Healthcare IT + WGU...

CCNTrainee

So... I think I finally found what I want to turn my BS into after getting my AAS. My dream of a "prestigious level" and final chapter in my working career of my life is to be a CIO, knowing full well that this would be a strictly Mgmt position. Of course this isn't going to be decades from now and assuming that I do want the same thing as time progresses. Lol

Anyways, after talking to my best friend who is on her way in getting her PhD in becoming a Doctor, I was looking into combining my current skills with the Healthcare industry, discovering a little gem of Health IT. I know that this field is much more different and a beast on its own merits, but the WGU program got me more intrigued into presuming a degree in the field. I like how the program is diverse, in which I would achieve a well rounded degree in the disciplines of Business, Healthcare, and IT. Jack of all trade and master of none I am sure, but still nice to have.

Is there anyone that is in this career field or have experience with Healthcare IT?? Has anyone got a degree in the Health IT and what are your thoughts on the program?? Thank you for any feedback.

xenodamus

CCNTrainee wrote: »

So... I think I finally found what I want to turn my BS into after getting my AAS. My dream of a "prestigious level" and final chapter in my working career of my life is to be a CIO, knowing full well that this would be a strictly Mgmt position. Of course this isn't going to be decades from now and assuming that I do want the same thing as time progresses. Lol

Anyways, after talking to my best friend who is on her way in getting her PhD in becoming a Doctor, I was looking into combining my current skills with the Healthcare industry, discovering a little gem of Health IT. I know that this field is much more different and a beast on its own merits, but the WGU program got me more intrigued into presuming a degree in the field. I like how the program is diverse, in which I would achieve a well rounded degree in the disciplines of Business, Healthcare, and IT. Jack of all trade and master of none I am sure, but still nice to have.

Is there anyone that is in this career field or have experience with Healthcare IT?? Has anyone got a degree in the Health IT and what are your thoughts on the program?? Thank you for any feedback.

I can definitely say that higher education gets noticed in Healthcare. With an industry full of nurses, doctors and techs that all require formal education and certification, the email signatures can get long sometimes.

"John Doe, RN, BSN, MSN, MBA, MSHA" (I've seen many worse than this...)

So, if you're looking toward administration and management, a Bachelor's and eventually a Master's would be a good idea. Don't mistake that as applying to all positions, though. The above doesn't necessarily apply to lower management and technical positions. We have plenty of engineers and a few supervisors with no BA/BS.

CCNTrainee

Intresting point. The Administrative + Mgmt won't be till a long while and that is also assuming that I don't want to go into security or decide to jump into the Healthcare emergency field. Since I do plan on going for my EMT-B and be a volunteer EMT on my off time as well.

I wish there were more people in this field to get feedback from...

jmasterj206

I work in Healthcare IT and have for about 8 years now. I can be a different beast as you say, but everyone in the IT department has either CS or IT degrees. The only that don't have these in my department are the clinical support, which are all nurses. With Healthcare you have to have an understanding of HIPAA, but the general IT is still the same. I am the IT security officer so I have extra training. The only odd things you run into is dealing with medical equipment and making it work in your environment. If you want to get to the CIO level I would personally go with a MBA. That would cover your bases and not pigeon hole you to just Healthcare.

And I would agree with Xen they do like to show their credentials. BSN, MSN, etc.

EDIT: I just took a look at the Healthcare Informatics degree and to me it is more driven to a Medical Records, Business Office Manager type position in my eyes. I would agree with you that it would give you some well rounded knowledge, but you don't really need to know Human Physiology to do HIT. Another example is ICD and CPT Coding you need to know what it is, but you don't need to know the codes. That is what the Medical Records department is trained on. Just my 2 cents anyway.