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New Essentials of Baccalaureate Education Endorsed - Oct. 20, 2008

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is pleased to announce the endorsement of a new set of competency standards that will enhance the ability of baccalaureate-prepared nurses to provide safe, high quality patient care. At AACN’s Fall Semiannual Meeting held October 20, 2008, deans and directors from the nation’s senior schools of nursing voted to endorse The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, a re-envisioning of the previous Baccalaureate Essentials issued in 1998. The revised document was developed through a national consensus-building process and will have a significant impact on how professional nurses are prepared for contemporary nursing practice.

The new Baccalaureate Essentials meet the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations for the core knowledge needed for all healthcare professionals. Due to the ever-changing and complex healthcare environment, this document emphasizes such concepts as patient-centered care, interprofessional teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, patient safety, informatics, clinical reasoning/critical thinking, genetics and genomics, cultural sensitivity, professionalism, lifespan, and end-of-life care. These Essentials apply to all pre-licensure and degree-completion programs, whether the degree is baccalaureate or graduate entry.

The nine Essentials delineated in the document underscore the importance of the following themes which are fundamental to baccalaureate nursing education:

A solid base in liberal education provides the cornerstone for the practice and education of nurses.

In order to provide high-quality health care, knowledge and skills in leadership, communication, quality improvement, and patient safety are necessary.

Professional nursing practice is grounded in the analysis and application of evidence for practice.

Knowledge and skills in information and patient care technology are critical in the delivery of quality patient care.

Healthcare policies, including financial and regulatory, directly and indirectly influence the nature and functioning of the healthcare system.

Collaboration among healthcare professionals is critical to delivering high quality and safe patient care.

Health promotion and disease prevention at the individual and population levels are necessary to improve population health.

Professionalism is fundamental to the discipline of nursing.

Integration of knowledge and skills is critical to practice. Practice occurs across the lifespan and in the continuum of healthcare environments. The baccalaureate graduate demonstrates clinical reasoning within the context of patient-centeredcare to form the basis for nursing practice that reflects ethical values.

The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice (61 pages0 may be downloaded online at here.