Nursing: Utilizing Exxat Prism for AACN Essentials Tracking

This webinar focused on how nursing programs can leverage Exxat Prism to map and track the AACN Essentials as they transition to competency-based education. A collaborative discussion between guest expert Dr. Randolph Rasch (former Dean of the College of Nursing at Michigan State University) and Dr. Vishaka Bhave (VP of Customer Experience at Exxat), the 90-minute session walked attendees through three core areas: aligning curriculum with the AACN Essentials, building an assessment framework to measure outcomes, and analyzing competency achievement through qualitative and quantitative reporting. 

View the Slide Deck

Key Takeaways:

1. Alignment beats redesign. Most programs already cover the AACN Essentials in their existing curriculum — the work is in aligning, identifying gaps, and filling them rather than rebuilding from scratch. Dr. Rasch emphasized "don't add content; align what you have" across didactic, clinical lab, and clinical rotation buckets.

    

2. Tracking exposure is not the same as measuring achievement. Patient logs, time sheets, and activity logs demonstrate that students were exposed to experiences, but only evaluations, exams, and assessments by faculty or preceptors can demonstrate that students have actually achieved competencies. Exxat Prism supports both, but programs must keep the distinction clear.

    

3. Exxat Prism centralizes fragmented data into one source of truth. Standards like the AACN Essentials, NONPF competencies, QSEN KSAs, and track-specific competencies come pre-populated, with AI-aided mapping (via Leo), customizable program-specific standards, and a wide range of granular and bird's-eye reports — replacing the scattered Excel sheets many administrators and faculty currently juggle. 

    

4. The competency dashboard is a sandbox until you publish it. Administrators have full control over thresholds, mappings, and configurations, and students don't see their individual competency reports until the framework is officially published. This means programs can experiment freely without risk of breaking student-facing data.

    

5. Continuous quality improvement, not just accreditation. Real-time reporting allows programs to identify struggling students and curricular gaps as they happen rather than scrambling at self-study time. Upcoming features include class-level performance insights, granular didactic exam-question mapping (June), and LMS integrations starting with Canvas.

Your Presenters:

Dr. Randolph Rasch, Professor and former 9th Dean of the College of Nursing at Michigan State University and Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), brings over thirty years of experience teaching across BSN, MSN, DNP, and PhD programs, along with extensive professional service including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Board of Directors and the AACN/AONL Taskforce on Academic-Practice Partnerships. He has led nursing program accreditation reviews and program evaluations at multiple universities nationwide, making him uniquely positioned to discuss how nursing programs can strengthen outcomes tracking, meet accreditation standards, and leverage tools like Exxat Prism to streamline essentials mapping and clinical education management.

Dr. Vishakha Bhave, Exxat's Vice President of Customer Experience, who has over 17 years of teaching, service, and scholarship experience. Her academic background includes roles such as Associate Professor at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy. Having served on curriculum, assessment, and accreditation self study committees, she is able to marry academia needs with product design. She currently leads the strategic direction of Exxat products, ensuring robust support and product fit to enable management of all aspects of higher education programs, including student success and accreditation.