CBIC Test Guide

By: Pamela Jordan, Tests.com Contributing Writer

The Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology is an organization created for the purpose of improving the quality of health care professionals. This organization certifies health care workers by administering the CBIC exam to experienced professionals who wish to demonstrate their mastery of the infection control and epidemiology fields.

Candidates are eligible to sit for the examination if they have actual practice and experience in the field. In 2009, the requirement that candidates must have two years experience was abolished; however, the test is still written for candidates with this much experience and therefore candidates should take it into consideration before registering for the exam.

All candidates must be able to confirm that they have actual practice in both of the following areas:

1.      Analysis and interpretation of collected infection control data.

2.      The investigation and surveillance of suspected outbreaks of infection.

And at least three of the following:

1.      The planning, implementation and evaluation of infection prevention and control measures.

2.      The education of individuals about infection risk, prevention and control.

3.      The development and revision of infection control policies and procedures.

4.      The management of infection prevention and control activities.

5.      The provision of consultation on infection risk assessment, prevention and control strategies.

The exam consists of 150 multiple choice questions and takes three hours to complete. It is offered year round, Monday through Friday at either 9am or 1:30 pm. The exam is computer-based, and is offered at 140 locations throughout the United States by Applied Measurement Professional (AMP).

There are multiple ways to register for the CBIC’s exam. You can register online through Applied Measurement Professional’s (AMP) website, or by mailing an application to AMP directly. A copy of the application can be found on the CBIC website in the handbook. A confirmation will be sent once the application has been processed with instructions on how to schedule your exam date. An exam date must be schedule within 90 days of receiving a confirmation. The exam costs $310 for new certifiers.

The major content areas of the exam are:

·         Identification of Infection Disease Processes (18 items)

·         Surveillance and Epidemiologic Investigation (38 items)

·         Infection Prevention and Control (39 items)

·         Employee/ Occupation Health (10 items)

·         Management and Leadership (16 items)

·         Education and Research (14 items)

Immediately following the examination, score reports can be picked up from the examination proctor. The score report will indicate if you have passed or failed, and will also provide the raw scores from each major content area. Because 15 of the questions are considered “pretest questions” the examination is scored out of 135. The Angoff method is used to determine the minimum passing score. This method is where experts examine the questions and determine how many minimally-qualified candidates would answer that question correctly. Therefore, the minimum passing score will vary between different examination forms.

It is highly recommended that professionals prepare for this examination. Reference books, which can be used as study aids, are listed on the CBIC website. Practice examinations are also available online. 

To find test preparation materials, see our CBIC Test Directory.

Sources:

http://www.testprepreview.com/cbic.htm

http://www.cbic.org/