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Abstract AIM This article reports the development and psychometric testing of an instrument to measure academic clinical nurse educator skill acquisition. BACKGROUND Little research explores clinical nurse educator competence. METHOD Using the National League for Nursing Academic Clinical Nurse Educator core competencies and a literature review, newly created clinical nurse educator skill acquisition items underwent two rounds of content validity testing. The resulting 40-item Academic Clinical Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Tool was pilot tested with a convenience sample of 133 clinical nurse educators. RESULTS The Academic Clinical Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Tool demonstrated adequate validity and internal consistency reliability. Factor analysis identified two factors: facilitating clinical learning through the use of effective teaching, assessment, and evaluation and promoting nursing enculturation. CONCLUSION Further use of this tool may provide insight about the psychometrics, offer information about clinical teaching competence, and could lead to improved orientation and mentoring programs for clinical nurse educators.