Training of student nurses.

The urgent need to minimize wastage among student nurses during training is too well known and well documented to require elaboration. Approximately one student out of every three joining the training schools of general hospitals fails to complete the prescribed course. The reasons for this failure vary, but are generally vague and indefinite. One approach to the problem is to compare the characteristics of those students who are successful in the final of the state registration examination with those who failed and/or left training before qualifying. In this way it may be possible to isolate factors related to the ultimate result of training. The Oxford Area Nurse Training Committee, in conjunction with the Oxford Regional Hospital Board, is currently surveying four training schools in the region, and a preliminary report on the results has been published (Barr, James, and Smith, 1957). The purpose of the present paper is to record additional information and, in particular, to compare the successful and unsuccessful groups of students.