To be eligible for the CENP exam, a candidate must meet the target practitioner definition:
The nurse executive/senior leader sets the vision for nursing practice in the delivery of safe, effective, and efficient patient care. With an interdisciplinary approach, the nurse executive demonstrates leadership in business skills and principles, knowledge of the healthcare environment, communication and relationship management, and professionalism. This includes elements of leadership in strategic and change management, performance improvement, teamwork, evidence-based practice, ethics, and mentoring. The Nurse Executive advocates as the voice for the patient, family, nursing profession, and other health care team members.
All candidates must hold a valid and unrestricted license as a Registered Nurse,
- The AONL-CC maintains an exclusive partner for evaluating international credentials and licenses of nurses educated and licensed outside the US. To validate international credentials (license and education), applicants must present verification from CGFNS International, Inc. Verification documents from any other organization will not be accepted.
and fulfill one of the following requirements for education/work experience.
- A Master’s degree or higher (at least one degree must be in Nursing from an accredited institution) and at least 4,160 hours of experience in an executive/senior nursing role.
- Hold a baccalaureate in Nursing degree. The degree must be from an accredited institution. Have at least 8,320 hours of experience in an executive nursing role/senior nursing role.
There is no defined time limit on the experiential requirement as to when the experience occurred. Still, the practice should be recent enough that the AONL Nurse Executive Competencies guided the applicant’s executive nursing practice.
Your job title might not match the title of the exam application, but you may be practicing in the role and specialty that the exam tests. Please refer to the Test Content Outline and target audience in the Candidate Handbook for details and compare it to your job function.
You are not required to submit any supporting documentation as proof of eligibility. However, you are strongly encouraged to thoroughly review the related examination content outline (content domains and tasks) in the CENP Candidate Handbook. The content outline represents the essential job tasks performed by a CENP. These job tasks are the basis for the questions on the examination.
The content outline also allows candidates to determine whether they meet the eligibility requirements for the exam by comparing their experience with exam content domains and tasks. If you find gaps in your knowledge and skill, additional experience and/or study may be necessary. The eligibility requirements are in place to ensure candidates are positioned to succeed on the examination.