Reporting Potential Problems

Policy and Eligibility Violations

Added to Collection

AACN Certification Corporation's (Cert Corp) mission is to protect consumer health and safety through certification. We work hard to meet our mission. At AACN Cert Corp, we never approve or renew someone who we know is not eligible to hold a certification. That practice is contrary to our mission. We believe that most nurses act with integrity but we rely on other nurses, healthcare professionals or members of the public to report to us when they believe someone does not meet the eligibility requirements.

If you are aware of any eligibility or policy violations related to maintaining the integrity of our credentials, please report them to AACN Cert Corp by sending an email to certification@aacn.org.

Violations may include but are not limited to:

  • Falsifying information on a certification exam or renewal application
  • Falsifying any information AACN Certification Corporation requests
  • Cheating or if reasonable evidence shows intent to cheat on an exam
  • Sharing certification exam content
  • Misrepresenting certification status including, but not limited to, creating a fraudulent certificate, using an AACN credential on a resume, signature line or other public facing platform.

AACN Certification Corporation takes these reports very seriously. We appreciate when a person demonstrates concern for maintaining the integrity of AACN Cert Corp's certification programs and has the courage to submit a report.

We investigate all reports to the fullest extent. We collect additional evidence if needed and decide on appropriate action according to our policies. To protect the confidentiality of all exam candidates and certificants, we will not report back to you what we discover or actions we take.

In addition to protecting the confidentiality of our certificants, it is also AACN''s policy to protect the identity of all persons who bring these reports to us. Absolutely no one outside of AACN, nor the nurse being investigated, will be made aware of your report. Only a small panel of people at AACN will be involved in the investigation and all employees must sign confidentiality agreements.