AACN Essentials as the Conceptual Thread of Nursing Education

Abstract

In March 2021, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) endorsed and published a report that included a reenvisioned framework for nursing education. This report introduced innovative and bold ideas for transforming nursing education and pedagogy from a concept-based model to a competency-based model of nursing education. This new model of nursing education establishes a core set of expectations and standards of competency-based nursing curricula common to all nursing educational programs moving forward. Before this transformative change can occur, nurse educators must first understand what is expected of them before they can adapt current nursing curricula to meet the future needs of our communities and employers. This article will dissect the Re-envisioned Essentials and provide the reader with new terminology introduced by the Essentials document, as well as the core expectations and standards established by the AACN for future nursing education and curricula. With this new understanding, we will introduce and discuss strategies supporting the transitional process of moving from concept-based educational models to competency-based models using a think-backward approach to change that begins with an alignment of program-level learning outcomes with national standards and working backwards to build assessments.

Strategic Planning

“…9 Tenets of evidence-based practice are now embedded into many facets of nursing education and directly incorporated into American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Nurse Essentials' curriculum guidelines. 11 However, while often one thinks of evidencebased practice somewhat in isolation, the field of implementation science provides both broad guidelines and specific models to advance evidence-based practice directly into implementation plans to create sustainability. Implementation science also promotes evaluation plans to help determine the success of a project, and to facilitate dissemination of project results.…”

“…They are the perfect champions for leading the implementation of evidence-based practice projects in hospitals and health care systems 9. Tenets of evidence-based practice are now embedded into many facets of nursing education and directly incorporated into American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Nurse Essentials' curriculum guidelines 11. However, while often one thinks of evidence-based practice somewhat in isolation, the field of implementation science provides both broad guidelines and specific models to advance evidence-based practice directly into implementation plans to create sustainability.…”

Predisposing Factors of Intercultural Sensitivity Among Nursing Students: A Predictive Correlational Design

“…Given changes in higher education, learner expectations, and the rapidly evolving health care system-new approaches to nursing education have necessitated the need to cultivate the future nursing workforce (AACN, 2021). AACN endorsed and published a report of the Re-envisioned Essentials include the core expectations and standards for future nursing education (Welch & Smith, 2022). There are featured concepts associated with professional nursing practice that are integrated within the Essentials.…”

“…One of the major changes to the Essentials is the adoption of a competency-based approach to education (Giddens et al, 2022). The new framework that support the transition from concept-based education models to competency-based models may contribute to achieving program-level outcomes (Welch & Smith, 2022). Nursing education programs could implement a cultural competence objective in all courses as a first step to increase students' cultural competence which consists of sensitivity, knowledge, and skills (Ugarte Gurrutxaga et al, 2020).…”

Shifting the Paradigm: Antiracist Education for Advanced Practice Nursing Providers

“…These factors include the following: (1) The cultural and pedagogical shift in medical education from a focus on individual factors to an understanding of structural forces as a driver of health inequities, (2) pressure from students to develop a more progressive curriculum, and (3) changes in national guidelines for training of advanced practice nurses. 21 The course we developed for our school's Master's nursing program—Racism, Healthcare, and Social Justice—piloted in 2021 and in 2022, became required for all advanced practice nurses educated at our institution.…”