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The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Certification Program began in 1991 to promote excellence in nursing specialties. Certification provides registered nurses with the opportunity to confirm their competence in their area of specialty practice. In Canada, there are 12,000 nurses holding certification in 14 designated nursing specialties.(1) Certification is available through the Canadian Nurses Association in the following specialty areas: cardiovascular, critical care, critical care pediatrics, emergency, gastroenterology, gerontology, hospice palliative care, nephrology, neuroscience, occupational health, oncology, perinatal, perioperative, and psychiatric/mental health.(2) Canadian nurses who wish to obtain rehabilitation certification at this time must do so through the American Rehabilitation Nursing Certification Board.
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Canadian nurses face several challenges in obtaining certification in rehabilitation nursing. Some of these challenges are related to the fact that certification is not available in Canada. An adequate number of nurses must be willing to write the exam before the American Certification Board will agree to have the exam at a Canadian site. In addition to the $285.00 (US) exam fee, nurses must pay a site fee of $1,000.00 (US). Canadian nurses must handle the logistics of the certification and examination process, which is very time- and labor-intensive. Typically, nurses must form study groups, order course materials, book an exam location and date, collect and pay fees, and hire proctors. The exam is based on American course content and a section on American health legislation may not be relevant for Canadian nurses.
Basic competencies for certified rehabilitation nurses include: 1) an awareness of the philosophy of rehabilitation; 2) knowledge of neuroanatomy; and 3) knowledge of the impact of disabilities on functional health patterns. The content of the examination includes: nursing theory, nursing care of the 13 Functional Health Patterns (e.g. elimination, health/disease management and nutrition), legal/ethical issues, community re-entry and the rehabilitation team.(3) Certification candidates must have at least two years of rehabilitation experience within the previous five years or one year of experience plus one year of advanced study in nursing.
For U.S.-certified nurses, recertification is required every five years. They may rewrite the exam or submit 60 continuing education points of credit to the American Certification Board. Typically, 50 minutes of a continuing education activity is equal to one point of credit. All continuing...