How to become Certified in Med Surg

Specialties Med-Surg

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Specializes in Medical Surgical-Oncology.

Hello, I have a question about becoming certified. I am a medical surgical nurse now for 3 years. I work in a busy inpatient unit at a hospital. That is the only experience of nursing that I have so far. I am interested on becoming a certified medical surgical nurse. My educator told me that there are two ways/exams to be certified. I wanted to know which are the two different ways and do I need to take these two exams? If I only need to take one which one should I take? And how do I go about studying for this test. I took kaplan for nclex. I don't know if I should be doing something similar for these types of exams. Please let me know. Any comments and advice will be very appreciated. Thank you for your time.

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Specializes in CMSRN.

I think it's great that you want to become certified! I am in no way trying to be rude but this information is readily available through a simple google search. That should definitely be the first option to look for information like that and will save you a lot of time.

There are two certification options including the MSNCB, Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board, and the ANCC, American Nurses Credentialing Center. You may want to check with your facility to see if they have a contract or preference as to the certification you receive. For example, my facility works with the MSNCB and by following the instructions given, I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket for my certification. As far as studying goes, there are live options (similar to going to a Kaplan review) in preparation for the exam but again, you may want to check with your facility to see if they will cover that education expense, as they can be a bit pricey. Outside of that, you will want to get the certification review book for the type of exam you are going to take and use any other resources, such as free online testing, to fill in the blanks. Good luck!

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Specializes in Medical Surgical-Oncology.

Thank you so much for your reply. :) It helped guide me into making my decision. My nurse educator let me know that we have a contract with ANCC, therefore, the exam will be waived. :up: Again, thank you for your advice. :nurse:

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Specializes in CMSRN.
Thank you so much for your reply. :) It helped guide me into making my decision. My nurse educator let me know that we have a contract with ANCC, therefore, the exam will be waived. :up: Again, thank you for your advice. :nurse:

That's great! I'm so glad it worked out that way. Good luck!!

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