Welcome to 2022! We know that the past year has been full of changes, including some exciting changes with the National Certification for School Nurses (NCSN) exam. Last year, thanks to a dedicated group of subject matter experts (SMEs), the NCSN exam was thoroughly updated. 

Just as the nursing process is continual, so is the work of the Exam Development Committee and you can be a part of that process because the NCSN exam is written, built, reviewed, and edited by school nurses for school nurses. Every year, we recruit a group of NCSN SMEs to help write or update evidence-based practice questions (items), review the exams and questions before testing, and review certain questions after the exam window; all of these critical steps help ensure a healthy and robust certification exam. 

But that’s not all. After listening to your feedback and working over the past year, we are happy to announce that for 2022 and beyond, the NCSN exam will be scored immediately! This means that future NCSNs will be able to see an unofficial test score after completing the test and will receive the official results in a few days or weeks. That’s right, the days of waiting months for your NCSN exam results are over!

So, you see that the development of the NCSN exam is a lot of work – but also a lot of fun! SMEs get to meet nurses from all over the country and work as a team to create a quality exam.  We are ever grateful for our many SMEs who volunteer for this very interesting and important work. If you have not already joined in on the fun – please consider becoming a valued SME and apply by visiting the NBCSN committee website.

It is because of you that we can continually improve the NCSN exam. So on behalf of the Exam Development Committee and all future NCSNs, thank you for providing your feedback and please consider becoming a SME. You and future NCSNs will be glad you did! 

Take care, 

Eden Donahue – NBCSN Exam Development Committee Chair