Description

The American Organization for Nursing Leadership Credentialing Center (AONL-CC) is an activity of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL), which is part of the American Hospital Association (AHA). The AONL-CC Steering Committee governs both the Certified in Executive Nursing Practice (CENP) and Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML) certification programs.

The mission of the AONL-CC is to create, facilitate and administer the premier certification programs specifically designed to measure the competency and strengthen the leadership potential of nurses in leadership practice, thereby improving patient outcomes and protecting the health and wellbeing of the public we serve.  

The Public Member is elected to represent the direct and indirect users of the services of certificants, broadening the perspective of the Steering Committee and focusing its attention on patient concerns as they relate to safety, quality, and effectiveness of the certification programs. The Public Member has no professional/career affiliation with nursing, health care organizations, or certification within the scope of the AONL-CC. The public member will meet the criteria established in the current National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs and the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification (ABSNC) Accreditation Standards for Examination-Based Certification Programs. As such, the public member:

• Is not, and has never been, a nurse or other healthcare professional nor a member of the profession encompassed by the certification program(s).
• Is not, and has never been, a current or past employee of the AONL-CC, AHA-CC, AONL, or AHA.
• Is not, and has never been, a non-nursing professional who works or worked closely with nurses in the nursing specialty environment in the patient care setting, including but not limited to, a supervisor, manager, direct co-worker, employee, or subordinate of individuals in the profession.
• Is not, and has never been, an employee of a testing vendor.
• Is not a current or previous member of a profession related to nursing or a profession that provides services complementary to nursing.
• Does not currently receive or has not within the last five years received income from the profession encompassed by an AONL-CC certification program.
• Has not worked for or provided contract services to the AONL or AHA, at any time during the 5 years preceding appointment as a public member.
• May have served as a public member for other boards.

Requirements

The Public Member is a full voting member of the Steering Committee and is expected to perform the same duties as those of all other voting Steering Committee members:

Roles & Responsibilities
While the Steering Committee may delegate ongoing program operations to employees, the contracted testing company, and/or consultants as needed through the management agreement with AHA-CC, the areas of policy level decision-making responsibility listed below may not be subcontracted to any other organization or entity. The certification decisions for which the Steering Committee retains sole authority include: 

A.     Approval of exam content and construction, item writing, and exam administration.

B.     Approval of subject matter experts (SMEs) to serve on AONL-CC committees including but not limited to exam development committees.

C.     Job analysis surveys to assure exam validity and relevance to scope of practice of the profession.

D.     Establishment of eligibility requirements for certification, including academic and experience requirement based on the results of the Job Analysis.

E.     Establishment of cut scores required to pass and attain certification.

F.      Establishment and maintenance of a process for appeal of candidate scores, eligibility decisions, and/or recertification decisions.

G.    Establish and maintain a renewal and recertification program.

H.    Enforce a Code of Conduct/Ethics policy for certified individuals and take appropriate disciplinary action.

I.       Maintain records of certification.

J.      Maintain confidentiality of certification data consistent with industry standards.

The Steering Committee will:

A.     Submit a Credentialing Center budget to the AONL Board for approval and incorporation in the AONL budget and will help oversee certification program operations within the established budget and financial policies. 

B.     Set fees for application, certification, recertification, and related services, assuring adequate financial resources to assure ongoing operations of the AONL-CC.

C.     Provide input to inform decisions regarding contracts related to certification or recertification activities.

D.     Provide oversight of qualified certification program personnel.