AACN Certification Corporation — the credentialing arm of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) — announces its board of directors for fiscal year 2021, with terms effective July 1, 2020.

AACN Certification Corporation drives patient health and safety through comprehensive credentialing of acute and critical care nurses, ensuring practice consistent with standards of excellence. The organization offers many nursing certification programs with more than 120,000 active certificants.

Lisa Falcón, MSN, RN, TCRN, NE-BC, begins a two-year term as chair of the AACN Certification Corporation board of directors. She is director of trauma and injury prevention at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, New Jersey. She has over 20 years of experience in surgical critical care and trauma as a clinical nurse, clinical educator and nurse leader.

“More than 120,000 nurses hold certifications through AACN Certification Corporation,” Falcón said. “Acute and critical care nurses need to practice to their highest potential to care for patients with very complex conditions. Certification helps protect patients and families by ensuring nurses have the specialty knowledge needed for their area of practice. It’s a mark of excellence.”

Denise Buonocore, MSN, RN, ACNPC, CCNS, CCRN, CHFN, acute care nurse practitioner for heart failure services for St. Vincent’s Multispecialty Group at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bridgeport, Connecticut, serves a two-year term as immediate past chair.

Chair-elect Elizabeth Scruth, PhD, MPH, RN, CCNS, CCRN, FCCM, FCNS, CPHQ, is director of Tele Critical Care for Northern California and the regional Northern California director for clinical quality programs and data analytics for Kaiser Permanente.

Myra Ellis, MSN, RN, CCRN-CSC, serves a one-year term as secretary/treasurer.

Joining the board for three-year terms as directors are Jodi Berndt, PhD, RN, CCRN-K, PCCN-K, CNE, CHSE, and Nanette Logan, DNP, RN, CCRN-K, CNL, RN-BC, NE-BC.

Berndt is an associate professor of nursing at College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University in St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Logan is associate chief nursing officer at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California.

Returning to the AACN Certification Corporation board with Dana Woods, MBA, AACN chief executive officer, are the following directors:

  • Linda Bay, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, CCRN-K, PCCN-K, adjunct faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville
  • Patty Cox, MBA, director and consumer representative

Each year, two members of the AACN board of directors are appointed to concurrent terms on the AACN Certification Corporation board. Serving this year:

  • Jennifer Adamski, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, CCRN, clinical assistant professor and director of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) Program at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Atlanta, and a critical care ACNP for Cleveland Clinic’s Critical Care Flight Team
  • Kiersten Henry, DNP, ACNP-BC, CCNS, CCRN-CMC, chief advanced practice clinician at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, Maryland

About AACN Certification Corporation: AACN Certification Corporation, the credentialing arm of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, drives patient health and safety through comprehensive credentialing of acute and critical care nurses, ensuring practice consistent with standards of excellence. Since 1976, AACN Certification Corporation has granted more than 120,000 nursing certifications.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 120,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme