Dear Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists:

As we near the end of December, we are excited to offer you a status report on the proposed Continued Professional Certification program (CPC). Since the public comment period ended we have been reviewing the feedback and suggestions we have received, analyzing the data from the NBCRNA and AANA surveys, and evaluating ideas for strengthening and improving the CPC program. As we noted in our last communication, one tool we are using to evaluate recommendations is the Delphi Process. We are completing the third round of the Delphi Process. As we expected, the Delphi tool is helping consensus form around a number of recommendations. The CPC committee spent considerable time analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of potential modifications to the original CPC proposal and incorporated a number of possible modifications in the Delphi Process as a starting point for further analysis. Participants in the Delphi Process were encouraged to draw upon the comments they had reviewed to identify recommendations they felt were most worthy and add any new suggestion they deemed appropriate. The thoughtful comments and opinions offered during the Delphi Process have contributed to a more informed perspective about the CPC program.

The CPC program is intended to establish a best practice standard to advance our patient safety mission, a responsibility all CRNAs take very seriously. We understand that it is important to consider the economic, practice, psychological, and other realities which ultimately will influence overall success. Our goal is to establish and maintain an effective recertification program while avoiding undue burden on the certificate holders. The many contributions we received from CRNAs who participated in surveys, communicated through phone calls and email, or offered thoughts during state presentations gave us valuable feedback that is informing the process as we go forward.

A number of general themes have emerged. Among others, CRNAs have weighed in on grandfathering, increasing the CE requirement, and many have opposed a high-stakes exam. The issues presented in those themes help illustrate the balance the CPC committee is seeking to apply. For example, the first round Delphi analysis provided a clear consensus that if high stakes components (such as a pass/fail exam) exist in the final CPC program, then there should be a form of “grandfathering” surrounding eligible certificants. The participants in the Delphi Process will send forward recommendations on this issue that will balance the goal of creating best practices in recertification with the concerns that have been expressed by CRNAs about testing.

Once the Delphi study has concluded, the CPC committee will write a report of the entire CPC proceeding and present the report together with its recommendations to the NBCRNA Board of Directors at the Board’s meeting in January of 2012. The recommendations will be reviewed and discussed at the meeting, and refined in accordance with the responsibilities of the Board. Please note that the AANA board has been advocating on behalf of the membership and we expect to be in close communication with them during this time to apprise them of progress on revisions to the CPC program. We do have a scheduled meeting with the AANA Board on February 22, 2012. We will continue to communicate with the CRNA community regularly as we move forward.

In closing, we thank all of you who have contributed to the proposed CPC program, and hope that everyone enjoys a warm and rewarding holiday season.

Regards,

Mary Anne Krogh, CRNA, PhD, NBCRNA President