Become a CMSRN

Good for you

Earning the CMSRN communicates to peers, employers, and patients that you are a competent and qualified medical-surgical nurse. You gain the satisfaction of demonstrating your professional competence, the recognition of your peers, and greater confidence in your own abilities.

• Demonstrate commitment, confidence, and credibility
• Validate your expert, specialized knowledge
• Maintain an innovative edge in your career
• Gain confidence and satisfaction in your professional life
• Increase your earning power
• Earn respect from patients, colleagues, and employers

Good for your employer

Do you support your nurses in their pursuit of certification? Do you foster an environment where certification is encouraged and rewarded? Here are some reasons why you should:

• Improved patient care and safety
• Attract more qualified nurses
• Enjoy higher nurse retention rate
• Achieve ANCC Magnet® Recognition

There are two eligibility criteria to sit for the CMSRN exam. You must meet all criteria at the time of application and for the full 90-day test period.

• License. You must hold an unencumbered and current license as a Registered Nurse (RN) in the United States, its territories, or Canada.
  • International nurses can also apply, see CMSRN Certification Handbook.
• Hours of practice. You must have worked 2,000 practice hours within the past three (3) years in a medical-surgical setting. Practice may be as a clinical nurse, as a manager, or as an educator.
  • It is recommended to have practiced two (2) full years in a medical-surgical setting with your RN license.

Domains of Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice

Don’t know if you work in a med-surg setting? Review the Domains of Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice in Appendix A of the CMSRN Certification Handbook. The Domains are based on a practice analysis of medical-surgical nursing. If your nursing practices encompasses most of these activities, then you do meet this eligibility criteria.

Med-surg nursing happens everywhere

Medical surgical nursing is defined as the following by MSNCB and AMSN:

Medical-surgical nursing is the single largest nursing specialty in the United States and beyond. Medical-surgical nurses provide care to adults with a variety of medical issues or who are preparing for/recovering from surgery. They have a broad knowledge base and are experts in their practice. Medical-surgical nurses have advanced organizational, prioritization, assessment and communication skills and are leaders in coordinating care among the interprofessional health care team.

Medical-surgical nursing is practiced in several settings across the health care industry, including hospitals, outpatient settings, in homes, via telemedicine and other non-traditional settings. The specialty of medical-surgical nursing happens in almost every care environment because medical-surgical nursing is what you practice, not where.

Medical-surgical nursing is a specialty with a distinct body of knowledge, skills and abilities that are validated by the Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN) certification from the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB).

MSNCB is transitioning to a new vendor, Data Recognition Corporation, who leverages the Pearson VUE testing network, for certification exams, causing a brief testing intermission from June 13–July 31, 2025. This will impact your 90-day testing eligibility if you apply for the CMSRN or CAVRN exam on or after March 15. MSNCB understands that, when it comes to achieving nursing excellence, the show must go on. During this pause, you are still welcome to apply for the certification exam.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM MARCH 15–APRIL 8

• Your eligibility to test will be truncated at June 13.
• You will still have 65 days to schedule your exam if your application is approved on April 8.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM APRIL 9–MAY 11

• Your eligibility to test will be extended to Aug. 27, without appointment availability from June 13–July 31.
• You will still have 60 days to schedule if your application is approved on May 11.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM MAY 12–JUNE 8

• Your eligibility to test will be extended to Sept. 30, without appointment availability from June 13–July 31.
• You will still have 65 days to schedule if your application is approved on June 8.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM JUNE 9–JULY 31

• Your eligibility to test will be granted on Aug. 1, and the 90-day eligibility policy will resume.

Certification Grant

The CMSRN Certification Grant covers the full fee of the exam application. You must have been a member of AMSN for at least one year to be eligible. Grant applications are open year round.

Apply for the Grant!

FailSafe Certification Program

The FailSafe Certification Program allows CMSRN-eligible nurses at participating facilities the opportunity to apply for the CMSRN exam twice within a twelve (12) month period. The facility never pays for an unsuccessful exam attempt. See FailSafe Certification Program to learn how your employer can partner with MSNCB to pay for your exam.

The CMSRN exam is available at testing centers or via live remote proctoring.

You can access the scheduling portal through your application after you receive your Authorization to Test.

Schedule through Application

Our test administrator will email you with a confirmation number and details of your exam date and location after you schedule your exam. You will need this confirmation number to take the exam.

MSNCB is transitioning to a new vendor, Data Recognition Corporation, who leverages the Pearson VUE testing network, for certification exams, causing a brief testing intermission from June 13–July 31, 2025. This will impact your 90-day testing eligibility if you apply for the CMSRN or CAVRN exam on or after March 15. MSNCB understands that, when it comes to achieving nursing excellence, the show must go on. During this pause, you are still welcome to apply for the certification exam.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM MARCH 15–APRIL 8

• Your eligibility to test will be truncated at June 13.
• You will still have 65 days to schedule your exam if your application is approved on April 8.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM APRIL 9–MAY 11

• Your eligibility to test will be extended to Aug. 27, without appointment availability from June 13–July 31.
• You will still have 60 days to schedule if your application is approved on May 11.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM MAY 12–JUNE 8

• Your eligibility to test will be extended to Sept. 30, without appointment availability from June 13–July 31.
• You will still have 65 days to schedule if your application is approved on June 8.

IF YOUR APPLICATION IS APPROVED FROM JUNE 9–JULY 31

• Your eligibility to test will be granted on Aug. 1, and the 90-day eligibility policy will resume.

If you hold a MEDSURG-BC from the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center (ANCC), you may be eligible to apply for the CMSRN without having to take the exam. You do not have to give up your MEDSURG-BC to also become CMSRN certified.

Eligibility

• Certification. You must hold a MEDSURG-BC certification from ANCC that expires within one year.
• License. You must hold an unencumbered and current license as an RN in the United States, its territories, or Canada. International nurses also eligible.
• Hours of practice. You must have worked 1,000 practice hours in a medical-surgical setting in the last 5 years. Practice may be as a clinical nurse, as a manager, or as an educator.
  • Certificants with experience as a student, see the CMSRN Certification Handbook.
• Contact hours. You must have earned 90 verified contact hours in the last 5 years. 68 of those contact hours must be designated as MedSurg. Only 22 contact hours may be designated ProfDev.

Fees

Fees subject to change without notice.

NOTE: Transfer after expiration
You may apply for certification by transfer during your grace period as well, which lasts for one year after your MEDSURG-BC expires. Your contact hours must have been earned in the 5-year period immediately preceding the date you submit your certification application

Apply Now!

The CMSRN is available to first-level nurses practicing outside of the United States and Canada. Our certificants come from over 13 countries around the world, and we would love to have you as part of our med-surg nursing community.

Applicants who have international nursing experience or education and are currently practicing internationally and do not hold a U.S. RN license must meet international testing eligibility requirements.

• License. You must hold a current, full, and unrestricted nursing license,
  • Nursing license held and/or nursing education completed internationally must be verified for equivalency by a credentials evaluation organization such as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) or World Education Services (WES) prior to submitting a CMSRN exam application. MSNCB reserves the right to request additional documentation following an agency’s evaluation.
• Hours of practice. You must have worked 2,000 hours of practice within the past three (3) years in a medical surgical setting. Practice may be as a clinical nurse, as a manager, or as an educator.

note: CMSRN exam based on United States nursing practice
The CMSRN certification exam is based on practice in the medical-surgical specialty in the United States. As such, the CMSRN exam is reflective of U.S. practice, regulations, and culture.

• The CMSRN exam will be based on the 2023 CMSRN Exam Blueprint as of May 15, 2023.
• If you take the exam from May 15 through July 24, 2023, you will not receive your exam results (i.e., your pass or fail status) until August 17, 2023.
• We are offering a 20% discount on all exam applications submitted from May 15 through June 30, 2023 to encourage participation. This discount will apply to FailSafe applicants as well.
• No exams will be administered during an exam blackout period from July 25 through August 18, 2023.
• The current passing score for the CMSRN exam is 95. The passing score may change for all exams taken after May 15. The new passing score will be announced on August 17, 2023.

We understand you may have questions! Please read below for answers.

MSNCB conducted a job task analysis survey of medical-surgical nursing in 2022 that resulted in revisions to the CMSRN exam blueprint. The Test Specification Task Force remapped the current exam questions to the new domains of medical-surgical nursing seen in the blueprint. New questions were written for the Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration domain.

The new exam form must go through a standard-setting process to establish the passing score. The standard-setting process we use is a test-based method that requires performance data from a large sample size of exam test-takers. This performance data will be gathered from May 15 through July 24 and the new passing score will be decided during the blackout period.

We highly encourage individuals to take the exam during this period of performance data collection. This process is guided by qualified psychometricians, and the final passing score is set by the MSNCB Board of Directors.

One additional reference that was used for the new exam form is Murray, E. (2021) Nursing Leadership and Management for Patient Safety and Quality Care (2^nd ed.). F. A. Davis Company. Our recommendations for CMSRN exam study resources remain the same. The CMSRN Prep Test is in the process of being updated to the 2023 blueprint.