How to complete your extended CV:

The Faculty understands there is a time commitment in order to complete the extended CV and apply for accreditation, but we also know an urban myth exists that the extended CV process is a major undertaking, a long and laborious process; this could not be further from the truth.  The extended CV requires you to complete short statements about a subject you know most about, YOU! The purpose of the following information is to provide you with all the details, and encouragement, you will need to finally complete the process.  There are three levels of accreditation designed to reflect the differing scopes of practice undertaken by emergency nurses.

How to find which level you should apply for: 

The first thing to do is to look at the practice descriptors and decide which set of statements best describes your current level of practice. Next, using your identified level, complete the self assessment tool, using the practice descriptors, for the level you have chosen:

• Read each of the practice level descriptors to assess if you can answer “Yes” to all of the statements to determine if they describe your current level of practice

• Once you have answered “Yes” to all of the statements then you have selected your current level of practice.  In the case of Associates and Members it is always worth checking the next level to ensure you have selected correctly.

• Remember you are assessing your current level of practice, that you are achieving today, not what you aspire to be in the next year or two.  Once accredited you will start to develop your portfolio of evidence which you may wish to use to aim for the next level.

• Once you have confirmed your level of practice you will need to provide a series of written personalised statements within your extended CV, for each of the Practice Descriptors, stating how you demonstrate this level of practice.

Choose the appropriate CV documents to find a range of information that will take you step by step through the process.  In each of the specific levels of, Associate, Member and Fellow, there is an application form, an extended CV template, reviewer’s guidelines and for Associate and Member levels examples of extended CVs to assist you in constructing your own.

The practice descriptors are designed to examine a whole range of emergency nursing activities and the statements you provide will need to address each one. However, members have found themselves repeating information under each heading, particularly in the first three or four statements. The FEN Reviewers are required to look at the whole of your submitted CV and assess the evidence; this means each section of the CV may apply to more than one practice descriptor to avoid repetition.

Providing evidence for the extended CV:

The amount of evidence provided with the Extended CV is likely to be very little and in many cases none.  This depends on who is the most appropriate person to complete your Peer Statement.  If the statement is written by a colleague who knows your practice well and works alongside you regularly, they are likely to read your CV and recognise that what you have written matches the level of practice they observe.  

It may be you choose your manager to write the statement and include some information they have not known before, in these instances you should provide them with additional evidence, for example a short case study, teaching package or reflective piece, which they can use to verify your statement. No supporting evidence, other than your Extended CV, needs to be sent to FEN for accreditation.

Associate	-	Online CV
	-	CV examples
	-	Reviewer’s guidance

Member	-	Online CV
	-	CV examples
	-	Reviewer’s guidance

Fellow	-	Online CV
	-	Reviewer’s guidance