The CASN National Education Framework provides the basis of the CEBN. The educational outcomes for baccalaureate programs of nursing, referred to as essential components in the framework, are competencies. They incorporate the regulatory entry-to-practice competencies, and were developed by an expert national panel based on an extensive literature review, extensive stakeholder input from all regions of Canada, and a validation survey by a large national sample of educators, clinicians, nurse managers, chief nursing officers, and regulators.
A multi-step process was followed to develop the blueprint:
- The advisory and examination committee members were surveyed to determine whether each essential component should be retained in the blueprint;
- As a result, a small number were removed;
- To provide greater specificity of the essential components for item development, the indicators (observable manifestations) of CASN entry-level specialty area competencies were incorporated (acute care, childbearing person, community health, the older adult, palliative and end-of-life care, mental health and addiction, informatics);
- In addition, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and the Infection Prevention Association of Canada (IPAC) competencies for health professionals were also incorporated as were the national interprofessional education competencies developed by the health professional accreditation bodies of Canada;
- The members of the stakeholder advisory committee who represent CPSI, IPAC, and IPE centres, reviewed and provided input on the blueprint;
- The advisory committee reviewed and revised the blueprint in light of the feedback from the stakeholder advisory committee;
- The examination committee reviewed, revised, and adopted a first draft of the blueprint;
- A national validation survey was conducted assessing the frequency and criticality of each learner outcome to be tested as well as whether the learner outcome is at entry level;
- The survey results were reviewed by the advisory committee. Consistent with the competency based methodology, a data informing approach rather than a data driven one was used in the final revisions.
- The examination committee reviewed the blueprint, made final revisions, and formally adopted it.
