ANCC Certification for Professional Nurses
Certifying Excellence in Nursing Practice

The American Nurses Association, Inc. (ANA), established the ANA Certification Program in 1973 to provide tangible recognition of professional achievement in a defined functional or clinical area of nursing. Based on the Commission on Organizational Assessment and Renewal, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) was established as a separately incorporated center through which ANA would provide its own credentialing programs. ANCC bases its credentialing programs on the standards set by the ANA Congress for Nursing Practice and Economics. The goals of ANCC include promoting and enhancing public health by certifying nurses using ANA's scope and standards of nursing practice.

As a result of ANCC's Open Door 2000 program, the Commission on Certification (COC) has approved the implementation of two major levels of credentialing: Board Certified (BC), and Certified (RN,C). Certification is based on education and recognition of knowledge, skills, and abilities or competence, developed through experience in a specialty area of practice. Both formal educational preparation and competence in practice are key criteria for all certification programs regardless of discipline. After meeting these criteria, nurses take certification examinations based on nationally recognized standards of nursing practice to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities within the defined specialty. Certification is awarded by the Commission on Certification (COC). The above-mentioned credentials (RN,C and RN,BC) distinguish between levels of certification within the profession and to our consumers.

The ANCC's Commission on Certification (COC) implements the certification programs through Boards on Certification (BOCs)and Committees on Certification, which the COC supervises. The Content Expert Panels (CEPs) under the auspices of the BOCs develop objective tests that cover knowledge, skills, and abilities of specialty nursing practice; set passing scores; determine eligibility requirements for certification; and, through the COC, certify nurses who pass the examination and meet the requirements for certification.

Certified nurses throughout the country write examination items (questions). Items undergo a rigorous process of review and revision to ensure that they are of the highest quality. Subject experts review, critique, and rate each item for accuracy and relevancy. ANCC staff members provide psychometric analysis and editorial review of all test items. The CEPs responsible for each examination select an appropriate sample of items representing specified areas of competency, and ANCC staff members prepare the final examination items.

This page last revised 4/7/2006.