If cardiac or vascular patients make up most of your assignment, you’ve probably built a lot of specialty knowledge without anything on paper to show for it. The Cardiac-Vascular Nursing Certification (CV-BC™) from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) turns that experience into a recognized board certification.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through who the CV-BC is designed for, the official eligibility requirements, how long to study, what careers and pay look like, and how to keep your credential active once you earn it.

Who Should Take the ANCC CV-BC Exam?

The CV-BC is built for registered nurses whose daily practice centers on cardiovascular and peripheral vascular care. It’s a strong fit if you work as:

  • A cardiac telemetry or step-down nurse managing post-MI, heart failure, and dysrhythmia patients.
  • A cardiovascular surgery or vascular surgery unit nurse caring for patients after CABG, valve surgery, bypass grafting, or endovascular repair.
  • A cath lab, interventional, or electrophysiology nurse handling pre- and post-procedure care for PCI, ablation, device implantation, or structural heart procedures.
  • An outpatient cardiology, heart failure clinic, or anticoagulation clinic nurse focused on chronic disease management and teaching.
  • A cardiac rehabilitation nurse supporting secondary prevention and lifestyle change.

Because a quarter of the exam covers patient and community education, the credential also suits nurses who lead discharge teaching, run heart failure education programs, or coordinate transitions of care.

Who Might Want to Wait?

If you’re a new graduate or recently moved into cardiac nursing, you’ll need to build hours before you can apply. You may also want to wait if your experience is narrow, such as vascular only, and you haven’t yet had exposure to coronary disease, heart failure, and rhythm management. The outline expects breadth.

If you mainly care for critically ill cardiac patients in an ICU, compare the CV-BC with critical care certifications from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and choose the one that best matches your practice.

What Are the ANCC CV-BC Eligibility Requirements?

According to the ANCC CV-BC certification page, you must meet all of the following:

  • Hold a current, active RN license in a U.S. state or territory, or the legally recognized equivalent in another country.
  • Have practiced the equivalent of 2 years full-time as a registered nurse.
  • Have a minimum of 2,000 hours of clinical practice in cardiac-vascular nursing within the last 3 years.
  • Have completed 30 hours of continuing education in cardiac-vascular nursing within the last 3 years.

No specific degree is required. Keep your CE certificates organized as you earn them, since the 30 hours must fall within the three years before you apply.

How Do You Apply?

  1. Confirm eligibility using the criteria above and the ANCC Certification Handbook.
  2. Apply online and pay the fee. ANCC lists $395 for non-members, $295 for ANA members, and $340 for Society for Vascular Nursing or Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association members. Each includes a $140 non-refundable administrative fee.
  3. Receive your Authorization to Test once your application is approved.
  4. Schedule with Prometric within your 120-day testing window.
  5. Take the exam: 150 questions (125 scored, 25 pretest) in 3 hours, with a passing scaled score of 350 out of 500.

Policies can change, so review the handbook and certification page right before you apply.

How Long Should You Study for the ANCC CV-BC Exam?

ANCC doesn’t prescribe a study timeline. Most working nurses do well with 8 to 12 weeks of consistent study, about 5 to 7 hours per week. Plan closer to 12 weeks (or longer) if your experience is concentrated in one area, such as vascular surgery or outpatient cardiology. If you work across the cardiac-vascular spectrum and score well on a baseline, 6 to 8 weeks may be enough.

Here’s a sample 10-week plan organized around the current outline:

  • Week 1: Take a mixed baseline. Read the Test Content Outline and mark each statement as strong, developing, or weak.
  • Weeks 2 and 3 (Domain I, Assessment and Diagnosis): Review cardiac and vascular anatomy and physiology, heart sounds, pulses and Doppler findings, ankle-brachial index, cardiac biomarkers, 12-lead ECG localization, and rhythm interpretation.
  • Weeks 4 to 6 (Domain II, Planning and Implementation): Work through acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial and venous disease, and aortic disease. Cover procedures (cath, PCI, TAVR, ablation, device implantation), surgeries (CABG, vascular bypass, transplant), and the major drug classes. Include informed consent, advance directives, and VTE prophylaxis.
  • Week 7 (Domain III, Evaluation and Modification): Focus on drug interactions, adverse effects, and urgent and emergent complications like bleeding, tamponade, and acute limb ischemia.
  • Week 8 (Domain IV, Patient and Community Education): Review risk factor modification, self-management teaching, cardiac rehabilitation, anticoagulation teaching, and health promotion.
  • Weeks 9 and 10: Shift to mixed, timed practice. Take a full-length practice exam, review every miss, and revisit your weakest domain.

For newer cardiac nurses: Add extra time to Domain II, especially procedures and surgeries you haven’t cared for directly. For experienced nurses: Don’t skip Domain IV. Education is 25% of the exam, and the “best” teaching answer isn’t always what happens on a busy unit.

What Careers Can the ANCC CV-BC Support?

The CV-BC signals specialty expertise across inpatient and outpatient cardiovascular care. Certified nurses often work in telemetry, step-down, cardiac surgery, vascular, interventional, and outpatient cardiology settings. Many employers value board certification for clinical ladder advancement, charge nurse or preceptor roles, and specialty positions such as heart failure nurse navigator, cardiac rehabilitation nurse, or cardiovascular nurse educator.

Board-certified nurses also support organizations pursuing Magnet® recognition, which tracks the percentage of certified nurses on staff. The credential won’t guarantee a promotion or raise, but it’s a concrete, recognized way to document specialty competence.

What Is the Salary for a Cardiac-Vascular Nurse?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t track cardiac-vascular nurses separately, but it does report data for all registered nurses. According to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, the median annual wage for registered nurses was $97,550 in May 2025. RNs working in hospitals, where many cardiac-vascular nurses practice, had a median of $100,220.

The BLS projects RN employment to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 180,800 openings each year. Your own pay will depend on region, setting, experience, shift, and whether your employer offers a certification differential.

How Do You Maintain the CV-BC Credential?

CV-BC certification is valid for five years. You can apply to renew up to one year before your expiration date, and you’ll need a current, active RN license.

Under the current renewal requirements, you complete 75 continuing education contact hours related to your specialty, at least 60 of which must be formally approved, plus one professional development category. Options include academic credits, presentations, an evidence-based practice or quality improvement project, publication, research, 120 preceptor hours, professional service, 1,000 practice hours, or retaking the exam.

For renewal applications submitted on or after February 1, 2027, the 2027 ANCC Certification Renewal Handbook applies. It keeps the 75 contact hours and asks you to complete one pathway: an additional 75 contact hours, practice (1,000 practice hours, 120 preceptor hours, or 120 volunteer hours), or scholarship (such as a quality improvement project, presentations, or publication). If you certify now, you’ll use the 2027 framework.

What Certifications Stack Well With the CV-BC?

  • Life support certifications: Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) is expected in most cardiac roles and reinforces the dysrhythmia and emergency content on the exam.
  • AACN certifications: The Progressive Care (PCCN) or Adult Critical Care (CCRN) certifications fit nurses in step-down or ICU settings. AACN’s Cardiac Medicine (CMC) and Cardiac Surgery (CSC) subspecialty certifications build on those.
  • Certified Heart Failure Nurse (CHFN): Offered by the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses, it’s a logical next step if you focus on heart failure care.
  • Graduate education: Nurses who want to diagnose and prescribe may pursue a nurse practitioner program, such as adult-gerontology acute care, and later an ANCC APRN certification.

Pick your next credential based on the role you want, not the number of letters after your name.

Start Preparing for the ANCC CV-BC Exam With Pocket Prep

When you’re ready to start, Pocket Prep’s ANCC CV-BC practice questions fit into the time you actually have. You’ll get 600 practice questions with detailed explanations, a full-length mock exam, and tools like Quick 10 and study reminders that make it easy to study between shifts.