fitness tests failed, Article 15Âs administered, and counseling. The independent variable was
successful completion of the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical
Nursing (NCLEX) examination on the first attempt.
Major research findings of this study included:
1. The research revealed higher pass rates for a private first class and
specialist, as compared to lower pass rates of corporals and sergeants.
Additionally, soldier students in the study who had completed at least one
college unit (had attended college), had a 92% pass rate as compared to
those who had not completed any additional education or college after high
school (75.0%). It is suggested that prior experience may improve entry
cognitive skills that enhance academic performance along with the studentÂs
achievement.
2. The research revealed that those soldier students who tended to have higher
GT and ST scores failed program tests significantly fewer times.
3. Based on the results of the expert opinions of the panelists (Delphi) who
participated in the study, the highest-rated predictors in completing the
course were positive study habits, demonstrating diligence, and motivation.
For predictors related to passing the NCLEX-PN, the highest rate was the
ability to think critically and specifically preparing for the NCLEX
examination.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/3056 |
| Date | 12 April 2006 |
| Creators | Scialdo, Antonia |
| Contributors | Stark, Stephen |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 9888904 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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