Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Update on School: The C vs. BC Dilemma

I've been tooling around the internet trying to figure out which certification exam I plan to take for my FNP certification next year. It's very therapeutic to remind myself that I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have a simple question: One organization's exam qualifies you to write FNP-C (Family Nurse Practitioner - Certified) after your name and the other organization's exam qualifies you to write FNP-BC (Family Nurse Practitioner - Board Certified), so which is which? You'd think it would be a simple question, but apparently it's not. Someone needs to just put a fact sheet out there. FNP-C vs. FNP-BC. If I find out soon, I'll do it. And it boils down to a mere cosmetic issue. I think FNP-C looks better. Less letters and all. But since I can't figure out which is which, maybe I should choose based on the design of the two groups' websites.

Underlying this question is another one I have: how on earth did we (registered nurses) allow two certifying bodies to emerge for the Family Nurse Practitioner? Does no one but me think it's silly, redundant, and (somewhat) unprofessional?

In other school news, I have decided to transfer to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to finish my Master's. This involves a little more travel, but not much else will change. Now, I'm off to try and find someone who will let me follow them around in the ER to sew people up and such.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Elisa,I would go with Board Certified.
There are many things that don't require much effort but can be certified. Most things that are board certified require a great deal of effort. To the lay person, board certified would mean more than just certified.
That's all I have to say about that.
Jim

Matt said...

thanks; I'll take that into consideration. :)