The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the

American Nurses Association The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is b ...

(ANA), is a

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

body for

nursing board certification Nursing credentials and certifications are the various credentials and certifications that a person must have to practice nursing legally. Nurses' post-nominal letters, postnominal letters (abbreviations listed after the name) reflect their credent ...

and the largest certification body for advanced practice registered nurses in the United States, certifying over 75,000 APRNs, including

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, prescribe medications an ...

s and clinical nurse specialists. ANCC's nursing board certification program is one of the oldest in the USA, and many of its certifications were established before 1980, when nursing certification was still in early developmental stages.

History

In 1966, the American Nursing Association amended its bylaws to allow the creation of certification boards for nurses in various areas of practice. Two years later, the ANC's Nursing Practice Department published a paper promoting certification standards. From the ideas presented in this paper, the Congress for Nursing Practice drafted guidelines for the certification process in 1969. Within a few years, several nursing practice divisions had drafted certification processes based upon these guidelines. In 1973, the ANA announced a national certification program for nursing practice. By 1974, the first certification examinations were administered. Over the following 17 years, the ANA continued to expand its nursing credentialing exams to cover more areas of practice and administration. The ANA decided in 1990 to create the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as a subsidiary nonprofit corporation through which it would sell its certification services and exams. In 1999, the ANCC created an international branch of the organization in order to provide its services outside of the United States. Primary Accreditation Established in 1974, Primary Accreditation recognizes organizations (or components of organizations) that offer continuing education for nurses. This accreditation contributes to health care quality and professional nursing practice by defining standards for the development and delivery of continuing education and by providing a voluntary peer review process to assure compliance.

Services

Other services of the ANCC include an

accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

program for nursing

continuing education Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...

providers and approvers, and the

Magnet Recognition Program The Magnet Recognition Program is a recognition program operated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center that allows nurses to recognize nursing excellence in other nurses. It is considered the highest recognition for nursing excellence. The ...

, which rates medical institutions for their nursing excellence. The ANCC also runs the Pathway to Excellence program to help hospitals improve their working environment for nurses. In 1998, the ANCC created the Institute for Research, Education, and Consultation (IREC), which provides the following services:

, Magnet Recognition Program, Pathway to Excellence, and

Certification-related products and services

# Live review seminars # National study groups # Web-based e-learning # Certification review manuals # Web-based practice questions and answers

Magnet recognition program-related products and services

# Annual National Magnet Conference # Magnet workshops # Consulting services # Web-based e-learning

Pathway to Excellence program-related products and services

# Pathway workshops # Consulting services # Web-based e-learning

Accreditation program-related products and services

# Annual Accreditation Symposium # Consulting services

Certification exams

ANCC offers certification programs in 29 nursing specialties: * Ambulatory care nursing * Cardiac vascular nursing *

Gerontological nursing Gerontological nursing is the specialty of nursing pertaining to older adults. Gerontological nurses work in collaboration with older adults, their families, and communities to support healthy aging, maximum functioning, and quality of life. The ...

* Informatics nursing * Medical-surgical nursing * Nurse Executive (formerly Nursing Administration) * Nursing Case Management * Nursing Professional Development *

Pain Management Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute (medicine), acute and simple to chronic condition, chronic and challenging. Most physici ...

* Pediatric nursing *

Psychiatric and mental health nursing Psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is the appointed position of a nursing, nurse that specialises in mental health, and cares for people of all ages experiencing mental disorder, mental illnesses or mental distress, distress. These includ ...

* Public Health Nursing - Advanced * Acute Care Nurse Practitioner * Adult Nurse Practitioner * Adult Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner * Family Nurse Practitioner * Family Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner * Gerontological Nurse Practitioner * Pediatric Nurse Practitioner ( ANCC no longer offers this certification) * Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist * Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist * Child/Adolescent Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist * Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist * Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist * Advanced Practice Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing * Nurse Executive, Advanced (formerly Nursing Administration, Advanced)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Credentialing Center Healthcare accreditation organizations in the United States Nursing organizations in the United States Medical and health organizations based in Maryland 1991 establishments in the United States