In addition to broad public mandates for a reformed and responsive healthcare system, a number of groups are calling for changes in the ways all health professionals are educated to meet current and projected needs for contemporary care delivery. The Institute of

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Medicine (IOM), an interprofessional healthcare panel, described a set of core competencies that all health professionals regardless of discipline will demonstrate: 1) the provision of patient-centered care, 2) working in interprofessional teams, 3) employing evidence-based practice, 4) applying quality improvement approaches, and 5) utilizing informatics (IOM, 2003).

Given the ongoing public trust in nursing (Gallup, 2010), and the desire for fundamental reorganization of relationships among individuals, the public, healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals, graduate education for nurses is needed that is wide in scope and breadth, emphasizes all systems-level care and includes mastery of practice knowledge and skills. Such preparation reflects mastery of higher level thinking and conceptualization skills than at the baccalaureate level, as well as an understanding of the interrelationships among practice, ethical, and legal issues; financial concerns and comparative effectiveness; and interprofessional teamwork.

Master’s Nursing Education Curriculum

The master’s nursing curriculum is conceptualized in Figure 1 and includes three components:

1. Graduate Nursing Core: foundational curriculum content deemed essential for all students who pursue a master’s degree in nursing regardless of the functional focus.

2. Direct Care Core: essential content to provide direct patient services at an advanced level.

3. Functional Area Content: those clinical and didactic learning experiences identified and defined by the professional nursing organizations and certification bodies for specific nursing roles or functions.

This document delineates the graduate nursing core competencies for all master’s graduates. These core outcomes reflect the many changes in the healthcare system occurring over the past decade. In addition, these expected outcomes for all master’s degree graduates reflect the increasing responsibility of nursing in addressing many of the gaps in health care as well as growing patient and population needs.