Quick Answer
The AACN Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education (2021) organizes nursing education into 10 domains, 8 featured concepts, and roughly 45 competencies with sub-competencies at two levels: Level 1 (entry-level professional nursing, e.g., BSN) and Level 2 (advanced-level nursing, e.g., MSN/DNP). Programs implement them by mapping every course objective and assessment to sub-competencies, adopting competency-based assessment, and documenting outcomes for CCNE accreditation, which references the Essentials directly in its standards.
The 10 AACN Essentials domains at a glance
| Domain | Descriptor | Example curriculum evidence |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Knowledge for Nursing Practice | Integrates nursing science with liberal arts and natural/social sciences. | Course objectives citing nursing theory and pathophysiology; concept-based units. |
| 2. Person-Centered Care | Holistic, individualized, just, respectful, compassionate care. | Simulation with standardized patients; care-plan rubrics scoring individualization. |
| 3. Population Health | Care spanning prevention to disease management for populations. | Community assessment projects; windshield surveys; SDOH analysis. |
| 4. Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline | Generation, synthesis, translation, and dissemination of knowledge. | EBP projects, PICOT papers, poster presentations. |
| 5. Quality and Safety | Employs established and emerging principles of safety and improvement science. | Root-cause analysis assignments; PDSA cycle reports. |
| 6. Interprofessional Partnerships | Intentional collaboration across professions and with care teams. | IPE simulations with pharmacy, medicine, social work; TeamSTEPPS. |
| 7. Systems-Based Practice | Responds to and leads within complex systems of health care. | Budget/cost analysis; policy briefs; microsystem assessments. |
| 8. Informatics and Healthcare Technologies | Uses information and communication technologies to deliver safe care. | EHR simulation, data dashboards, telehealth case studies. |
| 9. Professionalism | Formation and cultivation of a sustainable professional nursing identity. | Reflective journals; ethics case analyses; professional portfolios. |
| 10. Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development | Self-reflection, lifelong learning, resilience, and leadership. | Leadership practicum; wellness plans; mentorship logs. |
The 8 featured concepts
Concepts thread across all domains and should appear repeatedly, at increasing complexity, through the curriculum:
- Clinical judgment
- Communication
- Compassionate care
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Ethics
- Evidence-based practice
- Health policy
- Social determinants of health
Level 1 vs Level 2 sub-competencies
Level 1 sub-competencies describe entry-into-professional-practice outcomes (pre-licensure BSN, entry-level master's). Level 2 sub-competencies build on Level 1 for advanced-level nursing education (post-licensure MSN, DNP, specialty programs).
| Example competency | Level 1 expectation | Level 2 expectation |
|---|---|---|
| 4.2 Integrate best evidence into practice | Evaluate clinical practice to generate questions; use credible sources | Use diverse sources of evidence to inform practice; lead translation into practice change |
| 5.1 Apply quality improvement principles | Recognize nursing's role in QI; participate in improvement projects | Establish and lead QI initiatives using improvement science and data |
| 8.3 Use ICT to support documentation | Document care accurately in the EHR | Evaluate the impact of technology on outcomes; inform system design |
CCNE and ACEN accreditation crosswalk
| Area | CCNE (2024 Standards) | ACEN (2023 Standards) | Essentials evidence to prepare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | Standard III — curriculum incorporates the Essentials | Standard 4 — curriculum and end-of-program SLOs | Curriculum map: course objectives → sub-competencies |
| Teaching-learning | Standard III — practices align with expected outcomes | Standard 4 — evidence-based teaching strategies | Syllabi showing learning activities per competency |
| Outcomes | Standard IV — program effectiveness and outcomes | Standard 5 — outcomes (NCLEX, completion, employment) | Competency assessment data, trended and acted upon |
| Faculty | Standard II — faculty qualified and sufficient | Standard 2 — faculty and staff | Faculty development on competency-based education |
Always verify against the current standards document from CCNE or ACEN before submission — standards are revised periodically.
Curriculum mapping toolkit: 6 steps
- Inventory every course, its objectives, and its graded assessments.
- Map each objective to one or more sub-competencies at the correct level (I = introduced, R = reinforced, M = mastered).
- Find gaps: any sub-competency without an "M" assessment is a gap; any overloaded course is a redundancy.
- Redesign assessments to be observable and performance-based (OSCEs, simulation, portfolios) with competency rubrics.
- Collect data each term and aggregate by competency, not just by course grade.
- Close the loop: document decisions made from the data — this is what accreditors look for.
Syllabus alignment checklist
- Each course objective names the Essentials domain and sub-competency it addresses.
- Every objective has at least one assessment that measures it directly.
- Featured concepts (e.g., DEI, clinical judgment) are visible in content and activities.
- Clinical/simulation hours are linked to specific competencies.
- Rubrics describe behaviors at developing, competent, and exemplary levels.
- The syllabus states the competency level (Level 1 or Level 2).
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources & Further Reading
- The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education. American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2021. Read →
- Standards for Accreditation of Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing Programs. Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 2024. Read →
- ACEN Accreditation Manual. Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, 2023. Read →