J Contin Educ Nurs
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Review
Impact of Nurse Certification Rates on Patient Satisfaction and Outcomes: A Literature Review.
The Institute of Medicine's report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health states that continued competence requires lifelong learning. Certification measures lifelong learning by validating the expertise of nurses in specialty areas beyond those required by licensure examinations. ⋯ Increased public scrutiny and accountability highlights the need for research to substantiate the quantitative benefits of nurse certification on patient satisfaction and outcomes. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey scores, the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, and the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators(®) are potential sources for producing the reliable and valid evidence needed to convince RNs, hospital administrators, and all other stakeholders that nurse certification has a quantifiable correlation with patient satisfaction and outcomes.