The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) joins with hospitals and other healthcare groups across the country Monday, March 19, to recognize the unique contributions of certified nurses as part of Certified Nurses Day.
"We are proud to celebrate nurses everywhere who have achieved specialty and subspecialty certification," said Damon Cottrell, RN, DNP, CCRN, CCNS, ACNS-BC, CEN, chair, AACN Certification Corporation board of directors. "Certification promotes excellence among nurses. It benefits patients and their families by validating that the nurse caring for them has demonstrated experience, knowledge and skills in the complex specialties of acute and critical care."
According to data collected by the American Board of Nursing Specialties in 2010, nurses in the United States and Canada held more than 588,407 certifications, an increase of more than 100,000 certificants compared to 2009 survey data. These certifications were granted by 29 different certifying organizations, and 120 different credentials designate these certifications. Currently, more than 71,000 certified acute and critical care nurses in the U.S. bear AACN Certification credentials such as CCRN, PCCN, CCRN-E, CCNS, ACNPC, CNML, CMC and CSC.
Certified Nurses Day is an annual worldwide event dedicated to celebrating certification as a means to help ensure high standards of patient care and to promote continuing excellence in the nursing profession. Initially proposed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the day honors the birthday of the late Margretta "Gretta" Madden Styles, an international pioneer of nursing certification and longtime friend of AACN and AACN Certification Corporation. Styles designed the first comprehensive study of nurse credentialing.
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