June 2023: Partner News
ONCB Connection
Volunteer with ONCB
Support orthopaedic nursing certification by volunteering with ONCB! Complete our willingness to serve form to indicate your interest in serving on the Recertification Committee, Test committee, Exam Prep Committee, or as an exam item writer. Applicants must be ONC®, ONP-C®, OCNS-C®, or ONC-A™ certified to be eligible for volunteer roles.
Contact ONCB (1-888-561-ONCB [6622] or oncb@oncb.org) with questions about specific volunteer opportunities.
ONCB Board Member Updates
Stay in The ONCB Board has chosen a new President, President Elect and Setretary-Treasurer:
MAUREEN COOPER, RN, MSN, ACNS-BC, ONC, HN-BC, CHOSEN AS PRESIDENT OF ONCB
The Orthopaedic Nurses Certification Board (ONCB) is pleased to announce Maureen Cooper, RN, MSN, ACNS-BC, ONC, was selected to serve as President for 2023-2024. Ms. Cooper is past member and chair of ONCB’s Exam Prep Committee, a representative group involved in development of examination preparation materials for ONCB’s two test programs. She also served as a member of the ONCB Test Committee 2008-2015. Ms. Cooper is Clinical Nurse Manager, 1 S Short Stay Unit, Corewell Health’s Beaumont Hospital, located in Royal Oak, Michigan.
AMY KETCHUM, DNP, RN, OCNS-C, CHOSEN AS PRESIDENT ELECT OF ONCB
The Orthopaedic Nurses Certification Board (ONCB) is pleased to announce Amy Ketchum, DNP, RN, OCNS-C, was selected to serve as President Elect for 2023-2024. Ms. Ketchum has practiced in a variety of orthopedic settings for more than 20 years and has been certified as an Orthopaedic Clinical Nurse Specialist through ONCB since 2013. She is currently a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Midwest Orthopedic Specialty Hospital located in Franklin Wisconsin and an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Milwaukee School of Engineering.
JESSICA ALGER, MSN-INF, RN, ONC, CHOSEN AS SECRETARY-TREASURER OF ONCB
The Orthopaedic Nurses Certification Board (ONCB) is pleased to announce Jessica Alger, MSN-INF, RN, ONC, was selected to serve as Secretary-Treasurer for 2023-24. Ms. Alger is a Registered Nurse from Georgia. She started her career in orthopaedics during her senior practicum in nursing school and later joined the unit as a staff nurse. During her time with the orthopaedic unit, Jessica acted as a charge nurse, served as a quality officer, and helped to precept and mentor new nurses. Later, Jessica accepted the role of Preoperative Nurse Navigator for the Total Joint Replacement program at her hospital and helped to educate patients and define the pre-operative curriculum. In 2019, Jessica completed her Master of Science in Nursing with an emphasis in Nurse Informatics and transitioned to a Clinical Informatics role. Combining a fascination with technology and a passion for orthopaedics, Jessica continues to assist the Total Joint Program from behind the scenes through reports, electronic medical record optimizations and data extraction.
For more ONCB news and press releases, please visit our website.
We Need Your Help - Send a Testimonial Submitted by ONCB National Director, Maureen Cooper, RN, MSN, ACNS-BC, ONC, HN-BC
I'm writing to you on behalf of the Strategic Outcomes Committee in hopes that you can help us develop our online testimonials. We are working diligently on a project to reach our C-suite decision-makers in highly ranked, Magnet-designated medical centers to partner in certifying their orthopaedic nurses. We want them to understand the value, positive outcomes, and excellent care that you provide to the orthopaedic population.
This call to action is to ask you to write a short (2-3 sentence) testimonial of why orthopaedic nursing certification is important to you, your practice, and your patients. We are also asking for a similar response from your peers, namely the physicians or administrators that you work with on a daily basis. Patient testimonials would be helpful as well.
To make this request a little less stressful, all testimonials will be blinded. We will not associate the quote with a name, company, medical center, or credentials. We're hoping that removes a barrier to completing this task.
Please send your responses to oncb@oncb.org by Friday, June 30. Time is of the essence for our committee to continue to move forward with our outreach.
Personally, I wanted to thank you for all of your time and efforts working as a volunteer for ONCB.
Retired & Inactive Certification
Because orthopaedic-certified nurses value their hard-earned credentials, ONCB offers retired and inactive designations to allow certificants to protect their credentials during life’s transitions.
The retired designation is available for nurses who are leaving the profession. If they decide to return to the workforce, they may reactivate their credentials by demonstrating completion of 15 contact hours of continuing education for each year of retirement preceding reactivation. As an alternative, nurses may retest in order to reactivate the credential.
Nurses may be granted inactive certification due to personal illness, injury, temporary disability, or responsibility as caregiver that kept them from earning the required contact hours for recertification. They must meet the continuing education requirements for recertification or retake the certification examination within 5 years of the approval date for inactive status, or they will forfeit the certified nurse credential. A general notice of inactive status expiration will be sent to appropriate individuals 2 years, 1 year, and 6 months prior to the expiration date.
The one-time fee for retired or inactive designation is $50. Please review our website for more information.
"Like" Us On Facebook
Stay in touch with ONCB through Facebook! Find us as “ONCB - Orthopaedic Nurses Certification Board.” Regular postings including testing and recertification tips, as well as general news items from ONCB.