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Eligibility Requirements for Recertification

• Current, unrestricted RN license in the United States or any of its territories
• A minimum of 900 hours of perianesthesia nursing practice during your three-year period of certification*.
• Successful completion of either the CPAN^® or CAPA^® examination (whichever credential you currently hold) OR attain 90 contact hours of continuing education as defined in the Recertification Handbook.

*As you prepare for CPAN/CAPA recertification, ABPANC is aware that the past few years have presented significant challenges to your work environment that may be causing concern about meeting ABPANC’s recertification requirements.

We acknowledge that our recertification attestations stated:

CPAN: “A minimum of 900 hours of perianesthesia nursing practice in Phase I during your three-year period of certification. Nurses working as direct care givers, managers, teachers, or researchers in the perianesthesia specialty.”

CAPA: “A minimum of 900 hours of perianesthesia nursing practice in Pre-Anesthesia Phase, Day Surgery/Procedure, Post Anesthesia Phase II, and/or Extended Care during your three-year period of certification. Nurses working as direct care givers, managers, teachers, or researchers in the perianesthesia specialty are eligible for recertification.”

Perianesthesia practice is broad, as defined by Schick & Windle (2021):

“Perianesthesia nursing encompasses caring for patients during the pre-anesthesia level of care, (pre admission and day surgery/procedure), in post-anesthesia levels of care (Phase I, Phase II, and Extended Care), ambulatory care settings, extended observation settings, and special procedure areas (e.g. endoscopy, radiology, cardiovascular, oncology), obstetric units, pain management services, and physician or dental offices” (p. xi).

As a result, our new recertification attestation states:

“In the past three years, you have completed a minimum of 900 hours of perianesthesia nursing practice in any role that supports or advances the practice of perianesthesia nursing.”

Some of the roles where practice hours may be obtained are:

• Care coordination
• Direct patient care
• Education
• Informatics
• Leadership
• Navigation
• Patient/family liaison
• Quality improvement
• Research

Perianesthesia nursing is not a setting, it is the specialty care you provide. During COVID surges, many of you were deployed to a variety of practice settings where you continued to provide care to patients that received sedation or anesthesia.

If after reviewing this information you still have questions about your eligibility to recertify, please contact ABPANC at abpanc@cpancapa.org or at 347-708-7975.

Audit of Recertification Applications

• ABPANC reserves the right to audit any or all applications and supporting documentation for recertification.
• ABPANC randomly audits a certain percentage of certified nurses seeking recertification.
• If you have been selected for Audit, you will be notified when you submit your application.
• Submission of an application indicates your agreement to comply with the terms of the audit process.
• Documentation requested during the audit process that is not submitted or is unacceptable will result in denial of recertification.
• Please follow the instructions listed in the Recertification Handbook describing the process for submitting an online application.

Recertification Rates