NABH Nursing Excellence Certification: 2nd Edition Standards, Eligibility and Fees

The programme in brief

NABH launched Nursing Excellence certification in 2014 to recognise hospitals whose nursing services are organised, measured and improved as a profession in their own right, not only as part of the hospital's general accreditation. Hospitals use it to show patients, insurers and nurses themselves that nursing care meets a national benchmark.

Who can apply

NABH's implementation plan of 25 February 2026 describes the 2nd Edition as "a two-year certification programme, applicable to hospitals that are duly accredited or certified by NABH". In practice that means a hospital holding NABH hospital or SHCO accreditation, or an NABH certification such as entry-level certification, can add Nursing Excellence on top.

The transition rules are simple:

NABH accepts no fresh or renewal application on the 1st Edition after 31 March 2026.

The seven chapters

Nursing Resource Management is the largest chapter. It asks for a documented nursing resource plan, induction at joining, ongoing training and job-specific training, training in safety and quality, credentialing and privileging of nurses who work without supervision, performance appraisal, disciplinary and grievance processes, a process for incompetent or unsafe conduct, workplace safety and wellbeing (including change rooms, washrooms and dining facilities) and a defined role for staff who assist nurses.

Infection Prevention and Control starts with designated infection control nurses in the infection control team, and covers training, biomedical waste, surveillance data collected by nursing staff, isolation and barrier nursing, and transmission-based precautions.

Governance, Empowerment and Leadership requires the responsibilities, position and scope of nursing leadership in nursing service management to be defined, documented and communicated.

What changed in the 2nd Edition

The 1st Edition had 48 standards and 216 objective elements. NABH's summary of changes for the 2nd Edition lists 141 new objective elements, 33 deleted and many more reworded for clarity, with some merged. Four chapters were renamed to reflect a wider scope:

• Nursing Care of Patients became Professional Nursing Practice;
• Infection Control Practices became Infection Prevention and Control;
• Empowerment and Governance became Governance, Empowerment and Leadership;
• the nursing quality chapter became Continuous Nursing Quality Improvement.

Every chapter now ends with a bibliography. A hospital certified on the 1st Edition should treat its renewal as a fresh gap analysis, not a re-run of its old file.

The nursing indicators assessors will ask for

The CNQI chapter expects a structured nursing quality programme with defined indicators, reviewed at least once a year in the nursing management review. The guidebook names what to monitor:

• Patient falls, with risk assessment of medium- and high-risk patients and fall-prevention education;
• Hospital-acquired pressure injuries, with healing documented;
• Medication errors in preparation, transcription, administration and monitoring, including near misses;
• Extravasations, recorded and managed by protocol;
• Physical-restraint incidents, including injuries;
• Healthcare-associated infections such as CAUTI, CLABSI, VAP and SSI;
• Patient satisfaction with nursing care, presented to the nursing management committee;
• Nurses' work satisfaction and attrition, analysed with HR and supported by exit interviews;
• Nursing care audits, with defined parameters, nurse participation and anonymity in reports.

Many of these overlap with the hospital's own NABH quality indicators, so one data system can serve both.

Process, timeline and fees

NABH's steps are: buy the standards, implement them for at least three months, apply online with documents and the application fee, pay the certification fee through the portal, then an on-site assessment once documents are accepted. Non-conformities are closed with evidence and the certification committee decides. Renewal is applied for six months before the two-year certificate expires.

Plus 18% GST. A virtual assessment costs ₹2,000, a focus assessment ₹15,000 and certificate re-issue ₹6,000, as listed on nabh.co.

How to prepare

1. Appoint a nursing coordinator for the project, ideally the nursing superintendent or a senior nurse familiar with your current policies.
2. Run a gap analysis against all 302 objective elements, starting with Nursing Resource Management and CNQI, where most of the new elements sit.
3. Build the nursing resource plan and staffing records, then the induction, training and competency files for every nurse.
4. Set up credentialing and privileging for nurses who work without supervision.
5. Start the indicator data and nursing care audits now: assessors look for months of data, not a template.
6. Train every nurse to explain their own role. Our NABH questions for staff guide works well as a ward drill, and the HRM chapter guide covers the hospital-wide staff requirements.

If your hospital is not yet NABH-accredited or certified, that comes first: see NABH SHCO accreditation for hospitals up to 50 beds or hospital accreditation above that.