Burn Certification Update – July 2022
Meet the Burn Nursing RDS Advisory Committee
Since December 2021, the 12-member Burn Nursing Role Delineation Study (RDS) Advisory Committee convened by BCEN has been developing the world’s first burn nursing certification program – the Certified Burn Registered Nurse (CBRN).
Collectively, the distinguished nurses serving on the committee have an extraordinary 189 years of burn nursing experience, with three members having dedicated 34 or more years to the specialty.
Their experience spans pediatric and adult burn care, they work in various bedside, clinical management, educator, biopharmaceutical and burn program management roles, and they hail from every region of the United States.
Please join us in thanking the members for their outstanding and continuing volunteer contributions:
Katy Baker, University Medical Center – Burn ICU (TX)
Gretchen Carrougher, University of Washington/Harborview Medical Center (WA)
Angela Drelles, Children’s Hospital Colorado Burn and Trauma Program (CO)
Courtney Holden, Hennepin Healthcare burn Center (MN)
Katie Hollowed, South Caroline Burn Center at MUSC (SC)
Cynthia Julian, Eskenazi Health, Fairbanks Burn Unit (IN)
Julie Liberio, Vericel Corporation (IL)
Christopher Lipman, University Medical Center New Orleans (MS)
Tamara Roberts, Upstate University Medical Hospital (NY)
Emily Snyder, Medical City Plano (TX)
Emily Werthman, The Johns Hopkins Burn Center (MD)
Megan Zynkian, UC San Diego Hospital, Burn ICU (CA)
BCEN Burn Nursing RDS Survey is Complete
An integral part of developing a new nursing specialty certification is a role delineation study (RDS), which includes expert input from RDS advisory committee members and the development and execution of an expansive survey of nurses currently working in that specialty. The RDS survey is carefully designed to identify the knowledge and responsibilities of the burn nurse in order to ensure the content of a certification exam is relevant, accurate, current and comprehensive. In the survey, which also collects important demographic information, nurses are asked to rate the frequency and importance of knowledge topics to their practice as a nurse in that specialty. The information gathered from the study then helps form the basis for developing the certification exam.
The BCEN Burn Nursing RDS Survey was conducted in partnership with BCEN’s exam development partner PSI Services from March 15, 2022, to April 16, 2022. The 154-question survey was sent to 868 nurses identified by the American Burn Association (ABA), BCEN’s partner for the initial development of the CBRN certification program. Of the 868 nurses who received the survey, 405 responded for a response rate of 47%. The responses from all 405 nurses, who self-identified as burn nurses, were ultimately included in the final data analysis.
The respondents are based in four countries—United States, Canada, Australia and Fiji, and work at civilian, academic and non-academic, and military facilities. The overwhelming majority of respondents (85%) work within ABA-verified burn centers.
Thank you to all of the burn nurses who participated in this very important survey.
What’s Next?
Based on the subject matter expertise and efforts of the BCEN RDS Advisory Committee, the CBRN exam content outline will be created and then reviewed and approved by the distinguished members of the BCEN board of directors.
Later this year, BCEN will publish the CBRN exam content outline. This will allow nurses planning to take the exam in 2023 and beyond to begin to prepare, will offer the world a view of the scope of the burn nursing specialty, and will support preparatory and review content to be developed.
At the same time, BCEN is enlisting CBRN exam item writers and will hold an item writer training session in September. A CBRN Exam Construction and Review Committee will also be formed in the coming months.
The CBRN exam remains on track to launch in mid-2023. BCEN will also develop a CBRN practice exam that will be offered via the BCEN Learn platform.
Stay tuned for more updates, and be sure to bookmark the CBRN milestones page.
