Trauma nurses seeking specialty certification through the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) will soon be tested on updated content. As part of its regular five-year review process, the BCEN recently published a revised content outline for the Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN) exam.

The new exam content outline will go into effect for individuals taking the TCRN exam on and after November 29, 2025.

The revised outline document is now available at TCRN Examination Content Outline.

What’s different in the updated TCRN exam?

According to Amy Grand, MSN, RN, director of certification and accreditation, no significant content was removed from the TCRN Exam. The content outline was restructured and some topics were moved to different content areas.

Notable updates include:

• Content Area 2, which was previously called “Clinical Practice: Trunk” is now called “Clinical Practice: Trunk and Pelvis”. This content area now includes a subcategory for “Pelvic and Genitourinary Trauma”. (In addition, obstetrical trauma content has moved from this area to Content Area 4.)
• Content Area 3, which was previously called “Clinical Practice: Extremity and Wound”, is now called “Clinical Practice: Musculoskeletal and Wound”.
• Content Area 4 has been renamed “Special Populations” and now covers geriatric, pediatric, pregnant, burn and bariatric patients; victims of violence; comorbidities and pre-existing conditions; and substance use disorder.
• Within Content Area 5 (“Continuum of Care for Trauma”), the “Resuscitation” content has been expanded. In addition, this sub-content area has been redesignated “Subsection A”.
• Content Area 6 (previously “Professional Issues”) has been renamed “Professional Practice” and some of its content has been subsumed in other areas of the outline.

As the BCEN’s director of certification and accreditation, Grand oversees exam development, psychometric services, accreditation compliance and credentialing operations for the organization’s six nationally recognized certifications in emergency, trauma, critical care transport and burn nursing.

Recently, Grand was elected president of the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification (ABSNC) board of directors.

Expert panel led trauma nursing role study

The new exam outline is based on the 2024 TCRN Role Delineation Study (RDS). The rigorous RDS process, which takes place every five years, is essential to ensuring the quality, currency and value of the TCRN certification program.

“In the RDS process, there was a lot of consideration given to what content is essential to determining that a nurse possesses the baseline level of knowledge, skills and abilities to be considered competent in trauma nursing specialty practice,” Grand said.

The study was led by the Trauma Nursing Role Delineation Study (RDS) Advisory Committee:

• Anthony Deluvia (Barnes-Jewish Hospital)
• Christopher Doran (University of Vermont Medical Center)
• Kennetra Isler (Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center)
• Deanna Jackson (Cook County Health)
• Capt. Angela Leonardo (Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center at Nellis Air Force Base)
• Rachel Norton (Chippenham Hospital)
• Amanda Pringle (Kootenai Health)
• Heather Timmons (California Hospital Medical Center)
• Julia Truelove (MedStar Washington Hospital Center)
• Lindsey Werk (Banner University Medical Center)

In addition to the work of the advisory committee, the study incorporated survey feedback from more than 1,000 trauma nurses.

More information

To learn more about the role delineation study and the exam update process, read Evolving Excellence: Updating the TCRN Certification Exam.

To access the revised TCRN Exam Content Outline and other helpful resources, visit the TCRN Study and Prepare page.