Associate Professor and Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) Program Director Christopher W. Blackwell has been selected to participate in a field test for the national AGACNP certification exam. Responses on field tests allow the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Content Expert Panels to select, revise and eliminate items for updated board certification exams.
Blackwell is a board certified AGACNP with nearly two decades of acute care clinical experience and has been a nurse educator for nearly 16 years. He has extensive expertise and experience with the American Nurses Credentialing Center, writing or revising questions on the retired adult nurse practitioner, and more recently AGACNP, certification examinations.
The national board certification examination is competency-based, assessing clinical knowledge and skills of adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners. Upon successfully passing the exam, nurse practitioners are awarded the credential Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified (AGACNP-BC).
Blackwell has served as the director of the AGACNP Doctor of Nursing Practice and AGACNP graduate certificate programs since their inception, and been on faculty at the college for 16 years. The program, which is recognized by U.S. News & World Report among the nation’s “Best Graduate Nursing Programs,” prepares nurses for advanced practice in acute care of adult patients. UCF nurse practitioner graduates have consistently surpassed national certification exam averages, with a 100 percent pass rate on the AGACNP exam.
In addition to his faculty appointment at the college, Blackwell holds a clinical appointment as an AGACNP-BC with Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates in Orlando. He also precepts AGACNP students, ensuring they gain relevant hands-on clinical experience with managing long-term care and chronic disease management in older adults.
His service to the profession and contributions to nursing education include several other leadership roles. Currently, he is a commissioner on the Certified Nurse Educator Board of the National League for Nursing and on the Educational Committee for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. He is also a past vice chair of the Adult Nurse Practitioner Content Expert Panel with the American Nurses Credentialing Center. He is a fellow in both the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Nursing.
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