Today's nursing students present unique circumstances requiring educators to think "outside of the classroom" when aiming for student success. It is essential to connect students' academics with their external world to understand their diverse trajectories. SWOT Self-analysis (SWOT-SA) is an innovative approach to maintain a trajectory of student success. When completed at strategic points in the student life cycle and again when the student exhibits deficits, the tool supports a proactive response to student performance. SWOT-SA enumerates student-identified factors in 4 domains: motivation, learning style, performance, and personal circumstances. When the tool is completed in earnest, a descriptive account of competing events serves as a matrix for strategic planning and deficit mitigation. The nurse educator approaches each domain as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This andragogical approach enables nursing students to critically evaluate the effects of life events and their impact on successful, on-time completion of the nursing program. The SWOT-SA paradigm allows at-risk students the opportunity to reframe their deficits and reconceptualize their difficulties. Use of SWOT-SA to redirect student outcomes is critical to nursing program integrity, success, and viability.

Submitted by Inger Anthony, DNP, APN, CPNP-PC, Nursing Education Specialist, City Colleges of Chicago (mailto:[email protected])