I do not support the petition set forth by Ms. Hurley to substitue additional clinical hours as a substitute for the CNS certification examination. As a faculty at a state university, I beleive the Clinical Nurse Specialist is both educated and certified to provide expert nursing care through a rigorous graduate level program and post-program certification examination.   The Consensus Model for Advanced Practice Nursing document supports establishing licensure as an APRN for all APN roles as the first standard to protect the public and certification to validate expertise at this level of nursing practice.  Allowing additional clinical hours to substitue for an certification exam weakens the designation and protected title of a Clnical Nurse Specialist in the Commonwealth of Virginia.