Background: Nursing education has evolved over time to fit societiesââ?¬â?¢ increasing care needs. Innovations in\nnursing education draw thorny debates on potential jeopardy in the quality, safety, and efficacy of nurse graduates.\nAccelerated nursing education programs have been among landmark strategic changes to address the persistent\nbedside nurse shortage. Despite the dearth of empirical studies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the National School of\nPublic Health of Burkina Faso has developed a State Diploma Nursing (SDN) fast-track program. With innovative\nfeatures, the program is nested into the traditional SDN program. This study investigates preliminary outcomes of\nthe implemented policy using the initial cohort that went through the program. Comparison of the traditional\ngeneric program and the fast-track one is drawn to inform nursing education policy.\nMethods: The study was conducted in the three campuses delivering the SDN program. Data collected from a\nrepresentative sample included 255 students from the 2006ââ?¬â??2009 cohort, after concluding the program. Surveyed\nstudents were assessed according to the program entry status. Outcomes were measured using studentsââ?¬â?¢ academic\nperformance. Besides descriptive analysis, bivariate t-test, F-test, and multivariate ordinary least square regression (OLSR)\nwere employed to determine the comparative pattern between the traditional generic and the newly nested fast-track\nprogram. Studentsââ?¬â?¢ varied statuses (private pre-registration, state pre-registration, private post-registration, and state\npost-registration) were kept to better outline the findings trend.\nResults: A fifth (19.6 %) of surveyed students were enrolled in the fast-track stream from which, one third (33.7 %)\nconsisted of post-registered students. Fast-track students comparatively achieved the best academic performance\n(mean: 73.68/100, SD: 5.52). Multivariate OLSR confirmed that fast-track students performed better (Ã?²: 5.559, p < 0.001),\nand further informed differences between campuses. Students entry status also displayed significant differences, yet\nthe academic performance of post-registered students from traditional generic versus fast-track was similar (p = 0.409).\nConclusion: Findings suggest that fast-track program students performed better than the ones from the traditional\ngeneric program. The uniqueness and success of this mixed nursing program experience sheds light for nursing\neducators engaged in policy making. The study results can serve as a crucial foundation for policymakers to alleviate\nthe nurse shortage in SSA.
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