Background: The number of direct care clinical hours (DCCH) required in nurse practitioner education lacks empirical evidence. Purpose: This pilot study established preliminary empirical research examining the DCCH needed to attain the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials Level 2, Domain 2: Person-Centered Care national competencies. Methods: This quantitative study used the Nurse Practitioner Student Competency Assessment instrument to measure Domain 2 subcompetency attainment. Student and university factors were also analyzed. Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients suggest university variability may contribute up to 30%. Pilot findings suggested that DCCH, completing the 3Ps (advanced pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, and advanced health assessment) before clinical placements, and number of clinical sites were positively associated, while higher student-to-faculty ratios were negatively associated with competency attainment. Conclusion: Addressing measurement implementation and university variability are critical areas of development for the proposed national study. A rater-calibrated study is needed to estimate the relative contribution of DCCH to competency attainment.
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Ainslie et al. (2026) studied this question.
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