Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice

The relationship between the Essentials and baccalaureate nursing education 

Curriculum development involves arduous processes, especially within the faculty in nursing education. Therefore, the essentials of baccalaureate education provide an organized framework that facilitates an insightful revision of the curriculum to include modern models of curriculum design. This aligns the nursing curriculum with the profound transitions in science and technology within the complex healthcare environment. Hence, the relationship involves applying classroom knowledge to field practice to provide topnotch nursing education and improve student outcomes that orient them to the real world encounters. 

How the AACN Essentials apply to nursing practice 

The essentials are applicable in designing and assessing baccalaureate education programs that are intended to offer professional nursing practice. In this regard, it offers a step-by-step consensus-building for educators, clinicians, executive, and researcher on the standards of care that the graduate should deliver (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). 

The roles of the baccalaureate generalist nurse according to the AACN Essentials 

The baccalaureate generalist nurses serve three major roles, namely: provision of care, designing, coordinating, and managing care, and a member of a profession. For example, they provide care both directly and indirectly to patients, families, and various groups in the community based on nursing knowledge, theory, and research (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). Notably, the care should be patient-centered to identify and address issues arising due to diverging patients’ values and preferences. Further, it should include coordination of care by listening to patients’ perspectives and educating them accordingly to help them manage and prevent diseases. 

Overview of the Essentials: Brief description of the Essentials 

Essential I: Liberal education for baccalaureate generalist nursing practice 

This essential fosters scientific and cultural knowledge in the student to impart intellectual and practical knowledge; hence, facilitating the application of theoretical knowledge regarding personal and social responsibility to multifaceted problems in the field. 

Essential II: basic organizational and systems leadership for quality care and patient safety 

The second essential guides BSN professionals on how to deliver quality care for their patients and maintaining safety as part of the ethical principles that facilitate positive work relationships. 

Essential III: scholarship for evidence-based practice . 

This requires the baccalaureate graduates to systematically identify assess, and integrate evidence to help in evaluating possible outcomes of care delivery. 

Essential IV: Information Management and Application of Patient Care Technology 

The graduate should be computer literate and should use patient care technologies like monitors and data gathering to support patient care interventions and gather evidence that guides practice. 

Essential V: Healthcare Policy, Finance, and Regulatory Environments 

This requires the graduate to apply the various policies and regulatory legislation to understand the healthcare setting in relation to impartiality, access to care, cost-effectiveness, and the concept of social justice during service delivery. 

Essential VI: Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration for Improving 

Patient Health Outcomes 

The sixth essential promotes effective communication, consultations among inter-professional teams, and care coordination in providing patient-centered care (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). Inter-professionalism further equips the graduate with baseline competencies and confidence that promote healthy interactions and eventually positive patient outcomes. 

Essential VII: Clinical Prevention and Population Health 

This focuses on the epidemiologic analysis on lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors as they relate to population health, specifically on illnesses and mortality. 

Essential VIII: Professionalism and Professional Values 

The graduate must always conform to the historical, legal, and contemporary issues in nursing and using professional values to attain quality health and wellness outcomes. This promotes accountability and ensures appropriate task delegation to attain optimal care. 

Essential IX: Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice 

Above all, the baccalaureate must strive towards attaining practice-focused outcomes by applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes in various settings while caring for families, groups, and individuals. 

The purpose and value of the critical competencies 

The critical competencies help baccalaureate to acquire soft skills for inquiry, analysis, and critical thinking (Fukada, 2018). Therefore, they are valuable sources of effective communication that promotes teamwork and problem-solving capacities. For instance, the concept of liberal education equips the baccalaureate graduates to solve the arising challenges in technological, demographic, and economic situations. Consequently, the professional will be able to integrate knowledge, skills, and values to promote social justice by delivering humanistic, safe, and topnotch care to the patients (World Health Organization, 2016). 

References 

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. Washington, DC. 

Fukada, M. (2018). Nursing Competency: Definition, Structure and Development. Journal of Medical Sciences , 61(1): 1–7. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871720/ 

World Health Organization. (2016). Nurse Educator Core Competencies. Geneva: World Health Organization Publications. Retrieved form https://www.who.int/hrh/nursing_midwifery/nurse_educator050416.pdf