The QSEN Competency Legacy Threaded Through the Entry-Level AACN Essentials

Abstract

Background: For the last 17 years, the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) prelicensure competencies and knowledge, skill, and attitude (KSA) statements were integrated into nursing curricula. Problem: With the publication of the competency-based American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials, it is important to determine the overlap of the QSEN competencies. Approach: We developed a QSEN-AACN prelicensure crosswalk to help faculty map and integrate the 2021 AACN Essentials into their curriculum. Outcomes: The 6 QSEN competencies match to the 10 AACN Essentials domains except for evidence-based practice, which is listed as a concept. Fifty graduate-level QSEN KSAs were found to better align with prelicensure education and therefore important to integrate into the crosswalk. All but 1 of the original prelicensure QSEN KSA statements and all but 2 of the 50 transferred graduate-level QSEN KSAs were found in the AACN Essentials. Conclusion: Faculty implementing the QSEN framework can use the QSEN-AACN competency crosswalk and QSEN teaching strategies to guide their AACN Essentials journey.