Suburban Hospital Receives Award For Nursing Certification Advocacy

Bethesda, Md. (May 1, 2013) – The American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) Awards and Recognition Committee recently announced Suburban Hospital has received honorable mention for the 2013 Award for Nursing Certification Advocacy.

As part of the criteria necessary to receive ABNS’ Advocacy Award, an organization must document the total number of direct patient care RNs and nursing managers, and the number and percentage who are certified in specialty nursing. At Suburban Hospital, 22 percent of RNs, 50 percent of nurse managers and 83 percent of nurse administrators are certified. 

Other award criteria include how the organization supports those nurses interested in seeking certification and the strength of its focus on encouraging the nursing staff to earn certification and continue their education throughout their careers.  

Suburban Hospital promotes certification of its nursing staff through a variety of tactics including reimbursing certification and recertification fees, purchasing review materials and provides paid time off for certification activities and listing certification as “preferred” on job announcements. Certified nurses at Suburban Hospital are recognized for their achievement through an annual breakfast, plaques, articles in newsletters and web and social media postings. The hospital dedicated a special wall on its second floor to feature photographs of each Suburban certified nurse.

The American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) is a membership organization whose mission is to promote the value of specialty nursing certification to all stakeholders, representing nearly half a million specialty certified registered nurses.

About Suburban Hospital

Suburban Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a not-for-profit, community-based hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, that has served Montgomery County and the surrounding area for almost 70 years. Suburban Hospital is distinguished by a cutting-edge stroke program; level II trauma center; centers of excellence in cardiac care, orthopedics and joint replacement surgery, neurosciences and oncology; state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment tools; and affiliations with world-class institutions, including the neighboring National Institutes of Health.