Fairfield University's Path to Competency-Based Education

Speaker: Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows, Associate Dean and Professor and Director of Second Degree Nursing Program

Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows: We are taking numerous steps in the transition to competency-based education using the AACN toolkit, we completed a gap analysis of our curriculum in relation to the new Essentials and the spheres of care. We have engaged our clinical partner by holding meetings to review the new Essentials and competency-based education. We are sending people to the AACN regional workshop in September. We are holding regular meetings and workshops with our clinical partners to develop competency-based education activities and assessments.

Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows: We have learned several early lessons. One of the early lessons learned is that everybody needs to have an understanding of the Essentials in competency-based education. It is a team effort. We have also learned that with the constant organizational movement, it is important to have enough key people in place to keep the initiative moving forward. It's a good idea to have a backup plan or two.

Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows: In addition to population health, we've chosen to focus on domain five, quality and safety. We chose this because our clinical partner is known for its quality and safety. They are a high-reliability organization with a just culture. We also chose this because one of our clinical partner faculty members is an expert in performance management.

Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows: We are actively engaging our practice partners in the transition to competency-based education. We have monthly scheduled meetings with our academic and practice partners. We've held workshops and educational sessions for our partners as well as we had a meeting with our entire partnership council. In addition, we are having work groups to develop competency-based education, learning activities, and assessments together.

Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows: The move to competency-based education will help prepare more practice ready nurses. By engaging our clinical partners in the design of competency-based education. Competency-based education will help us prepare students to be the nurses our clinical partners want working at their organizations.

Drs. Audrey Beauvais and Karen Burrows: Our faculty are excited by this work. It gives us an opportunity to identify areas where we can improve education. Faculty are eager and willing to help create competency-based education activities and assessments. Our faculty are excited to be able to innovate and think outside of the box about what activities will help improve the competencies of future nurses.