Webinar Details

To align with the 2021 AACN Essentials, RN to BSN programs must prepare graduates to meet all entry-level (Level 1) competencies. These programs should be designed to build on previous learning and bridge educational gaps, ensuring that all new competency expectations are met. By the end of this presentation, led by James Madison University nurse educators Dr. Karen Jagiello and Dr. Jamie Robinson, faculty will gain a clearer understanding of how to implement the Essentials in a degree-completion program and deploy teaching strategies and methods to assess student competency.

Objectives:

• Discuss opportunities and challenges that are unique to RN to BSN degree completion programs
• Explore moving beyond a curriculum crosswalk toward course-level integration of the Essentials
• Explore approaches to integrating the Essentials and competency-based education into RN to BSN programs

Webinar Details

Nurse educators Dr. Mary Jo Vetter, Dr. Karyn Boyar, Dr. Stacen Keating, and Dr. Emerson E. Ea describe how design thinking was utilized as a unifying framework to foster an understanding of the social determinants of health in an undergraduate nursing program. Students utilize design thinking to develop innovative solutions for clinical problems experienced by diverse populations across all spheres of care in a series of four sequenced courses. Details of the teaching strategy and how it supports the acquisition of competencies defined by AACN Essentials are shared.

Objectives:

1. Describe how design thinking was utilized as a unifying framework to foster an understanding of the social determinants of health in an undergraduate nursing program.
2. Discuss teaching strategies utilized to promote the acquisition of competencies defined by AACN’s Essential Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education.
3. Explore methods to evaluate competency-based student outcomes.

Webinar Details

Dr. Jackie Barber, Dean and Professor at Morningside University’s Nylen School of Nursing, focuses on the integration of the AACN Essentials’ advanced-level (Level 2) competencies into an MSN program. Using a clinical educator track, she demonstrates how alignment with these competencies can be achieved. Dr. Barber also shares a process for outlining competencies to student learning from the perspective of a small liberal arts nursing program.

Webinar Details

Dr. Ann H. White, Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Indiana, shares a nursing program’s use of competencies to drive undergraduate curriculum development. Using students learning outcomes, a framework of competencies statements was created to drive leveling of content, clinical evaluation expectations, and assessment methods. To ensure the seamless integration of these competencies, faculty champions have been identified at each level, leading discussions to review and revise the competencies annually.

Webinar Details

As faculty in nursing graduate programs become familiar with the AACN Essentials, questions have surfaced about integration at the graduate level. In this webinar, Dr. Gail Armstrong, a DNP nurse educator, explores the foundational elements, concepts, domains, and competencies in relation to graduate nursing programs. Additionally, this webinar offers resources for integration of the advanced educational competencies and sub-competencies in both master’s and DNP curricula. Graduate nursing faculty will be reassured about what they are already doing and inspired by the opportunities offered by the AACN Essentials.