Nursing Informatics Certification Update

I took a few moments today to review the upcoming changes in the ANCC Informatics Nurse Certification exam. The test content outlines are online at the ANCC website. Notice that three of the categories were collapsed in the new test blueprint. Information Management and Knowledge Generation will comprise a little over 1/3 of the exam questions.  Professional Practice will be almost 27% of the questions, as compared with 10%. When comparing the two, the newer outline includes much more on accreditation guidelines, regulation, system design/development, nursing taxonomy, and education/staff development. The 4th edition of the Informatics and Nursing textbook will be an excellent resource for nurses who site for the newest informatics certification exam.  The 4th edition of the textbook contains all of the essential components for the current certification exam, as well. The table below shows a comparison of the two test blueprints (outlines).

Old ANCC Informatics Test Blueprint (Before 5/1/2012)  Category Domains of Practice No. of Questions Percent I System Life Cycle 41 27.00% II Human Factors 10 7.00% III Information Technology 30 20.00% IV Information Management and Knowledge Generation 27 18.00% V Professional Practice, Trends, and Issues 15 10.00% VI Models and Theories 12 8.00% VII Management and Leadership 15 10.00%

New ANCC Informatics Test Blueprint (Effective 5/7/2012)  Category Domains of Practice No. of Questions Percent I Information Management and Knowledge Generation 56 37.33% II Professional Practice 40 26.67% III System Life Cycle 33 22.00% IV Information Technology 21 14.00%

Thanks to Our Textbook Users!

The sale of our textbook quadrupled the 4th quarter of last year!  Wow!!!  A warm thank you to everyone who purchased the book.  The 4th edition is finished and gone to the publisher.  We tried to take the best of the 3rd edition and make it even better in the 4th edition.  For example, all of the files used for illustration and explanation in the chapters on office applications will be available for users to download.  Office applications include Microsoft Office 2010 and cloud office computing apps. The Affordable Care Act information has been added along with the many changes in the political landscape affecting informatics. 

Updates on the Informatics and Nursing textbook web site

The textbook support web site at http://dlthede.net/Informatics/AddtionsCorrect.html has been updated to include many of the informatics listserve conversation topics.  The updates are noted below.

Batteries
The issue of mobile computer carts and battery life remains a hot topic!  Batterystuff. A tutorial on all kinds of batteries supports information that in Chapter 2.  http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html

If you are don't have a basic understanding about batteries, you may want to begin with the How Stuff Works web site at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/battery.htm  and
Wikipedia on batteries. A very thorough explanation including estimates of length of discharge and life expectancy of various types. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_(electricity)

Review Site for the ANCC Informatics Certification Exam
Certification in Nursing Informatics was developed by graduate and post-graduate nursing informatics students at Duke University School of Nursing http://www.duke.edu/web/informatics/index.html . IThe topics addressed are Systems Life Cycle, Human Factors, Information Technology, Information Knowledge Management, Practice Trend Issues,  Models & Theories. 

Secondary Use of Data
Transforming healthcare through secondary use of health data. A 40 page 2009 report by Price-Waterhouse Coopers. You may need to register name etc., but the report is free. Presents an excellent case for secondary data use, includes guidelines. This information supplements Chapter 10.
http://www.medtechpublishing.com/pwc/Transforming-healthcare-through-secondary-use-of-health-data.pdf

Personal Health Records
Proceedings of the Post Conference of NI 2009 Reports on Personal Health Records. This compendium is a full treatise on many of the issues surrounding personal health records. Highly recommended. This information supplements information in Chapter 14.  http://www.uku.fi/vaitokset/2009/isbn978-951-27-1321-9.pdf

Meaningful Use
I anticipate the the topic of meaningful use will continue to be a very hot topic in 2010!  Meaningful Use and Beyond is a presentation by James C. Larson Dec 4, 2009 at the Northern Ohio Health Information Management Systems Society Fall Conference. This pdf file (MUandBeyond) provides an update, plus some of the objectives and support information in Chapter 21.  http://www.nohimss.org//Fall2009Presentations/Fall2009Presentations.htm