Competency-based education in nursing——concepts and practice

Competency-based education is a concept and educational model that is consistent with the idea and guidelines of reforming our vocational education and higher education issued by State Council and Ministry of Education.The similarities and differences in connotation and denotation among the concepts of competency,ability,and innate quality were explored,the nature of competency-based education in nursing was examined by analyzing the context in which competency-based education was initiated and the evolution process of its meanings.The procedure to deliver competency-based education was introduced,and it included detailed information of nursing core competency identification,principles in curriculum development as well as course and teaching design,and common evaluation methods used in competency-based education.