Specialty certification in nursing is awarded by private boards, not by states. This page lists the main ones, what each certifies, and how to check that a credential means something.
Two distinctions come first, because most confusion about the letters after a nurse's name comes from missing them.
Certification is not licensure. A licence is compulsory state authority to practise, granted by a board of nursing. Certification is voluntary recognition that a nurse has met a standard beyond it, granted by a private body, and it does not expand scope of practice. The exception is the advanced practice tier, where national certification has been written into the regulatory structure and functions as a condition of licensure. See levels of nursing and state boards of nursing.
The certifying board is usually not the professional association. Associations spun their examinations into separate corporations so that the credential does not depend on membership, which is why the letters and the association have different names. See nursing specialties.
How to check a certification is real
Because this is a private market, nothing stops an organisation selling a credential with no defensible examination behind it. Two accreditors answer the question.
- Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification, the only accreditor specific to nursing certification, which reviews programmes against quality standards and grants accreditation in five-year terms.
- American Board of Nursing Specialties, a membership organisation of certifying bodies, frequently confused with the accreditor because the names are nearly identical.
Some nursing certifications are instead accredited by the general credentialing accreditor used across professions. A credential with no accreditation from any of them is worth questioning.
General and multi-specialty
- American Nurses Credentialing Center, the largest, covering medical-surgical, psychiatric-mental health, informatics, professional development, nurse executive and several advanced practice roles. See American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Acute and critical care
- AACN Certification Corporation, critical care and progressive care nursing, including the adult, paediatric and neonatal critical care credentials and the cardiac subspecialties. See American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
- Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing, emergency, paediatric emergency, trauma, flight and transport nursing. See Emergency Nurses Association.
- American Board of Perianesthesia Nursing Certification, post-anaesthesia and ambulatory perianesthesia nursing.
- Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board, medical-surgical nursing.
Advanced practice
- American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board, family, adult-gerontology and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner certification. See American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
- National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists, nurse anesthesia. See American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology.
- American Midwifery Certification Board, certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives. See American College of Nurse-Midwives.
Population and setting
- Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, paediatric nursing and paediatric nurse practitioner credentials.
- National Certification Corporation, obstetric, neonatal and women's health nursing, including electronic fetal monitoring. See AWHONN.
- National Board for Certification of School Nurses, school nursing. See National Association of School Nurses.
- Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center, hospice and palliative nursing across licence levels.
- Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, rehabilitation nursing.
Procedure, technique and condition
- Competency and Credentialing Institute, perioperative nursing, including the operating room credential. See AORN.
- Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation, oncology nursing at basic and advanced levels. See Oncology Nursing Society.
- Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing Certification Board, wound, ostomy, continence and foot care nursing.
- Nephrology Nursing Certification Commission, nephrology and dialysis nursing.
- Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, infection prevention and control, open to nurses and other professionals.
Function rather than clinical area
- Commission for Case Manager Certification, case management, again open beyond nursing.
- American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, legal nurse consulting.
- National Association of Neonatal Nurses, which sets standards for neonatal nursing while certification runs through the obstetric and neonatal corporation above.
What certification does and does not buy
Pay is the common question, and the honest answer is that the effect is small and hard to isolate. The evidence for certification improving patient outcomes is weaker than the profession's rhetoric implies, because studies cannot separate the credential from the characteristics of nurses who pursue it.
Where certification reliably appears is as a structural measure: the proportion of certified nurses on a unit is one of the nurse-sensitive indicators collected and benchmarked nationally, and it is one of the things Magnet recognition requires an organisation to report. Some employers pay a differential or cover the examination fee, which is a reasonable thing to ask about before paying for it personally.
This list covers the main boards and is not exhaustive. Every address was checked on 9 September 2026, and the paediatric board's site refuses automated requests, so it is listed on the strength of its address rather than a machine check.
Related
- Nursing specialties
- Levels of nursing
- Scope of practice
- Nursing organizations
- State boards of nursing
- Magnet recognition
Sources
- Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification. ABSNC, on accreditation of certification programmes. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- American Board of Nursing Specialties. ABNS. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- ANCC certifications. American Nurses Credentialing Center. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Accreditation of certification programs. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Each certifying body's own site, requested individually on 9 September 2026.