A future opportunity...

As I had shared with some of you, in September I had applied to take part in a national reabstracting study that was organized by my national association (Canadian Health Information Management Association - CHIMA) and our national database association (Canadian Institute of Health Information - CIHI). The point of this reabstracting study, is to recode the charts from last year and see how close the data is to our Canadian coding standards set by CIHI. I finally received word today, that I will not be granted an interview for the reason of not meeting the requirement of 3 years coding experience in working with inpatient charts (acute care). It is funny as that was the reason I had hesitated before eventually applying.

Yes, I am disappointed as it would have been a great professional experience, but in the "big overall picture" - it was all positive otherwise. I found out what computer courses they wish you to have either proficiency in (MS Word and MS Excel) or knowledge in (MS Access). Also the knowledge they wish you to have in understanding inpatient coding and abstracting. For me, the biggest bonus to this whole process - support of higher management. For the 10 years at Thunder Bay Regional, many of you knew the frustrations I had felt from the lack of support I felt from the director of the department. Before applying for this study, I actually emailed my director at Calgary Health Region for her opinion as I had never applied for something like this before. The email I received was shocking for me - but in a great way - My boss told me that she would support me 100% (which meant not worrying if I have a job to return to, as I would have taken a 2 month LOA instead) and agreed that it would be a wonderful experience. This is the first of 5 reabstracting studies over the next 5 years, so if I keep plugging along as I am, I am sure that one year I will have the opportunity to take part in this experience.

As we near the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I am reminded again how blessed my past year as been, especially professionally speaking. It is a wonderful change knowing that I feel comfortable enough to approach my boss with questions and not afraid to ask their opinions on things such as this study. It just makes you feel appreciate of what you are contributing to the department and to the hospital as a whole. You feel like a part of a team, which sometimes I really did not feel at Thunder Bay Regional. I am looking forward to the 2 coding workshops that I have been registered for at the end of the month. One is on obstetrical and newborn coding and the second is on diabetes coding. Both should be interesting as a few changes have been made to those codes this fiscal year.

I firmly believe - if one door is closed (a negative result), another door will open (a positive result).