Ambulatory Care Nurse Certification Examination Content Outline

This is a paper-and-pencil exam

There are 125 questions on this part of the examination, which is administered to all candidates in ambulatory care nursing. Of these, 100 are scored questions and 25 are nonscored pretest questions. Questions are pretested to determine how well they perform before they are used on the scored portion of this part of the examination. The pretest questions cannot be distinguished from those that will be scored, so it is important that a candidate answer all questions. However, a candidate's score on this part of the examination is based solely on the 100 scored questions. Performance on pretest questions does not affect a candidate's score.

This Test Content Outline identifies the content areas that are included on this part of the examination. The percentage and number of questions in each of the major categories of the scored portion of this part of the examination are also shown.

Test Content Outline

1. Clinical Practice
   1. Triage assessment
      1. Well patients
      2. Patients with acute conditions
      3. Patients with chronic conditions
      4. Patients with terminal conditions
   2. Technical skills
      1. On-site testing (e.g., glucose monitoring, dipstick tests, occult blood tests, streptococcal throat cultures)
      2. Invasive procedures (e.g., venipuncture, nebulizer treatment, gastric sampling, Pap smears)
      3. Noninvasive procedures (e.g., electrocardiogram, physical assessment, peak flow meter, vision screening)
   3. Care management
      1. Treatment planning and implementation
      2. Continuity of care (i.e., consistency of care over time)
      3. Coordination (i.e., consultation and collaboration)
      4. Referrals
   4. Patient advocacy
2. Communication
   1. Interpersonal skills
   2. Cultural competency
   3. Telepractice and multimedia use
      1. Prioritization of patient needs
         1. Use of protocols, algorithms, and guidelines for systematic assessment
         2. Auditory cues
      2. Multimedia tools and methods (e.g., fax machines, computers, electronic mail, videotapes)
   4. Documentation
      1. Informatics
      2. Nursing process
3. Issues and Trends
   1. Professional role
      1. Ethical issues
      2. Individual and staff development
      3. Leadership
   2. Legal and regulatory issues
      1. Informed consent
      2. Patient self-determination
      3. Reporting requirements (e.g., abuse, communicable diseases, injuries)
      4. Federal mandates (e.g., requirements of the Equal Opportunity Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] Americans with Disabilities Act)
      5. Other issues
   3. Standards of care and other resources
      1. Ambulatory Care Nurse Executive and Practice Standards (American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses, Pitman, NJ, 2000)
      2. Telehealth Nursing Practice Administration and Standards (American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses, Pitman, NJ, 2001)
      3. Other (e.g., Nursing in Ambulatory Care, American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses and American Nurses Association, Washington, 1997)
4. Systems
   1. Operations
      1. Practice and office support
         1. Delegation of duties
         2. Staffing
         3. Environment and safety
         4. Resource management
      2. Health care fiscal management concepts (e.g., reimbursement and coding systems)
      3. Health care delivery systems (e.g., managed care)
   2. Performance improvement
      1. National health initiatives
         1. Clinician's Handbook of Preventive Services: Put Prevention Into Practice. (2nd ed. Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; 1998)
         2. Other
      2. Continuous quality improvement (CQI)
      3. Research process and evidence-based care
      4. Protocol development (e.g., telehealth nursing practice, care pathways, treatment)
5. Patient Education
   1. Learning principles and techniques
   2. Health promotion and disease prevention
   3. Disease management

This page last revised 1/24/2007.