As we go through our lives and achieve milestones, it is important to take the time to reflect on what we did, and perhaps what we could have done differently. One of the most exciting things that will take place for you in the field of Health Information management is that you will have many opportunities to not only be an active participant in HIM, but also contribute value in moving HIM forward into the future. As an HIM professional, you will be guided by the AHIMA Code of Ethics. Principles, ethics, and values are what makes us a respected member of our profession and society. As you prepare to celebrate the completion of your degree, it is also a time to look at how you want to further expand on your career and to look at your professional and educational development plan by acquiring credentials and certifications. You have achieved so much in completing your degree here at Western Governors University. One of the most important achievements is being able to take the RHIA exam to receive the RHIA credential which shows you have met the high standards required by the HIM industry.
For this task, you will reflect on your time here at Western Governors University and describe your experience in the BSHIM program. You will reflect on perceptions before you started, that may have changed now that you are in the final course of the program. In addition, you will look at a situation from either your educational experience or from your professional practice experience where you had to use both critical thinking and decision-making skills to help you achieve the desired results. You will look for strategies that you will use to balance priorities between your personal ethics and values and those of your co-workers when you are working in the HIM field. One way to help plan for your development is by setting SMART goals. Lastly, you will have the opportunity to take a practice RHIA exam that will allow you to see those domain areas that you are strong on and those that may need further review before taking the actual exam.
A. Reflect on what you have learned through your education and professional practice experience by doing the following:
1. Describe your experience in the BSHIM program, including the following:
• your perceptions of health information management (HIM) before entering the program
• how your perspective of HIM has changed as you have completed the program
• how you think your experience in the program could have improved, including personal experience and academic experience
• an area of HIM that interests you
2. Discuss a situation from your education or professional practice experience when you had to use critical thinking and decision-making.
a. Discuss how you plan to apply your experience from part A2 in future situations.
B. Explain how you will participate in, and contribute value to, the health information management (HIM) field.
1. Discuss two personal values and one general ethical principle that you plan to incorporate into your future career.
a. Discuss two challenges you anticipate hindering your ability to maintain your commitment to your personal values and ethics.
b. Describe two strategies you anticipate you will use to support your own personal values and ethics as well as those of your peers and coworkers when you are working in the HIM field.
2. Explain how you will uphold three specific principles from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) code of ethics, not including the ethical principle discussed in part B1.
Note: These principles should be different than the principle in part B1.
3. Explain how you, as an HIM professional, would navigate a potential ethical dilemma related to the field of HIM.
C. Create a professional development plan.
1. Assess your current skill set by doing the following:
a. Describe two skills you possess that will help you with your education and professional development in the field of health information management.
i. Explain how the skills you described in part C1a will help you succeed in your future educational and professional development endeavors.
b. Describe two additional skills you want to develop in the future.
i. Explain how the skills you described in part C1b will help you succeed in your future educational and professional development endeavors.
c. Write one SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goal for each of the skills identified in part C1b.
i. Describe how each goal addresses each of the following components of a SMART goal:
• Specific: What is the goal?
• Measurable: How will you measure your progress in achieving the goal?
• Achievable: Do you have the skills required to achieve your goal? If not, then explain what skills you need to achieve your goal. What is your motivation for this goal?
• Relevant: Why are you setting this goal now? Is it aligned with your overall education and professional development plan?
• Time-bound: What is the deadline for your goal? Is your deadline realistic?
2. Develop an action plan that outlines 2-3 steps that are needed to achieve each of the SMART goals written in part C1c, including the following components:
• a target date for completing the goal
• resources needed
• how you will monitor your progress
• a contingency plan
3. Explain how you plan to further your education (e.g., academic education, continuing education, credential, or certification) in the healthcare field. If you are not planning to further your education, explain how furthering education could benefit someone else who does plan to further their education.
a. Provide information (e.g., a website link, flyer, etc.) about a continuing education course that could increase your HIM knowledge base.
i. Explain how the continuing education course identified in part C3a could contribute to your educational goals.
b. Explain how an industry certification or credential will support your professional development goals.
4. Complete the five Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) practice tests in the course and provide a screenshot of your results.
Note: You can provide one screenshot or five separate screenshots of your results.
a. Analyze the results of your practice tests by doing the following:
i. Identify the domain(s) where additional study is needed.
ii. Describe two steps you will take to prepare for the RHIA certification exam. If you are not planning on taking the RHIA certification exam, describe the steps that you would hypothetically take to prepare for it.
D. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The similarity report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
