Greetings from your Certification team!

CHSE-A AND CHSOS-A Applications are OPEN! Deadline for submissions is September 1.

On that note, since I know y’all are working on your applications or tossing and turning at night trying to decide if you’re going to apply, I thought this would be a perfect time to clear up the three most common misunderstandings I have heard regarding the advanced credentials:

1. “I have to be certified as a CHSE/CHSOS for five years before I am eligible to apply for the advanced credential.”

While you must be currently certified and in good standing as a CHSE/CHSOS to apply for the advanced credential, there is no requirement for how long you must have held the credential. Your certification must also be active throughout the review period (September through November). If you allow your certification to expire during the portfolio review period, you will be ineligible to achieve the advanced distinction even if the panel of reviewers voted in favor of your portfolio.

The five-year requirement is related to your professional experience. For CHSE, you must be able to document five years of continued simulation use in healthcare education, research, or administration. Similar for CHSOS, you must be able to document five years of continuous experience in a healthcare simulation operations role.

2. “I have to be primary author on several publications/presentations in order to achieve the distinction.”

It is true that reviewers like to see publications and presentations on a candidate’s CV, but these are not requirements. Reviewers are looking for evidence of a candidate’s contributions to healthcare simulation and examples of leadership both within and outside of your institution. Presentations and publications are just two examples of how to present this evidence. When choosing elements to include in your application to document these requirements, make sure you are specific about your role in the activity and how you personally met those elements.

For example, a candidate indicates a committee membership on their CV and in their narrative responses writes, “The purpose of this committee is to champion the use of simulation in the community. During my service, we traveled to several public schools in the county and engaged students in……” This does not meet the elements as the reviewers are left to guess what the candidate actually did on that committee. While we do not work in silos and collaboration is essential, the reviewers are trying to determine if YOU meet the requirements, not your team, your colleagues, or committee members. That example narrative statement could be strengthened by including an “I” statement, “During my time on this committee, I…”

3. “I have to document my life’s work in the CV and application.”

Please no. Reviewers are tasked with assessing several portfolios in a short amount of time and all reviewers are volunteers with insane work schedules like you and me. Sometimes, when candidates include all they have accomplished in their professional and pre-professional lives, it becomes difficult for the reviewers to assess the sim-specific elements that must be present to achieve the advanced credential. So, while the reviewers may find it interesting to see you were the captain of your high school dive team, I would highly recommend removing that from your CV as it can distract from your sim-specific achievements.

I hope these three examples clear up some things about our advanced credentials and encourage you to apply, if not for this cycle, then for the next in the spring. As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail and until next time, be excellent to each other.

Rachel Araujo
SSH Director of Certification