Certified Ophthalmic Technician Study Guide Material
Posted By admin On 04.01.21- Ophthalmic Technician Program
- Certified Ophthalmic Technician Study Guide
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- Certified Ophthalmic Technician Study Guide Materials
I took JCAHPO‘s Certified Ophthalmic Technician license exam in January 2012 and passed the written portion! It wasn’t easy but I managed to do it. If you are not quite sure how to START studying I would like to provide a study technique that worked for me and share it with you if you are about to or are planning to take the exam. I was in a bit of a rut myself, and boy did I really procrastinate (who can concentrate on studying during the holidays, seriously?), but I knew the day to take the exam would come quickly so I had to plan appropriately.
The Certified Ophthalmic Technician license is the second of three levels of licensing. The first being a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant and the third a Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technician. For more information on each, please click here.
Certified Paraoptometric Technician (CPOT) Review Course. This four-hour course is divided into six parts covering pre-testing, clinical procedures, ophthalmic optics and dispensing, refractive status of the eye and binocularity, anatomy and physiology, and practice management. This Medication Technician curriculum was originally developed for implementation in 1978. Its purpose was to satisfy federal regulations requiring a “state-approved” training program in medication administration for unlicensed personnel administering medications in certified skilled nursing facilities (CFR 405.1124 g) and certified.
These are the study materials I used to prepare: Certified Ophthalmic Technician Exam Review Manual (The Basic Bookshelf for Eyecare Professionals) by Janice K. Ledford, The Ophthalmic Assistant: A Text for Allied and Associated Ophthalmic Personnel, 8e by Harold A. Stein and Raymond M. Stein, COT Flashcards, and handouts received at my local COT review course.
Free sterile processing study guide provides a comprehensive and comprehensive pathway for students to see progress after the end of each module. With a team of extremely dedicated and quality lecturers, free sterile processing study guide will not only be a place to share knowledge but also to help students get inspired to explore and discover. An Independent Study Course for Ophthalmic Assistants www.jcahpo.org Certification and Education for Eye Care Excellence. By JCAHPO, the #1 organization specializing in tech education. Uide eparing for the OA ® phthalmic xam 2011COAStudyGuideLayout 1 6/20/2011 9:18 AM Page C1 E cellence.jcahpo.org HTHALMIC NG JCAHPO Bookstore www.jcahpo. The original idea was to provide study material that would help the assistant pass the certification exam. Unfortunately, the ophthalmic assistant level certification exam has evolved in complexity to the point that the vast majority of exam takers cannot pass the exam having studied only these texts, which have basic level information only.
This is the amount of time I left myself: January 1, 2012 to February 4, 2012. I highly suggest starting at LEAST two months prior! LOL
PREPARING FOR THE EXAM:
During the 1st week I did the questions in the COT Exam Review Manual. Each chapter covers a good portion of each required subject of the exam. Some of the chapters are more than 200 questions which took me about 2.5 to 3 hours. If you do not have that much spare time or have children that refuse to go to bed, do 50 questions or an hour’s worth of questions a night. Just give yourself longer to prepare if your study chunks are smaller. You get the idea.
I approached each chapter as if I were taking the exam. I did not look up the answers in the back of the book. I wrote down each question and wrote out my answer in a notebook. I tried to do a chapter a night, but that didn’t always happen. My goal was to finish all the questions of the book by the weekend, Sunday at the latest. At the end of each chapter I graded myself…honestly. The initial percentage you get is a good idea of where your weaknesses are and where you should focus your studying.
These were my initial grades: Optics 76%; Basic Ocular 66%; Visual Fields 61%; Contact Lenses 61%; Intermediate Tonometry 82% (that was a surprise); Ocular Pharmacology 72%; and Photography 72% (don’t get hung up on this, it’s only 4% of the exam).
So Visual Fields and Contact Lenses were my greatest weakness. And according to JCAHPO two of the bigger areas that they would test on, 14% each at the time of this writing.
Fly crypter (cracked v 2.3. Once the questions were completed and I knew where my weak spots were that gave me three weeks to read the Ophthalmic Assistant. The whole thing! I started with my weaker areas then just kept reading, a chapter or two a night, or whatever I could manage for the time I could allot. I think I finished the book in two weeks.
That left the third week to look over the stack of handouts that I received when I had taken a COT review course. Check your local area to see if they offer this. This is a good foundation for studying and you can ask questions of your peers, or perhaps find people to study with if that helps you.
During this week I also did the COT flashcards. These weren’t as easy as the COT Exam Manual because they were just fill ins instead of multiple choice so it really worked your knowledge. But they asked other questions that were not in Exam Manual.
The final week leading up to the exam I went through the questions of the COT Exam Manual again. Same deal. No open book. No cheating. But this time instead of writing down each question I just made an Excel spreadsheet of numbers for each chapter and put in my lettered answers. And wouldn’t you know my grades went up! Optics 91%; Basic Ocular 91%; Visual Fields 76%. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to do the rest, but if I had given myself more time, like two months instead of the month that I had, I would have been even more prepared. What I did do was go over the questions I got wrong and read the answers so that I understood them. The answers in the back explain the concept of the questions, the answer, and why the others could not have been right. Very thorough.
Cut your studying into manageable chunks. I understand that life gets in the way and studying gets put to the wayside. You know yourself better than anyone else. If you’re a fast reader or you’re pretty confident in your basic ophthalmic knowledge perhaps you don’t need as much time to prepare as one who is not as fast or who needs more time to process the information (some of it is dry and mind-numbing). I walked around like an ophthalmic zombie for that month. And let’s not get into the crazy dreams I was having while my brain found some way to upload all the information I was trying to stuff into it! So if you’re a vivid dreamer, like myself, be prepared for a good show when you close those eyelids!
Give yourself breaks too. Don’t try to plow through the information just to get it over with for the night, you won’t retain any of it. If I got to that point where I was reading but not really paying attention I stopped and set my phone timer for a half hour or 45 minutes and did something else (make food, take a nap, watch an episode of Cake Boss….anything other than eye stuff). Then I’d be back with a little more focus.
A good tip for timing your studying if you’re allotting more than 2 hours is study for 45, break for 20, study for 45, break for 20, etc. Set a timer while you’re studying that way you’re not constantly looking at the clock wondering if the torture is over yet.
Study the best way that fits you. If you’re visual, write it down or draw it out; prefer audio, read out loud. Get all your senses going.
Also slooooooow down and read EACH question carefully. In the Exam Manual there was a question that said “The blind spot in the visual field is…” and the choices were: Macula; Pupil; Cones; Optic Nerve. I was not paying attention or thinking for that matter so I put Macula! DUH. What a dummy I was. Studying for a test will do that to you. So be aware of that and read each question twice or three times before you answer.
DURING THE EXAM:
Ophthalmic Technician Program
My adviser suggested I shoot to pass with an 80%. That’s a lot of information to digest and it doesn’t give you a lot of wiggle room to get things wrong. There are 210 questions on the test. 10 do not count for real points, but you don’t know which ones they are, so that leaves you 40 questions approximately that you can get wrong. In the scheme of things that is not a lot.
The computer can be pretty daunting. But like I said before, take your time. You have an average of one minute per question. Read each question carefully before you answer. Don’t rush through it. Write down any tips, diagrams (that was muscles for me) or formulas that you got hung up on on the paper provided so you have it to look at.
My tip #1: With muscles abduct and adduct always got me confused. Then I saw that if the ‘a’ is the “nose” than ‘ab’ means the muscle goes out towards the ear. The ‘b’ is facing away from the ‘a’. With adduct, going towards the nose, the ‘d’ is facing the ‘a’. This only works in lower case letters!
Tip #2: oBlique muscles tertiary action is aBduction. B for B. Superior and inferior rectus muscles tertiary action is adduction.
First pass through the exam I answered all the questions that I was 95% to 100% sure of and marked any question I wasn’t sure of.
Second pass I went through all the Marked Questions slowly. Reading them. Thinking about them logically. Marked them again if I still wasn’t sure.
Be aware of your time. Just don’t freak out.
Third pass I went over the final Marked questions. If I still didn’t know the answer again I just had to guess. Better to guess wrong, than get it wrong because it was left blank. Who knows you might have gotten it right.
If you have time for a fourth pass, go through the entire exam again. Read the questions. Make sure the answer is what you wanted. I made it to the very last seconds. The you have to sit and wait a harrowing 30 second before the unofficial results are given to you. Averaging my scores I managed an 87%. Yay!
AFTER THE EXAM: Be ready to download all the information. I went through a complete brain drain that day, at one point I couldn’t even find my keys! LOL Call your family and your friends, do a dance and be happy about your achievement!
Please let me know if this helped you pass your exam!
GOOD LUCK!
04/02/2012 Update: It took 3.5 weeks to receive my letter after I took the skills exam. It’s official, I’m a COT!
2013 Exam Fees for all levels.
Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA) and Certified Ophthalmic Technician (COT) tutoring available. I am offering my tutoring services if you need help studying for your exam. Fee is $30 for 60 minutes of prepaid time through Paypal then we can Skype or Phone. If you are in the Massachusetts area one-on-one or small session group tutoring is available, fee will vary depending on distance, group size, and time. Please contact me, Eenae (pronounced like eBay, but with an ‘n’) Eye (yes, that is my last name), at eyetutoring@gmail.com for more information.
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“So… are you a nurse? Are you studying to become a doctor? Did you go to school for this?” - The Typical Question to an Ophthalmic Technician
These are the standard questions I get on a daily basis from patients, and if you work in ophthalmology, I’m sure you do too.
I don’t blame them for being curious; ophthalmology is one of the few medical fields that requires almost a year of experience before you can even test for certification.
The levels of certification can be confusing, to the average person, they all sound roughly the same;
- Assistant
- Technician
- Medical Technologist
Here are the differences between the various ophthalmic certifications:
Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA):
Becoming a COA is the first step in certification.
Most hospitals and medical groups will require that a technician has their COA, or sign paperwork saying they will obtain their COA within a year of employment.
Many optometric and ophthalmology private practice assistants defer becoming certified either because it is not a requirement of the job or they feel they know the skills. Therefore, the cost, both financially and sheer hours involved, of obtaining certification seems meaningless.
Certified Ophthalmic Technician Study Guide
All certifications require you to recertify every three years, which consists of getting a doctor to recommend your certification, submitting Continuing Education Credits, and of course, paying JCAHPO a recertification fee.
By the way, The Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO), was established as a not-for-profit organization in 1969 to offer certification and continuing education opportunities to ophthalmic allied health personnel. Currently, more than 25,000 people in the U.S., Canada, and around the world hold a JCAHPO certification.
So then why Certify?
Despite the cost involved, anyone who has been practicing under an ophthalmologist for over a year should go through the steps to become certified.
Certified assistants make more money than non-certified (if this isn’t the case for you, please have a conversation with your office manager), and being able to prove you know your skills has value, both to your doctor and patients. Make your qualifications more than just, “I’ve been doing this a long time.”. People tend to like that.
A Certified Ophthalmic Assistant assist doctors in a variety of ways.
Ophthalmic Tech Training Material
They take histories, evaluate chief complaints, administer ancillary tests, maintain equipment, and assist in minor procedures.
Ham Technician Study Guide
To pass the test, assistants will take a 200 question computerized multiple-choice test in which they will need to show a basic understanding of the anatomy of the eye and brain, basic pharmaceutical knowledge, and problem-solving skills.
Even assistants who have been working in ophthalmology for years should review the test format before taking the test, and do not rely on the advice of others in what the test includes, as there are multiple versions.
For example, when I took the test, I was told by multiple people that it was all about visual fields, really intense, in-depth requirements for understanding and interpreting. And maybe the test they got was, but mine was not. I was grossly underprepared (but I still passed!).
Certified Ophthalmic Technician (COT):
The next level in certification is a Certified Ophthalmic Technician.
The COT exam has two major parts, first, similar to the COA, there is a multiple choice exam consisting of 19 categories, after passing the exam, you then have up to 24 months to complete the skills portion of the certification.
Unlike the computerized exam, the Skills portion of the exam is hands-on, testing your knowledge of seven distinct categories. It’s daunting, but if you pass some, but fail others, you only need to retake the skills portions that you failed.
Acquiring your COT shows that you have an advanced knowledge of ophthalmic testing, and looks particularly good when applying for a job at a new office.
The majority of Certified Ophthalmic Assistants do not go on to become Certified Ophthalmic Technicians, but if you are looking at Ophthalmology as a career, then it is a surefire way to make yourself indispensable in any practice.
Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist (COMT):
Before I go into an explanation of what a Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist is, I feel it’s important to note that currently the test is only being administered at the JCAHPO headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. I am not entirely sure why, because it is a computer-based test, so, in theory, could be administered at any testing location.
Regardless of why they chose to keep the testing in St. Paul, the on-site testing lends itself to exclusivity and makes the COMT the most difficult to achieve for more reasons than just skill. Acquiring a COMT shows that you have the highest level of knowledge and dedication in your field.
Candidates for the COMT are required to have no less than three years working as a COT before taking the COMT Exam. The COMT exam is not it’s own exam, as much as it is a continuation of the COT exam I described earlier.
The additional portion of the exam is referred to as a Performance Test and consists of five sections. If you complete the Skills portion of the COT exam, they do not require you to repeat the for the COMT. Also similar to the COT exam, you are only required to retest on the areas of the Performance test that you failed.
Ophthalmic Surgical Assisting (OSA):
OSA is a sub-specialty that can be earned in conjunction with your certification. It is particularly useful for ophthalmic technicians who are most interested in assisting with in-office procedures and want to advertise their proven skills.
The OSA is a one-hour computerized exam consisting of 75 multiple choice questions, where technicians will be required to show their knowledge of instruments used during procedures, as well as the procedures themselves.
It is important to note that many ophthalmologists operate in hospitals, which require their surgical staff to, at a minimum, be a registered nurse, and so obtaining the OSA certification is most valuable for technicians who want to work in private practice.
The bottom line is to get certified.
Certified technicians certainly have a higher education level, and in my experience, tend to be much more dedicated the field of eyecare. The level of certification you strive for really depends on what you want to get out of your career.
There’s nothing wrong with obtaining the base-level COA certification and not pursuing beyond that level but it may limit how far you can go in ophthalmology. After all, some levels of certification take years to achieve, so if you’re new to the field, you have plenty of time to decide how far you want to go.