BCEN'S Pediatric Emergency Nursing Certification Earns Reaccreditation

OAK BROOK, Ill., Jan. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) today announced that its Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN) specialty nursing certification program has been reaccredited by the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification (ABSNC).

The CPEN is a national board certification earned by registered nurses (RNs) who demonstrate advanced knowledge and clinical judgment in all aspects of pediatric emergency care, including providing direct care, health care facilitation, education, and advocacy for pediatric emergency patients and their families.

"Infants and children have unique medical needs that must be considered when providing emergency services, and CPEN-certified RNs bring that essential pediatric emergency expertise to emergency care teams and the pediatric patients and families they care for," said BCEN Director of Certification and Accreditation, Amy Grand, MSN, RN.

"Reaccreditation demonstrates that the CPEN program continues to meet the highest industry standards and also serves as an independent indicator for nurses, consumers and healthcare organizations of the continued, consistent quality of the credentialing body—in this case, BCEN," said Grand.

Expert pediatric emergency nurses are needed and in demand. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report, "Overview of Pediatric Emergency Visits, 2015: HCUP Statistical Brief #242":

• Pediatric emergency visits constituted roughly 20% of all ED visits.
• There were 30 million ED visits for children aged 18 or under.
• 17% of all children sought emergency care at least once.
• Infants and children under age 5 accounted for 40% of pediatric ED visits.

There are over 5,200 CPENs delivering expert pediatric emergency care in mixed and pediatric emergency departments, children's hospitals, trauma centers, and prehospital and transport settings. The CPEN was introduced in January 2009 and deemed a Magnet-accepted certification program in February 2009.

What is accreditation?
Accreditation provides an impartial third-party validation that a certification program has met recognized national industry standards for the development, implementation and maintenance of that program. More specifically, ABSNC accreditation is a comprehensive and rigorous process whereby a nursing specialty certification body demonstrates that a particular certification program adheres to ABSNC's 18 accreditation standards including organizational autonomy, basis in a body of research-based knowledge, nondiscrimination, test development, validity, reliability, test administration, test security, fairness of passing score, recertification, confidentiality, and appeals.

ABSNC's announcement regarding reaccreditation of the CPEN is available at: https://www.absnc.org/news

About BCEN
Founded in 1980, the independent, not-for-profit Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN®) is celebrating 40 years of robust certification programs fostering empowered nurses across the emergency spectrum who contribute noticeably to patient care, safety and outcomes. Over 54,000 BCEN board certifications are currently held by registered nurses (RNs) who specialize in emergency, flight, critical care ground transport, pediatric emergency and trauma nursing. BCEN offers the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN®), Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN®), Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN®), Certified Transport Registered Nurse (CTRN®) and Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN®) certifications. The CEN, CFRN, CPEN, and TCRN certification programs are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification (ABSNC). Learn more at bcen.org. Follow BCEN on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

SOURCE Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN)