New Certification Credentials to Be Issued from NCC

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

just received this from the national certification corporation (ncc). please note for future reference. everyone currently certified as any of the following should receive new credentials by the end of april, 2008.

based on a need to better recognize the specialty focus of certification and to make certificates of added qualification more transparent to the public, the ncc board of directors has decided to change the credentials that are issued for all ncc certification specialty examinations as follows:

core certification examinations

these examinations currently include those certified as rncs in a nursing specialty area. the rnc designation will be retained but a specialty component will be added for each specialty certification as follows:

inpatient obstetric nursing — rnc–ob

maternal newborn nursing — rnc–mnn

reproductive endocrinology and infertility nursing* — rnc-rein

ambulatory women's health care nursing* — rnc–awhc

high risk obstetric nursing* — rnc-hrob

*for those certified under the ana–mch/ncc joint certification program from 1976–1979, the singular rnc credential will remain as this certification covered core and subspecialty content in a wide variety of areas.

certificates of added qualification

currently no added designation is provided to those earning a certificate of added qualification. based on input from those holding the certificate of added qualification and the increasing need for professionals to have a method to publicly demonstrate their added expertise, the board has now designated the following credentials for certificate of added qualifications as follows:

electronic fetal monitoring — c–efm

menopause clinician* — c–mc

menopause educator* — c–me

breastfeeding* — c–bf

gynecologic reproductive health* — c–grh

obstetrics for primary care providers* — c–ob

*these exams are no longer offered

advanced practice certification designation

aligning with recent decisions of other national nursing certification organizations, ncc adopted a more universal credential to designate advanced practice that will make it more understandable to the public and to emphasize the specialty area of expertise. the previous credential was rnc. the new credentials will be:

women’s health care nurse practitioner — whnp–bc

the whnp will highlight the specialty and bc stands for board certified, a shorthand terminology that is commonly used to explain certification to the public.

these new credential designations will go into effect may 1, 2008. new certificates will be issued to each ncc certified professional during february through april 2008.

the webpage is currently unavailable, but you can see the announcement here:

http://www.nccnet.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1