Informatics Nurse Certification Examination Content Outline

This is a computer-based test (CBT)

There are 175 questions on this examination. Of these, 150 are scored questions and 25 are nonscored pretest questions. Questions are pretested to determine how well they perform before they are used in the scored portion 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 is based solely on the 150 scored questions. Performance on pretest questions does not affect a candidate's score.

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

Test Content Outline

1. System Life Cycle
   1. System planning
      1. System planning concepts
      2. Strategic goals and priorities
      3. Vendor, product, and market analysis
      4. Resource considerations and benefit analysis/return on investment
      5. Team establishment
   2. System analysis
      1. Needs assessment
      2. Feasibility assessment
      3. Process analysis
      4. Process diagrams
         1. Decision trees
         2. Flow charts
      5. Functional specifications/requirements
      6. Request for Proposal (RFP) development
      7. System selection and contract issues
   3. System design
      1. Critical success factors
      2. Algorithms and principles of logic
      3. Principles of hardware, software and interoperability design
      4. Process redesign and reengineering concepts
      5. Logical database design
      6. Physical database design
      7. Data and system integrity and security
      8. Quality assurance and auditing
   4. System implementation and testing
      1. Implementation strategies
      2. System and functional testing
      3. Documentation of policies, procedures, and training
         1. User
         2. System
      4. Education and training
      5. Conversion and "go live"
   5. System evaluation, maintenance, and support
      1. Operational
      2. Technical
      3. Financial
      4. Social and cultural
      5. Enhancements and upgrades
      6. User support
      7. Backup, recovery, and system monitoring
2. Human Factors
   1. Ergonomics (e.g., physical factors in device design)
   2. Software and user interface (e.g., useability, learnability, memorability, likeability)
3. Information Technology
   1. Hardware
      1. Input devices
      2. Output devices
      3. Processors
      4. Storage
      5. Network
   2. Software
      1. Operating systems
      2. Utilities
      3. Applications
      4. Programming languages and development tools
   3. Communications
      1. Telecommunications
      2. Data transmission
      3. Interfaces and integration
      4. Standards (e.g., HL7, IEEE, HTML/XML, ASTM)
      5. Protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, FTP, SMTP)
   4. Data representation
      1. Text
      2. Audio
      3. Imaging
      4. Video
   5. Security
      1. Physical security
      2. User security (e.g., passwords, biometrics, secure identification)
      3. 3 Encryption
      4. Virus protection
      5. Fire walls
4. Information Management and Knowledge Generation
   1. Data
      1. Identifying data sources and requirements
      2. Classification, nomenclature, and taxonomies
   2. Information
      1. Data aggregation and warehousing
      2. Data mining
      3. Transformation and analysis
   3. Knowledge
      1. Patterns and contexts
      2. Outcome probabilities and user/system actions
      3. Expert and rule-based systems
5. Professional Practice, Trends, and Issues
   1. Roles
      1. Educator
      2. Project manager
      3. Consultant
      4. Analyst
      5. Researcher
      6. Administrator
   2. Trends and issues
      1. Scope and standards (Scope and Standards of Nursing Informatics Practice)
      2. Informatics trends
      3. Health care industry trends (e.g., HIPAA, Telehealth, Biomedical Engineering and IT Integration, Wireless)
      4. Regulatory and accreditation requirements
         1. Privacy and confidentiality
         2. Information management (e.g., JCAHO requirements)
         3. Patient health records and system/data integrity
   3. Ethics
      1. Protection of patient interests
      2. Codes of conduct
      3. Fair distribution of resources (e.g., digital divide, project priorities)
6. Models and Theories
   1. Foundations of nursing informatics
   2. Nursing and healthcare data sets, classification systems and nomenclatures
   3. Related theories and sciences
      1. Communication theories
      2. Information sciences
      3. Computer science
      4. Behavioral theories
         1. Group dynamics
         2. Change
         3. Organizational behavior
         4. Teaching/learning
         5. Cognitive
      5. Management science
      6. Systems theory

This page last revised 12/14/2007.