100 questions
1. The current edition of the ANA Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice is the:
A. First edition, published in 1980
B. Fifth edition, published in 2030
C. Third edition, published in 2022
D. No formal standards exist
Correct Answer: C. Third edition, published in 2022
Rationale: The third edition updated the specialty's scope, competencies and standards. Earlier
editions were published in 2008 and 2015, and formal standards do exist.
2. The data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) framework describes:
A. A hierarchy of hospital administrators
B. The steps of the nursing process
C. A computer programming language
D. How raw facts are processed into meaningful information, synthesized into knowledge and
applied with wisdom
Correct Answer: D. How raw facts are processed into meaningful information, synthesized
into knowledge and applied with wisdom
Rationale: DIKW explains how nurses transform data into actionable knowledge and wise
decisions. It is not an administrative hierarchy, the nursing process or a programming language.
3. A nurse who uses a mobile app to look up drug information at the bedside is applying:
A. Only personal entertainment
B. Informatics to access knowledge at the point of care
C. An unsafe practice in all cases
D. Billing activities
Correct Answer: B. Informatics to access knowledge at the point of care
Rationale: Point-of-care reference tools support safe decisions when reliable, approved sources
are used. It is a clinical informatics application, not entertainment or billing.
,4. All nurses, not just informatics specialists, need informatics competencies because:
A. Nurses use information systems and data to deliver safe, evidence-based care every day
B. Only specialists use computers
C. Technology is optional in health care
D. Competencies apply only to managers
Correct Answer: A. Nurses use information systems and data to deliver safe, evidence-based
care every day
Rationale: Documentation, medication safety and evidence retrieval all depend on informatics
skills. Technology is integral to modern nursing practice.
5. Recognizing that a patient's blood pressure readings have risen steadily over three days after
a medication change is an example of:
A. Raw data
B. Information
C. Wisdom
D. A database field
Correct Answer: B. Information
Rationale: Organizing and interpreting data in context produces information. The individual
readings are data, wisdom involves applying knowledge to decide what to do, and a field is a
storage structure.
,6. The ANA defines nursing informatics as the specialty that:
A. Focuses only on repairing hospital computers
B. Replaces direct patient care with technology
C. Integrates nursing science with information and analytical sciences to identify, define,
manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice
D. Is limited to billing and coding
Correct Answer: C. Integrates nursing science with information and analytical sciences to
identify, define, manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in
nursing practice
Rationale: The ANA definition emphasizes using information and analytical sciences to support
nurses, patients and decision-making. Informatics nurses are not computer repair technicians,
do not replace care and are not limited to billing.
7. A single blood pressure reading of 168/94 recorded without context is an example of:
A. Information
B. Data
C. Knowledge
D. Wisdom
Correct Answer: B. Data
Rationale: Data are discrete, uninterpreted facts. When the reading is interpreted as elevated
for this patient it becomes information, patterns across patients form knowledge, and applying
knowledge appropriately reflects wisdom.
, 8. The informatics nurse specialist (INS) is typically defined as a registered nurse who:
A. Has graduate-level education in informatics or a related field
B. Has no nursing license
C. Works only in information technology departments
D. Has only a high school diploma
Correct Answer: A. Has graduate-level education in informatics or a related field
Rationale: The ANA distinguishes the informatics nurse, who has experience in the field, from
the informatics nurse specialist, who has graduate education. Both are licensed RNs and work in
many settings.
9. System software, such as an operating system, differs from application software in that it:
A. Is used only to write documents
B. Is always a game
C. Manages hardware and provides a platform on which applications run
D. Is a type of printer
Correct Answer: C. Manages hardware and provides a platform on which applications run
Rationale: Operating systems like Windows or iOS control resources and run applications such
as the EHR or a word processor. They are not documents, games or hardware.
10. A best-of-breed approach to clinical systems means an organization:
A. Buys one integrated system from a single vendor
B. Selects separate specialized systems for different departments and connects them with
interfaces
C. Uses only paper
D. Avoids all technology
Correct Answer: B. Selects separate specialized systems for different departments and
connects them with interfaces
Rationale: Best-of-breed provides specialized functionality but requires interfaces and can
create integration challenges. A single-vendor integrated approach is the alternative.