Oncology Certified Nurse (OCN)
Test
The Oncology Certified Nurse has achieved the specialized requirements to obtain credentialing in a specific field of nursing. This specialized healthcare professional is frequently employed to fulfill the role of providing patient care to cancer patients, as well as serve in educational and administrative positions.
In order to take the Oncology Certified Nurse exam, the applicant must be a licensed Registered Nurse who has been working at least 1 year within the past 3 years. At least 1,000 hours should have been spent in Oncology Nursing within the past 2 ½ years. In addition, at least 10 continuing education hours in the field of Oncology Nursing should have been completed over the past 3 years.
The Oncology Certified Nurse exam is offered as a computer-based exam during a 2-week window in January, April, July, and October. It is only offered once a year in paper and pencil format. The fee to take the exam is $260 for members of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) or Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses (APON) or $38 for non-members.
The exam consists of 165 multiple-choice questions with 20 of those questions used for pretesting purposes for possible use on future exams. Over one-third of the exam consists of questions testing the RN’s knowledge in quality of life issues. The remainder of the exam consists of questions pertaining to specific disease processes and nursing interventions to treat potential complications.
The Oncology Certified Nurse certification is valid for 3 years. At the end of that time period, the licensed RN should have work at least 1 year as an RN within the past 3 years. At least 1,000 hours of these employment hours should be in providing care to oncology patients over the past 2 ½ years. In addition, at least 100 continuing education hours should have been completed over the past 3 years with at least 65 of those hours in Oncology Nursing.
Nursing Certification Central
