Want to get IV certification

[kms51292]

I am a new nurse (BSN, been working for about 6 months now) and am wanting to get IV certification. How do I go about doing this? I am having a difficult time finding programs and when I do how do I know if they are accredited programs? If not I am also interested in cardiac-vascualar nursing certificate program but I think I need to have 2 years experience. Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated!

[Asystole RN]

There are certifications and certificates. Certifications are earned titles that demonstrate a certain level of knowledge and experience in a given specialty area. These are trademarked titles that are held by various companies such as INCC who own the certification of CRNI or Certified Registered Nurse Infusion.

For most certifications you need a minimum practice time (year(s)) within the specialty before you can even apply, in the case of the CRNI it is 1,600 practice hours within infusion therapy. See Welcome to INCC - Infusion Nurses Certification Corporation for further detail.

If you want to know what the certification for a given specialty is then look into that specialty's professional nursing organization, in the case of IV certifications the Infusion Nurses Society (INS) is the main group. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has a large collection of certifications that it holds sway over, they will point you in the direction of the group that now control the certification if they have given it up. This is also the group that controls the famous "Magnet Status."

As far as a certificate like one that an IV course would give you there are many choices. These classes are generally geared towards LPN/LVNs simply because RNs do not need further education to administer IV medications. They are generally not "accredited" like a nursing program but many offer CEUs. Check you local board of nursing for requirements.