National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. 111 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60601-4277
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NCSBN Acquires Exclusive Ownership of NNAAP and MACE
| Source: NCSBN
CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - August 18, 2008) - The National Council of State Boards of
Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN®), www.ncsbn.org, has acquired exclusive ownership
of the intellectual property (test items, test forms, skills scenarios) for
the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP™) and the Medication
Aide Certification Examination (MACE™) programs from Pearson VUE, the
electronic testing business of Pearson.
Previously jointly owned and operated by NCSBN and Pearson VUE, the NNAAP
is a nationally administered certification examination program based on the
activities performed by nurse aides in long-term, acute and home health
care settings. Since 1996, NCSBN has cooperatively developed and maintained
the NNAAP examination with various corporate partners; with the purchase of
these examinations, NCSBN now gains exclusive control over the
establishment of the NNAAP test plan and ownership of examination content.
Pearson VUE will be responsible for all delivery, administration, scoring,
publishing (electronic and paper), sales, and market development activities
associated with the programs.
Robert Whelan, president of Pearson VUE, said, "The NCSBN places an
extremely high value on creating high quality NNAAP and MACE examinations.
By purchasing these exams from Pearson VUE, they now have complete
ownership of all exam content and control over the process for exam
development. We are pleased to continue to partner with NCSBN to offer
nurse aide and medication aide candidates the most consistent and secure
testing experience possible."
The NNAAP has been administered to more than 1 million candidates and is
the leading nurse aide assessment instrument in the United States. In
2007, Promissor administered the written/oral NNAAP examinations to over
109,000 candidates and the skills NNAAP examination to over 99,000
candidates across 27 jurisdictions.
Some nurse aides may also choose to receive additional training and become
a certified medication aide. The purpose of the MACE is to ensure that
individuals that administer medication to residents in assisted living
facilities and comprehensive personal care homes have the basic knowledge
and skills needed to perform their duties.
"NCSBN is the premier organization to measure entry and continuing
competence of nurses and related health care providers and this acquisition
allows us to direct all future test development and psychometric functions
associated with the two examination programs," comments NCSBN Board of
Directors President Laura Rhodes.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) is a
not-for-profit organization whose membership comprises the boards of
nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S.
territories.
Mission: The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), composed
of Member Boards, provides leadership to advance regulatory excellence for
public protection.