Case Study Review: An Effective Teaching Strategy to Remediate Nursing Students to Improve Test Scores

Remediation of nursing studies has been used to help improve progression and retention in nursing school. However, the format to remediate nursing students effectively is not well documented. Several studies have confirmed that case studies have helped to improve critical thinking skills in nursing students. Furthermore, studies have also concluded that remediation is effective to help improve test scores of nursing students. The purpose of this project was to determine if at-risk nursing students (grades less than 74%) placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP) that included case study analysis with weekly study sessions reviews would improve these students' test scores. In the junior level class, thirteen of the 29 students were not successfully succeeding in this class. These students were placed on the performance improvement plan. The students all completed the requirements of the PIP. The results of this project confirm that remediation with a case study results is an effective methodology to help improve test scores and success within a class. In this project, 50% of the at-risk students successfully completed the course as a result of participation in the PIP.