WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
WGU D220
Complete Exam Prep Bundle
2026–2027 | Study Guide & Practice Exam
Core review • 60 original A–D questions • rationales • study plan
Candidate Instructions
• Use this bundle to review core nursing informatics concepts, then complete the practice exam
without notes.
• Suggested practice-exam time: 90–110 minutes. Choose one best answer for each question.
• For each missed item, identify the concept, explain why the correct answer is best, and review why
each distractor is less appropriate.
• The content is designed for learning and practice, not as a reproduction of WGU assessment items.
Part I — High-Yield Study Guide
Nursing informatics: Integrates nursing science, information science, and computer science to manage
and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in support of nursing practice and decision-
making.
DIKW framework: Data are raw facts; information is data organized in context; knowledge is interpreted
patterns and relationships; wisdom applies knowledge with judgment to choose an appropriate action.
EHR and EMR: An EMR commonly focuses on records within one clinical organization or setting. An EHR
is intended to support a more longitudinal record and sharing across care settings when systems
interoperate.
Clinical information systems: EHRs, electronic medication administration records, computerized
provider order entry, barcode medication administration, patient portals, and clinical decision support
each support different parts of care delivery.
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 1
, WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
HIPAA Privacy Rule: Governs uses and disclosures of PHI and establishes individual rights. Workforce
access must be authorized. The minimum-necessary standard applies broadly, with defined exceptions,
including certain disclosures to or requests by providers for treatment.
HIPAA Security Rule: Requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for electronic PHI.
Examples include workforce training and risk analysis, facility access controls, unique user identification,
authentication, audit controls, and transmission security.
Confidentiality and least privilege: Access only the information needed for authorized duties. Do not
access records out of curiosity, share credentials, or use another person's account. Permissions should
match role responsibilities.
Data quality and integrity: High-quality data are accurate, complete, timely, consistent, valid, and
relevant. Correct errors through authorized, traceable workflows; do not falsify timestamps or erase the
audit trail.
Interoperability and HIE: Interoperability allows systems to exchange data and use it meaningfully.
Health information exchange supports appropriate sharing across organizations. Standards and
terminology help maintain meaning across systems.
Clinical decision support: Alerts, reminders, order sets, and risk scores can inform care. Clinicians must
validate patient-specific context and use judgment; poor alert design can cause alert fatigue.
Medication safety technology: CPOE supports electronic order entry; eMAR records medication
administration; BCMA supports patient/medication verification at the bedside. Technology supplements,
not replaces, assessment and clinical judgment.
Cybersecurity: Use approved secure channels, strong authentication, encryption and device controls,
screen locking, recipient verification, and phishing-reporting procedures. Avoid unapproved personal
apps or storage for PHI.
Incident response: Report suspected misdirected disclosures, lost devices, phishing, unusual account
activity, and unauthorized access promptly. Preserve relevant facts and follow the organization’s
privacy/security procedures; designated personnel assess notification duties.
Telehealth and patient engagement: Telehealth extends care through communication technology.
Evaluate privacy, identity, accessibility, health literacy, technology access, and whether in-person
evaluation is needed.
Analytics and quality improvement: Use valid definitions, reliable data, appropriate denominators, and
trend analysis. Validate unexpected results before concluding care changed; consider balancing
measures and workflow effects.
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 2
, WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
System implementation and change: Include frontline users, map workflows, test usability, train staff,
manage change, provide support, and monitor safety outcomes. Unapproved workarounds may create
privacy, accuracy, and continuity risks.
Ethics and professional accountability: Technology does not remove professional responsibility.
Documentation must be factual, timely, patient-specific, and attributable to the user who performed the
work.
AI and emerging tools: Treat AI-generated recommendations as decision support, not unquestionable
truth. Consider bias, data quality, transparency, privacy, governance, and human oversight; follow
organizational policy.
Part II — Practice Exam
60 original multiple-choice questions. Each item includes the correct answer, a detailed rationale, and
explanations of the distractors.
Question 1. A nurse reviews a patient's temperature of 38.6°C, heart rate of 118/min, and
respiratory rate of 26/min. In the DIKW framework, the raw measurements are best
classified as:
A. Wisdom
B. Data
C. Knowledge
D. Information
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Rationale: The individual measurements are raw observations and therefore data. Once
organized and interpreted in context, they become information and can support knowledge and wise
action.
Why the other options are incorrect: A: Wisdom is applying knowledge with judgment to choose
action. C: Knowledge involves interpretation and understanding of patterns. D: Information is data
organized or contextualized.
Question 2. A nurse recognizes that a trend of rising temperature and heart rate may
indicate worsening infection and promptly escalates care. This best demonstrates:
A. Knowledge applied to clinical decision-making
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 3
, WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
B. Raw data entry only
C. Hardware maintenance
D. Billing workflow
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Rationale: The nurse interprets a pattern and applies clinical understanding to guide
action, demonstrating knowledge in practice.
Why the other options are incorrect: B: The nurse is interpreting the data, not merely entering it. C:
No hardware maintenance is described. D: The action is clinical, not billing-related.
Question 3. Which description best reflects nursing informatics?
A. Replacing nursing judgment with software
B. Integrating nursing, information, and computer sciences to support practice
C. Managing only hospital billing
D. Using computers exclusively for scheduling
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Rationale: Nursing informatics combines nursing science with information and computer
sciences to support the management and use of information in care.
Why the other options are incorrect: A: Technology supports rather than replaces professional
judgment. C: The scope is broader than billing. D: Scheduling is only one possible administrative use
of technology.
Question 4. A nurse opens a neighbor's record out of curiosity. The nurse has no care-
related role. What is the best interpretation?
A. Permitted because the nurse is an employee
B. Permitted if no information is shared
C. Unauthorized access that should not occur
D. Permitted outside scheduled work hours
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Rationale: Access must be authorized and connected to legitimate duties. Curiosity is not a
valid reason to view PHI.
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 4
WGU D220
Complete Exam Prep Bundle
2026–2027 | Study Guide & Practice Exam
Core review • 60 original A–D questions • rationales • study plan
Candidate Instructions
• Use this bundle to review core nursing informatics concepts, then complete the practice exam
without notes.
• Suggested practice-exam time: 90–110 minutes. Choose one best answer for each question.
• For each missed item, identify the concept, explain why the correct answer is best, and review why
each distractor is less appropriate.
• The content is designed for learning and practice, not as a reproduction of WGU assessment items.
Part I — High-Yield Study Guide
Nursing informatics: Integrates nursing science, information science, and computer science to manage
and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in support of nursing practice and decision-
making.
DIKW framework: Data are raw facts; information is data organized in context; knowledge is interpreted
patterns and relationships; wisdom applies knowledge with judgment to choose an appropriate action.
EHR and EMR: An EMR commonly focuses on records within one clinical organization or setting. An EHR
is intended to support a more longitudinal record and sharing across care settings when systems
interoperate.
Clinical information systems: EHRs, electronic medication administration records, computerized
provider order entry, barcode medication administration, patient portals, and clinical decision support
each support different parts of care delivery.
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 1
, WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
HIPAA Privacy Rule: Governs uses and disclosures of PHI and establishes individual rights. Workforce
access must be authorized. The minimum-necessary standard applies broadly, with defined exceptions,
including certain disclosures to or requests by providers for treatment.
HIPAA Security Rule: Requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for electronic PHI.
Examples include workforce training and risk analysis, facility access controls, unique user identification,
authentication, audit controls, and transmission security.
Confidentiality and least privilege: Access only the information needed for authorized duties. Do not
access records out of curiosity, share credentials, or use another person's account. Permissions should
match role responsibilities.
Data quality and integrity: High-quality data are accurate, complete, timely, consistent, valid, and
relevant. Correct errors through authorized, traceable workflows; do not falsify timestamps or erase the
audit trail.
Interoperability and HIE: Interoperability allows systems to exchange data and use it meaningfully.
Health information exchange supports appropriate sharing across organizations. Standards and
terminology help maintain meaning across systems.
Clinical decision support: Alerts, reminders, order sets, and risk scores can inform care. Clinicians must
validate patient-specific context and use judgment; poor alert design can cause alert fatigue.
Medication safety technology: CPOE supports electronic order entry; eMAR records medication
administration; BCMA supports patient/medication verification at the bedside. Technology supplements,
not replaces, assessment and clinical judgment.
Cybersecurity: Use approved secure channels, strong authentication, encryption and device controls,
screen locking, recipient verification, and phishing-reporting procedures. Avoid unapproved personal
apps or storage for PHI.
Incident response: Report suspected misdirected disclosures, lost devices, phishing, unusual account
activity, and unauthorized access promptly. Preserve relevant facts and follow the organization’s
privacy/security procedures; designated personnel assess notification duties.
Telehealth and patient engagement: Telehealth extends care through communication technology.
Evaluate privacy, identity, accessibility, health literacy, technology access, and whether in-person
evaluation is needed.
Analytics and quality improvement: Use valid definitions, reliable data, appropriate denominators, and
trend analysis. Validate unexpected results before concluding care changed; consider balancing
measures and workflow effects.
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 2
, WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
System implementation and change: Include frontline users, map workflows, test usability, train staff,
manage change, provide support, and monitor safety outcomes. Unapproved workarounds may create
privacy, accuracy, and continuity risks.
Ethics and professional accountability: Technology does not remove professional responsibility.
Documentation must be factual, timely, patient-specific, and attributable to the user who performed the
work.
AI and emerging tools: Treat AI-generated recommendations as decision support, not unquestionable
truth. Consider bias, data quality, transparency, privacy, governance, and human oversight; follow
organizational policy.
Part II — Practice Exam
60 original multiple-choice questions. Each item includes the correct answer, a detailed rationale, and
explanations of the distractors.
Question 1. A nurse reviews a patient's temperature of 38.6°C, heart rate of 118/min, and
respiratory rate of 26/min. In the DIKW framework, the raw measurements are best
classified as:
A. Wisdom
B. Data
C. Knowledge
D. Information
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Rationale: The individual measurements are raw observations and therefore data. Once
organized and interpreted in context, they become information and can support knowledge and wise
action.
Why the other options are incorrect: A: Wisdom is applying knowledge with judgment to choose
action. C: Knowledge involves interpretation and understanding of patterns. D: Information is data
organized or contextualized.
Question 2. A nurse recognizes that a trend of rising temperature and heart rate may
indicate worsening infection and promptly escalates care. This best demonstrates:
A. Knowledge applied to clinical decision-making
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 3
, WGU D220 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NURSING PRACTICE
B. Raw data entry only
C. Hardware maintenance
D. Billing workflow
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Rationale: The nurse interprets a pattern and applies clinical understanding to guide
action, demonstrating knowledge in practice.
Why the other options are incorrect: B: The nurse is interpreting the data, not merely entering it. C:
No hardware maintenance is described. D: The action is clinical, not billing-related.
Question 3. Which description best reflects nursing informatics?
A. Replacing nursing judgment with software
B. Integrating nursing, information, and computer sciences to support practice
C. Managing only hospital billing
D. Using computers exclusively for scheduling
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Rationale: Nursing informatics combines nursing science with information and computer
sciences to support the management and use of information in care.
Why the other options are incorrect: A: Technology supports rather than replaces professional
judgment. C: The scope is broader than billing. D: Scheduling is only one possible administrative use
of technology.
Question 4. A nurse opens a neighbor's record out of curiosity. The nurse has no care-
related role. What is the best interpretation?
A. Permitted because the nurse is an employee
B. Permitted if no information is shared
C. Unauthorized access that should not occur
D. Permitted outside scheduled work hours
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Rationale: Access must be authorized and connected to legitimate duties. Curiosity is not a
valid reason to view PHI.
COMPLETE EXAM PREP BUNDLE • Original educational practice resource | Page 4
