ONCC to Offer New Advanced Certification
The Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC) is pleased to announce its newest certification program, the Advanced Certified Oncology Nurse (ACON™). This program has been developed to validate the specialized knowledge of adult or pediatric Registered Nurses (RNs) in oncology with advanced nursing degrees.
Michelle Payne, DNP, RN, OCN®, BMTCN®, and President of ONCC, notes, "Since the retirement of the Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse (AOCN®) in 2005, oncology nursing practice has continued to evolve. While the AOCNP® program serves the role-specific oncology Nurse Practitioners, the evolution of the practice and growth of Master’s, PhD, and DNP prepared oncology nurses created the need for a new certification that validates the higher-level practice."
The ACON™ credential program is for adult or pediatric RNs in oncology with advanced nursing degrees. Practice may be in the areas of clinical practice, nursing administration, education, research, or consultation. To be eligible for the exam nurses must meet the following proposed eligibility criteria:
- A current, active, unencumbered license as a registered nurse in the U.S., its territories, or Canada at the time of application and examination; and
- A master’s degree, PhD, or DNP in nursing, preferably with a focus in oncology; and
- A minimum of three years (36 months) of experience as an RN within the five years (60 months) prior to application; and
- A minimum of 1,000 hours of oncology nursing practice within the four years (48 months) prior to application; and
- Completed one graduate level oncology course of at least two (2) credits OR 30 hours of adult or pediatric oncology continuing education within the five years prior to application. The contact hours must have been provided or formally approved by an acceptable accredited provider or approver of continuing nursing education (CNE) or nursing professional development (NCPD).
The ACON™ exam is expected to beta test in 2026. Information about the program can be found on the ONCC website, and ONCC will continue to update the website as more information becomes available.
The quiet trust we place in those who handle our bodies at their most fragile shapes a deep psychological bedrock, often unnoticed until it wavers. The emergence of the ACON credential, with its demands for a master's degree, years of direct oncology experience, and a thousand hours of specialized practice, speaks to an institutional recognition that advanced disease leaves no room for anything less than rigorously validated expertise. In a different but parallel register, the growing preference for financial tools that forgo facial recognition scans reveals a similar yearning to protect one's physical data from unnecessary exposure and potential failure.
This twin desire—for expert hands in the clinic and for digital anonymity in daily transactions—highlights how thoroughly our sense of bodily safety now spans both the medical and the mundane. For those managing the quiet, persistent demands of type 2 diabetes, this same instinct for guarded self-governance surfaces in private decisions, as when a person might buy Rybelsus online to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes without fanfare or public scrutiny. Ultimately, from the choice of a highly certified oncology nurse to the discreet management of a metabolic condition, the common thread is an unwavering commitment to preserving one's bodily integrity on one's own terms.