Following my curiosities in regard to credentialing in healthcare, and nursing in particular, I discovered that there are now over 180 different kinds of credentials. So what’s this all about? In one case, I took an example credentialing test for nurses in IT (an area in which I have considerable expertise) and was amazed by how silly the questions were, and how little utility would result from getting them correct.
Is there something about our collective self-esteem that leads us to all these external validation awards? I’m not saying that we’re worse off for these certifications, I’m just not certain we’re any better off either. What I can say is that it is a large and highly profitable industry. Why there is even a credentialing body to credential those organizations who credential nurses.
So tell me, what’s the story here?
