Competence: A concept analysis

Twenty years ago, the National League for Nursing pushed for major reform in nursing curriculum. It was their intent to revitalize nursing education and help prepare the next generation of nursing students for the increasingly complex nursing challenges of the future. Benefits of this change were to provide better prepared nurses, increased nursing satisfaction, and decreased nursing attrition. Unfortunately, many nursing schools have not changed their curriculum in a substantive way to meet this challenge. To meet this challenge, nurse educators need to look at new ways to help students develop critical-thinking skills to be able to competently problem solve in today's challenging health care environment. This article explores the concept of competence as it relates to nursing practice. Through examination and understanding of this concept, nurse educators are challenged to redefine and rebuild nursing curriculum to help develop competent nurses and make the profession stronger. (C) 2009 National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.