ANCC Frustrations

[APike]

I have been an FNP since 2011 and am now enrolled in a DNP/PMHNP program. I completed all of the PMHNP didactic and clinical work in May 2020. I passed PMHNP boards September 1, 2020. I am one class away from completing my DNP (final portion of project) and was supposed to graduate in December, however I lost my job due to COVID (and therefore my project site) on September 29. The DNP program decided that it would be best for me to withdraw from the final class and complete it in the Spring. ANCC is refusing to release my PMHNP certification because my transcript does not have a final graduation date. It took 3 weeks to even get them to respond to my questions, and I am extremely frustrated with them. The dean and associate director of my nursing program have sent in a gap analysis as well as PMHNP program completion verification, but they are still refusing to release my certification. I feel like I am being punished for going for the DNP! Anyone have a similar experience? I am supposed to start a new PMHNP position on November 17 and don’t know what to do!

[Neuro Guy NP, DNP, PhD, APRN]

On 11/6/2020 at 8:00 PM, londonflo said:

ANCC is in NO Way an academic institution and are really just $ for certification. Have they helped RNs during the pandemic at all besides providing webinars of dubious value? I also paid into the ANA thinking they were helping my profession until I attended a convention where they provided no responsibility for speakers not showing up or communicating the absense to the audience waiting (BTW they were not aware of the speaker's absence and were rude when I pointed out to them I had waited 15 minutes for the speaker to show up rather than attending another speaker). The ANCC is just a money grab.

I obtained ANCC certification in the early years without all this workshop etc stuff. Afterwards I never heard from them unless it involved more money.."Renew today for another 5 years"  when I still had 2 more years before renewal. With the pandemic they have had a great forum for helping nurses....oh, I forgot they boast about writing letters (that probably arrived and were unread)

Actually one way the ANA helped was arranging with several hotel chains to allow nurses to stay for free in all their hotels to allow for nurses responding to the COVID crisis to not have to worry about finances of a extended stay away from home. I know of many who took advantage of this opportunity as they helped us out. I'm sure they did other things. So maybe next time you should look into it a bit more before claiming they did nothing. 

And you're right. ANCC, division of ANA, is not an academic institution but a credentialing body so not sure what the point of that assertion was. I'm sorry you had a negative experience at a conference. I can't speak on that one.

[londonflo]

9 hours ago, Neuro Guy NP said:

Actually one way the ANA helped was arranging with several hotel chains to allow nurses to stay for free in all their hotels to allow for nurses responding to the COVID crisis to not have to worry about finances of a extended stay away from home.

I am glad to hear of this and hopefully it was arranged in the spirit of the essential goodness of helping although the PPP requirements and tax-write offs may have come into play. But that was a win for the nurses.

 

9 hours ago, Neuro Guy NP said:

I'm sure they did other things. So maybe next time you should look into it a bit more before claiming they did nothing. 

I didn't mention all my involvement with my local state unit as the subject of the post was the ANCC. I served in an office for my district and represented the organization in several local and state committees for years. There was a time I was all gung ho. Dissolution set in as my involvement always involved me paying large sums for expenses needed to complete the work (nothing was ever reimbursed) and communication with in the state was incomprehensible. When administrations changed, everything pending was dropped or forgotten and there were frequent administrative changes.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

On 11/3/2020 at 3:12 PM, APike said:

Actually, I do have a degree, a Master’s in nursing that I completed with my FNP in 2011. All of the required PMHNP courses have been completed and they do have a copy of my MSN transcript as well. 

I enrolled in my DNP in Fall of 2014; as I was a graduate of the MENP program at DePaul (and thus already had my MS in nursing) the plan I was given by my SON was to finish my FNP-core, they'd issue a post-master's certificate, and then I'd finish out the DNP while starting to work as an FNP.

However, sometime in 2015 I was sat down by my program director who told me that the powers-what-is were apparently concerned that people with masters in nursing wouldn't complete the DNP without the carrot of their APN certifications being held in the balance, and so all the major certifying bodies had decided that they would not credential without completing the program.  It was 100% total BS - and it reveals the disconnect between the push for the DNP and what the workforce actually wants.  The fact that AACN et al. backed down from mandating DNP-as-entry the same year just added salt to the wound.  The only small upside was that I was able to sit for boards prior to graduation before all my mental knowledge went stale.

And yes, it totally sucked - if I had hit the job market an extra 1.5 years early, I probably would've gotten one of the last ED NP jobs before all the major groups stopped hiring non-ENP new grads.

What essentially needs to happen is that those of us in the initial group of DNP-as-entry cohorts need to advance up the ranks of academia and professional associations, and dismantle half of this crap from the inside.

[APike]

This is exactly how I feel right now. I am fortunate to only have one course left, but a lot of work to do since I lost my project site (due to COVID and job loss). So, my entire demographic will change as well. Like you said, I have no choice but to finish the DNP this semester. I am so thankful that my new psych/MH position has allowed me to start as an FNP. 

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

I feel like you school should allow you the MSN post masters option. They may be "different programs" however I would wager that the entire curriculum content of their MSN postmasters is a " subset" of their DNP curriculum (meaning that you have had all of the required courses for the MSN). I would petition the Dean and even the school President for an exception on these matters.   Also, some states like California do not in my understanding require "Board Certification" so that might be another option (although they have a quagmire of other restrictions such as obtaining a "furnishing" license). 

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

28 minutes ago, myoglobin said:

I feel like you school should allow you the MSN post masters option.

The problem is that the school has ZERO control over the situation.  All the certification boards have sat down and declared that you MUST complete the program for which you enrolled.  They don't care if you "change programs".  I guarantee that the school would love to cut OP a post-master's certificate and be done with the matter...but ANCC et al. will just sit on it until they have OP's DNP transcripts in hand.  The certifying board may let OP test upon receiving notification that they have a prior master's in nursing and have completed all clinical requirements for the new certification (or, at least, AANPCB will), but even then they will not issue the certification until they have a transcript showing that OP has completed their DNP.

[APike]

You are correct. The dean of the graduate nursing program even sent them a letter stating that I had completed all requirements for the PMHNP certificate. It didn’t help. So, I’m stuck waiting until Spring to resume my last DNP course/project so I can hopefully be done with the whole thing! 

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

They won't even let you test and then embargo the result until you finish your program?  That's a bummer.  AANPCB did that for people from my program in our shared situation; but then ANCC plays by their own rules.