World's First Burn Nursing Specialty Certification Launched by BCEN

The Certified Burn Registered Nurse (CBRN) is Now Available

OAK BROOK, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN), the benchmark for specialty certification across the emergency nursing spectrum, today announced the worldwide launch of the Certified Burn Registered Nurse (CBRN) burn nursing specialty certification. To earn the CBRN credential, eligible RNs and APRNs must pass a rigorous national exam spanning the burn nursing continuum including prehospital care and initial management, acute and critical care, post-acute rehabilitation, outpatient and community care, and aftercare and reintegration, as well as injury prevention, education, and psychosocial patient and family support.

"At last, tremendously skilled and compassionate burn nurses worldwide have the opportunity to have their advanced clinical and professional knowledge and expertise validated through board certification," said BCEN CEO Janie Schumaker, MBA, BSN, RN, CEN, CENP, CPHQ, FABC. "The best possible thing that a burn patient could have is a CBRN-certified nurse taking care of them."

Nurses play major roles in every aspect of burn care and recovery, and research links burn care specialty expertise to improved outcomes in patients with burn injuries. 

In a new burn nursing video (at https://youtu.be/qonuCqH3k5Q), burn nurse experts and American Burn Association (ABA) leadership comment on the development and future impact of BCEN's CBRN certification program.

Burn injuries are a major cause of disability and death affecting all ages.  

• In the U.S., over 400,000 seek medical treatment for burn injuries annually, with 40,000 hospitalizations, including 30,000 at hospital burn centers, and over 3,800 deaths.
• Worldwide, there are approximately 11 million burn cases and 180,000 deaths annually.
• Learn more about burn injuries, burn care and burn nursing in Burn Nursing Excellence: The CBRN.

Eligible nurses with a U.S. RN or APRN, or equivalent, may apply to sit for the CBRN exam at bcen.org/cbrn/. Nurses educated or licensed outside the U.S., Canada or Australia must first go through BCEN's international credential evaluation process. BCEN offers exam discounts to ABA members and U.S. military active-duty service members, reservists and veterans. Volume discounts are available through the BCEN Voucher Program. A CBRN practice exam and interactive burn nursing CE courses are available on the award-winning BCEN Learn professional development platform.

Following CBRN exam beta testing this summer, 165 nurses and 61 subject matter experts became the world's first nurses to earn the CBRN credential.

Development of the CBRN certification program by BCEN began in summer 2021 in collaboration with the ABA and leading burn nursing experts, following the August 2020 American Nurses Association recognition of burn nursing as a nursing specialty and years of advocacy and efforts by the ABA and the burn nursing community. Visit BCEN's CBRN Milestones page for a detailed timeline.

About BCEN 
Founded in 1980, the independent, not-for-profit Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN®) offers robust national board certification programs in adult/mixed emergency, pediatric emergency, flight, critical care ground transport, trauma, and burn nursing.

SOURCE Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing