Attitudes toward certification. A pilot study.

The CNOR certification is a voluntary commitment that individual perioperative nurses make after considering financial, professional, and personal issues. The results of this survey indicate that CNOR certification is sought to fulfill personal and professional goals. A vital component in the delivery of quality perioperative patient care is the individual nurse. This is true whether or not the perioperative nurse is certified. One question is the value of the CNOR process in the validation of nurses for the delivery of perioperative patient care. It is easy to assume that if knowledge is present, the knowledge will be applied. Assumptions, however, can be misleading. These findings suggest that several nursing traits interact to promote quality perioperative patient care delivery, and CNOR certification is only one of those traits. Claims of CNOR outcomes should be based on documented support rather than assumption and speculation. Further investigation on a much larger and more inclusive scale is needed before suggesting specific changes to the present certification process. This project substantiates the process and the feasibility of conducting future studies. Using a modification of this survey tool in future studies would provide support to the reliability of these findings. This investigation shows that CNOR certification is an important topic to perioperative nursing. With current NCB:PNI proposals and other national considerations, CNOR certification will continue to be an important issue.