Every five years as part of its accreditation requirements, ABCGN completes a job analysis to the responsibilities of professionals in gastroenterology nursing. This is the first step in the development of a job related certification examination.

In January 2016, the Job Analysis Committee volunteers attended a one-day meeting in Chicago, facilitated by the testing agency’s psychometrician (statistician).  The committee first discussed the scope of gastroenterology nursing practice (domains) and then the core tasks of the test plan. The task statements reflect the responsibilities of the gastroenterology nurses. These statements along with the domains, were then modified, added, or removed to reflect current practice.  After much discussion, a consensus was reached to a domain on infection control to the current test plan.

The next phase took place from April 2016 through July 2016, beginning with administering of the job analysis survey. The purpose of this survey is to obtain feedback nationally from other gastroenterology nursing professionals regarding the proposed domains and tasks.  This process is part of the criteria and policies of the test development standards that ABCGN follows in administrating the CGRN examination. After the survey was closed in June 2016, the Job Analysis committee met in Chicago. The committee reviewed and validated the results approving the new CGRN Exam blueprint in July 2016.

The CGRN Exam Domains Effective for the October 1 – 31, 2017 Exam Cycle:

1.    General Nursing Care

2.    Gastroenterological Procedures

3.    Patient Care Interventions

4.    Environmental Safety, Infection Prevention and Control

Important note: Due to the implementation of the new CGRN exam blueprint, immediate scoring will not be available. This means that candidates will receive a test completion notice when they have completed their exam. Candidate can expect to receive their exam results within 12 weeks from the close of the October 31, 2017 exam window.