Untangling a complex issue: an overview of initiatives to support nursing and midwifery student recruitment, selection and retention in Scottish Universities.

The reasons behind attrition rates in nursing and midwifery are many and complex. However, of the four UK countries, Scotland has been consistently cited as having the highest attrition rate from its pre-registration nursing and midwifery education programmes. This paper provides an overview of a nationally coordinated programme of work to support evidence-based intervention and identifies both opportunities for further national and international initiatives and presents early indicators of improvement in retention and completion.