The impact and perception of nursing certification in pediatric nursing

Nursing certification is an assessment and formal recognition of specialized knowledge, and is awarded through achievement of standards identified by a nursing specialty (Niebuhr & Biel, 2007). This recognition is a method of not only assessing competency, but knowledge and skills, and has been linked to an increase in patient satisfaction and nurse retention (Kleinpell, 2009). For these reasons, a heightened focus has been on identifying the value of nursing certification and outcomes related to patient care. This study explored nurse perception of certification and measured response to a high fidelity simulated scenario by certified and non-certified pediatric nurses to a deteriorating patient through simulation and self-assessment.