VCU Health System to Celebrate Certified Nurses Day

By Malorie Burkett and Jessica Ferreira

The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System is celebrating Certified Nurses Day by honoring its board certified nurses on March 19.

The day was created to recognize the contributions of board certified nurses to the advancement of nursing professionalism and to higher standards and better outcomes in patient health.

"Board certification recognizes a nurse’s knowledge, skills and abilities in a specialty practice and leads to superior patient outcomes,” said Deborah Zimmermann, R.N., chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services. “National certification embodies excellence in practice.”

According to the American Board of Nursing Specialties, certification is defined as the formal recognition of the specialized knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated by the achievement of standards identified by a nursing specialty to promote optimal health outcomes.

Some nursing certification specialties include medical-surgical, pediatric, pain management, cardiac vascular, oncology, hospice, case management, emergency nursing and critical care.

After meeting defined eligibility criteria, a certification candidate achieves a nationally recognized credential through successful completion of a rigorous examination.

VCU Health System is home to more than 700 certified nurses holding specialty certification in over 80 nursing specialties. On a national level, just over 20 percent of nurses hold specialty certification. At VCU, central Virginia’s first health system to earn Magnet designation, more than 30 percent of nurses are certified.

“VCU Health System nurses have always valued specialty certification, but with the implementation of the annual Certification Award in 2005 and other strategies, the number of certified nurses has steadily grown,” said Denise Thornby, director of education and professional development, VCU Health System.

For more information, visit http://www.certifiednursesday.org.