Describe at least one strategy you have used (academically and professionally) in the past that empowered you in one or more of the following areas: planning, time management, stu

THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR

PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

THE ESSENTIALS:

CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

APPROVED BY THE AACN MEMBERSHIP ON APRIL 6 , 2021

COPYRIGHT © 2021 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES OF NURSING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. AACN member institutions and their faculty may

download and save one copy of this document solely in order to implement its contents. No other uses of this document, in whole or in part, are allowed

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works, without the prior written permission of AACN. Permission may be requested by contacting Bill O’Connor at [email protected].

The terms “AACN Essentials”, “The Essentials: Core Competencies for

Professional Nursing Education” and “The Essentials” are trademarks of AACN and may not be used by any third party other than to refer to The Essentials document without the prior written permission of AACN. No third party may state or imply that its products or services are endorsed by or created with

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© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

iiiTHE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education April 6, 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

Foundational Elements ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

Nursing Education for the 21st Century ……………………………………………………………………. 5

Domains and Concepts ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Domains for Nursing ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Concepts for Nursing Practice ………………………………………………………………………………. 11

Competencies and Sub-Competencies …………………………………………………………………………… 15

A New Model for Nursing Education ……………………………………………………………………………… 16

Implementing the Essentials: Considerations for Curriculum ……………………………………………. 18

Entry-Level Professional Nursing Education ……………………………………………………………. 19

Advanced-Level Nursing Education ……………………………………………………………………….. 21

Domains, Competencies, and Sub-Competencies for Entry-level Professional Nursing Education and Advanced-level Nursing Education …………………………………………………………… 27

1. Knowledge for Nursing Practice……………………………………………………………………….. 27

2. Person-Centered Care…………………………………………………………………………………….. 29

3. Population Health ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33

4. Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline ………………………………………………………………. 37

5. Quality and Safety …………………………………………………………………………………………. 39

6. Interprofessional Partnerships ………………………………………………………………………… 42

7. Systems-Based Practice ………………………………………………………………………………….. 44

8. Informatics and Healthcare Technologies ………………………………………………………….. 46

9. Professionalism ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 49

10. Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development …………………………………………. 53

Glossary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 55

Reference List …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 67

Essentials Task Force …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 75

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

1THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education

Introduction Since 1986, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has published the Essentials series that provides the educational framework for the preparation of nurses at four-year colleges and universities. In the past, three versions of Essentials were published: The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, last published in 2008; The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing, last published in 2011; and The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice, last published in 2006. Each of these documents has provided specific guidance for the development and revision of nursing curricula at a specific degree level. Given changes in higher education, learner expectations, and the rapidly evolving healthcare system outlined in AACN’s Vision for Academic Nursing (2019), new thinking and new approaches to nursing education are needed to prepare the nursing workforce of the future.

The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education provides a framework for preparing individuals as members of the discipline of nursing, reflecting expectations across the trajectory of nursing education and applied experience. In this document competencies for professional nursing practice are made explicit. These Essentials introduce 10 domains that represent the essence of professional nursing practice and the expected competencies for each domain (see page 26). The domains and competencies exemplify the uniqueness of nursing as a profession and reflect the diversity of practice settings yet share common language that is understandable across healthcare professions and by employers, learners, faculty, and the public. The competencies accompanying each domain are designed to be applicable across four spheres of care (disease prevention/promotion of health and wellbeing, chronic disease care, regenerative or restorative care, and hospice/palliative/supportive care), across the lifespan, and with diverse patient populations. While the domains and competencies are identical for both entry and advanced levels of education, the sub-competencies build from entry into professional nursing practice to advanced levels of knowledge and practice. The intent is that any curricular model should lead to the ability of the learner to achieve the competencies. The Essentials also feature eight concepts that are central to professional nursing practice and are integrated within and across the domains and competencies.

Because this document has been shared with practice partners and with other nursing colleagues, the Essentials serve to bridge the gap between education and practice. The core competencies are informed by the expanse of higher education, nursing education, nursing as a discipline, and a breadth of knowledge. The core competencies also are informed by the lived experiences of those deeply entrenched in various areas where nurses practice and the synthesis of knowledge and action intersect. The collective understanding allows all nurses to have a shared vision; promotes open discourse and exchange about nursing practice; and expresses a unified voice that represents the nursing profession.

This introduction provides an overview of the evolution of nursing as a discipline, critical aspects of the profession that serve as a framework, and sufficient depth to inform nursing education across the educational trajectory (entry into practice through advanced education).

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

2 THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

Specific citations throughout provide immediate access to pertinent references that substantiate relevancy.

Foundational Elements

The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education has been built on the strong foundation of nursing as a discipline, the foundation of a liberal education, and principles of competency-based education.

Nursing as a Discipline The Essentials, as the framework for preparing nursing’s future workforce, intentionally reflect and integrate nursing as a discipline. The emergence of nursing as a discipline had its earliest roots in Florence Nightingale’s thoughts about the nature of nursing. Believing nursing to be both a science and an art, she conceptualized the whole patient (mind, body, and spirit) as the center of nursing’s focus. The influence of the environment on an individual’s health and recovery was of utmost importance. The concepts of health, healing, well-being, and the interconnectedness with the multidimensional environment also were noted in her work. Although Nightingale did not use the word “caring” explicitly, the concept of care and a commitment to others were evident through her actions (Dunphy, 2015). In the same era of Florence Nightingale, nurse pioneer Mary Seacole was devoted to healing the wounded during the Crimean war.

Following Nightingale, the nursing profession underwent a period of disorganization and confusion as it began to define itself as a distinct scientific discipline. Early nursing leaders (including Mary Eliza Mahoney, Effie Taylor, Annie Goodrich, Agatha Hodgins, Esther Lucille Brown, and Loretta Ford) sought to define the functions of the nurse (Gunn, 1991; Keeling, Hehman, & Kirchgessner, 2017). Other leaders devoted their efforts to addressing discrimination, advancing policies, and creating a collective voice for the profession. It would be difficult to gain an understanding of this period of the profession’s development without considering the work of Lavinia Dock, Estelle Osborne, Mary Elizabeth Carnegie, Ildaura Murillo- Rohde, and many other fearless champions.

Contemporary nursing as it is practiced today began to take shape as a discipline in the 1970s and 1980s. Leaders of this era shared the belief that the discipline of nursing was the study of the well-being patterning of human behavior and the constant interaction with the environment, including relationships with others, health, and the nurse (Rogers, 1970; Donaldson & Crowley, 1978; Fawcett, 1984; Chinn & Kramer 1983, 2018; Chinn, 2019; Roy & Jones, 2007). The concept of caring also was described as the defining attribute of the nursing discipline (Leininger, 1978; Watson, 1985). Newman (1991) spoke to the need to sharpen the focus of the discipline of nursing to better define its social relevance and the nature of its service. Newman, Smith, Pharris, and Jones (2008) affirmed caring as the focus of the discipline, suggesting that relationships were the unifying construct. Smith and Parker (2010) later posited that relationships were built on partnership, presence, and shared meaning.

In a historical analysis of literature on the discipline of nursing, five concepts emerged as defining the discipline: human wholeness; health; healing and well-being; environment-health relationship; and caring. When practicing from a holistic perspective, nurses understand the

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

3THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

dynamic, ongoing body-brain-mind-spirit interactions of the person, between and among individuals, groups, communities, and the environment (Smith, 2019, pp. 9-12). Smith purports that if nursing is to retain its status as a discipline, the explicit disciplinary knowledge must be an integral part of all levels of nursing. Nursing has its own science, and this body of knowledge is foundational for the next generation (Smith, 2019, p.13).

Why consider the past in a document that strives to shape the future? The historical roots of the profession help its members understand how the past has answered complex questions and shapes vital discipline concepts, traditions, policies, and even relationships. D’Antonio, et. al (2010) also emphasize the disciplinary insights gained by considering the different histories that challenge the dominant and accepted historical narrative. Undoubtedly, many experts have contributed to the development of the discipline as it exists today. While the work of early and current theorists is extensive, Green (2018) notes that none have been accepted as completely defining the nature of nursing as a discipline. No doubt, nursing as a discipline will continue to evolve as society and health care evolves.

Advancing the Discipline of Nursing The continued development of nursing as a unique discipline requires an intentional approach. Jairath et. al (2018) stated that any further development of the discipline should have the capacity to directly transform the patient’s health experience. A new social order may be necessary in which scientists, theorists, and practitioners work together to address questions related to the interplay of big data and nursing theory. Nursing graduates, particularly at the advanced nursing practice level, must be well-prepared to think ethically, conceptually, and theoretically to better inform nursing care. Students must not only be introduced to the knowledge and values of the discipline, but they must be guided to practice from a disciplinary perspective – by seeing patients through the lens of wholeness and interconnectedness with family and community; appreciating how the social, political, and economic environment influences health; attending to what is most important to well-being; developing a caring- healing relationship; and honoring personal dignity, choice, and meaning. Smith and McCarthy (2010) spoke to the need to provide a foundation for practitioners in the knowledge of the discipline. Without this knowledge, the persistent challenge of differentiating nursing and the professional levels of practice will continue.

Knowledge of the discipline grows in graduate education, as students apply and generate nursing knowledge in their advanced nursing roles or develop and test theories as researchers. Nursing practice should be guided by a nursing perspective while functioning within an interdisciplinary arena. To appropriately educate the next generation of nurses, disciplinary knowledge must be leveled to reflect the competencies or roles expected at each level.

The Value of a Liberal Education In higher education, every academic discipline is grounded in a unique body of knowledge that distinguishes that discipline. Through the study of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, students develop the capacity to engage in socially valued work and civic leadership in society. Liberal education exposes students to a broad worldview, multiple disciplines, and ways of knowing through specific coursework; however, the richness of perspective and knowledge is woven throughout the nursing curriculum as these are integral to the full scope of nursing

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

4 THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

practice (Hermann, 2004). Successful integration of liberal and nursing education provides graduates with knowledge of human cultures, including spiritual beliefs, as well as the physical and natural worlds supporting an approach to practice. The study of history, critical race theories, critical theories of nursing, critical digital studies, planetary health and climate science, politics, public policies, policy formation, fine arts, literature, languages, and the behavioral, biological, and natural sciences are key to the understanding of one’s self and others, civil readiness, and engagement and forms the basis for clinical reasoning and subsequent clinical judgments.

A liberal education creates the foundation for intellectual and practical abilities within the context of nursing practice as well as for engagement with the larger community, locally and globally. A hallmark of liberal education is the development of a personal value system that includes the ability to act ethically regardless of the situation and where students are encouraged to define meaningful personal and professional goals with a commitment to integrity, equity, and social justice. Liberally educated graduates are well prepared to integrate knowledge, skills, and values from the arts, sciences, and humanities to provide safe, quality care; advocate for patients, families, communities, and populations; and promote health equity and social justice. Equally important, nursing education needs to ensure an understanding of the intersection of bias, structural racism, and social determinants with healthcare inequities and promote a call to action.

Competency-Based Education Competency-based education is a process whereby students are held accountable to the mastery of competencies deemed critical for an area of study. Competency-based education is inherently anchored to the outputs of an educational experience versus the inputs of the educational environment and system. Students are the center of the learning experience, and performance expectations are clearly delineated along all pathways of education and practice. Across the health professions, curriculum, course work, and practice experiences are designed to promote responsible learning and assure the development of competencies that are reliably demonstrated and transferable across settings. By consistently assessing their own performance, students develop the ability to reflect on their own progress towards the achievement of learning goals and the ongoing attainment of competencies required for practice.

Advances in learning approaches and technologies, understanding of evolving student learning styles and preferences, and the move to outcome-driven education and assessment all point to a transition to competency-based education. This learning approach is linked to explicitly defined performance expectations, based on observable behavior, and requires frequent assessment using diverse methodologies and formats. Designed in this fashion, competency- based education produces learning and behavior that endures, since it encourages conscious connections between knowledge and action. Learners who put knowledge into action grasp the interrelatedness of their learning with both theoretical perspectives and the world of their professional work. Achieving a specific competency gives meaning to the theoretical and assists in understanding and taking on a professional identity.

Further, today’s students increasingly are taking responsibility for their own learning and, varied as they are in age and experience, respond to active learning strategies. Active learning involves

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

5THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

making an action out of knowledge—using knowledge to reflect, analyze, judge, resolve, discover, interact, and create. Active learning requires clear information regarding what is to be learned, including guided practice in using that information to achieve a competency. It also requires regular assessment of progress towards mastery of the competency and frequent feedback on successes and areas needing development. Additionally, students must learn how to assess their own performances to develop the skill of continual self-reflection in their own practice.

Stakeholders (employers, students, and the public) expect all nursing graduates to exit their education programs with defined and observable skills and knowledge. Employers desire assurance that graduates have expected competencies—the ability “to know” and also “to do” based on current knowledge. Moving to a competency-based model fosters intentionality of learning by defining domains, associated competencies, and performance indicators for those competencies. Currently, there is wide variability in graduate capabilities. Therefore, there is a need for consistency enabled by a competency-based approach to nursing education.

A standard set of definitions frame competency-based education in the health professions and was adopted for these Essentials. Adoption of common definitions allows multiple stakeholders involved in health education and practice to share much of the same language. These definitions are included in the glossary (p. 59).

Nursing Education for the 21st Century

In addition to the foundational elements on which the Essentials has been developed, other factors have served as design influencers. What does the nursing workforce need to look like for the future, and how do nursing education programs prepare graduates to be “work ready”? Nursing education for the 21st century ought to reflect a number of contemporary trends and values and address several issues to shape the future workforce, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; four spheres of care (including an enhanced focus on primary care); systems-based practice; informatics and technology; academic-practice partnerships; and career-long learning.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Shifting U.S. population demographics, health workforce shortages, and persistent health inequities necessitate the preparation of nurses able to address systemic racism and pervasive inequities in health care. The existing inequitable distribution of the nursing workforce across the United States, particularly in underserved urban and rural areas, impacts access to healthcare services across the continuum from health promotion and disease prevention, to chronic disease management, to restorative and supportive care. Diversity, equity, and inclusion—as a value—supports nursing workforce development to prepare graduates who contribute to the improvement of access and care quality for underrepresented and medically underserved populations (AACN, 2019). Diversity, equity, and inclusion require intentionality, an institutional structure of social justice, and individually concerted efforts. The integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion in this Essentials document moves away from an isolated focus on these critical concepts. Instead, these concepts, defined in competencies, are fully represented and deeply integrated throughout the domains and expected in learning experiences across curricula.

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

6 THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

Making nursing education equitable and inclusive requires actively combating structural racism, discrimination, systemic inequity, exclusion, and bias. Holistic admission reviews are recommended to enhance the admission of a more diverse student population to the profession (AACN, 2020). Additionally, an equitable and inclusive learning environment will support the recruitment, retention, and graduation of nursing students from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds. Diverse and inclusive environments allow examination of any implicit or explicit biases, which can undermine efforts to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion. When diversity is integrated within inclusive educational environments with equitable systems in place, biases are examined, assumptions are challenged, critical conversations are engaged, perspectives are broadened, civil readiness and engagement are enhanced, and socialization occurs. These environments recognize the value of and need for diversity, equity, and inclusion to achieve excellence in teaching, learning, research, scholarship, service, and practice.

Academic nursing must address structural racism, systemic inequity, and discrimination in how nurses are prepared. Nurse educators are called to critically evaluate policies, processes, curricula, and structures for homogeneity, classism, color-blindness, and non-inclusive environments. Evidence-based, institution-wide approaches focused on equity in student learning and catalyzing culture shifts in the academy are fundamental to eliminating structural racism in higher education (Barber et al., 2020). Only through deconstructive processes can academic nursing prepare graduates who provide high quality, equitable, and culturally competent health care.

Finally, nurses should learn to engage in ongoing personal development towards understanding their own conscious and unconscious biases. Then, acting as stewards of the profession, they can fulfill their responsibility to influence both nursing and societal attitudes and behaviors toward eradicating structural/systemic racism and discrimination and promoting social justice.

Four Spheres of Care Historically, nursing education has emphasized clinical education in acute care. Looking at current and future needs, it is becoming increasingly evident that the future of healthcare delivery will occur within four spheres of care: 1) disease prevention/promotion of health and well-being, which includes the promotion of physical and mental health in all patients as well as management of minor acute and intermittent care needs of generally healthy patients; 2) chronic disease care, which includes management of chronic diseases and prevention of negative sequelae; 3) regenerative or restorative care, which includes critical/trauma care, complex acute care, acute exacerbations of chronic conditions, and treatment of physiologically unstable patients that generally requires care in a mega-acute care institution; and 4) hospice/ palliative/supportive care, which includes end-of-life care as well as palliative and supportive care for individuals requiring extended care, those with complex, chronic disease states, or those requiring rehabilitative care (Lipstein et al., 2016; AACN, 2019).

Entry-level professional nursing education ensures that graduates demonstrate competencies through practice experiences with individuals, families, communities, and populations across the lifespan and within each of these four spheres of care. The workforce of the future needs to attract and retain registered nurses who choose to practice in diverse settings, including community settings to sustain the nation’s health. Expanding primary care into communities will enable our healthcare delivery systems to achieve the Quadruple Aim of improving patient

© 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.

7THE ESSENTIALS: CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION

experiences (quality and satisfaction), improving the health of populations, decreasing per capita costs of health care, and improving care team well-being (Bowles et al., 2018). It is time for nursing education to refocus and move beyond some long-held beliefs such as: primary care content is not important because it is not on the national licensing exam for registered nurses; students only value those skills required in acute care settings; and faculty preceptors only have limited community-based experiences. Recommendations from the Josiah Macy Foundation Conference (2016) on expanding the use of registered nursing in primary care provides a call to education and practice to place more value on primary care as a career choice, effectively changing the culture of nursing and health care. A collaborative effort between academic and practice leaders is needed to ensure this culture change and educate primary care practitioners about the value of the registered nurse role.

Systems-Based Practice Integrated healthcare systems that require coordination across settings as well as across the lifespan of diverse individuals and populations are emerging. Healthcare systems are revising strategic goals and reorganizing services to move more care from the most expensive venues – inpatient facilities and emergency departments – to primary care and community settings. Consequently, nurse employment settings also are shifting, creating a change in workforce distribution and the requisite knowledge and skills necessary to provide care in those settings. Knowledge differentiating equity and equality in healthcare systems and systems-based practice is essential. Nurses in the future are needed to lead initiatives to address structural racism, systemic inequity, and discrimination. Equitable healthcare better serves the needs of all individuals, populations, and communities.

Importantly, an unde

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