With the growing complexity of admissions processes, nursing programs face the challenge of thoroughly evaluating candidates while working with limited resources. Balancing the assessment of academic qualifications, clinical skills, and alignment with program values can be difficult, especially with growing applicant numbers. This pressure is further heightened by the need to select individuals who will excel in both classroom and patient care settings.
One solution to these challenges is the implementation of a holistic review process. Holistic review goes beyond traditional metrics like GPAs and test scores, evaluating candidates based on a broader range of criteria, including life experiences, personal attributes, and potential contributions to the program and the nursing field. By considering the whole person, programs can identify candidates who may bring unique perspectives and qualities that align with their mission and values.
That's where Kira comes in.
As a partner in holistic admissions, Kira helps more than 1,500 programs streamline their admissions processes to achieve in-depth review at scale. By integrating technology and expertise, Kira allows nursing programs to evaluate essential traits like motivation, empathy, communication skills, and resilience—all vital to success in clinics and classrooms.
Here are 5 ways Kira helps nursing programs seat stronger classes year after year.
1. Unlocking competencies for future nurses
Nursing education goes far beyond strong test scores and academic excellence. Programs must recruit students who embody resilience, adaptability, and empathy and reflect the diverse communities they serve to face the challenges of today's healthcare landscape. While traditional application components like GPAs and essays offer a starting point, they often fail to provide true insight into the soft skills that are key predictors of program fit and future success.
In December 2020, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) released a white paper titled “Promising Practices in Holistic Admissions Review: Implementation in Academic Nursing.” The paper emphasizes the significance of the Experience, Attribute, Metric (E-A-M) Model and the need to align recruitment and admissions processes with a broad range of evaluation criteria, highlighting strategies used by nursing programs to scale holistic admissions reviews while promoting diversity. Key practices, such as standardized interviews, diverse admissions committees, bias-reduction training, mission-driven questions, and the effective use of technology, are called out as essential components for fostering a fair and inclusive admissions process.
With Kira, you can seamlessly implement these practices and elevate your admissions process to meet the highest standards of holistic review.
Kira helps you meet these requirements with competency and mission-focused assessments, enabling programs to evaluate qualities like grit, motivation, and problem-solving skills. Through customizable timed video and written responses, Kira allows admissions teams to evaluate candidates beyond test scores and grades and see a more holistic picture of an applicant. This interactive process brings candidates’ personalities and critical thinking skills to life, providing reviewers with the insights they need to make more informed decisions.
Case study
University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing
“Two years ago, we began implementing a holistic approach within our admissions process,” shared Pete Ozias, the Director of Student Affairs at the Sinclair School of Nursing. “Before, we ranked students by GPA. It's a method that, while much easier, has been shown in various literature to not be the best way to admit medical students. Today, we use the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) model to add credence to our decision-making process.”
After determining the specific competencies that each program wanted to assess, Kira helped Missouri Nursing’s team create a bank of questions for each competency. For each applicant, a different combination of questions is pulled from the bank, ensuring applicants are evaluated consistently while maintaining the integrity of the interview.
“When creating our assessments, the Kira team used our existing questions as a starting point and then showed us where we could dig deeper and improve,” Ozias shared.
“Kira opened our eyes to new ways of asking questions and eliciting the kinds of responses we were looking to evaluate.”
2. Mitigating the use of AI writing tools
The rise of AI writing tools like ChatGPT has made it increasingly difficult for admissions committees to determine the authenticity of written responses in applications. These advanced tools allow candidates to draft essays that may appear polished and well-constructed, but often lack the personal touch and depth that come from genuine effort and reflection. As more applicants turn to AI for assistance, schools face the challenge of ensuring authenticity and evaluating an individual’s true motivation.This growing dependence on AI tools raises important questions about fairness, integrity, and how institutions can adapt their evaluation methods to maintain trust in the admissions process.
Kira’s applicant integrity tools tackle the challenge of ensuring authentic, human-created submissions in written assessments.
Powered by leading plagiarism and AI detection software from Turnitin, SimCheck in Kira Talent detects and flags both plagiarism and content generated by AI, giving nursing programs confidence in the originality of applicants' submissions. This integration helps admissions teams evaluate writing ability, tone, and analytical skills with accuracy, while maintaining fairness in the process. By streamlining the review of submissions, Kira saves time and ensures that programs can focus on assessing genuine potential.
Case study
The California University of Science and Medicine
The California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM) uses SimCheck to thoroughly review applications for originality and alignment with program expectations. This innovative solution supports CUSM in maintaining a fair, transparent, and efficient admissions process by accurately assessing candidates' true writing and analytical skills and helping ensure that applications meet the program's standards.
“Kira’s Applicant Integrity Metrics were the final piece of the puzzle, giving us a bird’s eye view of an applicant as they work through the written portion of their assessment,” shared Evelyn Aguirre, Assistant Director of Admissions at CUSM. “Kira automatically alerts us of suspicious behaviours, such as copy-pasting text or browser refreshes, so we can take a closer look.”
“It’s a great system. Kira gives us access to all kinds of integrity data, helping us make confident and informed admissions decisions.”
3. Reducing bias, empowering reviewers
Unconscious bias is a persistent concern in creating an equitable admissions process. Whether it’s a tendency to favour outgoing personalities or the impact of candidate demographics, unchecked bias can influence admissions outcomes.
In alignment with the AACNs recommended E-A-M Model of assessment, which advises schools to include a clear and purposeful rubric in order to establish inter-rater reliability and promote equity throughout the admission cycle, Kira features defined rubrics that guide reviewers to assess applicants based on standardized criteria. These rubrics ensure that all applicants are evaluated with consistency, limiting subjective interpretations and creating a fairer evaluation process. Kira's inter-rater reliability reports also provide visibility into scoring discrepancies, alerting programs to potential scoring anomalies that can be addressed through additional training or reassessments.
On top of that, reviewers score independently directly within Kira's platform, helping them provide thorough feedback without being influenced by their peers. This capability increases fairness and improves transparency across all decision-making stages.
Case study
UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing
UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing leveraged Kira’s bias-mitigation tools to radically improve the diversity of their cohorts. By integrating holistic review principles and eliminating barriers like in-person travel, they increased enrollment of Hispanic and Latino students in graduate nursing programs by 62%.
“Once we implemented Kira Talent, we immediately saw the impact that it had, not only on the number of diverse applicants who were applying and completing their interviews but also on the number of diverse students who ultimately enrolled in our programs.”
- Henry Cantu, Director of Admissions and Special Programs, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing
4. Faster Decisions with Seamless Integrations
The ability to move quickly from application reviews to admissions offers is critical in the competitive race for top applicants. With limited time and resources, nursing programs require workflows that are clear, well-organized, and adaptable.
Kira offers integrations with NursingCAS and leading CRMs to streamline the admissions process from start to finish. Programs can send applicant data seamlessly between platforms, eliminating manual data entry or delays. This connectivity empowers admissions teams to focus on strategic decision-making, not administrative tasks.
Case study
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science DNP-NA
"Kira has significantly streamlined our admissions process, saving us days of work and greatly improving overall efficiency."
Using NursingCAS to collect the basic application components, Dr. Peter Kallio, Program Director for the DNP-NA, and his team transitioned from in-person interviews to help manage a growing applicant pool.
“The assessment integrated seamlessly into our existing admissions process,” Dr. Kallio explained. “Students submit their initial application via NursingCAS. Once their transcripts are verified, our admissions team reviews the applications to determine who advances to the interview stage. Selected applicants then receive an automated invitation via Slate to complete the video assessment on the Kira Talent platform.”
“The integration with Slate works seamlessly,” Dr. Kallio noted. “It automates email invites for applicants and eliminates manual transcription of scores, saving us valuable time.”
5. Building connections with applicants
Beyond streamlining assessments or reducing reviewer workloads, Kira helps programs build connections with applicants. Admissions workflows often feel transactional, but Kira’s personalized welcome and question videos humanize the experience. From welcome videos showcasing the campus and culture, to video questions delivered by current nursing students, Kira creates touch points that reflect the spirit and values of individual programs.
Case study
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science DNP-NA
Rosalind Franklin University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice in Nurse Anesthesia (DNP-NA) program achieved remarkable success by transitioning from in-person interviews to Kira’s asynchronous assessment platform. The result? A 95% applicant satisfaction rating, reflecting how this modernized approach meets the needs of today’s applicants without compromising the quality of their evaluation.
“The feedback we’ve received from students has been overwhelmingly positive. They like how flexible, efficient, and intuitive Kira is.”
- Dr. Peter Kallio, Program Director for the DNP-NA
The future of admissions for nursing programs
The healthcare sector is experiencing an unprecedented demand for skilled and compassionate professionals. In response, nursing programs are adopting holistic, competency-based admissions processes to address this challenge effectively. Solutions like Kira Talent are proving pivotal in this effort.
By streamlining admissions and focusing on the qualities that matter most, Kira Talent has helped programs achieve measurable outcomes, including increased diversity, stronger cohorts, and significant time savings.
Interested in transforming your admissions process and recruiting your strongest cohort yet? Connect with us.
