Holistic admissions review in BSN programs: A literature review

Abstract

Background: Holistic admission review has been promoted as a strategy to increase the diversity of the nursing student body by considering an applicant's unique experiences and attributes along with traditional academic measures. Diversifying the student body is intended to lead to a more diverse nursing workforce where nurses resemble the people and populations being cared for.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present the methods and results of a scoping review on the holistic admission review process in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs in the United States as a means of understanding the review processes' impact on workforce diversity.

Method: CINAHL, PubMed, ERIC, and Education Research Complete databases were searched for English language studies on the topic in BSN programs in the United States.

Results: A prominent theme uncovered in the review is an overall lack of quantitative and qualitative research on holistic admission review with most of the literature summarizing the implementation process. The few existing studies do support the use of holistic admission review to increase diversity and report maintaining academic outcomes.

Conclusions: The impact of holistic admission review on the diversity of the nursing workforce appears to be minimal though underreported in this body of evidence.

Keywords: Diversity; Education; Holistic admission review; Nurse.