Institutional Related Factors and Academic Performance in Institutional Examinations Among Critical Care and Nephrology Students at the Kenyatta National Hospital School of Nursing

Abstract

Background: Nursing training programs aim at equipping learners with proficiencies necessary for providing quality nursing care and meeting patient care needs. Institutional assessments are therefore critical as they drive the students’ learning process and act as a measure of their learning outcomes and progress. Objective: To determine the institutional related factors contributing to academic performance in institutional examinations among Critical Care and Nephrology students at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) School of Nursing. Methods: This was a mixed-methods study conducted among 101 nursing students (57 critical care nursing and 44 nephrology nursing) and 23 faculty members at the KNH School of Nursing recruited utilizing census technique. The nursing students responded to a self-administered questionnaire while the faculty members responded to an interview guide. Quantitative data was probed descriptively with measures including proportions along with counts utilizing SPSS version 25.0. How study attributes were associated was probed with chi-square test at 95% CI with outcomes shown in tables and figures. Qualitative data was probed thematically with findings reported in-verbatim. Results: The institutional related factors found to contribute to the nursing students’ academic performance in institutional examinations in the institution were availability of appropriate learning facilities (p = .000); availability of appropriate learning materials/resources (p = .001); availability of appropriate physical & social amenities (p = .008); institutional student academic and examination policies or guidelines (p = <.000) and a conducive learning environment (p = .000). Conclusion: Several institutional related factors including availability of appropriate learning facilities and resources, physical and social amenities and various institutional policies were linked to the nursing students’ academic performance in institutional examinations. Recommendation: The institutional management should ensure that available learning facilities, resources and policies as well as physical and social amenities adequately support the learning needs of the students.