In Brief: Georgetown Professors Develop First-of-Its-Kind Mastery Rubric for Nurse Practitioners

November 7, 2019 – An article published today in the journal PLOS ONE highlights the collective work of several Georgetown University faculty members to develop a Mastery Rubric for Nurse Practitioners.

“A [mastery rubric] describes the explicit knowledge, skills, and abilities as performed by the individual moving from novice (student) through graduation and into the APRN career,” the article’s abstract reads.

The interdisciplinary team that created the rubric includes corresponding and lead author Dr. Rochelle E. Tractenberg, Dr. Melody R. Wilkinson, Professor Tiffany P. Pellathy, Dr. Amy Bull, and Professor Joan B. Riley.

While such rubrics have existed previously for other fields, the authors indicate that this is the first time one has been developed for the education of nurse practitioners. 

In creating the Mastery Rubric for Nurse Practitioners, the authors evaluated current nurse practitioner competencies and developed a curricular trajectory for faculty and students to follow to assess mastery of those competencies during the course of the educational program. 

The trajectory also illuminates a path for nurse practitioner competency attainment and evaluation following graduation, including within careers and professional development opportunities.   

“The [Mastery Rubric for Nurse Practitioners] provides the first articulated and observable developmental trajectory for the NP competencies, during and beyond the formal curriculum,” the abstract states. 

Learn more about the study by visiting the journal’s website.