Comparison and Contrast of ANCC and AANP Certification Process and Board Certification Examination - Research Paper Example

The present study focuses on a comparison and contrast of these two certification and board examinations. ANCC and AANP: Comparison and Contrast: The nursing practitioners are allowed to take both the examination. However, it is a choice of the candidate to take either one of the exams or both (Difference Between AANP and ANCC, 2012). The ANCC is credentialing body of the American Nurses Association (ANA).The exams for credential presently being offered to nurse practitioners are for the following fields: adult, family, paediatric, gerontology, acute care, adult or family psychiatric and mental health, and advanced diabetes management.

The AANP is a branch of learning organization that caters to only nurse practitioners. It is at present contributing in three specialty exams: adult, family, and geriatric nurse practitioner (Leik, 2008, p.1). The American Nurses Credentialing Center is the biggest and most esteemed nurse credentialing organization in the world (ANCC Certification Center, 2012). In general, the ANCC revises their examinations for the nurse practitioner in every 2 to 3 years. The questions in the exam are mostly suggested from most important textbooks, national expert panel guidelines, papers, and official governmental reports and statistics.

The suggestion sources for AANP exams are not recognized in public. The substance of their examinations is supported on the results of a responsibility description learning that was carried out by both the AANP and the Professional Examination Service. The examinations for both the certifications are now computer based thus being online conducted within a particular time frame. However, the number of questions varies for the two tests. For ANCC examination, the total number of questions is 175, while for AANP, 150 questions are in total for the test.

Both the certifications are in the same way acknowledged as national specialty organizations, and credentials granted by them are acceptable to governmental bodies such as Medicare, local state agencies such as the state boards of nursing (BON), and private corporations (Leik, 2008, pp.2-3). The AANP examinations have been organized and developed by AANP itself and the Professional Examination Service (PES). On the other hand, it is the ANCC that organizes the ANCC certification examination.

The range of programs covered by AANP is lesser in comparison to ANCC. ANCC provides further diverse range of programs including the Acute Care, Adult, Adult Psychiatric & Mental Health, Diabetes Management, Family, Family Psych & Mental Health, Gerontological, Paediatric, School, Ambulatory Care, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Cardiac Vascular, College Health, Community Health, High-Risk Prenatal, Informatics, Maternal-Child, and Medical-Surgical Nursing among others (Difference Between AANP and ANCC, 2012).

To study and analyse accurately, there are not many differences in the two examinations except the wide range of subjects covered under the ANCC certification. As far as the examinations are concerned, taking any one of the examinations would provide the nursing practitioner with the opportunity to serve in their choice of fields in nursing. However, in order to qualify for the certification examination both the tests require that the nursing candidates hold an active current licence of Registered Nurses (RN) within a state or territory of