Perceived Effects of Specialty Nurse Certification: A Review of the Literature (Reprinted from AORN Journal, vol 89, pg 183-192, 2009)

Recent evidence suggests that specialty nurse education and certification may improve the quality of patient care. Specialty nurse certification also may improve nurses' job satisfaction and sense of empowerment, as well as positively affect collaboration with other health care team members. Despite the evidence that there are intrinsic rewards for specialty certification, the lack of extrinsic value to nurses makes it unlikely that greater numbers of nurses will be attracted to certification unless health care administrators increase opportunities for recognition and greater compensation.