Competencies

Background

Patients today need comprehensive primary care service delivery and thus the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) was created. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines the PCMH as a model of primary care that delivers five functions: comprehensive care, patient-centered care, coordinated care, accessible services, and quality and safety. To stimulate the nursing profession in advancing nursing in the PCMH, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2010 report on the Future of Nursing indicated the need for nursing programs to prepare students for positions in these setting. Unfortunately, there are few nursing schools that have added PCMH curriculum or offer clinical sites in primary care. Although the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses has published both Ambulatory and Care Coordination and Transitions Management competencies, there are no defined competencies for undergraduate nursing students for entry into primary care. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the process for the development of undergraduate PCMH competencies and the alignment with the QSEN competencies.

Methods

The development of the PCMH undergraduate nursing student competencies was funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Nurse, Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention – Registered Nurses in Primary Care. The process for developing the competencies included an initial literature review for competency reports on ambulatory nursing care and care coordination, actual published RN competencies, and a review of the Veterans Administration job description for RN in their PCMH model. The data from the comprehensive search was put into a grid and similarities and differences were highlighted. A competency assessment tool was created and validated by key ambulatory care nurses at the VA, academic faculty, and ambulatory care experts. The competency tool went through four revisions.

List of Competencies