Certifications

Published

Specializes in Med-Surg.

This might be the wrong area for this post.  Remove if necessary. 

Does anyone know which site to go to look into all the certifications that an RN can get?  

I see that ANCC and MSNCB both offer med-surg certification.  I am uncertain as to which one to choose.  

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 11/10/2021 at 2:39 PM, Obiwanwasabi said:

Does anyone know which site to go to look into all the certifications that an RN can get? 

There isn't one. The different certifications are offered by different certifying bodies, and there are dozens of them for hundreds of certifications across various nursing specialties; there isn't any one comprehensive list. The best place to find info about the various certifications is to look on the certifying body's website.

Your best bet to figure out what certifications might work for you is to Google it, post it on AN (which you have), and ask your manager or coworkers about what certifications people on your unit commonly earn.

You can also search to see if there are any other 'specialty' certifications related to your area; for instance, my friend was an ortho med-surg nurse, and she was considering either getting a med-surg certification or an ortho/trauma certification.

On 11/10/2021 at 2:39 PM, Obiwanwasabi said:

I see that ANCC and MSNCB both offer med-surg certification.  I am uncertain as to which one to choose. 

You can compare them between their two websites. Some things to take into consideration are the minimum number of years you need to have worked in the specialty to qualify, how expensive the initial test is, how expensive it is to recertify, how often you have to recertify, and how many CEUs you need to complete in order to recertify. Some are way more expensive than others, some require way more practice hours or CEUs than others.

If there are several, you can also ask your manager which are the most common in your unit. My specialty (NICU) has two specialty certifications, with exam content that covers literally the exact same information. Some of the places I've worked have preferred one, others have preferred the other.

Edit to add: I searched for about two minutes and found this comparison table. I'd take it with a grain of salt, since it's made by company that offers one of the certifications, so they're obviously going to want you to get theirs instead of the other guy's...

https://www.amsn.org/certification/get-certified/certification-comparison

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion