How to Become a Certified Nurse Educator

The National League for Nursing provides the designation of Certified Nurse Educator to certain nursing teachers who meet experience and educational requirements. Those individuals must also take a CNE exam before getting certified.

There are two ways of meeting the nurse education and experience requirements for this nursing-educator certification. In both cases, an applicant must be a currently licensed registered nurse in the United States or a US territory. However, much more education than just a general RN-qualifying nursing program is required. All Certified Nurse Educators must have at least a master’s degree in nursing (a doctorate degree also qualifies).

For those who have their master’s degree or higher with an emphasis on nursing education (at least 9 semester hours of graduate education-based courses), only 2 years of full-time work as an academic faculty member is required over the past 5 years. Now, some nurse educators will have a nursing degree that does not have an emphasis on nursing education. Those applicants need to have 4 years of full-time work as an academic faculty member over the previous 5 years.

As soon as those qualifications are met, you can then apply to take the Certified Nurse Educator Exam. However, it is wise to prepare first and then apply to take this difficult certification test.

First, start out by downloading the Candidate Handbook. You will find the test blueprint inside the handbook. This will instruct you on the major and some of the minor topics you need to master to pass this CNE exam. Use that as a guide for studying.

To learn the actual substance of what may appear on the test, the handbook has a long list of references. That material does not include everything that might be on the exam, but it will certainly improve your chances of passing if you learn all that material in those textbooks. There are so many books on this list, and that could get quite expensive. Try to find other nursing educators that may also be interested in getting certified so you can split the price with them. It might also be valuable to get a copy of The Scope of Practice for Academic Nurse Educators. This is about 15 or 20 dollars and provides an overview of the profession of nursing education (see link below).

There are some options for CNE practice questions and a test, as well. The Candidate Handbook has a few practice questions for the Certified Nurse Educator Exam, and there is a full practice test offered for sale by the National League for Nursing and test partner AMP. As of July 2011, the price is $74.95 for NLN non-members and $59.95 for members.

Resources:

National League for Nursing: Options for Getting Qualified to Take the Certified Nurse Educator Exam

NLN: Certified Nurse Educator Candidate Handbook

CNE Practice Exam

NLN: The Scope of Practice for Academic Nurse Educators