Certification provides evidence of a nurse's skills, knowledge, and expertise in an area, such as mental health and medical-surgical nursing.1 Nurse leaders should leverage and encourage nurse certification for multiple reasons. Certification has been associated with improved patient outcomes, such as reductions in falls, hospital-acquired infections, and mortality.2 In addition, nurse leaders seeking initial or renewed Magnet^(R) designation need to demonstrate that they are supporting nurses in their certification efforts.3 Finally, nurses themselves find personal satisfaction in certification, expressing a commitment to patient care and the nursing profession.4 This commitment fosters an empowered workforce.

Factors hamper certification efforts including time, costs, and test anxiety.5 Nurse leaders can address the first barrier by providing protected time for studying and taking the certification test, and organizations can address the cost barrier by offering certification financial support as an employee benefit.6

That leaves test anxiety, which can be high in nurses who finished their basic education several years ago and thus have limited recent testing experience. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) offers readiness tests as a strategy for reducing this anxiety by offering a real-world simulated testing experience that provides feedback about knowledge gaps.7 By understanding how these tests work, nurse leaders can discuss this option with staff, thereby supporting career development.

Improving Readiness

A readiness test replicates the testing experience that nurses have when they take a certification examination, including answering test questions, to increase confidence when sitting for the actual examination. This experience goes beyond traditional practice examinations, which provide questions that the nurse answers in a static environment. Readiness tests are open to anyone interested in taking an examination or learning more about the experience. Nurses take a readiness test in-person, at a testing site, or online, via a secure platform. Both experiences are proctored by a representative from Prometric, which administers the readiness tests and certification examinations.

For the on-site experience, nurses undergo an admissions process that includes checking identification and scanning and inspection so no unauthorized items enter the testing area. The nurse then takes the test on a computer under observation by the proctor, which helps with any technical issues.

For the online experience, nurses can take the readiness test any time, in any location. A computer, camera, microphone, and Internet connection are needed. After completing a system readiness check, the nurse downloads and installs the ProProctor app. Similar to the onsite experience, nurses undergo an admission process that includes identification verification. A proctor monitors the test, and nurses can ask for technical help via a chat button. These processes are helpful for nurses who may be anxious about the technology involved in test taking.

Nurses can take the test as many times as they like to help assess their knowledge, which helps increase confidence and comfort level with test taking and technology. The knowledge assessment comes in the form of a report that provides feedback nurses can use to assess strengths and weaknesses (Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JONA/A951). Although the report does not predict success on the examination, it can be used to create a study plan addressing knowledge gaps (Table 1).

Table 1 Readiness Test Score Report

Launched in November 2021, readiness tests, which include questions developed for ANCC's certification examinations for optimal authenticity, are available for the following:

* Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

* Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner

* Family Nurse Practitioner

* Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

* Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

* Nursing Professional Development

* Medical-Surgical Nursing

Conclusion

Nurse leaders have a responsibility to foster success among staff. By adding readiness tests to other methods for supporting staff, leaders can help nurses enhance their confidence with taking a certification examination, another step in increasing the numbers of certified nurses, resulting in a better-prepared workforce.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Cynthia Saver, MS, RN, for her assistance in preparing this article.

References