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AACN News—April 2009—Certification

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Vol. 26, No. 4, APRIL 2009

New Test Plans for PCCN and CCRN

AACN Certification Corporation periodically conducts studies of practice to refresh and inform its test plans. The Critical Care Study of Practice conducted in late 2008 resulted in some minor changes to the CCRN Test Plans (Adult, Pediatric and Neonatal). It takes awhile to implement exam forms based on the new test plans. Changes in the test forms based on the new CCRN Test Plans will be implemented around mid-January 2010. Until that time, newly written items designed to test new content areas on the test plans will be pre-tested on current forms (as non-scored items) to gather statistics on their performance, before they are integrated as scored items. The new forms based on the new test plans will be approved (with 100 percent consensus) by the CCRN Exam Development Committee.

The new CCRN Test Plans will be available publicly in fall 2009 to give review course instructors and potential exam candidates time to integrate the changes into their curriculum or time to modify the study to include new areas of the test plans.

The revised PCCN exam is several months further along in the process. The new PCCN test plan is available online and test forms based on the new PCCN test plan will be implemented by June, 2009. Visit www.certcorp.org > Certification News to find out what’s different between the old and new PCCN Test Plans. Similar resources for the CCRN exams will be available when that information is made public.

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Volunteer Activity


Members of the 2009 Exam Development Committee (EDC) and Practice Analysis Task Force (PATF) met in February to review test plan changes and analyze practice studies for the coming year.


PCCN EDC Members
From left: Lori Cox, Karen Harvey, Carol Hartigan, Kathleen Stacy, Dawn Brooks, Ashley Cunningham, Barbara Stone, DeLaina Crecy, Ellen Peller, JoEllen Craghead, Julia Garrison, Damon Cottrell and Gerard Hannibal.


ACNP/CCNS PATF Members
Left column: Theresa Wadas, Debby Greenlaw, Kerry Kosmoski-Goepfert and Carol Hartigan. Right column: Lynn Rogers, Deborah Becker, Susan Yeager and Damon Cottrell.


Adult CCRN EDC Members
From left: Lynn Orser, Gary Measom, Jean Shinners, Celia Laird, Deborah Lilly, Louise Cook, Nancy Denke and Carol Boswell.


Pediatric and Neonatal focused ACNPC/CCNS
PATF Members
Left column: Victoria Winter, Terese Verklan, Linda Oakes, Maureen Andrews and Don Everly. Right column: Elyse McClean, Laurie Finger, Linda Ikuta and Cindy Asher.


Neonatal CCRN EDC Members
From left: Pamela Pall, Stephanie Packard, Rachel Joseph, Cynthia Jensen and Allison Chambers.


Pediatric CCRN EDC Members
From left: Sheri Carey, Laura Lillich, Christie Artuso, Jama Jaderquist, Larissa Hutchins and Marie Foland.


Adult focused ACNPC/CCNS Members
Left column: Teresa Wavra, Mary Lou Osevala and Marthe Moseley. Right column: Karen Harvey, Colleen Heafey, Paula Lusardi? and Damon Cottrell.

Countdown to Full Implementation of Renewal by Synergy CERPs

Renewal by Synergy CERPs will be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2010. If you are not familiar with the changes to the CCRN and PCCN renewal programs, visit the AACN Certification Corporation Web site to learn more about the changes and new requirements. The most comprehensive source of information on the requirements is the Renewal by Synergy CERPs At-a-Glance booklet. Also, Quick References, Bookmarks, Fact Sheets and a PowerPoint slide presentation with narration are available on www.certcorp.org > CCRN Renewal > CCRN/PCCN Renewal by Synergy CERPs.

If you're interested in learning about volunteer opportunities at AACN, visit www.aacn.org > Communities >? Volunteer Opportunities.

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