Is the chronic disease manager a national certificate?

The answer is no. Currently, chronic disease managers do not belong to the formal certificates recognized by the country and included in the official professional qualification catalog.

I have been training in the health industry for almost 6 years. Every year I meet about a dozen people who hold chronic disease management certificates issued by various organizations and ask if they can find a job or get a salary increase. I am very clear about the twists and turns involved.

Some people may be wondering, are the overwhelming publicity on the Internet that "nationally recognized, universally applicable, and you can get a job with a certificate" all fake? In fact, it is not all made up, but many institutions have deliberately changed the concept - the chronic disease managers that can be tested on the market now are basically training certificates issued by industry associations and third-party training institutions through self-organized examinations, which can only prove that you have participated in relevant courses, and are completely different from the professional qualification certificates endorsed by the state.

A while ago, I met Sister Zhang from a community near my home. She spent 2,980 to sign up for a chronic disease manager training course called "Officially Authorized by the National Health Commission." I originally thought that after passing the exam, I could find a permanent position in the community health service center for chronic disease follow-up, but the person in charge of recruitment at the center said directly, When recruiting for relevant positions, they only recognize access-type national certificates such as medical practitioner and nurse qualifications, or a health management certificate issued by a third-party organization registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The certificate issued by this kind of training institution does not even meet the registration threshold. Sister Zhang regretted it so much that it took almost half a month to find the organization to refund the money.

However, this does not mean that this certificate is completely an IQ tax. Different people have different needs and their opinions vary quite a bit. I used to have a student who worked as a nurse in a high-end nursing home. He already had a nurse qualification certificate. When he signed up for the class, he didn’t go for the certificate. He was interested in the practical content in the course, such as daily home intervention for hypertension and diabetes, psychological counseling for patients with chronic diseases, and medication reminders for chronic diseases. After finishing her studies, it became much easier to provide health guidance to the elderly in the inn. Many family members even praised her for her professionalism. She herself felt that the more than one thousand tuition fees were well spent. As for the certificate, to her, it was just a certificate of study that came with it, and she had no other expectations.

Many people tend to confuse chronic disease managers and health managers. I would like to mention here that health managers used to be a proficiency evaluation certificate in the National Vocational Qualification Catalog. Although it has been withdrawn from the catalog, the exam is also organized by a third-party evaluation agency registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The scores and certificate information can be found in the National Network Query System for Skilled Talent Evaluation Certificates. It is fundamentally different from the chronic disease management certificate that can be issued by any institution on the market today.

If you are considering taking this certificate, let me give you a solid reminder: If you are going for the gimmicks of “national recognition, affiliation to make money, and assignment of work”, I advise you to stop as soon as possible. It is 100% the marketing routine of the organization.； If you are doing work related to grassroots public health, elderly care, and health consulting, and just want to supplement the systematic knowledge of chronic disease management, then there is no problem in choosing a training class with reliable courses and inexpensive fees. Just don't have too high expectations for the effectiveness of the certificate.