Let's get certified: best practices for nurse leaders to create a culture of certification

Certification benefits nurses, patients and their families, and hospitals. Nurses become certified for various reasons: personal challenge; self-improvement; advancement of knowledge and education; demonstration of mastery of skills, knowledge, and abilities; and commitment to lifelong learning and career growth. However, there are also barriers to certification. Fear of test taking or failure and lack of resources or organization recognition are reasons many nurses cite for not becoming certified. Nurse leaders play a pivotal role in supporting nurses to obtain and maintain specialty nursing certification. Nurse leaders may promote certification, support nurses who are on their certification journey, and reward and recognize those staff that become certified. This article will share practices to increase the number of specialty certified nurses in your unit or organization.