ACCNS-N Exam Information and Outline
Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist (wellness through acute care)
ACCNS-N Exam Syllabus & Study Guide
Before you start practicing with our exam simulator, it is essential to understand the official ACCNS-N exam objectives. This course outline serves as your roadmap, breaking down exactly which technical domains and skills will be tested. By reviewing the syllabus, you can identify your strengths and focus your study time on the areas where you need the most improvement.
The information below reflects the latest 2026 course contents as defined by AACN. We provide this detailed breakdown to help you align your preparation with the actual exam format, ensuring there are no surprises on test day. Use this outline as a checklist to track your progress as you move through our practice question banks.
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: ACCNS-N
Exam Name: Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist (wellness through acute care)
Total number of items: 175 multiple-choice questions
Number of scored items: 150 (the remaining 25 are pretest/pilot items)
Time allotted: 3½ hours (210 minutes)
Passing / cut score: 98 correct responses (out of the 150 scored items)
Cardiovascular
- Cardiac surgery
- Congenital heart defects
- Dysrhythmias
- Heart failure
- Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)
- Pulmonary edema
Respiratory
- Acute respiratory failure
- Air-leak syndromes (e.g.- pneumothorax-pulmonary interstitial emphysema [PIE]-pneumopericardium- pneumomediastinum)
- Airway obstruction
- Apnea of prematurity
- Aspirations (e.g.- meconium aspiration)
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
- Congenital abnormalities
- Exacerbation of chronic lung disease
- Persistent pulmonary hypertension of thenewborn (PPHN)
- Pulmonary hemorrhage
- Pulmonary infections
- Respiratory distress syndrome (e.g.- surfactantdeficiency)
- Thoracic surgery (e.g.- pneumonectomy-lobectomy- tracheal surgery)
- Transient tachypnea of the newborn
Endocrine/Hematology/Gastrointestinal/Renal/Integumentary
- Endocrine
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
- Infant of diabetic mother
- Hematology/Immunology/Oncology
- Blood group incompatibilities
- Coagulopathies (including thrombocytopenia)
- Hyperbilirubinemia
- Polycythemia
- Gastrointestinal
- Bowel infarction/obstruction/perforation
- Gastroesophageal reflux
- GI abnormalities
- GI motility disorders
- GI surgeries
- Hepatic failure
- Feeding intolerance
- Necrotizing enterocolitis
- Renal / Genitourinary
- Acute kidney injury
- Congenital renal/genitourinary abnormalities
- Infections
- Integumentary
- Congenital abnormalities
- Dermatologic disorders
- Infectious skin disorders
- Pressure injuries
- Skin integrity protection for extremely low
- birth-weight infants
- Wounds (surgical and nonsurgical)
Musculoskeletal/Neurology/Psychosocial
- Musculoskeletal
- Bone disease (e.g.- osteopenia- osteogenesisimperfecta)
- Congenital anomalies
- Functional issues (e.g.- immobility- birthinjuries)
- Infections (e.g.- cellulitis)
- Neurology
- Congenital neurological abnormalities
- Encephalopathy
- Head and brain trauma/injury
- Hydrocephalus
- Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
- Increased intracranial pressure
- Intracranial hemorrhage/intraventricularhemorrhage
- Neurologic infectious diseases
- Periventricular leukomalacia
- Seizure disorders
- Stroke
- Psychosocial/Behavioral/Cognitive Health Issues
- Behavioral state (e.g.- NPASS- Brazelton- stressin extremely low birth weight infants)
- Developmental care (e.g.- skin to skin care)
- Maltreatment (abuse/neglect/medicalnonadherence)
Multisystem
- Factors Influencing Health Status (riskassessment- prevention and wellness)
- Discharge planning
- Feeding (e.g.- breast- cue-based- techniques)
- Monitoring anthropometric measurements
- Safety (e.g.- safe sleep)
- Screening (e.g.- hearing- CCHD- metabolic-angle tolerance testing- ROP)
- Wellness promotion (e.g.- normal variants-immunizations)
- Developmental care (developmentalmilestones)
- Social determinants of health (e.g.- access tocare- socioeconomic factors- health literacy)
- Population health (e.g.- lack of prenatal care-food deserts)
- Team-based care
- Genetics (e.g.- metabolic screening- recurrencerisk- life planning)
- Multisystem
- Acid-base imbalances
- End-of-life issues
- Fluids- electrolytes and nutrition
- Hospital acquired conditions (e.g.- CLABSI-CAUTI- VAP/VAE)
- Hypovolemic shock
- Iatrogenic drug exposed newborn
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Infectious diseases (e.g.- congenital viral-bacterial- hospital acquired infections)
- Low birth weight/prematurity (including latepreterm populations)
- Maternal drug exposed newborn
- Maternal-fetal complications (e.g.- HELLP-preeclampsia)
- Pain
- Palliative care issues
- Sensory impairment (e.g.- hearing loss)
- Sepsis/septic shock and MODS
- Thermoregulation
- Transition to extrauterine life
- Antimicrobial stewardship