Certified Perioperative Nurse (CNOR)
In honor of Certified Nurses Day (3/19) I figured I’d write a bit about the perioperative nurse certification! First, let’s just talk about certification in general. Becoming certified in your area of specialty signifies that you are a competent in your field. It shows that you have put in the hard work to learn, retain, and utilize skills and knowledge pertinent to your specialty. Why March 19th? Because it is the birthday of Dr. Margretta ‘Gretta’ Madden Styles (RN, EdD, FAAN) who had been a leader in the nursing certification field. There is a fund in Dr. Gretta’s name for credentialing research. There are a large number of certifications available to nurses, but in order to test for those you must meet the minimum requirements. The biggest requirement is usually a certain number of years’ experience in that specialty.
Reasons to gain certification
-There is a direct correlation between an increase in certified nurses with a decrease in patient mortality!!! I read a study a long time ago that stated each 10% increase in BSN nurses that are specialty certified is associated with a 2% decrease in patient mortality. Read one of the articles here (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3201820/) To be clear, this was not a study specifically on surgical patients. Do I need to list more reasons? Not really, but I will!
-Professional validation. Who doesn’t want to be able to say they have achieved certification?
-Sense of accomplishment. There is no better feeling than all the weight of studying, and exam day anxieties being lifted by seeing “pass”.
-Commitment to patient safety. Need I say more?
-Career advancement
-Increase in base pay. Who doesn’t want that?
About the CNOR certification
The CNOR exam is a 200-question computer-based exam. You have 3 hours and 45 minutes to finish the questions. There are 8 different categories that questions stem from. CCI (Competency & Credentialing Institute) is the company who you would work with for this certification. (cc-institute.org)
1. Pre/Postoperative Patient Assessment & Diagnosis
2. Individualized Plan of Care Development & Expected Outcome Identification
3. Patient Care & Safety**
4. Management of Personnel, Services & Materials
5. Professional Accountability
6. Emergency Situations
7. Infection Prevention & Control of Environment, Instrumentation & Supplies
8. Communication & Documentation
**The topic of patient care and safety is the most heavily weighted topic, which is completely understandable!
The certification agency is up front about where they pull their test questions from. They pull from AORN’s Guidelines for Perioperative Practice, Berry and Kohn’s Operating Room Technique, Alexander’s Care of the Patient in Surgery, and Drain’s Perianesthesia Nursing: A Critical Care Approach. CCI also has their own study plan as well as an exam prep booklet available for purchase.
Eligibility
1. Current, unrestricted RN license
2. Currently working full time or part time in a perioperative, clinical practice, nursing education, administration, or research setting
3. A minimum of 2 years and 2,400 hours of experience in perioperative nursing (1,200 of which must be intraoperative hours)
If you have other certifications, such as CST, a minimum of 18 months is required. I was so excited when I saw this as an option because I was so anxious to take the exam to be certified! I ended up taking the exam after 19 months of being a nurse due to my previous experience in the operating room as a surgical tech. My previous experience as a surgical tech served me SO well when taking this exam, especially when it came to the sterile processing topics!
Cost
The CNOR exam itself costs $445. To receive a prep book along with signing up for the exam it is $520. There are also other options to purchase multiple attempts at the test, which they call this package the “CNOR Take 2”. This is a great option for those who are subject experts, but not great at taking tests! Read more about the exam HERE (www.cc-institute.org)
How I Prepared
I signed up for the CNOR exam in July 2022 and scheduled the exam at the end of October 2022. I purchased the plan with the prep book and figured that would be all I would need. Once I got the prep book, I quickly started going through it to see where I stood. I felt that I knew the content, but I was not confident. I went through the book a few times over the course of a month and then set it aside because I felt I had a good handle on all of the content. Life got busy and I set studying aside for a little too long.
Then all of a sudden, it’s halfway through September and I realize I have majorly slacked on preparing for this very important exam. I panicked and quickly started looking for additional resources. I stumbled upon Zander Perioperative Education. I looked around on the website to see what they had to offer and looked up some review that all seemed promising. I sat on it for a few days then decided I was going to move forward with their program. I needed to decide what type of content I would be purchasing from them. They offered local classes, virtual classes, and an on-demand course. During that time life was busy with 3 young children, one of which was less than a year old. I decided to go with the on-demand courses which allowed me to spread my studying into chunks, which helped me with the time I had available and also with my learning style.
Let me tell you. FIVE STARS. 10/10. Would (and do) recommend. It was a series of videos with quizzes after each section that you could watch and take over and over. I listened the sterile processing portion countless times. The explanations and rationales in this course were phenomenal. It was easy to listen to and follow along and was interesting! It was actually enjoyable listening to the “lectures”. I completely believe that this course helped support me passing the certification exam- and I feel that it was not just a “remember this until your test then forget it” type of education. Oh, and you get contact hours or taking the course! After completing the modules there was an option to purchase practice questions. At first, I decided to pass. But, then as the exam date came closer, I decided why not. I am SO glad I bought them!! There was a rationale listed for each question and the questions were very similar to those on the actual certification exam! Don’t second guess yourself, buy the questions! Read more about the courses and what else they have to offer HERE (periop-ed.com)
Fast forward to the day of the exam. Wow was I an anxious wreck. That was the hardest test I had ever taken, so much more challenging than the NCLEX. I thought for sure that I had failed. I pressed that final submission button holding back tears in my eyes because I was certain I was going to have to be retaking it. Then I read the most magical word... “PASS”.
