RNC-NIC (Neonatal Critical Care Certification)

[cardmd]

Hello fellow nurses! Can anyone tell me the difference between the American Association of Critical Care Nurses certification and the National Certification Corporation? I'm looking to become certified in my specialty, RN Neonatal Intensive Care.

Thanks.

[Nori.Giselle]

I'm not certified however I've read that RNC is more popular. I believe there are already a few threads on this topic.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

They are pretty equivalent. I took them 3 years ago. Why both? My BSN program would (and did) give me 4 college credits for getting certified, but they only acknowledged CCRN. But 4 college credits for $300 testing fee, not bad!!

My employer would not recognize CCRN-NIC, they only recognized RNC. I took them about a month apart.

In my opinion, I thought CCRN was slightly more challenging, but not dramatically so.

My CCRN is expiring next I have no reason to maintain it. I've been working on my RNC credits and just have to pay them their fees when it comes for renewal.

So besides the prestige of having the certification, my employer reimbursed me my RNC testing fees plus a $500 bonus. They will give me another $500 bonus when I renew, a way for them to help with those expensive CEs.