Your organization is interested in applying for Magnet status and will be required to submit data on the percentage of nurses who are certified in a nursing specialty. The nursing specialty certifications rates at your entity are low. You have been asked by your Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) to submit a summary of the impact of nursing specialty certification. The CNO will present this information to the Executive Leadership Team in a proposal to reimburse nurses for obtaining and maintaining certification. Create a 1-2 page proposal for your CNO summarizing the following:
Step 1: Locate published evidence (2-4 primary research articles and national/state web references) that supports the concept that certification improves overall nursing care.
Step 2: Identify at least two nursing sensitive outcomes and/or quality outcomes you can realistically audit to evaluate the impact of certification.
Step 3: Select one specialty certification and summarize the projected cost for a staff of 60 RNs to become certified.
Step 4: Perform a cost and benefit analysis and return on investment of certifying 60 RNs
Note: The Impact of the Nursing Specialty Certification Proposal Assignment will be given to your CNO. It should (1) be written in bullet points -whenever possible; (2) must not exceed 2 pages and (3) Include a cost/benefit analysis and ROI (4) List key references at the bottom of the proposal.
Nursing Specialty Certification Resources
(Note: this is not a comprehensive list and you should do you own literature search)
• Boyle, D. K., Cramer, E., Potter, C., Gatua, M. W., & Stobinski, J. X. (2014). The Relationship Between Direct-Care RN Specialty Certification and Surgical Patient Outcomes. AORN Journal, 100(5), 511-528. doi:10.1016/j.aorn.2014.04.018
• Kendall-Gallagher, D., Aiken, LH, Sloane, DM, Cimiotti, JP. (2011). Nurse specialty certification, inpatient mortality, and failure to rescue. Journal Nursing Scholarship. 43(2): 188-94. Doi: 10.111/j.1547-5069.2011.01391.x.)
• Kendall-Gallagher, D., & Blegen, M. A. (2009). Competence and Certification of Registered Nurses and Safety of Patients in Intensive Care Units. American Journal of Critical Care, 18(2), 106-116. doi:10.4037/ajcc2009487
• Krapohl, G., Manojlovich, M., Redman, R., & Zhang, L. (2010). Nursing Specialty Certification and Nursing-Sensitive Patient outcomes in the Intensive Care Unit. American Journal of Critical Care, 19(6), 490-498. doi:10.4037/ajcc2010406
• Pogorzelska, M., Stone, PW, Larson, EL (2012). Certification in infection control matters: Impact of infection control department characteristics and policies on rates of multidrug-resistant infections. Am Journal Infection Control; 40(2): 96-101.
• Seaman, M. Bernstein, A. (2010). Let’s get certified: an innovative national campaign. Nurse Leader. 8(6): 31-36.
• ? Author. (June 2015) Falls and nursing certification rates in acute care setting. Nursing Research.
• ? Author. Lower Mortality in Magnet Hospitals. Medical Care. May, 2013. http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23047129
• ? Author. Does certification of staff nurses improve patient outcomes? Evidenced Based Nurse. 2012; 15(2) 54-55.
• ? Author. Value of Specialty Nursing Certification Resources. Competency & Credentialing Institute. 2017. http://www.cc-institute.org/research/certification-research
