What’s the Certified Medical-Surgical Nurse Exam Like?

Unlike some nursing certifications where only one certifying body grants a credential, you can choose from two certification programs for medical-surgical (med-surg) nursing. One is from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the other from the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB). The ANCC awards the Registered Nurse-Board Certified (RN-BC) credential; the MSNCB awards the Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN®) credential. Here’s a brief review of what the criteria are for sitting for each exam.

Who is Eligible to Take the Exam?
ANCC

To sit for this exam, you must:

• Hold a current, active RN license


• Have practiced the equivalent of two years as a full-time RN


• Have at least 2,000 hours of clinical practice in med-surg nursing within the previous three years


• Have completed 30 hours of continuing education in med-surg nursing within the last three years

MSNCB

To sit for this exam, you must:

• Be an RN with a current US license


• Have practiced two years as an RN in a med-surg setting


• Have accrued 2,000 hours of practice within past three years

What’s the Exam Like?

ANCC

The RN-BC exam consists of three content domains: assessment and diagnosis; planning, implementation, and evaluation; and professional role. Here is a breakdown of how many questions you’ll find on each of those domains on the exam:

MSNCB

The CMSRN exam organizes questions into a grid of six patient problem areas and seven domains of nursing practice. The patient problem areas include:

In each patient problem you’ll find questions spanning the domains of practice, which include:

1. Helping


2. Teaching/coaching


3. Diagnosing/patient monitoring


4. Nursing interventions


5. Managing emergency


6. Ensuring quality


7. Organization/work role competency

Taking the Exam

To earn either certification, you will need to pass a 150-question exam, 25 questions of which are unscored. The exams are computer-based, and you’ll have 3 hours to complete either exam.

Test Setting

To apply to take the exam, visit the ANCC or MSNCB website. Both the RN-BC and CMSRN exams are offered at Prometric testing centers. Once you receive authorization from the credentialing organization to take the test, you can register with Prometric for an exam time that is convenient for you.

Test Study and Preparation

Prepare for the exam with our Medical-Surgical Nurse Certification Q&A Practice. You’ll get 300 practice questions and answers with detailed rationales organized by exam category. Try it for free for seven days. You can also practice with two timed practice tests—one for the MSNCB exam, the other for the ANCC exam. Give yourself at least 2 to 3 months to prepare. Cramming is never a good idea for high-stakes exams.

Test Scoring

Both RN-BC and CMSRN tests are graded as pass or fail. Both also provide more detailed score reports so you can review your results. For MSNCB, you will need a standard score of 95 (71% correct) to pass. For ANCC, you will need a scale score of 350 out of a possible 500. A formula is used to convert a raw test score to the scale score.

The Payoff

Passing the exam to earn your credential as a certified medical-surgical nurse will take time and effort but will result in a five-year designation that certifies you to be a competent and proficient med-surg nurse. It’s an achievement that will pay off both personally and professionally and will give your patients the reassurance that they are in good hands with you managing their care.

Resources

ANCC Certification General Testing And Renewal Handbook. (2017). Retrieved from : https://www.nursingworld.org/~4ac882/globalassets/certification/renewals/GeneralTestingandRenewalHandbook

ANCC Medical-Surgical Nursing Board Certification Examination Test Content Outline. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.nursingworld.org/~499857/globalassets/certification/certification-specialty-pages/resources/test-content-outlines/medsurg-tco-after.pdf

ANCC Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification (RN-BC). Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/our-certifications/medical-surgical-nurse/

MSNCB. Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN®) Certification Examination Blueprint Ideal Distribution of 150 Items. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.msncb.org/sites/default/files/19blueprint.pdf

MSNCB. Get Certified. Retrieved from https://www.msncb.org/medical-surgical/get-certified