Certified Nurses Day is a national day to honor and recognize the important achievement of nursing specialty and subspecialty certification. Certification is a milestone of personal excellence along the professional journey.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) proposed March 19 as Certified Nurses Day to honor the birthday of the late Margretta “Gretta” Madden Styles. An international pioneer of nursing certification and longtime friend of AACN and AACN Certification Corporation, Styles designed the first comprehensive study of nurse credentialing.