NEONATAL NURSE PRACTITIONER (NNP)
Assignment: neonatal nurse practitioner Certification in Texas
- What do I need to know about certification?
Instructions:
As a student at the UTA College of Nursing and Health Innovation, you will be guided through your initial certification application. Once you are practicing as an NP, you are solely responsible for understanding and maintaining your certification. Identify all the organizations that you can apply to for nurse practitioner (your specialty) (mine will be neonatal nurse Practitioner) certification. Go to the website of the organization that you are planning to certify through. You may have more than one to choose from. Locate the requirements for board certification and recertification (This is not state licensing). In your discussion, document the following:
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List all the possible organizations for certifying your neonatal NP specialty. NEONATAL NURSE PRACTITIONER (NNP)
Type NP specialty and organization. If more than one organization to certify your specialty, why did you choose this one? Does your state accept this certification?
Is there a requirement to practice a minimum number of hours?
What is the CE requirement? What is the requirement for pharmaceutical CEs?
How often do you re-certify?
Document the website as your reference, plus a peer reviewed journal article.
Does your state Board of Nursing require certification?
Maximum words 250 words. Response to other classmates is optional. You must create a thread in the discussion board before you can see other postings.
Grading:
A rubric is provided to explain the criteria for points and how you are graded. If you are unable to reference using APA format in the discussion board you may attach the references as a word document. This is references only. Discussions not posted directly into the discussion board will be given a zero.
The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP): Available Certification Avenues and Bodies for a NNP Wishing to Practice in the State of Texas NEONATAL NURSE PRACTITIONER (NNP)
For neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) wishing to practice in the state of Texas, there are two bodies whose certification is recognised by the state. These are the:
- American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC); and
- Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB) (NursingLicensure.org, 2019).
The state of Texas will accept certification from either of these organisations in the case of neonatal nurse practitioners. The websites of both of these do not list the NNP specialty on its own but group its certification under pediatric certification. This is definitely because the NNP is a sub-specialty of the certified pediatric nurse practitioner (CPNP). NNPs work most times in neonatal intensive care units or NICUs (Brand et al., 2016).
American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC)
The certification awarded after passing the competency examination is the registered nurse-board certification or RN-BC. The examination tests for clinical skills and general competency in the specialty. This certification is renewable after 5 years (ANCC, n.d.). the requirements are a valid registered nurse practicing licence, at least two years of practical experience after college, a minimum of 2,000 hours of clinical practice in the pediatric nursing specialty in the last three years, and completion of 30 hours of continuing education (CE) in pediatric nursing in the last 3 years (ANCC, n.d.). NEONATAL NURSE PRACTITIONER (NNP)
Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB)
The certification awarded by this body is that of the primary care certified pediatric nurse practitioner or CPNP-PC. The only requirements for this PNCB certification are a valid practising licence and official transcripts from the school, sent to the board directly by them. Renewal of this certification is done every year (PNCB, 2019).
From this information, the best certification to choose would be that of the ANCC since it takes five years to require renewal. The other one is annual and tedious. However, the RN-BC of the ANCC requires practice of 2,000 hours and a CE target of 30 hours before certification. There is no explicit pharmaceutical CE requirement stated on the website.
References
American Nurses Credentialing Centre [ANCC] (n.d.). Pediatric nursing certification. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/our-certifications/pediatric-nurse/
Brand, M.C., Cesario, S.K., Symes, L., & Montgomery, D. (2016). Journey to becoming a neonatal nurse practitioner. Advances in Neonatal Care, 16(2), E3-E11. Doi: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000000256
NursingLicensure.org (2019). Advanced practice registered nurse license requirements in Texas. Retrieved from https://www.nursinglicensure.org/np-state/texas-nurse-practitioner.html
Pediatric Nursing Certification Board [PNCB] (2019). Steps to CPNP-PC Certification. Retrieved from https://www.pncb.org/cpnp-pc-certification-steps
NEONATAL NURSE PRACTITIONER (NNP)
