Nursing certifications can help shape your career by building specialty expertise, meeting requirements for certain clinical roles, and preparing you for new opportunities as your goals change. While earning your degree and license helps you start your nursing career, additional certifications can help determine where that career goes next.
As you gain experience, you may become interested in a particular specialty, higher-acuity setting, leadership path, or travel nursing. The right nursing certifications can support each of those moves.
What Role Do Certifications Play in a Nursing Career?
Nursing certifications demonstrate knowledge or skills beyond your initial RN licensure. Depending on the credential, they may validate expertise in a nursing specialty, confirm competency in important clinical skills, or meet requirements for certain units and assignments.
Early in your nursing career, certifications may simply be credentials required by your employer. Over time, however, they can become a more strategic part of your professional development and help you build experience in the areas that interest you most.
What Are the Different Types of Nursing Certifications?
Not all nursing certifications serve the same purpose. Nurses may encounter both skill-based certifications and specialty or board certifications throughout their careers.
Skill-based credentials such as Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support focus on specific clinical competencies and may be required for certain care environments.
Specialty or board certifications typically demonstrate deeper knowledge and experience within a particular area of nursing practice. Organizations such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center offer certifications across a range of nursing specialties and career levels.
Both types can be valuable, but the certifications you need will depend on your specialty, employer requirements, experience, and career goals.
What Certifications Can Help Advance a Nursing Career?
The best nursing certifications for career advancement depend on where you want to go professionally. A nurse pursuing an ICU nursing career may need different credentials than someone interested in an ER nursing career.
When deciding what to pursue, consider:
- Certifications commonly requested for your specialty
- Requirements listed in nursing job postings that interest you
- Credentials that may help you move into a new clinical setting
- Specialty certifications that align with your long-term career goals
- Certifications commonly requested for travel nursing assignments you may want to pursue
Rather than collecting credentials simply to add them to your resume, focus on certifications that support the nursing career you want to build.
Can Nursing Certifications Create More Career Opportunities?
Nursing certifications can help qualify you for specialized roles, strengthen your professional credentials, and demonstrate your commitment to a particular area of practice.
They can also give you more flexibility as your interests change. You may begin your career in one specialty, discover an interest in another, pursue travel nursing, or eventually move toward education, management, or advanced practice.
Your nursing career does not have to follow one path, and certifications can help you prepare for new directions along the way.
How Should You Choose Your Next Nursing Certification?
Start with your career goals rather than the certification itself. Think about where you want your nursing career to be in the next few years and which credentials could help you get there.
Ask yourself:
- What nursing specialty interests me most?
- Are there certifications commonly required in that specialty?
- Do I want to work in a higher-acuity clinical environment?
- Am I considering travel nursing?
- Do I eventually want to pursue leadership, education, or advanced practice?
You should also review current job requirements and confirm eligibility criteria directly with the organization that administers any certification you are considering.
Build a Nursing Career That Can Grow with You
Nursing certifications can do more than meet a requirement. The right credentials can help you deepen your clinical knowledge, strengthen your specialty expertise, and prepare for new opportunities throughout your nursing career.
If you are deciding which certifications fit your goals, our Nursing Career Guide takes a closer look at certifications, career planning, and the steps that can help you move forward.
Download the Nursing Career Guide to explore nursing certifications and plan the next stage of your RN journey.
