2025/10/04 by Lemmwell Bryan Adante
#Advanced Practice Nursing #Barriers #Certification #Challenges #Credentialling #Life Sciences #Medicine and Health Sciences #Social and Behavioral Sciences
paper · doi:10.17605/osf.io/279es
This scoping review maps and synthesizes current evidence on barriers to certification and credentialing among nurses and advanced practice nurses (APNs). Guided by Arksey & O’Malley (2005) and Levac et al. (2010) and reported according to PRISMA-ScR and JBI guidance, the review identifies barriers at the personal, organizational, and systemic levels. Findings highlight financial costs, workload, lack of incentives, role ambiguity, and most critically the absence of standardized credentialing frameworks across countries. The review emphasizes the need for unified certification policies, expanded education infrastructure, and organizational supports to strengthen nursing legitimacy and workforce capacity.