CCHP-RN

No. The CCHP-RN program now includes all levels of nursing practice and has been renamed CCHP-N. NCCHC states that upon recertification all CCHP-RNs will become CCHP-N. The source pages do not give an effective date for the change, so confirm your own status and transition timing directly with NCCHC before you apply.

NCCHC describes CCHP-N as recognizing the shared core knowledge essential across all levels of nursing practice. That is a deliberate shift away from a role-specific registered nurse scope, so LPN/LVN and other nursing levels should expect the content to emphasize knowledge common to correctional nursing generally rather than one licensure level's tasks.

Nurses working in, or moving into, correctional health care - jails, prisons, and juvenile facilities. NCCHC frames certification as recognition of mastery of national standards and the knowledge expected of leaders in this specialized field, and notes correctional settings bring strict security regulations, crowded facilities, and complex legal and public health considerations.

The publicly available NCCHC pages summarized here do not state an item count or time limit, so treat any figure you see elsewhere with suspicion until verified. NCCHC maintains a dedicated CCHP-N Exam Details page and an Exam Calendar; those are the authoritative places to confirm format, length, and scheduling before you book a test date.

Those values are not published on the NCCHC pages this guide is based on, so no passing score, fee, or retake window is asserted here. Rather than rely on secondhand numbers, check the CCHP-N Exam Details and Applying for CCHP-N pages, or contact NCCHC directly at the address listed on its site.

NCCHC's site lists several testing options: online exams, remote exams, and an on-site standards review and exam offering, along with an exam calendar. Which option applies to you depends on your program and location. Confirm availability and any requirements for remote proctoring through NCCHC's Testing Options page before registering.

It converts. NCCHC states that upon recertification all CCHP-RNs will become CCHP-N. Practically, that means you should plan your recertification under the CCHP-N requirements rather than the older registered-nurse-specific ones, and use the current Recertification and Certification FAQ pages to confirm deadlines and continuing education expectations.

Start with the NCCHC standards, since certification is explicitly framed as mastery of national standards applied in correctional settings. Then build clinical nursing content on top, and finish with the non-clinical domains candidates most often neglect: documentation, medication systems, mental health and special populations, and legal and ethical considerations specific to custody.

Two patterns dominate. First, studying only clinical nursing and treating custody rules, consent, confidentiality, and documentation as afterthoughts - but the credential is built around those correctional-specific standards. Second, preparing from memory or outdated materials instead of the current standards edition and NCCHC's own review courses and recorded webinars.

NCCHC lists a Study Materials page for the nurse certification, CCHP on-demand online review courses, recorded webinars, and an annual conference with accredited continuing education hours for nurses. These are NCCHC products, not part of this independent guide; use them as your primary source and treat third-party summaries as supplements only.