An Education-Service Partnership to Achieve Safety and Quality Improvement Competencies in Nursing

Abstract

The Institute of Medicine recommends that educational and service organizations develop partnerships to promote and prioritize competency development for nurses. This article describes a collaborative project between a college of nursing and a regional health care system. The project's aim was to foster the development of safety and quality by creating a curriculum based on the 10 core competencies identified by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Nurse of the Future Competency Committee. To accomplish this goal, learning experiences were created to address competency development. Competency-based education will help ensure that nursing graduates are adequately prepared to meet the current and future health care needs of our population.