AACN Essentials for BSN, MSN and DNP: What Level 1 and Level 2 Mean

The 2021 AACN Essentials gave BSN, MSN and DNP students one shared framework. What separates the degrees is the level at which each competency is demonstrated.

That raises a fair question once you notice that every student now works with the same ten domains. If the domains are shared, what is actually different about a BSN capstone and a DNP project? This guide answers it with concrete comparisons, an example traced across all three degrees and a way to read your own rubric.

One AACN Essentials Framework for BSN, MSN and DNP

Before 2021 the AACN published three separate documents: the Baccalaureate Essentials (2008), the Master's Essentials (2011) and the DNP Essentials (2006). The 2021 edition replaced all three with a single competency-based model.

The model has the same building blocks at every degree:

• Ten domains, from Knowledge for Nursing Practice to Personal, Professional and Leadership Development.
• Eight concepts that run through the domains: clinical judgment, communication, compassionate care, diversity, equity and inclusion, ethics, evidence-based practice, health policy and social determinants of health.
• Four spheres of care: disease prevention and health promotion, chronic disease care, regenerative or restorative care, and hospice, palliative and supportive care.
• Competencies and sub-competencies under each domain, with sub-competencies written at Level 1 and Level 2.

The point of one framework is progression. Level 2 sub-competencies build on Level 1, so a nurse who moves from BSN to MSN to DNP deepens the same abilities rather than learning a new vocabulary at each step.

Level 1 and Level 2 Explained

The two levels describe the depth of performance expected at graduation, not the topic you choose. Any topic can be handled at either level.

Level 1: Entry-Level Professional Nursing

Level 1 sub-competencies describe what a new professional nurse should be able to do. That includes BSN graduates and graduates of entry-level master's programs that prepare people for first licensure.

In practice, Level 1 work appraises existing evidence and applies it to a defined practice problem. The nurse participates in teams, recognizes quality and safety issues and contributes to improvement on a unit.

Level 2: Advanced-Level Nursing

Level 2 sub-competencies describe nurses prepared for advanced roles: nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse educators, informatics nurses, executives and similar. MSN and DNP programs both sit here.

Level 2 work evaluates and translates evidence, leads others and works at population, organization or system level. On top of Level 2, each specialty or role adds its own competencies, such as national NP role standards.

What Changes from BSN to MSN to DNP

The table summarizes how expectations typically shift across the three degrees. Use it to judge the scope of your own project.

For a closer look at how the capstones themselves differ, see the comparison of BSN and MSN capstones. Programs vary, so treat the data row as typical rather than universal.

One Domain Traced Across Three Degrees

Domain 4, Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline, shows the progression clearly. Here is how a single topic, catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), might look at each level.

Notice how the verbs climb: appraise, then translate, then lead and disseminate. The topic stays the same. The reach of the work and the nurse's role in it grow at each level.

Reading the Level in Your Rubric

Your rubric encodes the level more reliably than the page count does. Look at the verbs in each criterion.

If a criterion asks you to "lead" a change, describing what others should do will not meet it. If it asks you to "apply" evidence, a sweeping system redesign is not required and may cost you on feasibility.

Why Students Pitch the Level Wrong

Two mistakes come up again and again, one at each end of the continuum.

• A DNP project written at BSN depth. The student appraises evidence well but stops before leading change, measuring outcomes or planning how the change will last. That leaves the Level 2 verbs unmet.
• A BSN project that over-reaches. The student proposes a hospital-wide redesign that a baccalaureate project cannot realistically show. A tight, nurse-driven unit improvement is exactly what Level 1 asks for.

Matching the level is not about doing more. It is about showing the right competencies for where you are, with a scope your faculty can believe.

MSN Projects in the Middle

MSN students sometimes write at BSN depth because the structure looks familiar. The usual gap is translation: the paper summarizes evidence but does not adapt it to a specific population or design how it will be put into practice.

Planning Your Project at the Right Level

A short planning check keeps the whole paper at the correct depth. Work through these questions before you write the proposal.

1. Which level does your program say you are demonstrating, Level 1 or Level 2?
2. Which domains does your rubric name, and what verbs sit in each criterion?
3. What is the realistic scope: a unit, a population, a service line or a system?
4. What is your role in the change: proposer, designer or leader?
5. Will you collect data, or propose an evaluation plan? Check your handbook.
6. Does the conclusion match the level, from a recommendation (Level 1) to a sustainability and dissemination plan (DNP)?

Our guide to the ten AACN domains lists the domains in full if you need to map criteria to them.

How NurseCapstone Helps You Write at Your Level

Send your rubric, program level, topic idea and any approved sources. A writer matched to your degree drafts a model capstone or DNP proposal at Level 1 or Level 2 depth, with the scope, verbs and evaluation plan your criteria ask for.

Use it as a reference for your own work. The paper is written from scratch and plagiarism-checked, and free revisions within the scope of your original request are included.