American Nurses Credentialing Center

Professional certification body

American Nurses Credentialing Center

Abbreviation| ANCC
Formation| 1991
Headquarters| Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.

Parent organization

| American Nurses Association
Website| www.nursingworld.org/ancc

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA), is a certification body for nursing board certification and the largest certification body for advanced practice registered nurses in the United States,[1] as of 2011[update] certifying over 75,000 APRNs, including nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists.

ANCC's nursing board certification program is one of the oldest in the USA, and many of its certifications were established before 1980, when nursing certification was still in early developmental stages.[2]

## History

[edit]

In 1966, the American Nursing Association amended its bylaws to allow the creation of certification boards for nurses in various areas of practice.[2]

Two years later, the ANC's Nursing Practice Department published a paper promoting certification standards. From the ideas presented in this paper, the Congress for Nursing Practice drafted guidelines for the certification process in 1969. Within a few years, several nursing practice divisions had drafted certification processes based upon these guidelines.[2]

In 1973, the ANA announced a national certification program for nursing practice. By 1974, the first certification examinations were administered.[2]

Over the following 17 years, the ANA continued to expand its nursing credentialing exams to cover more areas of practice and administration. The ANA decided in 1990 to create the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as a subsidiary nonprofit corporation through which it would sell its certification services and exams.[2]

In 1999, the ANCC created an international branch of the organization in order to provide its services outside of the United States.[3]

Primary Accreditation Established in 1974, Primary Accreditation recognizes organizations (or components of organizations) that offer continuing education for nurses. This accreditation contributes to health care quality and professional nursing practice by defining standards for the development and delivery of continuing education and by providing a voluntary peer review process to assure compliance.

## Services

[edit]

Other services of the ANCC include an accreditation program for nursing continuing education providers and approvers, and the Magnet Recognition Program, which rates medical institutions for their nursing excellence.[4]

The ANCC also runs the Pathway to Excellence program to help hospitals improve their working environment for nurses.[5][6]

In 1998, the ANCC created the Institute for Research, Education, and Consultation (IREC),[7] which provides the following services: certification, Magnet Recognition Program, Pathway to Excellence, and accreditation.

### Certification-related products and services

[edit]

1. Live review seminars
2. National study groups
3. Web-based e-learning
4. Certification review manuals
5. Web-based practice questions and answers

### Magnet recognition program-related products and services

[edit]

1. Annual National Magnet Conference
2. Magnet workshops
3. Consulting services
4. Web-based e-learning

### Pathway to Excellence program-related products and services

[edit]

1. Pathway workshops
2. Consulting services
3. Web-based e-learning

### Accreditation program-related products and services

[edit]

1. Annual Accreditation Symposium
2. Consulting services

### Certification exams

[edit]

ANCC offers certification programs in 29 nursing specialties:[8]

* Ambulatory care nursing
* Cardiac vascular nursing
* Gerontological nursing
* Informatics nursing
* Medical-surgical nursing
* Nurse Executive (formerly Nursing Administration)
* Nursing Case Management
* Nursing Professional Development
* Pain Management
* Pediatric nursing
* Psychiatric and mental health nursing
* Public Health Nursing - Advanced
* Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
* Adult Nurse Practitioner
* Adult Psychiatric & Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
* Family Nurse Practitioner
* Family Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
* Gerontological Nurse Practitioner
* Pediatric Nurse Practitioner ( ANCC no longer offers this certification)
* Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist
* Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist
* Child/Adolescent Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist
* Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist
* Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist
* Advanced Practice Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
* Nurse Executive, Advanced (formerly Nursing Administration, Advanced)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "About ANCC". www.nursecredentialing.org. Archived from the original on 2012-09-08. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
2. ^ a b c d e "Content Expert Panel Member Handbook". Archived from the original on 2011-09-26. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
3. ^ "Credentialing International - American Nurses Credentialing Center - ANCC". Archived from the original on 2011-02-06. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
4. ^ Aiken, Linda H.; Havens, Donna S.; Sloane, Douglas M. (March 2000). "The Magnet Nursing Services Recognition Program". American Journal of Nursing. 100 (3): 26–36\. doi:10.1097/00000446-200003000-00040. PMID 10738398. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
5. ^ "Nursing News & RN Career Information". NurseZone. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
6. ^ "ANCC Pathway to Excellence Program". The American Nurses Association. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
7. ^ Joel, Lucille A. (2003-03-22). Kelly's Dimensions of Professional Nursing. McGraw Hill Professional. ISBN 9780071428538.
8. ^ "ANCC Certification Center". Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Nursing

Levels of
practice|

| Generalists|

* Student nurse
* Clinical nurse leader
* Licensed practical nurse
* Registered nurse
* Graduate nurse
* Nurse scientist

|

Advanced practice|

| APNs by role|

* Clinical nurse specialist
* Nurse anesthetist
* Nurse midwife
* Nurse practitioner

|

NPs by population|

* Family
* Adult-gerontology
* Pediatrics
* Women's health
* Neonatal
* Psych/mental health

Education
and
licensure|

* Nightingale Pledge
* Associate of Science in Nursing
* Bachelor of Science in Nursing
* Diploma in Nursing
* Doctor of Nursing Practice
* Master of Science in Nursing
* Board of nursing
* Nurse Licensure Compact
* Nursing credentials and certifications
* Nurse education
* Nurse registry
* NCLEX
* TEAS

Specialties and
areas of
practice|

* Ambulatory care
* Cardiac
* Correctional nursing
* Critical care
* Dental
* Education
* Emergency
* Faith community
* Flight
* Forensic
* Geriatrics
* Holistic
* Home health
* Hyperbaric
* Legal consultation
* Management
* Matron
* Medical-surgical
* Midwifery
* Women's Health Care Nurse
* Military
* Neonatal
* Nursing informatics
* Obstetrics
* Occupational health
* Oncology
* Orthopedics
* Pediatrics
* Perianesthesia
* Perioperative
* Psychiatric and mental health
* Private duty
* Public health
* School
* Space
* Surgical
* Telenursing
* Travel health nursing
* WOCN

Nursing process|

* Nursing assessment
* Nursing diagnosis
* Nursing care plan
* Nursing theory
* Caregiver burden

Classification
systems|

* NANDA
* Nursing Interventions Classification
* Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS)
* Nursing Outcomes Classification

By country|

* International Nurses Day
* Australia (timeline)
* Canada
* Germany
* Hong Kong
* India
* Iran
* Japan
* Kenya
* New Zealand (timeline)
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Republic of Ireland
* South Africa
* Spain
* Taiwan
* United Kingdom (history)
* United States (history)

* Category
* Commons
* WikiProject

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States

Other|

* Yale LUX

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