January 2021

Happy 2021! This past year had its share of challenges, but nurse educators continued to demonstrate resilience, flexibility, and innovation in order to keep the nursing workforce pipeline moving! In spite of the pandemic and test centers being closed or operating at partial capacity, nurse educators continued to take and pass CNE and CNEcl certification exams for nursing education. Way to go!

As we begin 2021, our roles as nurse educators seem to have even greater significance as our world adapts to the pandemic and the future of health care. Developing and implementing evidence based teaching strategies to facilitate learning, creating valid and reliable assessment and evaluation methodologies, ensuring strong curriculum, continuing quality improvement efforts, and engaging in scholarship, service, and leadership can be challenging at this time. As experts in nursing education, certified nurse educators and certified clinical nurse educators are a strong resource to continue leading and moving nursing education forward. We will continue to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of our nation and the global community.

I would like to welcome our two newest Commissioners: Laura Gonzalez, PhD, RN, CNE and Larry Slater, PhD, RN-BC, CNE. They each bring a depth of experience and expertise to the Commission. Short bios along with pictures of Laura and Larry can be found below.

Pamela Fifer
Chair, Certification Board of Commissioners

Greetings to one and all. I hope that the new year has started well for everyone. With all of the challenges of 2020, I hope that 2021 brings us good news and less stress overall.

The Certification Program has launched a brand new software program just for Certification. The official name is Certelligence. Each applicant or certified person has a profile now in Certelligence, which is for certification information only but remains linked to the NLN database. The first thing to understand is that if anyone changes a name, email or address in the NLN data base, that change appears in Certelligience. So, the systems “talk” to one another.

The login begins with the NLN login. The NLN number is the certification number as indicated on the certificate of certification. It is extremely important to check if you have an NLN member number before starting a new profile. Starting a new profile will initiate a new number and the potential of duplicate accounts can occur, which we do not want to happen.

All applications will be electronically submitted and review can occur much more quickly. Once an application is complete, program staff members have the ability to, within a few days, review the application and ask for additional information if needed. If all is good, the applicant is notified of being Exam Eligible and an email about scheduling will be sent by our testing platform provider Scantron.

The system will also allow all certification activities to occur, including certification renewals. This will now be electronically done. No more downloading forms, filling in papers, scanning, and emailing them back. The logging of renewal activities can now be done as an e-portfolio. The certificant has the ability to add to the portfolio at any time during the 5-year cycle of the certification. There is also the ability to go ahead and upload the documentation at that time. This will save the time and effort of responding to audit requests at the time of the renewal submission. If it is already there, that is all that we will need.

We are currently working on other perks within the system, such as the ability to print your own certificate and not wait for a mailing of a new or renewed certificate.

The other major change that occurred in late 2021 was a change of platform providers. We now use Scantron. Many of you know Scantron as the bubble sheet testers. They have purchased a company that dealt with certification for many years, and they have great staff. There are always bumps along any road but we are striving to work together to work out the issues.

The Award Ad Hoc Committee of the Board of Commissioners has established plans to develop an award program focused on programs or other entities that have shown a commitment to nurse educator certification. As you may recall, AHEC of Maryland received the first award at the 2019 Summit. Last year’s pandemic slowed this development down, but more information about eligibility and criteria should be forthcoming this year.

 

Best regards,

Dr. Larry Simmons
Director of Credentialing

​   Laura Gonzalez
   Clinical Associate Professor
   University of Central Florida
   PhD, APRN, CNE, CHSE-A, ANEF, FAAN

Dr. Gonzalez is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida. She is also the Director for the Simulation, Technology, Innovation & Modeling Center (STIM). Dr.Gonzalez is a global leader in the simulation community. Her body of work is in education and research with innovative technologies. Most recently her work in AR demonstrated that realism and fidelity contribute to greater engagement and learning among nursing students. Her body of research has resulted in two patents with computer science engineers. She has approximately $2.2 million in collaborative grant funding resulting in manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, an invited author chapter, a textbook, and numerous national/international podiums and presentations. She has held several key positions within the past five years. She is the past Vice President for two terms (4 years) for INACSL, The International Association Clinical Simulation and Learning. She is an Advanced Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE-A). She is a Fellow of the Academy of Nurse Educators (ANEF) and most and recently inducted into the Academy of Nurses (FAAN).

Dr.Gonzalez completed her BSN at Hunter College Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City. She received her MSN, APRN degree in Adult Health from the University of South Florida. She later earned her PhD at the University of Central Florida and her dissertation was on health care disparities.

   Larry Slater
   Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Professor
   University of Memphis Loewenberg College of Nursing
   PhD, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN

Larry Z. Slater, PhD, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN, is Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Professor at the University of Memphis Loewenberg College of Nursing. He previously served as the Director of the Undergraduate Program and Clinical Associate Professor at the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Dr. Slater holds expertise in the design and implementation of active, learner-driven strategies in nursing education; curriculum development, improvement, and assessment with a focus on technology-enhanced education; program outcomes assessment and accreditation; and faculty/staff governance in academia.

Dr. Slater’s academic endeavors include the implementation of design thinking into the undergraduate nursing curriculum; the promotion and integration of flipped classroom pedagogy in nursing courses; the development of a nursing simulation game application examining patient acuity and nurse expertise in setting patient assignments in a hospital setting; the incorporation of standardized patients in undergraduate nursing simulation experiences in both live and virtual settings; and the writing and development of unfolding video cases on leadership and management in nursing, as well as a 15-part podcast on nursing transition to practice, with corresponding teaching materials, used in nursing programs nationwide.

Dr. Slater received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing and his PhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing in Birmingham, Alabama, where he also completed post-doctoral training examining social support, health, and quality of life in older adults living with HIV/AIDS. His clinical area in nursing was neurosurgical intensive care, with a focus on quality improvement and evidence-based practice. For his work in academia, Dr. Slater has received numerous awards for teaching excellence, including from New York University (Teaching Excellence Award), the American Nurses Association-New York (Nursing Education Award), and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (Novice Faculty Excellence in Didactic Teaching). Dr. Slater also completed the Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy through Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing, and a fellowship in the Leadership In Academic Nursing Program through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Dr. Slater was recently inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the New York Academy of Medicine. He is an active member and leader in several professional organizations, currently serving as Chair of the Committee on Bylaws for the American Nurses Association, as Secretary for the Foundation of the National Student Nurses Association, as a member of the National League for Nursing Certification Commission, and as a member of the Steering Committee for Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing.

February 9              5 p.m. EST           Virtual Conference Call                 Board of Commissioners

May 11                    5 p.m. EDT           Virtual Conference Call                 Board of Commissioners

August TBD            5 p.m. EDT           Virtual Conference Call                 Board of Commissioners

September 23-25                                 NLN Summit                                 National Harbor, Maryland