NEW Certification Research! 

A new study published in Nursing Outlook offers strong evidence for the difference that certified nurses make in patient care. Researchers from Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan, Yale, and Marquette used electronic health record data to determine the relationship between patient outcomes and the nurses providing care, across four hospitals over two years.

From a dataset of over 42,000 patients and 2,683 nurses, the researchers identified lower odds of in-hospital mortality, fewer pressure injuries, lower rates of catheter-associated infection, and fewer central-line-associated infections when care was provided by a certified nurse. Notably, these associations held true for certified nurses with and without a BSN, suggesting that specialty certification contributes distinctly to patient care, and its benefits are observed regardless of education level.

A question the certification community has always wondered about is whether certification itself, not just the broader continuing education or professional development it reflects, translates to safer, higher-quality patient care. The nurse-patient-level design of this study reduces that ambiguity and supports the idea that certified expertise shows up in outcomes that matter to patients and families. A critical priority arising from this work is that nurses should be supported in pursuing and maintaining specialty certification. Hospitals and health systems are likely to see this as an investment with a measurable return in patient safety and quality of care.

Please follow this link to read the full study: https://www.nursingoutlook.org/article/S0029-6554(26)00143-0/fulltext