WVU Healthcare celebrates Certified Nurses Day

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Healthcare will celebrate Certified Nurses Day on March 19 by honoring more than 300 board-certified nurses for their professionalism, leadership and commitment to excellence in patient care.

According to the American Nurses Credentialing Center, board certification is an important way to distinguish that a nurse has a met a level of distinction and knowledge indicating professional nursing practice. Board certification also gives the public some assurance that nurses must engage in lifelong learning to maintain and renew their certification and, in the case of advanced practice nurses, their authorization/licensure to practice. The public recognizes the significance of this achievement, and it provides some assurance that the individual who is caring for them has acquired a predetermined level of knowledge in the specialty area of practice.

“Certified Nurses Day recognizes the motivation and self direction of all nurses who have obtained certification in their specialties. The board certification exam is very challenging, and passing it requires a high level of knowledge in one’s specialty,” Dottie Oakes, R.N., WVU Hospitals vice president and chief nursing executive, said. “We encourage all of our nurses to obtain board certification to increase their knowledge to provide quality patient care.”

There are more than 50 nursing certification specialties, including medical-surgical, pediatric, pain management, cardiovascular, oncology, hospice, case management, emergency nursing, critical care and several others.

Certified Nurses Day is held annually on March 19, which is the birthday of Margretta “Gretta” Madden Styles, R.N., Ed.D., a renowned expert of nurse credentialing.