Faculty Perceptions of Nurse Educator Certification

Certification is designed to protect the public, recognize and encourage professional achievement, and enhance professionalism. While certification of nurses in areas of clinical specialty has existed for almost 40 years, certification of nurse educators is less than a decade old. While clinical certification of nurses has been linked to improved patient outcomes, it is unknown whether nurse educator certification leads to better student and faculty outcomes. A pilot study was conducted to investigate perceptions regarding nurse educator certification among nursing faculty and to adapt an existing survey tool (Perceived Value of Certification Tool©) to examine perceived value of nurse educator certification. The tool was administered to nursing faculty at a southeast University. Eighty-three percent of the faculty responded.  Internal consistency reliability of the 24 item tool was reported as a Cronbach’s alpha of .945. The value statements that faculty most agreed with included: validates specialized knowledge, provides personal satisfaction, and enhances feeling of personal accomplishment. Faculty agreed least with the following statements: increases salary, increases consumer confidence, and promotes recognition from other health professionals. Participants identified multiple barriers to certification. The time to prepare for the examination, lack of qualifications, and limited knowledge of the benefit of certification were common themes. Those already certified in a clinical specialty did not see the benefit in a second certification. Financial support was identified as the greatest facilitator.  Seventy-three percent of the participants were more willing to take the certification exam if the initial testing fee was reimbursed by the institution. These findings are consistent with prior research of perceived value of certification in clinical nursing specialties.