AFN-C Exam Information and Outline
Advanced Forensic Nurse Certified
AFN-C Exam Syllabus & Study Guide
Before you start practicing with our exam simulator, it is essential to understand the
official AFN-C exam objectives. This course outline serves as your roadmap.
The information below reflects the 2026 syllabus defined by
FNCB.
Below are complete topics detail with latest syllabus and course outline, that will help you good knowledge about exam objectives and topics that you have to prepare. These contents are covered in questions and answers pool of exam.
Exam Code: AFN-C
Exam Name: FNCB Advanced Forensic Nurse Certified
Number of Questions: The AFN-C examination consists of approximately 200 multiple-choice questions
Time Allotted: Total testing time is 3.5 hours (210 minutes)
Passing Score & Grading: Scores are reported as Pass / Fail, the passing criterion is 80% correct answers (you must answer at least 80% of the scored items correctly to pass).
- Forensic Science & Evidence Principles
- Forensic evidence types (biological, trace, pattern, digital adjuncts)
- Evidence integrity and contamination prevention
- Evidence identification, collection, preservation, and storage
- Chain of custody principles
- Crime scene awareness for healthcare professionals
- Interaction with crime laboratories
- Chain of Custody
- Transfer Documentation
- Evidence Integrity
- Biological vs Trace Evidence
- Cross-contamination
- Evidence Packaging Standards
- Presumptive vs Confirmatory Testing
- Advanced Forensic Assessment & Documentation
- Comprehensive forensic patient assessment
- Injury interpretation and wound analysis
- Mechanisms of injury (blunt, sharp, ballistic, strangulation, burns)
- Pattern recognition (defensive injuries, patterned trauma)
- Photographic documentation standards
- Forensic charting for legal admissibility
- Injury Pattern Analysis
- Mechanism of Injury (MOI)
- Differential Injury Interpretation
- Medical–Legal Documentation
- Forensic Photography Standards
- Anatomical Mapping
- Time-since-injury estimation
- Medicolegal Death Investigation (Advanced)
- Role of the forensic nurse in death investigation
- Sudden, unexpected, violent, and suspicious deaths
- Postmortem changes (rigor, livor, algor mortis)
- Interaction with medical examiners and coroners
- Evidence preservation in death scenes
- Death certification principles
- Cause vs Manner of Death
- Postmortem Interval (PMI)
- Rigor Mortis / Livor Mortis / Algor Mortis
- Scene Preservation
- Death Pronouncement vs Certification
- Medicolegal Autopsy
- Violence, Abuse & Trauma (Across the Lifespan)
- Sexual violence (adult, adolescent, pediatric)
- Intimate partner violence (IPV)
- Child maltreatment and neglect
- Elder abuse and neglect
- Human trafficking indicators
- Psychological trauma and neurobiology of trauma
- Trauma-Informed Care
- Power and Control Dynamics
- Sentinel Injuries
- Coercive Control
- Mandatory Reporting
- Polyvictimization
- Legal System Interface & Expert Practice
- Criminal vs civil legal processes
- Role of the forensic nurse as an expert witness
- Deposition and courtroom testimony
- Evidence admissibility standards
- Ethical/legal responsibilities
- Documentation scrutiny and cross-examination
- Expert Witness
- Daubert / Frye Standards
- Subpoena
- Deposition
- Standard of Care
- Scope of Practice
- Legal Accountability
- Ethics, Professional Practice & Policy
- Ethical dilemmas in forensic nursing
- Patient autonomy vs public safety
- Consent in forensic examinations
- Cultural humility and bias mitigation
- Confidentiality and privacy laws
- Policy development and advocacy
- Informed Consent
- Ethical Principles (Autonomy, Beneficence, Justice)
- Confidentiality vs Mandatory Disclosure
- Cultural Competence / Humility
- Professional Boundaries
- Public Health, Prevention & Systems Response
- Epidemiology of violence and injury
- Injury prevention strategies
- Community and multidisciplinary response systems
- Disaster response and mass casualty considerations
- Program development and evaluation
- Policy and systems-level interventions
- Primary / Secondary / Tertiary Prevention
- Sentinel Events
- Multidisciplinary Teams (MDT)
- Community-Based Response
- Public Health Surveillance
- Leadership, Education & Research in Forensic Nursing
- Advanced clinical leadership
- Program administration and quality improvement
- Education of healthcare and legal professionals
- Evidence-based practice
- Research ethics and methodology
- Translation of research into practice
- Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)
- Quality Improvement (QI)
- Clinical Governance
- Program Evaluation
- Research Ethics
- Knowledge Translation