What is a CCRNA

nurseyperson · Apr 22, 2000

CCRN stands for Critical Care Registered Nurse, the certification in critical care. Never heard of it with an "A"

BJA · Apr 23, 2000

The AACN (the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses) issues the CCRN certification as a credential indicating a level of competency in critical care nursing. They insist that CCRN does not stand for anything. They make this statement in their literature. I used a little "cut and paste" for their quote.

CCRN® is a registered service mark of the AACN Certification Corporation and denotes certification in critical care nursing as granted by the AACN Certification Corporation. Registered nurses who have not achieved CCRN certification status or whose CCRN status has lapsed are not authorized to use the CCRN credential. Although a common misconception, the letters CCRN do not stand for "critical care registered nurse". To use the credential in such a way suggests that nurses are REGISTERED as critical care nurses, when in fact that is not true. Registration is a legal matter between a nurse and the state he or she practices in.

from AACN website.

You can see their website at AACN.

I know, I know, it is common usage and all that. I have always wondered why they would issue a credential with those particular letters, and then say they did not stand for Critical Care Registered Nurse. Maybe someone else can come up with an answer for that.

[This message has been edited by BJA (edited April 22, 2000).]

CANRN, MSN, RN · Apr 23, 2000

a CRNA is a nurse anesthesist I am not sure but I think it's Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesist. I have a friend who is a CRNA. not sure what the extra C means!

Hope this helps

[This message has been edited by bshort (edited April 24, 2000).]

AmyRN1227 · Apr 23, 2000

Well thanks everyone---

Originally I was doing some research on the specialty of nurse anesthetists and that's when I was running across it. So that's what I thought, that it was for an abbreviation for a nurse anesthetist...just didn't know what the extra C was for!

Thanks!!!