Establishing competency-based measures for Department of Veterans Affairs post-graduate nurse practitioner residencies.

Background: In the past decade, numerous nurse residency models have been created and implemented nationwide; however, validated specialty-specific competency standards have not been established to evaluate Nurse Practitioner (NP) resident core competencies.

Purpose: To report the specialty-specific competency assessment tool devised to assess Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) NP residents' competencies and discuss the VA NP residency program's effectiveness in expanding new graduate NP knowledge and skills in the veteran-centric care setting.

Methods: The VA Nursing Academic Partnership NP residency faculty established and piloted a web-based Nurse Practitioner Resident Competency Assessment (NPRCA) instrument for the comprehensive, specialty-specific assessment of individual NP resident's skill competencies across 24 areas.

Program Profile: The Expansion of Associated Health Training in the VA.

Purpose: Approximately 21,000 US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health professions trainees per year are in associated health (AH) occupations. We describe the VA Office of Academic Affiliation's expansion of AH education in recent years and highlight the importance of increasing AH education broadly in the United States. Our focus is on the growing role of AH education in the VA over the past decade by describing the demand for AH professionals in all clinical settings; scope of funded AH training in the VA; and targeted AH education expansion efforts.