Nursing credentials and certifications


Nursing credentials and certifications are the various credentials and certifications that a person must have to practice nursing legally. Nurses' postnominal letters reflect their credentials—that is, their achievements in nursing education, licensure, certification, and fellowship. The letters usually appear in the following order:
Generally credentials are listed from most to least permanent. A degree, once earned, cannot, in normal circumstances, be taken away. State licensure is only revoked for serious professional misconduct. Certifications generally must be periodically renewed by examination or the completion of a prescribed number of continuing education units. This is often called maintenance of certification.
Nurses may also hold non-nursing credentials including academic degrees. These are usually omitted unless they are related to the nurse's job. For instance, those with master's degrees usually do not list their bachelor's degrees, and a staff nurse would likely not list an MBA, but a nurse manager might choose to do so.
Some nurses who achieve a master's degree leave the patient care aspect of nursing, and practice in a more managerial role. An example would be earning an MSN in health care risk management. Such a nurse, while still fully an accredited nurse, will likely become the risk manager for a hospital, working in health administration rather than direct care and perhaps even becoming the director or manager of the risk management department. In this role, he or she may never see another patient except while doing hospital inspections, or perhaps talking to a patient or the patient's family about a quality of care concern. In this role, the nurse becomes something similar to an auditor and a teacher of patient care quality and risk for the entire hospital staff. This nurse likely will also get the certification listed below: CPHQ: Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality.
Nursing credentials are separated from the person's name with commas. There are usually no periods within the credentials.

Nursing certifications

In the United States and Canada, many nurses who choose a specialty become certified in that area, signifying that they possess expert knowledge. There are over 200 nursing specialties and subspecialties. Studies from the Institute of Medicine have demonstrated that specialty-certified nurses have higher rates of patient satisfaction, as well as lower rates of work-related errors in patient care.
Registered nurses are not required to be certified in a certain specialty by law. For example, it is not necessary to be a certified medical-surgical registered nurse to work on a medical-surgical floor, and most med-surg nurses are not CMSRNs. Certifications do, however, instill professionalism and make the nurse more attractive to prospective and current employers. Certified nurses may earn a salary differential over their non-certified colleagues but this is rare.
Some hospitals and other health care facilities are willing to pay a certified nurse extra when he or she works within their specialty. Also, some hospitals may require certain nurses, such as nursing supervisors or lead nurses, be certified. Certification instills confidence in the nurses. Magnet hospitals advocate certifications.

Alphabetical listing of nursing and related credentials and certifications

Key

Throughout the list, the following credentialing organizations are mentioned: