March 2022
Pam Fifer, EdD, RN, CNE
The National League for Nursing has declared 2022 the Year of the Nurse Educator. Nurse educators are vital to preparing the future nursing workforce. Consider sharing the many benefits of being a nurse educator with your nursing colleagues. Speak words of affirmation to your students who demonstrate leadership and teaching abilities to consider nursing education in their future. And for your nursing education colleagues, continue to mentor and encourage them to become certified. Nurse educator certification demonstrates excellence and expertise in this practice specialty.
Certified nurse educators are highly skilled professionals who embrace excellence and expertly implement the core competencies of nurse educators. Do you know an individual who, or program that, exemplifies this pursuit of excellence and the advancement of certification? Consider nominating them for the NLN Certification Star Award.
The Star Award is an annual recognition award of individuals, programs, or organizations that clearly recognize and exemplify the pursuit of excellence and the advancement of certifications. The award will recognize outstanding individuals, programs,
or organizations that have made a significant difference or substantial contribution to nursing education, embraced nurse education through adoption and/or promotion of certification, and helped to sustain certifications and excellence in education.
Nomination applications will be accepted from April 1 to May 31. More information regarding the application can be found here.
Larry E. Simmons, PhD, RN, CNE, NEA-BC, CGNC
The Year in Review
Greetings and best wishes for a nicer 2022 than 2020 and 2021 were! Overall, 2021 was a good recovery year for the Certification Program compared to 2020. We added 699 new CNEs and 127 CNEcls to the roster! Our renewal rate for CNE for 2021 was 82% of the 2021 expirations. That is an amazing renewal rate. Our overall pass rates for 2021: CNE 69% and CNEcl 71%.
CNE Novice (CNEn)
We are getting prepared to launch the pilot testing for our new CNE novice exam. We are very excited about this project. This completes the Benner model of novice to expert and are proud of the team that worked so hard to bring this project this far. We hope the launch the full testing certifications in the late summer.
CNEcl Practice Analysis 2022
This is the year for the new practice analysis survey describing the role and responsibilities of the academic clinical nurse educator. Emails will be sent with a survey link. If you know of faculty that are clinical nurse educators, or not functioning in the full scope of the role, feel free to pass on the email and encourage to complete the survey. This will help to revise the test plan for the CNEcl exam for the next five years.
CNE Renewals 2022
Those CNEs that need to renew in 2022 may submit renewal materials at any time during the year. The deadline for renewal submissions is September 30. This will allow us to process the renewals before December 31, the actual date of expiration. Please remember that each activity is a stand-alone item. It needs to relate to one and only once competency. It is not acceptable to “clump” activities and put under one competency, i.e. “Various CEs attended 30 RC.” This entry will not be approved by the reviewer.
Certification Star Award 2022
Applications are now open for programs to apply for the Certification Star Award 2022. Programs who have demonstrated exemplary dedication to the Certification effort are eligible to apply. Innovative and creative approaches to getting faculty certified with be reviewed and one named a winner. The Award will be presented to the winning program at the NLN Education Summit in Las Vegas in September.
New Board of Commissioners Members
We welcomed three new members to the Board of Commissioners. They are Dr. Christopher Blackwell, Dr. Benjamin Brebonaria, and Dr. Brenda Morris. They have introduced themselves in this Newsletter.
From the Legal Desk
Linda Christensen, JD, RN, CNE
Background and use requirements for CNE® and CNE®cl
Congratulations to all the academic nurse educators who have earned the certification credential of CNE® and/or CNE®cl! You have achieved a voluntary professional certification that indicates you have met specific educational, practice, and competency testing requirements. At the time you first became certified, you would have received a letter indicating you were entitled to use the appropriate certification mark, either CNE® or CNE®cl. We are often asked questions about the appropriate use of such credentials and the following should provide clarity.
The designations, CNE® and CNE®cl, are certification marks that the NLN has registered with the federal government. The small circle that contains the capital letter “R” is the legal designation for a registered mark. After meeting the specific eligibility criteria and achieving a satisfactory score on the certification exam, the individual is entitled to use the certification credential, CNE® and/or CNE®cl, during the time period that their certification is active. A professional certification’s active time periods can vary from one certification to another. It is the responsibility of the certificant to monitor when their certification would expire and renew the certification if possible. Note that not all professional certifications can be renewed, as may be the case with progressive professional certification pathways.
What happens when an individual’s professional certification is close to expiration? If it is possible to renew the certification, the individual could do so and continue to use the professional credential following its renewal. If the individual does not renew the certification or does not meet the renewal requirements, the individual is no longer eligible to use the designation awarded with that certification, and it must be removed from the listing of one’s credentials used after their name. To leave the credential after their name after it is no longer active would be considered a fraudulent misrepresentation of the individual’s credentials, as well as a violation of NLN’s intellectual property rights. It would, however, be appropriate to list that they had the credential during a specific time frame on one’s curriculum vitae, just as one would list a former employment position.
Meet the New Members of the Board of Commissioners
Christopher W. Blackwell, Ph.D., APRN, ANP-BC, AGACNP-BC, CNE, FAANP, FAAN
Dr. Christopher Blackwell is a tenured Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Central Florida, where he directs the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Programs. He is a prominent scholar and expert in LGBTQ health. His research has been funded and published in prestigious academic journals and textbooks. Dr. Blackwell has been awarded several university, local, state, and national research and graduate teaching awards. He was the 2017 recipient of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties Outstanding Nurse Practitioner Educator Award. In 2018, POCN named him as one of the Top 10 Nurse Practitioners in the United States. Dr. Blackwell practices in Pulmonary/Critical Care and is nationally certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner and Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner through ANCC and Nurse Educator through the NLN. He is Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Nursing.
Benjamin Joel Breboneria, DNS, MA, MSN, RN, CNE, NEA-BC
Dr. Benjamin Joel Breboneria is the Head of Nursing Department at King Faisal University - College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS). His role includes being the program director/chair of the top BSN program in terms of licensure outcomes and the
first MSN - Nurse Educator Track in Saudi Arabia. He is also the current deputy director of the patient care technician (PCT) program under the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS). Dr. Breboneria was awarded as one of the most outstanding
alumni in the university and country where he graduated. He is an educator and a Gallup certified strengths coach in his field of practice. He always goes beyond expectations in his work and studies. With this, he was an alum of the NLN Center for
Transformational Leadership LEAD Program, a scholar of leadership programs in other international nursing organizations, and a current officer in these organizations. It seems his nature to help and care for other people; he is an optimist himself
as he constantly imparts positive impact in various ways. Hard work and passion have always driven him to do more. His current projects involve international accreditation of the BSN & MSN programs in King Faisal University, where he is the nurse
administrator. Recently, he organized an event for global nursing leaders to share their lessons learned and lived experiences using narrative pedagogy, benefiting nurses without barriers from more than 25 countries.
Brenda Morris, EdD, MS, RN, CNE
Brenda Morris, EdD, MS, RN, CNE is a Clinical Professor of Nursing at the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. She currently teaches in the RN/BSN and Master of Science in Nursing (Nurse Educator) programs. Prior to her current assignment, she taught in the Prelicensure BSN programs for over 10 years and held various administrative leadership positions in the college
Dr. Morris has been a certified nurse educator since 2008. In 2013, she began serving the NLN as a college ambassador. For the past nine years, Dr. Morris has served and is serving as an item writer and member of the test development committee for the
different certified nurse educator exams. In 2019, she participated in the NLN’s task group to revise the Competencies and Related Task Statements for the Novice Nurse Educator. She was elected to the NLN Certification Board of Commissioners
in 2021 and is currently serving in her first term as a commissioner. Through this service, she is looking forward to contributing to the advancement of the NLN’s mission of “promoting excellence in nursing education” by recognizing
nurse educators’ specialized knowledge.