A clinical nurse leader competency framework: Concept mapping competencies across policy documents

To ensure Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNL) are prepared to function to the full scope of their master's level education, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing published a 2007 White Paper and a 2013 update articulating expected end-of-education and CNL practice competencies. The Commission on Nurse Certification published a CNL job analysis in 2016, which identified a core set of knowledge, skills, and abilities for entry-level practicing CNLs, as the basis for the CNL certification exam. While all share core themes, the language and organization of competencies differs across the three policy documents, resulting in potential ambiguity about expected CNL knowledge and practices, and how they differ from other nursing roles. This effort identified, analyzed and synthesized CNL education and practice concepts listed in each document to refine understanding about CNL competencies and harmonize concepts across documents. The product of this effort is a cohesive CNL competency framework that aligns across the education-to-practice trajectory. The CNL competency framework can be used to guide CNL curriculum and certification review, and may have use in implementing and evaluating CNL practice integration.