List of Certifications

[Wolverine]

Hello,

I am currently going to school and plan to become a nurse. I am researching the different certifications that are available to RNs. When an RN says they are certified in a given specialty, what exactly do they mean? do they mean board certified? If so, is there one set of board certifications that are available/recognized, or are there an infinite number of "certifications".

What I am looking for is a comprehensive list of all possible certifications, but I guess I truly need to understand, specifically, what one means when they say "certified".

If you can point me to a comprehensive list, that would be great.

Thanks in advance!

-Heather Janes

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

One of the certifications is from the credentialling center below:

http://www.nursingworld.org/ancc/

Certification is not something you need to worry about now. They all require experience and continuing education before you can be accepted to test for certification. There are literally dozens of areas to get credentialed in. Most people just focus in on the area that they work in. I personally don't know anyone with more than one certification in a specialty. I have mine in "Medical Surgical Nursing" woot!

This is only one, there are a myriad of initials one can have after their RN. Good luck.

[Wolverine]

certification is not something you need to worry about now. they all require experience and continuing education before you can be accepted to test for certification.

thanks for the reply. i am more interested in just finding out what is out there... not worrying about it, per se... just trying to understand, specifically, how it works. is there one set of certifications that is universally accepted (in the u.s), or are there several different ways to acquire certification in areas and therefore several different ways that these certifications are perceived by employers, etc?

i guess that is my main question.... (and if there is a set of universally accepted certs, is the info at http://www.nursingworld.org/ancc/ "the list" ?)

thanks again!

-heather

[elkpark]

certification is available in most nursing specialties. Yes, it is the equivalent of being "Board certified" in medicine. Most of the certifications are handled by the ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center), which is the website he suggested. A few certifications are offered through the professional organization of that specialty (I believe that the pediatric nurse practitioner cert is one example of that, unless it has changed recently). Most certifications require that you have been working in the specialty field for some specific amount of time (I think two years is pretty typical) before you are eligible to write the exam. Employers have very different opinions about the value of certification -- some pay you more, some assist with expenses in getting certified, some jobs require certification to get the job, some employers couldn't care less.