As leaders within the AACN community, you are ideally positioned to help build excitement and spread the word about Certified Nurses Day and the value of certification. We’ve put together some ideas to help you encourage those around you to celebrate certified nurses and potentially consider certification themselves.
Recognition
- Order AACN’s Certified Nurses Day buttons and thank you cards using your Resource Order form and hand them out to all the certified nurses you know. Download thank you cards, posters and more to share with certified nurses in your facility – and urge others you work with to do the same.
- Are you active on Facebook or Instagram? During February and March, please support AACN’s Certified Nurses Day community engagement efforts on social media by sharing and adding comments, photos and/or videos to our posts. Also consider posting a recognition photo or video on your own social media pages and tagging AACN (Facebook: @aacnme; Instagram: @exceptionalnurses).
- Recognize certified nurses during a unit, council or chapter meeting. This not only honors their professional dedication and commitment to excellence, it builds awareness of the value of certification for all nurses.
- Provide our sample Certified Nurses Day press release template and to your facility or chapter marketing/public relations team, and encourage them to customize and distribute the release to their media list – and to develop an article for your newsletter or Intranet.
Celebration
- Talk with nurse managers, educators, APRNs and administrators about their plans for Certified Nurses Day. Even if your organization is pressed for time and resources, there are many little ways to acknowledge and honor certified nurses. Provide them with a link to AACN’s Certified Nurses Day webpage for tips, resources and information.
- Invite area hospitals and units to collaborate in your celebrations – or participate in theirs. Partner with area chapters of other nursing specialty organizations to recognize and support certified nurses.
- Encourage the certified nurses in your workplace or chapter to be proactive – and creative – in initiating their own celebrations. Even small gestures are appreciated and help make the day one to remember. Direct them to the ideas and resources on AACN’s Certified Nurses Day page.
- Send photos and description of your facility’s or chapter’s Certified Nurses Day festivities to certification@aacn.org so we can include them in social media and future promotional communications.
Support
- Encourage certified nurses to stop and reflect on their own achievements, and how they’ve made a difference in the lives of patients, families and colleagues. We know that nurses tend to downplay the importance their contribution to those they serve, and this day can serve as a valuable reminder.
- Coach certified nurses to identify and talk with colleagues about becoming certified. A personal conversation with a certified peer about real-life experiences and success stories can be a great motivator.
- Sponsor a certification review course your chapter or facility, and develop a study mentor program. Organize scholarships for certification milestones – review courses, exams, renewal during benchmark years (e.g. 10, 20 and 30 years of certification).