Competency-Based Nurse Practitioner Education: An Overview for the Preceptor

Many health care disciplines, including advanced practice nursing, are moving to competency-based curriculum designs for preparing their future professions. Moving from content-based to competency-based infers a shift from a focus on teaching and imparting faculty or preceptor knowledge to a focus on students and outcomes of their learning. Preceptors are key to the success of student learning in competency-based frameworks. This article orients the preceptor to the drivers of a competency-based curriculum and provides tips for preceptor success as a partner in educating NP students within programs that have adopted a competency-based approach.