ABCGN's certification for registered nurses practicing in GI/endoscopy settings, covering procedure support, patient care interventions, infection control, and general nursing care specific to gastroenterology.
Who it's for
Registered nurses with hands-on GI/endoscopy experience — clinical, supervisory, administrative, teaching, or research — who want formal recognition of specialty knowledge that a general RN license doesn't capture; ABCGN requires the work experience be logged as an RN specifically, so LPNs who later became RNs need two years of RN-level GI experience regardless of prior LPN time in the specialty.
What's covered
- Gastroenterological Procedures (35%) — endoscopic and non-endoscopic procedure collaboration, safety, and physiologic monitoring
- Patient Care Interventions (25%) — emergency response, wellness management, medication and fluid administration
- General Nursing Care (21%) — assessing, analyzing, and monitoring patient health status via evidence-based practice, and care planning
- Environmental Safety, Infection Prevention and Control (19%) — procedure-related environmental safety, reprocessing, and infection prevention
What to expect
The exam is 175 multiple-choice questions (150 scored, 25 unscored pretest items placed throughout without identification) with a 4-hour time limit, offered twice yearly during set spring and fall testing windows rather than on-demand. Expect scenario-heavy questions — a sudden vital sign change during a therapeutic endoscopy, an outbreak investigation in the reprocessing area — since the exam is built from a job/role delineation study of what GI nurses actually handle, not isolated textbook facts.
How to prepare
Because Gastroenterological Procedures alone accounts for over a third of the scored exam, prioritize procedure-specific content — sedation monitoring, complication recognition, and endoscopic/non-endoscopic collaboration — before spending equal time across all four domains equally. ABCGN's own Candidate Handbook details the exam blueprint and policies; SGNA (the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates) also publishes GI-nursing-specific study resources that align closely with the exam's scope, since ABCGN and SGNA are closely affiliated professional bodies.
Certification details
- Certifying body: American Board of Certification for Gastroenterology Nurses (ABCGN), an ABSNC-accredited certification program.
- Eligibility: Current unrestricted RN license (US); minimum 2 years full-time (or 4,000 hours part-time equivalent) GI/endoscopy experience within the past 5 years, in clinical, supervisory, administrative, teaching, or research capacity; two practitioner references verifying experience.
- Exam format: 175 multiple-choice questions (150 scored, 25 unscored pretest), 4-hour time limit, offered in spring (May) and fall (October) testing windows with application periods several months prior.
- Content outline: Gastroenterological Procedures (35%), Patient Care Interventions (25%), General Nursing Care (21%), and Environmental Safety, Infection Prevention and Control (19%).
- Passing score: Minimum scaled score of 450 on a 200–800 scale.
- Fee: $430 (SGNA member) / $520 (non-member), non-refundable after the application window closes.
