The ABII Test Content Outline has Changed

What’s new since March 2024?

Below is the ABII 2024 Test Content Outline which lists content being tested for 2024. We have marked up the PDF with yellow highlights for keywords that have been updated or added.

Changes in the ABII Exam Format

Category Breakdown (2020 vs. 2024):

• Procurement:
  2020: 6 questions → 2024: 5 questions
• Project Management:
  2020: 7 questions → 2024: 7 questions
• Operations:
  2020: 13 questions → 2024: 16 questions
• Communications:
  2020: 10 questions → 2024: 7 questions
• Training and Education:
  2020: 6 questions → 2024: 5 questions
• Image Management:
  2020: 24 questions → 2024: 23 questions
• Information Technology:
  2020: 18 questions → 2024: 16 questions
• Systems Management:
  2020: 15 questions → 2024: 20 questions
• Clinical Engineering:
  2020: 14 questions → 2024: 13 questions
• Medical Imaging Informatics:
  2020: 17 questions → 2024: 18 questions

Changes in the Topics

A. Procurement

1. Project Definition
Tested on defining project goals, scope of solution, preliminary budget, procurement policies, evaluation and selection process, governance definition, and creating a project plan with milestones and dates.

• Scenario: A hospital network plans to replace its PACS across radiology, cardiology, and oncology departments. The scope of solution requires integration with EMR and mobile access. The preliminary budget is calculated based on similar projects, including hardware, software, and support costs. Procurement policies dictate that all purchases over a certain threshold require competitive bidding. The evaluation and selection process involves scoring vendors on compliance and scalability. Governance is established through a steering committee that oversees the project plan, which includes key milestones such as vendor selection, hardware delivery, and go-live dates.

3. Vendor Identification and Quantification
Tested on identifying and quantifying vendors based on criteria like scalability and compliance.

• Scenario: The hospital identifies several PACS vendors by evaluating their ability to scale and comply with regulatory standards. Vendors are quantified using a scoring system based on their experience, technical capabilities, and client references.

4. Finalize and Distribute Procurement Request (RFP)
Tested on finalizing and distributing the RFP with clear requirements.

• Scenario: The hospital finalizes an RFP that includes detailed requirements for DICOM compatibility, secure data transmission, and cloud storage. The RFP is sent to vendors who meet the hospital’s technical and compliance needs.

5. Solution Evaluation
Tested on information collection and analysis, system demonstrations, evaluation collection and analysis, and client reference checks and site analysis.

• Scenario: The hospital collects and analyzes vendor responses. System demonstrations are arranged to showcase real-world PACS functionality, such as image manipulation tools, image viewer and hanging protocols. The project team conducts client reference checks and site analysis to evaluate long-term performance at other hospitals using the vendors’ systems.

7. Vendor Contracts
Tested on contract development with SLAs.

• Scenario: After selecting a vendor, the hospital develops a contract that includes SLAs specifying system uptime, response times for critical issues, and penalties for non-compliance. The contract also outlines project phases and payment tied to successful completion of milestones.

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B. Project Management

1. Quantifying Risks and Defining Mitigation Strategies
Tested on quantifying risks and defining mitigation strategies.

• Scenario: The project team identifies risks such as downtime during system migration. Mitigation strategies include phased rollouts, with critical departments like the ER being migrated last to avoid disruptions in patient care.

2. Project Plan
Tested on creating a work breakdown structure (WBS), resource identification and effort estimates, project milestones, and dependencies.

• Scenario: The project manager develops a detailed WBS that breaks down tasks like hardware installation, system configuration, and staff training. Resource identification ensures that sufficient IT personnel and clinical staff are allocated at each phase. Key milestones such as hardware delivery and system testing are defined, with dependencies ensuring that each task is completed in sequence.

3. Project Implementation
Tested on managing project implementation and overseeing timelines and dependencies.

• Scenario: During implementation, the project manager tracks milestones such as hardware setup and user acceptance testing. The PACS system is deployed in phases, ensuring that dependencies like network configurations are completed before clinical staff begins using the system.

4. Project Completion and Assessment
Tested on conducting a project retrospective and documenting post go-live lessons learned.

• Scenario: After PACS go-live, the project team holds a project retrospective to review the project’s successes and challenges. Key post go-live lessons learned include the importance of early stakeholder engagement and more comprehensive risk planning.

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C. Operations

1. Problem Identification and Analysis
Tested on problem identification analysis tools like SBAR and fishbone charts.

• Scenario: Radiologists report slower image retrieval times in PACS. The operations team uses a fishbone chart to identify possible causes such as network bottlenecks and server configuration issues. SBAR is used to communicate the findings and recommended actions to the IT team for resolution.

5. Operational Reporting and Data Analytics
Tested on data mining methods, statistical analysis, and information presentation with KPIs and data visualization tools like pivot tables, bar charts, and scatter plots.

• Scenario: The hospital tracks PACS KPIs such as uptime, capacity, and unread exams. Using data visualization tools, the team presents findings in bar charts and pivot tables to identify performance trends and areas needing improvement, such as system capacity during peak hours.

6. Vendor Management
Tested on managing statement of work (SOW), support and maintenance agreements (SMA), service level agreements (SLA), contract renewal, and planning for end of service life (EOSL).

• Scenario: The hospital reviews the vendor’s SOW, ensuring that all deliverables such as system installation and configuration are met. The SMA and SLA guarantee that the vendor will provide 24/7 support and regular software updates. As the system nears EOSL, the hospital begins preparing for contract renewal and future migrations.

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D. Communications

1. Healthcare Roles and Settings
Tested on understanding healthcare roles such as CMIO, department chair, and section chief, and different healthcare settings like ambulatory, academic, and private practice.

• Scenario: The CMIO coordinates meetings with department chairs and section chiefs from radiology, cardiology, and other departments to gather input on the PACS implementation. Different healthcare settings (e.g., academic versus private practice) influence decisions such as the level of research functionality required in the system.

2. Feedback Mechanisms
Tested on using reporting tools and measurement methods such as surveys to collect feedback.

• Scenario: After PACS implementation, the hospital uses surveys and performance reporting tools to gather feedback from radiologists and technologists. The feedback informs future system optimizations and provides metrics for system effectiveness.

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E. Training and Education

1. Needs Assessment
Tested on conducting a needs assessment to identify training needs, determining the audience and instructional objectives, and selecting the training delivery method.

• Scenario: The hospital identifies the need for PACS training, focusing on new 3D tools. A needs assessment determines that radiologists, technologists, and IT staff require different levels of training based on their roles. A combination of hands-on workshops and online modules is chosen as the training delivery method.

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F. Image Management

3. Workflow Processes
Tested on optimizing technologist exam QC workflow for accurate image management.

• Scenario: Technologists ensure that images are correctly stored and accessible in PACS after each exam, using a QC workflow to confirm image counts and flag incomplete studies for follow-up.

6. Enterprise Imaging
Tested on managing visible light images and integrating them into the enterprise PACS or Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA).

• Scenario: The hospital seeks to purchase a VNA to manage visible light images from dermatology and wound care, ensuring that these images are properly archived alongside traditional radiology images and accessible across the enterprise.

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G. Information Technology

1. Storage and Archive Technology
Tested on optimizing data throughput using storage network protocols like iSCSI and fiber channel.

• Scenario: The hospital upgrades its storage systems to handle higher IOPS (input/output operations per second), improving image retrieval times by using iSCSI protocols for faster data transfer between PACS servers and storage arrays.

3. Hardware and Software Components
Tested on configuring PACS workstations with GPU, network interface cards (NIC), and removable media hardware like USB/SSD.

• Scenario: The IT team installs high-performance GPUs and NICs in PACS workstations to enable fast 3D rendering and efficient data transfer. Removable media hardware such as USB/SSD can be integrated for easy transport of imaging data, though not recommended due to malware and privacy risks. 

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H. Systems Management

1. Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Tested on planning for data protection, system failover and failback, business continuity (BC), and disaster recovery (DR).

• Scenario: The hospital implements a disaster recovery plan with data replication to an off-site data center geographically located several miles away. If a system failure occurs, a failover ensures minimal downtime, supporting business continuity until the primary system is restored.

2. System Test Planning and Execution
Tested on developing a test strategy, building a test environment, compiling test data, and executing testing.

• Scenario: Before PACS go-live, the hospital develops a test strategy and sets up a test environment to simulate clinical workflows. The IT team compiles test data and runs multiple test cases, including functional, integration, and user acceptance testing, ensuring the system performs as expected under real-world conditions.

Summary

The March 2024 update to the ABII CIIP exam content introduces more comprehensive coverage of areas such as procurement, project management, operations, vendor management, and image management. New material includes a focus on detailed project planning, contract development, risk mitigation, data analytics, and advanced image management techniques like handling visible light imaging. These updates reflect the growing complexity of imaging informatics and the need for professionals to be well-versed in both technical and operational aspects.

We’ve provided real-world scenarios throughout the article to help illustrate these new topics, ensuring that you can see how they might apply in a healthcare setting. For a deeper dive into definitions and detailed explanations, you can access the Premium IIP 2024 Extension course, included with your Premium IIP Study Guide.

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