Credentialing and certification: Overview, science, and impact on policy, regulation, and practice

Evaluating the Perceived Value of Holistic Certification Among Nurses: A Descriptive Survey Study

Purpose: Specialty nursing certifications serve as a validation of nursing knowledge in specific areas. Holistic nursing emphasizes comprehensive patient care and incorporates complementary alternative modalities (CAM) into daily care. Despite its significance, limited research has evaluated the perceived value of holistic nursing certification among nurses. Study Design: Descriptive survey design. Methods: The Likert-scale survey Perceived Value of Certification (PVCT)-12 Tool was given to holistic certified and non-certified nurses at a large, academic Magnet hospital in the northeast United States from 10/2022 to 2/2023. Additionally, non-certified nurses were asked to select the top three barriers to certification from a list of nine. The responses between certified and non-certified nurses were compared using the Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, or Student's t-test as appropriate. Findings: A total of 59 nurses (25 certified, 34 non-certified) met inclusion criteria. Ninety-six percent of certified nurses versus 64.7% of non-certified nurses agreed that certification demonstrates a commitment to the nursing profession, p = 0.004, but, otherwise, responses to the PVCT-12 Tool were similar. Both groups felt certification was more strongly associated with intrinsic factors (e.g., sense of accomplishment) than extrinsic factors (e.g., salary). Conclusion: Nurses were consistent in their perceived value of holistic certification, regardless of their certification status.

Credentialling in Australia for infection prevention and control: Philosophy, principles and practice

Infection prevention and control programs are vital to ensuring the health and wellbeing of healthcare consumers and staff. Infection control professionals who lead these programs are uniquely positioned with the knowledge, skills and attributes to direct effective infection control practices and policies within their healthcare setting. As with many specialisations, these individuals may choose to undertake a credentialling process, where their expertise and competence are evaluated and formally recognised by a professional body. Globally, there is growing evidence that credentialling improves the standard of practice of infection control professionals, and achieves beneficial outcomes for staff, patients and the broader healthcare systems in which they operate. In Australia, credentialling is a relatively new endeavour emerging in the mid 1990s with the rapidly evolving profile of the infection control professional. In this paper, we detail the history and evolution of credentialling of the infection control professionals in Australia. We also appraise the current three-tier credentialling framework, including its underlying philosophy, how it distinguishes between 'competence' and 'capability', the mechanisms it provides for career development, and its adaptation in response to critical contemporary developments in the field of infection control in Australia, including the expanding diversity of contemporary practice.

Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination Development: From Reflecting Clinical Practice to Ensuring Lifelong Learning

OBJECTIVE

Certifications in psychiatric-mental health nursing promote safe practice by psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) and nurses (PMHNs) and help protect the public from harm. This protection begins with the development of an examination that meets rigorous national education, practice, and accreditation standards and reflects PMHNPs' or PMHNs' clinical practice. Achievement and maintenance of a certification is a journey that involves a commitment to lifelong learning and the improvement of the field of psychiatric-mental health nursing through involvement in the examination process.

METHODS

This discussion paper outlines the role nurses can play in the development of certification examinations. It describes the process of developing an effective certification examination, including the role of standards, accrediting bodies, and content experts; determining necessary tasks, knowledge, and skills; surveying practitioners to validate information; writing test questions; and ongoing analysis of examination content. The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (across the lifespan) Certification (PMHNP-BC) is presented as an example of the process.

RESULTS

This discussion paper raises awareness of how certification exams are developed, PMHNPs participate in certification development, and volunteering promotes career development.

CONCLUSION

The PMHNP-BC examination is based on education, practice, and certification accreditation standards and reflects current clinical practice. PMHNPs can (a) point to the rigor of certification as an indication of the quality of care they deliver, (b) volunteer to participate in the examination process to ensure examination rigor, and (c) advance their careers through the development and application of a valuable skill set.

The Role of Specialty Certification in Career-Long Competence

Across the medical profession there is broad acceptance of the critical role of continuing medical education (CME) in enabling physicians to adapt to both new information and evolving expectations within the profession. In the presence of widespread participation in CME, some have attempted to question, discredit, or marginalize the role of ongoing lifelong assessment of physician knowledge and skills through specialty continuing certification, advocating instead for a participatory standard based only on engagement with CME. This essay outlines the limitations of physician self-evaluation and clarifies the need for external assessments. Certification boards' role is to set specialty-specific standards for competence, assess to those standards, and assure the public that certified physicians are adequately maintaining their skills and abilities; doing so credibly necessarily requires, in part, independent assessments of physician competence. In these contexts, the specialty boards are taking approaches to identify performance gaps and leverage intrinsic motivation to facilitate physician engagement in targeted learning. Specialty board continuing certification plays a unique role, distinct from and complementary to the CME enterprise. Calls to eliminate continuing certification requirements beyond self-directed CME are contradictory to the evidence and fail the profession and the public.

Hospital-Based Credentialing and Privileging: Overview and Implications for the Clinical Nurse Specialist

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of hospital-based credentialing and privileging processes for clinical nurse specialists (CNSs), describe barriers to success, and share lessons learned from CNSs who have successfully navigated the credentialing and privileging process.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

This article shares knowledge, experiences, and lessons learned from an initiative to achieve hospital credentialing and privileging for CNSs at 1 academic medical center.

OUTCOME

Policies and procedures for credentialing and privileging CNSs are now consistent with other advanced practice providers.

Organizational culture and roles in promoting nurse specialty certifications: A qualitative study in the United States

Objectives

Nursing specialty certification validates nurses' mastery of specialty knowledge in disease management, education, or leadership above entry-level education and licensing. Research suggests direct relationships between nursing certifications and patient care quality. However, nurses' specialty certification rates are still low. This study aims to better understand nurses' perceptions of the facilitators and barriers in promoting nurses' desires and ability to obtain specialty certifications, which exclude advanced nursing practice roles, such as nurse practitioner or nurse midwife.

Methods

This qualitative descriptive study took place virtually across the United States from May 2022 to September 2022. The study sample was a nested sample of a large national survey study. Among the nurses agreeing to be interviewed, a purposive sampling method was used to achieve maximum variation in diversity, such as years as a nurse, race, ethnicity, and certification status. Information saturation was used to gauge the sample size. Data were collected via in-depth virtual face-to-face interviews. The coding process was based on Colaizzi's method of data analysis.

Results

Twenty nurses participated in the study. Five major themes emerged related to organizational culture and strategies to foster nurse specialty certifications. The five organizational strategies included 1) sharing resources, 2) a culture of ownership and a sense of belonging, 3) mentorship and role modeling, 4) recognizing nurses' efforts and accomplishments, and 5) cultivating a sense of meaning, purpose, and support.

Conclusions

The findings indicate that organizational culture and leadership significantly promote continuing learning environments. Organizations need to develop an organizational culture that promotes nurses' specialty certifications. This study identified significant areas that are important to support nurses seeking certifications. Additional research is needed to evaluate which interventions significantly impact initial and continued certification levels, especially in the post-COVID-19 era.

Readiness Tests: A Strategy to Boost Certification Success

Certification of nursing staff has been associated with improved patient outcomes; however, time, cost, and test anxiety are barriers to achieving it. Readiness tests can reduce test anxiety related to certification examinations. A readiness test helps nurses prepare by providing a simulated experience that matches the actual testing environment and identifying knowledge gaps. These tests can be added to other steps nurse leaders can take to encourage certification and support staff professional development.

The impartiality of conformity assessment bodies is an integral component of the food safety management system

The article aims to consider in detail the principles and requirements for impartiality, its components, and the status of implementation of these requirements in the current state of conformity assessment in Ukraine for different types of conformity assessment bodies (CABs); involved in food safety management system; compliance with the requirements of impartiality in terms of managing the risks associated with impartiality. The article uses methods of theoretical, empirical-theoretical, and empirical research, including analysis of documentation. Expert assessments were used to determine the significance of individual elements. The importance of impartiality in the activities of CABs is substantiated and demonstrated. Received a list of mandatory and recommended impartiality requirements for the  requirements of the received standards and identified factors that threaten impartiality. Practical recommendations for documenting the process of impartiality management developed. The article analyzed the completeness and sufficiency of possible documented evidence, identified the risks of impartiality, and developed a set of preventive measures to minimize the identified risks. The authors developed a methodology for managing impartiality, which combines the experience and experience of CABs in various fields. The research results allow the CAB to carry out and document lending sector activities following the standard's requirements.