The Radiologic Nursing Certification Board (RNCB) is a non-profit organization run by a volunteer Board of Directors that oversees the Certified Radiology Nursing (CRN) exam. The CRN exam is offered during the months of April and September each year and is a computer-based exam. The CRN certification is valid for four years and recertification is obtained with an application fee along with required CE’s met, or re-testing.
I’d like to share some information about the Radiology Nursing Certification. The CRN credentials are trademarked and can be placed after your name once you have passed the exam. The CRN exam is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification (ABSNC) which is the same accreditation board that the ANCC nursing certification exams are also accredited by.
The ABSNC standards to meet accreditation are rigorous and ensure that the certification is a valued representation of the vast knowledge that is necessary for Radiology Nurses to have in practice. Accreditation with ABSNC must be renewed every 5 years.
One of the ABSNC requirements are that a Role Delineation Study must be done at least every 5 years. This entails of bringing together a group of practicing Certified Radiology Nurses from a diverse Radiology Nursing practice setting to scrutinize the subject content of the exam in order to make sure that the subject matter being tested is still current practice. The Role Delineation Study group works directly with the Center for Nursing Education and Testing (C-NET). C-NET is the organization that oversees development and administration of the CRN exam. The result of the Role Delineation Study is what makes up the blueprint for the CRN exam and this can be found on the RNCB website, certifiedradiologynurse.org under the resources link. It is highly suggested for anyone interested in sitting for the CRN exam look over the blueprint in order to help plan your studying.
Another requirement of ABSNC accreditation is to conduct an Item Writing Task Force which again brings together a diverse representation of practicing Certified Radiology Nurses to work with C-NET. The Item Writing Task Force looks through all of the current questions in the exam to verify that the content matches current practice and help re-work questions that are showing statistically that they may not be clearly answering the objective of the questions. Questions that are determined not to be current practice are removed and replaced by re-written versions or newly written exam questions that are tested on future exams for validity prior to allowing them to be scored items. The last Role Delineation Study was done in April of 2018 and the last Item Writing task force met and worked on the exam in October of 2018.
Exciting news this year for the CRN exam and re-certification is that the application process is now completely online. There is a new website that is now live, and the address has not changed from previous years, so you won’t need to change any flyers or postings you have hanging up in your departments at work. The web address is still certfiedradiologynurse.org. There is a CE documentation form that you can download to your computer and fill out the required information listed regarding obtained CE’s. Then when you begin your application for initial certification or for recertification, you can upload your completed CE form as part of your application. Other items you will need to have available to upload as part of your application is your current nursing license and if you are an ARIN member you will need to have proof of membership. You will not be required to upload your CE certificates with your applications for initial certification or re-certification but must retain them as a required percentage of applicants will be audited and asked to provide proof of attendance for their acquired CE’s. It is highly suggested to use your personal email address instead of your work address when setting up a login due to the increase use of firewalls in many institutions.
The CRN exam can be taken at multiple testing locations that are offered with a wide range of dates and times throughout the months of April and September. You can find the locations of the testing sites on our website. ARIN members will receive a discount on the certification / re-certification cost and the deadline for the September CRN exam is July 8th.
There are currently almost 1200 Certified Radiology Nurses and we hope to grow this number. Visit our website certifiedradiologynurse.org today and start your journey to certification or maintain your CRN certification with our re-certification application requirements. Please reach out to us via our website for any questions.
