Earn a nursing degree from an accredited program and obtain licensure as a registered nurse, RN, or advanced practice registered nurse, APRN. Your license should not be subject to any restrictions that limit your nursing practice.
Gain work experience as a RN or APRN in caring for critically or acutely ill patients. This experience should be in direct bedside care for a minimum of 1,750 hours during the two years preceding your application for certification. Accrue half of this experience, 875 hours, during the 12 months preceding your application. Make sure all your experience is in the area for which you seek certification. For example, if you want pediatric CCRN certification, all 1,750 hours of experience must be with critically ill children.
Provide the name and contact address of one of your professional associates. This may be a colleague who is a RN working with you or a clinical supervisor, such as a physician. If your application is randomly chosen for verification, your associate must provide written confirmation for the number of clinical hours you have worked.
Visit the AACN Web site and download the Certification Exam Handbook. Study and understand the information the handbook provides regarding testing, requirements for application, testing sites and fee schedules.
Fill out the paper application available in the handbook and choose between a paper-based or computer-based test. You can also submit your application online to be eligible to take the computer-based test. Pay the examination fee when you submit the application. The fee is $225 for nurses who are members of AACN and $330 for nonmember candidates.
Prepare for the CCRN exam, which is made up of 150 multiple choice questions to be answered in three hours. The syllabus covers topics in critical and acute care of infants, children and adults. Questions on the exam are designed to test your clinical judgment as well as knowledge of ethics and professional care. Use the resources available on the AACN Web site to prepare for the exam.
Browse the Applied Measurement Professionals, AMP, Web site. This organization administers the certification tests for AACN. Communicate with AMP personnel and finalize your test date and site.
Carry your passport, driver's license or other government-issued ID to the test center. You will need to show one of these to confirm your identity. Carry your credit card to verify your signature. Take the CCRN exam and wait for your results. If you have taken a computer-based test, you will receive the results immediately after completing the test. Those who take the paper-based test receive results by mail within three to four weeks of completing the test. To clear the exam, you need to obtain marks above the passing score specified on the AACN Web site. The passing score is a number, not a percentage, which changes over time.