NICU certification

Specialties NICU

Published

Any interst? Not much in my unit. I've been plannig since I started the unit, but why are most RN's not interested? If you pass the hospital pays?

Come on guys!

Specializes in NICU, ER/Trauma.
Some of my coworkers who took the highrisk said that they had like 2 resp questions.....which didnt make any sense. They all felt like it was not representative of the outline at all.. I guess because we took all 160, it was easy to determine percentages from each category. They said they had a ton of fluid/elecrolyte questions, but no heart and 2 respiratory. The biggest thing we deal with in a high risk nicu is respiratory.

mine was mostly cardiac, with some GI and a lot of respiratory thrown in. Had only one calculation and a bunch of ABGs. It's the luck of the draw for what questions you get. They randomly pull the 160 questions from a question bank for each test.

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Is NICU certification just for RN's or is there an option for LVN/LPN?

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Specializes in NICU.

RN licensure is required for both CCRN and RNC.

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How many NICU certifications are there and what are they? im late, ik!!

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Specializes in NICU.

How things do change! This was started in 2006, and next year, certification is going to be mandatory in our NICU. That is the joy of becoming a Magnet hospital. No, there won't be any increase in pay.

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Specializes in NICU.

I obtained my RNC in neonatal intensive care in Nov. 1990, because of personal interest in this field of nursing. NICU nursing has always been my first love, and I wanted to learn as much as I could about it. It was also a way for me to to remain up to date on advancing technologies in this field.I worked as an NICU nurse for 30½ years, until I was forced to stop working in Dec. 2010, due to health reasons.

At the time I sat for my exams,our hospital reimbursed you for its' cost if you passed. You also received a 2.5% raise. In early 2011, the hospital changed the way it "rewarded" nurses who obtained their certification. It is trying to acheive magnet status. You are still reimbursed for the exam if you pass it, but now you are given a one-time check of $1000, minus taxes. No raise.

I am glad that I took the certification exams when I did. I renewed my RNC in Dec. 2011. When it comes up for renewal in 2014, I will go to an RNC-Emeritus status, since I am now retired from nursing. I miss my job. :dummy::dummy1:

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My hospital encourages you to go for certification when you are eligible. They pay for the exam and you get an extra $2400 a year in your salary.

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Specializes in NICU.

Personally, I have had interest in becoming certified since I first became a nurse... that being said, the first hospital I worked at strongly encouraged it. Now that I've been in NICU for a year (before that L&D, M/B w/ level II NICU), I think I am going to start studying.... I really want to take it at the 2 year mark - may look good on an application for NNP school....

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