ACHRN Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

Why "ACHRN Pass Rate" Is the Wrong Question

Search for "ACHRN pass rate" and you'll find a lot of noise, much of it borrowed from unrelated credentials that happen to share the same letters. For the Advanced Certified Hyperbaric Registered Nurse credential issued through the Baromedical Nurses Association Certification Board (BNACB) and administered by NBDHMT, there is no publicly reported pass-rate percentage - because there is no standalone ACHRN examination to pass or fail. ACHRN is an advancement built on top of the Certified Hyperbaric Registered Nurse (CHRN) credential, granted based on documented experience, continuing education, and professional contribution rather than a proctored test.

That distinction matters enormously for anyone planning their timeline. If you're hunting for a percentage to benchmark your odds, you're really asking two different questions: how hard is it to pass the CHRN exam that gates entry into this pathway, and how likely is an advancement application to be approved once you've met the eligibility criteria. This article answers both, using only verified figures from the current NBDHMT resource manual and recertification form.

ACHRN Is an Advancement, Not a Second Exam

According to the June 2024 CHRN resource manual, nurses become eligible to apply for advanced status after three years of documented CHRN certification. The advancement process, detailed in the August 2025 advancement/recertification form, evaluates whether a nurse has sustained clinical hyperbaric practice and taken on responsibilities beyond bedside care - administration, education, care coordination, or professional-association involvement.

Because approval hinges on paperwork completeness and verification rather than a scored knowledge test, framing this as a "pass rate" in the traditional sense is misleading. A more accurate framing is an approval rate driven by whether applicants meet every documented requirement before submission. NBDHMT has not published an aggregate approval percentage, so any number you see quoted for "ACHRN pass rate" elsewhere on the internet should be treated with suspicion - it likely originated from a different, unrelated ACHRN credential.

If you're still working toward CHRN eligibility or want a full breakdown of what's required before you can even apply for advancement, our ACHRN Requirements 2026 guide walks through eligibility and prerequisites in detail.

The Real Numbers: CHRN Exam Format and Passing Score

The only scored assessment tied to this pathway is the CHRN examination - the prerequisite you must hold for at least three years before applying for advancement. Here's what's documented:

Because ACHRN itself carries no separate test, your entire "exam risk" in this pathway is concentrated in that CHRN sitting. This is why building strong CHRN fundamentals early pays dividends for years - the knowledge base you establish there is what verifying managers and medical directors will expect to see reflected in your later hyperbaric hours and contributions. For structured CHRN preparation, see our ACHRN Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and check ACHRN Passing Score 2026 for a closer look at what 70% actually means in practice.

What Actually Determines Advancement Approval

Since there's no test score to obsess over, the factors that determine whether your advancement application succeeds are entirely different from typical exam-prep concerns. Based on the August 2025 advancement/recertification form, approval depends on:

• Current, unlapsed CHRN certification status
• A valid, active RN license
• At least three years of hyperbaric clinical experience
• At least 480 hyperbaric hours logged in the preceding 12 months, verified by a manager or medical director
• 60 continuing education hours from the preceding four years, with at least 30 Category A hours specific to hyperbaric oxygen therapy
• Documented evidence in at least two of four defined contribution categories

Miss any single item and the application stalls or gets returned for revision - which functionally behaves like a "failure," even though no exam was involved. This is the practical reality behind the search term "ACHRN pass rate": most rejections aren't about competence, they're about incomplete or unverifiable documentation.

Documentation That Makes or Breaks an Application

The four contribution categories on the current advancement form are specific, and applicants must show measurable evidence in at least two of them:

• Hyperbaric unit administration - supervisory, scheduling, or operational leadership within a hyperbaric program
• Teaching or presenting hyperbaric lectures - internal in-services, conference presentations, or formal instruction
• Primary responsibility for nursing-care planning or coordination - ownership of patient care pathways in the hyperbaric setting
• BNA/UHMS officer or committee participation - formal involvement in professional-association governance or committees

Vague job-title claims won't satisfy verification. Applicants who succeed typically keep contemporaneous records - meeting minutes, lecture rosters, care-plan sign-offs, committee appointment letters - rather than reconstructing evidence at submission time. If you're mapping out which categories you already qualify for and which you need to build toward, our ACHRN Training resource outlines pathways that align with each contribution area.

Continuing Education and Contribution Categories

The 60-hour CE requirement spans four years, so it rewards steady accumulation over last-minute cramming. The 30 Category A hyperbaric-specific hours are the harder ceiling to hit - general nursing CE won't count toward that subset. Plan CE calendars around hyperbaric conferences, UHMS-affiliated courses, and facility-based hyperbaric education rather than assuming generic RN continuing-education credits will transfer.

Because this CE requirement recurs at every four-year renewal, building a repeatable annual habit - roughly 15 hours per year, split between general and Category A hyperbaric content - keeps you from scrambling before a renewal deadline. For a broader view of what the exam content areas look like leading into CHRN and how they connect to later hyperbaric practice, see the ACHRN Exam Domains 2026 guide.

Fees and the Four-Year Renewal Cycle

Advancement and recertification fees vary by membership status:

• $150 USD for BNA members
• $200 USD for UHMS or ACHM members
• $250 USD for nonmembers

Once granted, ACHRN status must be renewed every four years, with the nurse continuing to meet the advanced requirements, maintain active RN licensure, and keep supporting documentation current. For a full cost comparison across membership tiers and renewal cycles, see ACHRN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

How to Prepare So Your Application Isn't Rejected

Preparation for ACHRN advancement looks less like exam cramming and more like case-building. The nurses who move through this process smoothly tend to do a few things consistently:

1. Keep a running log of hyperbaric hours rather than reconstructing them near deadline
2. Save verification signatures from managers or medical directors as milestones are reached, not all at once
3. Track CE certificates in a single folder labeled by category (general vs. Category A hyperbaric)
4. Pursue at least one teaching, administrative, or committee opportunity early, since these take time to accumulate documentation for

None of this replaces solid CHRN exam fundamentals, though - since that 70%-threshold exam is still the gateway. If you're unsure how demanding the underlying material actually is, our How Hard Is the ACHRN Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 breaks down realistic difficulty expectations, and you can test your readiness with practice questions on our exam prep platform.

Who Pursues ACHRN and Why It Matters

Hyperbaric programs, wound-care centers, and dive-medicine facilities look to advanced nurses to fill leadership gaps - unit administration, staff education, and care-coordination roles that a baseline CHRN credential doesn't necessarily signal. Employers evaluating candidates for charge-nurse or program-coordinator roles in hyperbaric medicine often view ACHRN status as evidence of sustained commitment and demonstrated leadership, not just clinical competency. If you're weighing whether the time and fee investment make sense for your career trajectory, our Is the ACHRN Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and ACHRN Salary Guide 2026 articles go deeper into that calculus. You can also browse current openings that reference this credential on our ACHRN Jobs page.

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