Comptia Healthcare IT Technician 04/12

Hello all. I'm starting this thread to chronicle my experiences for preparing for and taking the new CompTIA Health IT Technician.

I plan on taking this Thursday.

The main reasons for my taking the exam are two-fold. First, I'm trying to get back in the self-study routine, as I've been out of it since last Summer. Second, I have a daughter who was born with congenital heart disease, so I've had to spend quite a bit of time in and out of the hospital and seeing the hospital staff use light/dumb terminals on wheels along with wifi got me interested in the health-care IT environment.

So far, to prepare I've read the Element K HIT electronic book sold on CompTIA's website. It's only 200 or so pages. It's is organized pretty well; however, it doesn't seem to delve to deeply into any subject deeply. Like I looked at the section on IP and was baffled by how anemic it is.

Now, I'm going through the Ucertify HIT course. I have two more sections to complete and numerous practice tests. The study sections are little disorganized, consisting of slides. There are typos. There are slides that are repeated. It would've been nice if you could know if you're hitting on exam objectives by going through these "study" sections. Also, the questions interspersed have topics/terminology that isn't covered in the material, which is a bit disheartening.

At $38 for the ebook, $159 for the measure up and $100 to take the test, I may have perhaps over spent on this certification which doesn't have any relevance in the industry yet (this can be said of most of CompTIA's certifications, especially the new ones like CASP, storage+, Strata, etc).

From what I've seen, the topics seem to be a combination of A+, Net+, Sec+, a tiny smidgen of Project+ and the new Health Care terms/concepts.

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Comments

spiderjericho

Today's update.

I read the last two study sections of the Ucertify HIT Prep Kit. It's mostly recycled Net+, Security+ material with general health care information and some of the code standards used by electronic health records/medical records.

The main issue I've had with the Ucertify is the poorly arranged slides and sections. Whereas the Element K book was organized a little more clearly, Ucertify kind of jumps around with topics, often times repeating them over and over (with the same slide). Also, there are a lot of duplicate slides in the presentations. You might go 10 slides and see the same slide again (and it offers no new information).

Also, the questions in the section don't correlate to what was presented. They're often based around new info you were never given, which can be quite frustrating.

Tomorrow, I begin to do the practice tests. Hopefully, it provides a better learning experience and can identify any weak areas.

My advice so far for those interested in this certification is to wait for this guide:

Amazon.com: CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician HIT-001 Authorized Cert Guide (9780789749291): Jean Andrews, Joy Dark: Books

Hopefully, Sybex makes a guide for the certification, but again it doesn't seem like a certification that will be in huge demand except for possibly health-care organizations.

spiderjericho

Okay, less than 48 hours before I take the exam. Today, I took four Ucertify practice tests. They were each 75 questions and consisted of various topics. Since I haven't taken the test, I cannot comment on how well it aligns. However, I will mention like I have previously that some of the questions quiz the taker on topics that weren't covered in the material, which can make it a holy crap moment. The positive thing is there is an explanation provided when you review the wrong answers. There are a few typos and questions repeat during the tests. Tomorrow is going to be more practice tests. My internal monologue has me questioning my decision to take this exam, as the ROI is very low. But I've always had the mentality to see things until their completion (8 out of 10 times).

spiderjericho

Alright, coming down to the home stretch.

Less than 24 hours before I take the test. Today I took the remaining Ucertify practice tests. Generally, my performance has either been narrowly failed or passed. Then I usually retake an exam once more, not for the mental memory of the answer, but to familiarize myself with terminology, since the questions I usually get wrong are related to terms that weren't in either the Element K or Ucertify study guides.

I'm a little indifferent going into the test. I just want to get it over with, so I can move onto a topic/subject/cert where I can actually learn deeper networking knowledge or a new skill/technology.

From reading the WGU-related threads, I shouldn't allow the practice tests to be indicative of the type of questions I'll be coming across tomorrow.

But I'm pretty confident in my IT-related knowledge. What might trip me up is the medical terms or Electronic Health Record regulations set forth from HITECH.

spiderjericho

Alright, so today was the day.

I'm staying in South Florida right now, so strangely enough the closes Pearson Vue testing centers were all booked for the next week and a half. I had to drive down to North Miami to a small little computer repair shop. I won't say the shop's name, but they didn't seem like they cared about maintaining the integrity of their testing center, as he let me go in and take the test with everything in my pocket AND closed the door without any monitoring system, so I could've also cheated.

I didn't, but it's just laughable. And if there are testers who are contributing to brain **** sites, it's probably because of centers like this.

Anyways, I sat down and took the test. You have 60 minutes with 75 questions to complete. I kind of breezed through the questions, as they're obviously not essays like Microsoft or optical illusions like Cisco.

As far as the questions go, I felt comfortable possibly 65 percent of the time. There were quite a few that specifically asked what the HIPPA/Hi-Tech recommendations were when it came to certain IT/security practices. And unfortunately, it's possible I forgot or it just wasn't presented well in material I had.

There was an acronym I was unfamiliar with and came up in three questions, and I'm sure I got those questions wrong.

Like I mentioned above, I did breeze through the exam. I reviewed a few questions prior to submitting the test for grading. I was a little nervous, but I managed to pass the exam. The grading scale is 100-900. I got in the 720s. Not as high as I would've liked, but it's a pass.

My recommendation for those who plan to take this exam is if you have time to either download the objectives and Google them to find out information. This is a bit time consuming, but the material that is available right now isn't the best like say a Microsoft or Cisco Press book (I've also heard good things about CIW study guides being great exam preparation).

Or wait for a competent study guide is released. At the moment, I don't see any on the horizon. Hopefully, Sybex has one in the pipeline.

Also, the Ucertify practice exams are good. Oddly enough, some of them appeared on the official exam...take that for whatever it's worth (possibly 10-15%).

Now back to the exam, I spent close to $300 to take the exam and have no real desire to work in health care at the moment. I think if you're just getting out of college or beginning your journey into networking, this is a good exam.

But for right now, there's not requirement for it like say Network+/Security+ with DoD 8570.10. I'm not sure if Hospitals are putting it as a requirement for hiring IT staff.

I'd say most of the new CompTIA exams (with the exception of Net+/A+/Sec+/Linux+) are pretty worthless investments and one should invest in a good information security exam or a technology like VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, Juniper, Cisco, Checkpoint, EMC, etc, which is going to have practical uses in today's enterprise environments or help in a SMB.

The next cert I plan on pursuing is Linux+, since I'm a novice at Red Hat/Linux. But this will most likely be the end of the line for me when it comes to CompTIA.

MAPL

Great thread SJ and congrats on the pass!

I'm currently in the process of studying for the exam. What was the acronym (if you remember) that you were referring to which you didn't know? Also, do you have any clinical / healthcare experience prior to this exam?

spiderjericho

Mr Gordon, I can't remember. It's been a few days and I've sort of put the experience behind me.As far as the IT topics, I've been in the field for 7+ years and have more than two dozen certifications.As far as the medical side, my daughter has been in and out of the hospital since birth, so maybe 25% of the medical terminology was probably picked up from being in a hospital all day. The remainder is from the Ucertify and Element K.At the hospital she visits, they used thin clients on workstation on wheels in a wireless environment. I can tell HIPPA is pretty big with the way they conduct themselves and the EMR system they use.My advice is to seriously maybe get the Ucertify and look at the topics afterward to check which topics you're unfamiliar with or need to review.

Carl_S_901

It looks like there is a book coming in July.

http://amzn.com/0789749297

N2IT

@ Spider

Just had a co worker land a very nice system admin/security position. They really liked his checkpoint certifications. He said they mentioned it 2 or more times in the interview. Maybe because he doesn't have that many or maybe because they honestly like it.

Just thought I would toss that out there.

spiderjericho

Carl, I linked to that book in one of my earlier posts. I'm a little wary on the quality, but it's cheaper than the Element K. Again, it would be nice if Sybex released a guide, but I'm not sure what the driving factors are for developing certification guides (popularity like Net+, A+, Sec+, CCNA or others since they have Linux+, Mastering VSphere, CASP, CEH, etc).

N2IT, unfortunately the organization I work for uses Fortinet firewalls, so I'd have to research what materials, lab opportunities, etc are. I really want to start to pick up new skills. Some consider me a Cisco kid (though I have the last M$ associate/engineer certs).

GeeLo

Way to go Mr.Spider. One thing to keep in mind.. there are "a lot" of medical IT jobs out there. At least from what I see in the New England area. It could be a good fall back / 2nd career choice for you, if not currently, maybe in the future? Congrats again.

Carl_S_901

spiderjericho wrote: »

Carl, I linked to that book in one of my earlier posts. I'm a little wary on the quality, but it's cheaper than the Element K. Again, it would be nice if Sybex released a guide, but I'm not sure what the driving factors are for developing certification guides (popularity like Net+, A+, Sec+, CCNA or others since they have Linux+, Mastering VSphere, CASP, CEH, etc).

N2IT, unfortunately the organization I work for uses Fortinet firewalls, so I'd have to research what materials, lab opportunities, etc are. I really want to start to pick up new skills. Some consider me a Cisco kid (though I have the last M$ associate/engineer certs).

Oops. Yup, after re-looking at the thread, I clearly see that. Doh!

Pearson is definitely a trusted publisher though so I would expect goos things from them.

Sorry about that.

cbates

Where did you purchase the measure up HIT course? I can not find it on their website.
Thanks

spiderjericho

cbates wrote: »

Where did you purchase the measure up HIT course? I can not find it on their website.
Thanks

I want to apologize to you and anyone else who read this thread and saw Measureup. It should have said Ucertify. I've gone through the thread and corrected each post.

If you want to know what study materials there are, just go to the CompTIA website and see the options available to you.

cbalkcom

To SpiderJericho: Do you remember the location of that VUE testing center where you took your Healthcare IT exam? Would like to look into it.