Why Some Nurses Obtain Specialty Certification and Others Do Not.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether there are modifiable characteristics of nurses and hospitals associated with nurse specialty certification.

Background: Hospitals, nurses, and patients benefit from nurse specialty certification, but little actionable evidence guides administrators seeking higher hospital certification rates.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of 20 454 nurses in 471 hospitals across 4 states.

Results: Rates of certified nurses varied significantly across hospitals. Higher odds of certification were associated with Magnet® recognition and better hospital work environments at the facility level, and with BSN education, unit type (most notably, oncology), older age, more years of experience, and full-time employment at the individual nurse level.

Conclusion: Two strategies that hold promise for increasing nurse specialty certification are improving hospital work environments and preferentially hiring BSN nurses.