The AACN domains for DNP scholarly work are the ten domains of the 2021 AACN Essentials, assessed at Level 2, the advanced tier. Your DNP project is usually the main evidence that you meet them.
This guide explains how Level 2 differs from entry-level competence, which domains a DNP project carries most heavily, and how to write your project so the alignment is obvious rather than implied.
What Level 2 Looks Like in a DNP Project
At Level 2, you do more than appraise evidence. You lead its translation into practice, measure the effect on a real system and plan how the change will last.
A DNP project usually carries Domain 4 (Scholarship), Domain 5 (Quality and Safety), Domain 6 (Interprofessional Partnerships) and Domain 7 (Systems-Based Practice) most heavily, and touches the other six. Write in Level 2 verbs such as lead, design, implement, evaluate, sustain and disseminate, and map each section to the competencies your program names.
The 2021 AACN Essentials in Brief
In 2021 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing replaced its separate baccalaureate, master's and DNP Essentials with one competency-based framework. It applies across professional nursing education and is organized into ten domains, eight featured concepts and two levels of sub-competencies.
The ten domains are:
- Knowledge for Nursing Practice
- Person-Centered Care
- Population Health
- Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline
- Quality and Safety
- Interprofessional Partnerships
- Systems-Based Practice
- Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
- Professionalism
- Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development
Each domain contains competencies, and each competency has sub-competencies written for Level 1 and Level 2. Programs are moving to competency-based assessment at different speeds, so the exact template you use will come from your school, not from AACN directly.
Level 1 and Level 2: What Changes
Level 1 sub-competencies describe entry into professional nursing practice. Level 2 sub-competencies describe advanced nursing education, which covers master's and DNP programs. Level 2 builds on Level 1 rather than replacing it.
| Aspect | Level 1 (entry level) | Level 2 (advanced level) |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence | Finds, appraises and applies evidence to care | Leads the translation of evidence into practice and policy |
| Scope | Patient, family or unit | Organization, system or population |
| Quality work | Takes part in improvement activity | Designs, leads and evaluates improvement initiatives |
| Teams | Contributes to the interprofessional team | Builds and leads interprofessional partnerships |
| Data | Uses information systems to document and monitor care | Uses data and technology to measure outcomes and drive change |
| Typical verbs | Apply, participate, describe, use | Lead, design, translate, evaluate, sustain, disseminate |
Because master's and DNP graduates share Level 2, the doctoral difference shows in depth and scale. Your project should show system-level thinking, rigorous evaluation and leadership of the change.
Mapping All Ten Domains to a DNP Project
A well-designed project gives evidence for every domain somewhere. The table shows typical Level 2 evidence and where it usually sits in the written project. Chapter names vary by program.
| Domain | Level 2 evidence in a DNP project | Usual location |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Knowledge for Nursing Practice | A theory or framework that explains the problem and guides the intervention | Framework section |
| 2. Person-Centered Care | An intervention designed around patient preferences and outcomes | Intervention and outcomes |
| 3. Population Health | Outcomes for a defined panel, unit population or community, with equity considered | Problem statement and results |
| 4. Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline | Synthesis and translation of evidence, plus dissemination | Evidence review and dissemination plan |
| 5. Quality and Safety | A measurable quality or safety aim, tracked with appropriate measures | Aims, methods and results |
| 6. Interprofessional Partnerships | Stakeholder engagement and a team that shares the implementation | Implementation and setting |
| 7. Systems-Based Practice | Organizational assessment, cost or resource considerations and a sustainability plan | Needs assessment and discussion |
| 8. Informatics and Healthcare Technologies | Use of the electronic health record, dashboards or other data sources to measure change | Data collection |
| 9. Professionalism | Ethical review, confidentiality and accountable leadership | Ethics section |
| 10. Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development | Reflection on your leadership and plans for continued growth | Reflection or final chapter |
The Four Domains a DNP Project Leans on Most
Most committees look hardest at four domains, because they describe what a practice doctorate is for: putting evidence to work in a real setting.
- Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline: the project is an act of evidence translation, so your synthesis and your dissemination plan carry this domain.
- Quality and Safety: a clear aim with a baseline, a measure and a target shows that the change was evaluated, not just introduced.
- Interprofessional Partnerships: name who you worked with and what each group contributed, from frontline staff to pharmacy or IT.
- Systems-Based Practice: show you understood the organization, its resources and its constraints, and that the change can survive after you leave.
This emphasis is also what separates a DNP project from a PhD dissertation. A PhD generates new knowledge through original research, while a DNP project translates existing knowledge into practice and measures the result. Our overview of the DNP scholarly project covers that distinction in more detail.
The Eight Featured Concepts
Alongside the domains, the Essentials name eight concepts that should run through the whole curriculum. Committees increasingly expect to see them woven into the project rather than bolted on.
| Concept | Where it can show in your project |
|---|---|
| Clinical judgment | How the intervention supports better decisions at the point of care |
| Communication | Staff education, handover tools and stakeholder updates |
| Compassionate care | Attention to patient experience in the design |
| Diversity, equity and inclusion | Subgroup outcomes, language access and who might be left out |
| Ethics | Ethical review, consent where needed and fair use of data |
| Evidence-based practice | The appraisal and synthesis behind the intervention |
| Health policy | Organizational policy changes or regulatory drivers |
| Social determinants of health | Factors such as transport, housing or literacy that affect outcomes |
How to Build a Competency Map
Some programs require a formal competency map as an appendix. Even where it is optional, building one is a quick way to find gaps before your committee does.
- Copy the exact competency wording from your program's template or handbook.
- For each competency, name the project activity that demonstrates it.
- Point to the evidence: a page, table, appendix or measure.
- Mark any competency with weak or no evidence, and decide how to strengthen it.
- Check the map against the final draft, since page numbers and content shift during revision.
Example map entry (Domain 5, Quality and Safety). Competency: use established quality improvement methods to improve outcomes. Project activity: led three Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to introduce a nurse-driven catheter removal protocol on a 32-bed medical unit. Evidence: run chart of catheter days per 1,000 patient days across 12 weeks (Results, Figure 2); cycle log (Appendix D).
Notice that the entry names an action you led, a setting, a method and a specific piece of evidence. Vague entries such as "applied QI principles" give a committee nothing to check.
Writing at Level 2 Depth
Many projects lose credibility through their wording. If the text describes what others did, or summarizes evidence without showing your role, Level 2 competence stays invisible.
| Level 1 phrasing | Level 2 phrasing |
|---|---|
| Reviewed articles on falls prevention | Synthesized 14 studies to select and adapt a falls bundle for the unit |
| Staff were educated | Designed and delivered training to 46 nurses and tracked completion |
| Outcomes improved | Evaluated fall rates per 1,000 patient days against a 6-month baseline |
| The team supported the project | Led a working group of nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy leads |
Use real numbers from your own project only. Never round up participation or outcomes to make a domain look stronger; committees and auditors check source data.
Where Alignment Usually Breaks Down
- Stopping at implementation: without evaluation and a sustainability plan, Quality and Safety and Systems-Based Practice look thin.
- Hidden partnerships: interprofessional work happened but the write-up never names it.
- Theory as decoration: a framework appears in chapter two and never returns, which weakens Domain 1.
- No dissemination plan: Domain 4 expects you to share findings, through a poster, presentation, report to leadership or manuscript.
- Missing reflection: Domain 10 often needs explicit reflection on your leadership, which programs may assess separately.
Like ivy, good alignment grows from deep roots: a project anchored in its framework and evidence carries the domains naturally, and the map simply makes that visible.
How IvyDrafts Helps with AACN Alignment
Send your project draft or proposal, your program's competency template, the handbook section on the scholarly project and any committee feedback. A writer with doctoral nursing experience produces a custom competency map, a rewritten section in Level 2 language, or an edited chapter with comments on where alignment is weak.
We work only with your real project details. We never invent data, practice hours, outcomes or experience, and custom work is for study and reference as you revise your own document. Free revisions within the scope of your original request are included.
Make Your Level 2 Competence Easy to See
Send your project draft, handbook and competency template. Your writer returns a custom section or competency map that ties each part of the project to the domains.
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Frequently Asked Questions
They are the ten domains of the 2021 AACN Essentials, ranging from Knowledge for Nursing Practice to Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development. Each contains competencies with Level 1 and Level 2 sub-competencies.
Level 1 describes entry-level professional nursing. Level 2 describes advanced nursing education, including master's and DNP programs, and expects leadership of evidence translation and system change.
Yes. Both are assessed against Level 2 sub-competencies, and specialty competencies are added on top. The DNP difference usually shows in the scale, rigor and leadership of the scholarly project.
Scholarship, Quality and Safety, Interprofessional Partnerships and Systems-Based Practice usually carry the most weight, but a strong project gives evidence for all ten.
It depends on your program. Some require a map or portfolio entry for each competency; others assess alignment through the project itself. Check your handbook.
Requirements are set by your program within AACN guidance and specialty standards. Many programs still work towards the long-standing benchmark of 1,000 post-baccalaureate practice hours, so confirm your own requirement and count only hours you actually completed.
Describe the actions you led, the people you coordinated and the decisions you made, with evidence. Then reflect on what you learned as a leader.
Not really. The concepts are meant to run through the domains, and committees often ask about equity, ethics and social determinants even when a project is strong on measures.