Veterans Affairs Interprofessional Nurse Practitioner Residency in Primary Care: A Competency-based Program

• The Institute of Medicine recommends transition-to-practice programs for new graduate nurse practitioners (NPs).
• The development of a NP residency competency assessment tool is described.
• NP residency competency tools should be standardized to measure program effectiveness.

The Institute of Medicine recommended the implementation of nurse practitioner transition-to-practice programs, either called residency or fellowship, for new graduates. These programs are rapidly expanding on the national level in a variety of practice areas. However, there is a lack of literature on the effectiveness of these programs. The Veterans Affairs Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education developed a competency-based assessment tool to measure program effectiveness, document the achievement of competency, and promote standardization. This article describes the development of the tool along with curricular examples to promote nurse practitioner transition to practice.