Important

Return to table of contents• Prenatal (3 percent)• Pediatrics, to age 12 (18 percent)• Adolescent, age 12–15 (8 percent)• Adolescent, age 16–20 (12 percent)• Adult, age 21–64 (44 percent)• Young seniors, age 65–84 (12 percent)• Frail elderly, age 85 and older (3 percent)On the AANP’s 2006 exam, 92.8 percent of the2,113 FNP examinees passed.The AANP’s gerontological nurse practitioner (GNP)examination classifies its patient age grouping questionsas follows 187 :• Young seniors, age 65–84 (60 percent)• Frail elderly, age 85 and older (40 percent)Because AANP did not offer the GNP exam until 2007,pass rates were not available for this report. 188American Nurses Credentialing CenterCertifications offered:• Adult nurse practitioner (ANP)*• Acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP)• Adult psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner(APMHNP)• Family nurse practitioner (FNP)*• Family psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner(FPMHNP)• Gerontological nurse practitioner (GNP)*• Pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP)**Only the primary care ANP, FNP, GNP and PNPcertification examinations are discussed below.The ANCC is an independent subsidiary of the ANA,which originally began certifying nurses in 1973 andbegan certifying NPs in particular in 1977. 189 Accordingto the ANCC Web site, the ANCC’s certificationexams in specialty areas of nursing “validate nurses’skills, knowledge, and abilities.” All ANCC certificationslast for five years. Similar to the AANP exams,candidates for ANCC certification renewal need onlymeet modest continuing education requirements (75 hoursover five years) and demonstrate nominal evidence ofpractice over the certification period (1,000 hours overfive years) to waive the recertification exam. 190As stated previously, physicians board-certified in anyof these four primary care specialties (internal medicine,family medicine, pediatrics and geriatric medicine) donot have the option of waiving recertification by examination(unless, in some of these specialties, the physicianwas grandfathered in). Additionally, these physiciansmust accumulate significant higher numbers of annualcontinuing medical education credits (usually 50 hoursper year), depending on their state medical board ormedical specialty board requirements to maintain licensureand/or board certification.ANCC exams have 175 questions each (25 of which areunscored) and are three hours long. Questions addresssix practice domains, as categorized below, for each NPspecialty. 191 Similar to AANP eligibility requirements,those who apply to take the ANCC exams must have acurrent, active and unrestricted RN state license at thetime of application and examination; a master’s degreein nursing (or higher) from an accredited institution;proof of successful completion of an accredited NPprogram in the desired specialty; and a minimum of500 hours of faculty-supervised clinical practice intheir NP specialty.ANCC’s adult nurse practitioner (ANP) examination:• Health promotion and disease prevention (19 percent)• Assessment of acute and chronic illness (22 percent)• Clinical management (32 percent)• Nurse practitioner and patient relationship (12 percent)• Professional role and policy (9 percent)• Research utilization, process and outcomes (6 percent) 192187. Web. AANP. Certification testing domains in the adult, geronotological and family NP examinations. Genrontologic national certification examinationinformation is available at: http://aanpcertification.org. Retrieved April 1, 2008.188. As of April 1, 2008, the certification section of AANP’s Web site only covered 2006 results.189. Pulcini J. “Nurse Practitioner Education in the U.S.” p. 5. Undated, but earlier version published in 2001 and 2002 was retrieved February 22, 2008, fromwww.aanp.org.190. Web. ANCC. www.nursingworld.org/ancc/cert/index.html. Retrieved October 9, 2006.191. Web. ANCC. www.nursingworld.org/ancc/cert/TCOs/FNP22TCO.html. Retrieved October 10, 2006.192. Web. American Nurses Credentialing Center. Examination content outline. www.nursecredentialing.org/cert/TCOs/GNP23TCO.html. Retrieved April 1, 2008.Scope of Practice Data Series: Nurse practitioners • VI. NP specialty certification39