Improvement in patient-care and a decrease in errors have been linked to nursing certification in a new study of American and Canadian nurses.
The study, conducted by the Nursing Credentialing Research Coalition in Washington, D.C., found that certification also has a positive effect on nurses’ earnings.
Currently, 350,000 American and Canadian nurses are certified. To be certified, nurses take exams to attest that they meet certain standards to practice generally or in a particular specialty, such as oncology, pediatrics, gerontology, medical-surgical or obstetrics.
The 19,500 certified registered nurses who participated in the study represented 20 specialties. They worked in such settings as ambulatory care, acute care, occupational health, managed care and education.
The respondents said that after being certified they felt more confident of their ability to detect early signs of complications in patients and to start interventions promptly. They also said their confidence helped them to avoid adverse events.
These findings have special significance in light of a recent Institute of Medicine report indicating that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans each year.
Certified nurses reported increased personal growth and job satisfaction and financial benefits, and they viewed themselves as “credible providers.” Care recipients also see them as more credible: A 1999 study found that 87 percent of patients said they would be more confident about their care if they knew registered nurses were certified.
Ann Cary, the study’s principal investigator, said one of the most surprising findings is that nurses who are certified tend to stay longer in the profession and in their health-care institutions than others.
“Employers should be interested in this finding concerning retention,” said Cary, scholar-in-residence at the American Nurses Credentialing Center, Washington.
What is it that intensifies the proficiency of credentialed registered nurses?
Cary said that because they have to prepare for exams, nurses seeking certification must keep up-to-date clinically and they go beyond what is expected in their areas of expertise.
“Their body of knowledge is probably deeper and broader than others,” she said.
Although board certification for physician specialties is well-known, the public is not as familiar with certification for nurses. “Not a lot of the public is aware that they can differentiate between nurses who are certified and those who are not,” Cary said.
She believes this study, which is the first of its kind, will serve as a catalyst for new nursing graduates, who should see certification as “the brass ring” for their practices; for employers looking for credentialed nurses; and for federal and state policymakers to link certification with reimbursement.
Cary said certification needs to be emphasized among undergraduate and graduate nursing students. “Educators should encourage working toward certification,” she said. “Once students leave school it is up to them to develop themselves professionally.”
Cary said future studies will focus on consumers’ and employers’ perceptions of nurse certification.
