Core curriculum and competencies: A multisite analysis of postgraduate training programs for primary care nurse...

The Institute of Medicine and the Affordable Care Act recommend intensified development and expansion of postgraduate training programs (residencies/fellowships) for primary care providers, including nurse practitioners. There is a paucity of literature regarding this innovative training medium for nurse practitioners. The purpose of this descriptive quality improvement project was to identify and characterize the core curricular learning outcomes among primary care postgraduate training programs for nurse practitioners. Semi-structured interviews with program directors across nine sites revealed 12 principal learning outcomes that represented a shared core curriculum among programs. The core curriculum was then mapped to nurse practitioner competencies from two leading nurse professional organizations. Despite the vast differences in programs' developmental stages, findings indicated concordance among program sites and between the core curriculum and the leading professional competencies. The information presented in this article serves to enhance the work of stakeholders involved in developing and standardizing nurse practitioner postgraduate training programs in primary care.