By Cindy Broadus, RN, BSHA, LNHA, CLNC, CLNI, CHCRM, WCC, DWC, OMS
It’s hard to believe that it has been over 2 years since I was named executive director of NAWCO. What an experience! During these 2 years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many great individuals who volunteer their time to make this organization a success. Last year, I introduced you to the Board of Directors over several issues. I wanted our readers and members to get to know the impressive group of people who collaborate with me in leading NAWCO. Board members volunteer their time and are instrumental in making decisions that positively affect what we do for our members as an organization and, ultimately, for the individuals those members care for.
Equally as impressive are the volunteer members of the NAWCO Wound Care Certified (WCC) Certification Committee. I could not tell you about the board and not mention this dedicated and intelligent group of clinicians who work to ensure that the WCC examination remains credible, current, and congruent with the requirements of accrediting boards.
In this and upcoming issues of Wound Care Advisor, I’ll focus on the Certification Committee, including its purpose, who the members are, the importance of obtaining certification, and reasons for maintaining your certification once you have earned it.
Let me begin the series by discussing the process the Certification Committee uses to develop and maintain the WCC examination. Many of our readers are certified, or have taken examinations in the past, so you probably can imagine how much work goes into putting one together. Here’s an overview of how the exam is developed.
The volunteer members of the Certification Committee, who are subject matter experts (SMEs), write the questions. The questions are designed to assess cognitive levels of knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis related to skin and wound management. Questions are based on job task analyses conducted to ensure the content is current, job-related, and representative of the responsibilities of wound care practitioners.
The members of the Certification Committee strive to ensure that those who receive certification meet or exceed the knowledge of a minimally qualified candidate. During in-person meetings, the committee members analyze job tasks of wound care professionals, define criteria for the minimally qualified candidate who can take the exam, and accomplish other tasks. The Certification Committee also holds virtual meetings about every 4 to 6 weeks to develop and review test questions. Between meetings, committee members work on the questions they have been assigned to develop or refine. Experts from Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc., which provides NAWCO with support to ensure the exam is psychometrically sound, edit each question for grammar, potential bias, and technical adequacy.
After the questions are written, they are pilot tested. A total of 100 candidates take the exam consisting of questions previously tested and approved, plus 10 of the new questions the committee has developed. Alpine Testing Solutions experts analyze responses to determine which of the pilot questions meet required standards. Those questions meeting the standards are maintained for future use in the final exam, and a new set of pilot questions, pulled from the ones the committee developed, is added for additional testing. Questions that don’t meet the standards are returned to the Certification Committee for reevaluation and further action.
As you can see, the process is quite involved and requires many steps, each involving experts in wound care and/or test development. Now that you know a bit about the process, I’d like to begin introducing you to the members of the Certification Committee, starting with the chair.
Jen Pettis, BS, RN, WCC, chair of the Certification Committee
Jen is a nurse researcher/associate in the U.S. Division of Abt Associates. Jen, who began her career as a nursing assistant, has more than 25 years’ experience in health care, including experience as a clinical and regulatory consultant to the Division of Nursing Homes at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). She has extensive clinical, managerial, consulting, and training experience, has provided educational sessions around the country, and has written or contributed to multiple publications. Jen joined the certification committee in 2012.
When I asked Jen why she joined the Certification Committee, she said, “I wanted to get involved in the organization and saw involvement in the Certification Committee as an opportunity to continue to use my wound care expertise while learning new skills related to test development. I have really learned a great deal about developing psychometrically sound tests and the information has been very useful in my practice, including when developing educational tools for others.”
Jen has played a key role in the certification process and we are pleased to have her as the Committee Chair. I hope you’ll join me for the next issue of Wound Care Advisor as I continue this series on certification and introduce other members of the committee.