certified neonatal nurses 8) here

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 21, 2013

An NNP is an advanced practice degree at the master's level that makes you a neonatal nurse practitioner. It's not a certification like CCRN. The other exam I found was the RNC-NIC through the NCC. You can get practice exams/study resources for the CCRN at the AACN website.

I think the prices of these tests are horrendous - they know in many cases we need it (I need it to make the next rank as I'm an active duty military RN) and I think it's a racket, IMHO. And I'll still be paying it, regardless...*sigh*

NicuGal, MSN, RN · May 21, 2013

More places recognize RNC-NIC over CCRN.

I am not crazy about their modules. I'd like to see them more geared towards nursing.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 22, 2013

It's a lot like being in nursing school again and yep, it doesn't feel like there's much being spit out in the way of practice. And I'm just cracking books for it (PCCN). It's a lot of fact cramming - or at least that's what I see so far.

Good information about the RNC-NIC.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · May 22, 2013

I'm one of those lucky people that will likely be taking both tests. First of all, everything I've read says the content of the tests is the same. I get this from multiple study guides that all claim to prep for either a RNC-NIC or CCRN (neonatal). Why am I being silly enough to take both tests?

Well, in my RN to BSN pursuits, I will get credit for a nursing elective if I prove I have my specialty certification. The only one the college accepts for NICU is CCRN. All the nursing electives my college offered were of no interest or relevance to me and those would run about $1200 plus books and involve 2-4 papers. The test ran about $300 and is completely relevant to my field.

My hospital is Magnet-certified and encourages their nurses to obtain their specialty certification. The only one they recognize for neonatal is . . . RNC-NIC. Got to love it right? I get reimbursed the roughly $300 if I pass so that's good. Ironically, they accept CCRN for other specialties (like adult ICU, though I'm not sure exactly which specialties, just knew it wasn't NICU).

Good news is that I just took the CCRN last week and passed (!!!) and have now applied to take the RNC-NIC. Figure I might as well know them both out while I'm all studied up. I will likely never renew my CCRN as my hospital doesn't care about that certification and I'll be graduated by then.