Faculty Presentations Faculty Presentations: Monika Schuler

Bridging the Gap: A structured guide for integrating the AACN Essentials in clinical teaching 

Full list of poster authors

• Rachel Salguero
• Karen Hunt
• Monika Schuler, PhD, FNP-BC, CNE

Conference where poster was previously displayed

National League for Nursing 

Poster abstract

Clinical instructors often have limited familiarity with the new AACN Essentials. To address this gap, nurse educators developed and validated the FRAME (Facilitating Reflection and Advancing Meaningful Education) clinical reflection tool, integrating the new Essentials with AI prompts to enhance critical thinking and facilitate reflection. 

Background

Clinical education is a cornerstone of nursing education; however, many instructors are unfamiliar with the updated AACN Essentials, which emphasize competency-based education integrating clinical judgment, critical thinking, and evidence-based practice. Clinical instructors are key to aligning educational experiences with these competencies and promoting reflective practice. Artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance this process by generating tailored scenarios and supporting critical thinking. To address these needs, the FRAME tool (Facilitating Reflection and Advancing Meaningful Education) was developed to help instructors integrate the Essentials into teaching, emphasizing reflection and critical thinking.

Purpose

This project had two main objectives; first to complete a content validation of the AACN-based FRAME tool, and second, to assess clinical instructors’ perceptions of the tool.  

Methods

An iterative process was used to develop the FRAME guide, aligning with the 10 domains of the AACN Essentials. The guide included 50 items across five structured categories per domain to support clinical instruction, including artificial intelligence (AI) prompts and a clinical exemplar. After IRB approval, expert nurse educator consensus was derived via Delphi method with both quantitative ratings using four-point Likert scales as well as qualitative feedback. Expert content validity was measured using the content validity index (CVI) at both the item (I-CVI) and scale (S-CVI) levels, with revisions made until the threshold of 0.83 or higher was met.

Results

The FRAME teaching guide for clinical educators contains five components for each of the 10 AACN domains, with the last component being a clinical exemplar. The FRAME guide highlights which components can be used in pre-conference, during the clinical, and in post-conference. After three Delphi rounds, the scale achieved excellent content validity (S-CVI = 0.994) with all items exceeding the I-CVI threshold of 0.83

Conclusion

The FRAME guide offers CIs a structured, competency-based resource that closes the gap between classroom learning and clinical application by bringing the AACN Essentials directly to the bedside. By aligning clinical teaching with national standards, it promotes student engagement, critical thinking, and readiness for professional nursing practice. Refined through expert review using the Delphi method, the FRAME guide is easy to implement, requires minimal CI training, and adapts seamlessly to diverse hospital-based clinical settings thus ensuring the AACN Essentials are integrated not only in didactic learning but also in clinical practice.