Programs built on the AACN Essentials often ask students to show how their work meets specific competencies. A good reflection does not repeat the competency wording; it points to evidence, explains what you did and learned, and says what comes next. Here is a structure that keeps it rigorous.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing published The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education in 2021. It is organized into ten domains, such as knowledge for nursing practice, person-centered care, population health, scholarship for the nursing discipline, quality and safety, interprofessional partnerships, systems-based practice, informatics and healthcare technologies, professionalism, and personal, professional and leadership development. Each domain has competencies with sub-competencies, described at two levels: entry-level professional nursing and advanced-level nursing practice.
Your program will map its courses and final project to these domains, so read its own competency list and rubric before writing. The exact wording and level you address comes from them.
A reflective model such as Gibbs' cycle or What, So What, Now What can give the analysis a frame, if your program allows it. First-person voice is normal here, unlike in most of the scholarly project.
Share the competency list and your project artifacts. The ProNursingScholars team can help you organize the evidence and shape the reflection. Details stay confidential.
Evidence should demonstrate the competency, not merely relate to the topic. For a quality and safety competency, a run chart from your project and your record of a plan-do-study-act cycle prove more than a general comment about safety culture. For an informatics competency, a short description of how you extracted and validated the data does more than saying you used the electronic record. For an interprofessional competency, meeting notes or a described role in a team decision are stronger than saying you collaborated.
Keep artifacts free of patient, staff and organizational identifiers. Refer to appendices rather than pasting long material into the reflection. The DNP scholarly project help page describes how these artifacts fit into a full project.
If your program uses an e-portfolio, decide early how each artifact will be labelled and stored, so that you can cite it by name and date. Where feedback from a preceptor or faculty member is the evidence, quote only what you have permission to share, and describe how you acted on it.
Fictional reflection on a quality and safety competency during a hand-hygiene audit project.
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| I met the quality and safety competency because I did a quality improvement project. I learned a lot about improving care and I am now a better nurse leader. | Domain 5, Quality and Safety: I used improvement methods to test a change on one unit. Appendix C shows the run chart of weekly audit results and my notes on two PDSA cycles. In the second cycle I moved the reminder from the wall to the point of use after staff told me the first placement was ignored, and compliance rose for three weeks. I had assumed education was the gap; the data showed workflow. I now start with a process map before planning teaching. To strengthen this competency I plan to apply for a role in the organization's quality committee. |
The strong version names the domain, cites where the evidence can be found, shows a change of mind, and closes with a concrete next step. The weak version asserts success and offers nothing to check.
Yes, cite the Essentials when you quote or describe them, in the style your program requires. See the APA 7 guide.
Usually, in a reflection. Confirm in your guidelines, and keep other sections of your project in the voice they require.
The number is set by your program, often tied to domains or courses. Cover what the rubric asks, no more and no less.
Yes. QSEN competencies are widely used and often complement the Essentials. Use whichever your program specifies.