In April 2021, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education (hereafter referred to as the Essentials). This new model and framework, crafted by leaders in both practice and education, delineates a plan for preparing practice-ready registered nurses and advanced practice nurses. The Essentials aim to transform education from a knowledge-based or knowing paradigm to an active, competency-based, or doing paradigm (AACN, 2021a). This paradigm shift will have significant implications for students, faculty, and practice partners. A competency-based education (CBE) approach to teaching and learning is detailed in the Essentials across ten competency domains and eight concepts. Preparing the future nursing workforce requires a focus on contemporary curricula and pedagogies that address the country's healthcare needs while integrating population health, social determinants of health, health equity, implicit bias, ethics, and advocacy.

In addition to the Essentials' focus on four spheres of care for entry to practice students (wellness and disease prevention, chronic disease management, regenerative/restorative care, hospice/palliative care), the document also emphasizes systems-based practice; informatics and technology; academic-practice partnerships; and career-long learning. The introduction of these new competencies described across two levels of sub-competencies (entry-level practice and advanced practice) has necessitated curricular evaluation and transformation at nursing programs across the country. This article describes how one large school of nursing is successfully implementing the Essentials across both levels and many program specialties. The ideas and recommendations offered here can help to guide other programs engaging in this same endeavor, no matter the size or type, as these steps can be adapted and modified to meet various program needs.

With a substantive transition to CBE practices, faculty need to transform course and program curricula using techniques and strategies that may be new to them. A curriculum where “Students are the center of the learning experience, and performance expectations are clearly delineated” requires a deliberate curricular revision process (AACN, 2021b, p. 4). Learning experiences should be created with clear student expectations that allow the development of competencies across time, context, and setting. For example, CBE requires an intentional shift to focus on the outputs of the educational experience (what learners can safely do in various settings) versus the inputs of the education process (faculty expertise, time, and extensive content). There is a deliberate focus on clearly defined performance expectations that are measurable and observable in various contexts via different assessment modalities and by multiple assessors (AACN, 2021b). Nursing graduates must develop broad competencies to include knowledge, skills, and attitudes to care for a wide range of patients and populations. As nursing faces an ongoing workforce shortage, nurses must also prioritize their self-care and bolster professional competencies to decrease burnout and improve wellness.

Curricular evaluation and transformation can seem daunting to faculty, particularly when there are substantive changes to how nursing students are educated. Nursing faculty may find themselves at a loss regarding where, when, what, why, and how to start. The University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON), part of a large urban academic medical center campus in the Mid-Atlantic, developed a successful model for curricular revision in 2011 while transitioning their advanced practice nursing programs from the master's level to the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) level. The curricular transition model resulted in a financially and academically sound program that currently serves over 600 DNP students. UMSON faculty and leadership reviewed the 2021 Essentials and decided to use their successful 2011 model as a template for the upcoming revisions. This article describes the structures, processes, and initial outcomes framework UMSON used to implement the Essentials.