Syllabus

About the Course

This course is unlike any course taken here at DeVry University. It is the culmination of the HIM program and is designed to (1) provide students with hands-on experience in an HIM department or medical records department and (2) program review with the online portion of the course. The level and substance should exhibit a high level of critical thinking, HIM knowledge, and application to the topics, whereas written assignments should be professional and top notch. For many students, the practicum is the first experience in the world of health information management (HIM). Alternatively, if the student does have prior healthcare or HIM experiences, the practicum will give the student the opportunity to prepare for a managerial position in HIM.

The course is 8 weeks in length. The course TCOs should guide management activities at the practicum site based on facility size, facility type, HIM department responsibilities, and so forth. The TCOs in each week will drive the weekly discussions despite those varied student practicum schedules and activities. Everyone is still required to actively participate each week with extraordinary intellect based on HIM program knowledge in accordance with DeVry policy, regardless of the practicum schedule. Post about your experiences with learning about the TCO you are working on, even if it is not those of the current week. For example, during Week 2, one student may be working on TCO 7 at the practicum site and yet in the course we are reviewing TCOs 3 and 4.

There are incremental assignments throughout the weeks that will be incorporated with key assignments at the end of the course due in Weeks 7 and 8. It is the student’s responsibility to coordinate practicum schedule with course requirements; please use the course schedule to plan your practicum schedule with your onsite practicum director.

Students will not be compensated for the onsite practicum. Nevertheless, the outcomes will be an unprecedented hands-on and director level oversight that will supplement the learning with HIM knowledge, experiences, managerial perspective, and opportunities resulting in a priceless opportunity.

Course Responsibilities of the Student

• Meet eligibility and course requirements.
• Be familiar with all procedures and content for practicum experience. 
• Meet deadline dates for all activities (see Syllabus for specifics).
• Identify and apply TCOs to be addressed in all assignments, including discussions.
• Demonstrate HIM competence and academic rigor in practicum assignments.  
• Abide by practicum site policies, rules, and regulations.
• Conduct him or herself in a professional manner during the practicum assignment, as well as online content to instructor and peers.
• All content must be original for the course with no recycling of assignments or discussion content even if taking the course previously or repeating the practicum requirements.   
• Accept instruction from facility personnel as a learning opportunity with respect.
• Maintain communication with the practicum director and course instructor.
  

Professional Development

One important aspect of being an RHIA professional is maintaining professional development; students are launching their professional careers with this practicum experience.

Students are required to attend at least one meeting or workshop during this course through your practicum site, AHIMA, HIMSS, or another HIM professional organization. If students do not have the opportunity to attend a professional development activity in person or online through one of the listed sources, he or she should read two current (within the past 12 months) professional journals on the HIM topic of choice.

Either the meeting or journal option must include an annotated bibliography with (1) why you selected that particular article and (2) a brief synopsis. APA formatting and references are required. Assignment will be submitted to the Dropbox in Week 4. In addition, students are also required to correlate their activities with specific TCOs and HIM domains in their oral presentation as another method of describing their professional development.

Required Hours and Attendance at the Practicum Site

Students are required to spend a minimum of 60 hours at a DeVry approved practicum site. During the practicum, students will apply knowledge and skills that they have learned in the HIM program, as well as gain new understanding of the HIM department, including roles and responsibilities of an HIM manager.

All hours and activities must be verified by the on-site practicum director with original signatures on required evaluations found in Doc Sharing and must be submitted to the Dropbox for grading. Any assignments and required practicum documents not submitted with an original signature of the practicum director will incur a minimum 20% deduction off the final grade or review by DeVry's Academic Integrity Committee for independent review.

Students are expected to report on time each day of their practicum. If a student must be absent, he or she must notify both the site practicum director to reschedule the missed time and the DeVry HIM460 professor immediately with the revised schedule.

Students are not to be substituted for paid staff (outlined in the AHIMA PPE Guide in Doc Sharing) but offered opportunities to observe or participate in all aspects of the department and within the organization to demonstrate proficiency.

Weekly time log and journal of activities (available in Doc Sharing) must be submitted to Week 7 for grading and must specifically demonstrate activities related to TCOs.

Student Conduct at the Practicum Site

Students are expected to present a professional manner, appearance, and communication at all times. Students will sign a waiver agreeing to abide by all the rules and regulations of the practicum and affiliation site. As in the HIM profession, students are governed by the AHIMA Code of Ethics and DeVry's student conduct requirements.

1. All students are responsible for compliance with all health and safety requirements and for providing required documentation before an agreed site for HIM460 practicum will be located. Students not in compliance with all clinical requirements will not be allowed to begin their practicums.
2. Students should arrive to all practicum sites on time and are expected to complete the entire shift. Any unforeseen tardiness or absence must be reported immediately to the director of the HIM department in which you are placed or the supervisor to whom you are reporting during your practicum. You are also expected to report this information to your instructor.
3. Changes in scheduled days may be made only in cases of emergency and only if agreed upon by the director of HIM or the supervisor to whom you are reporting during your practicum.
4. If a practicum day is canceled by the site supervisor or agency, the student must notify the instructor and schedule a day and time to make up the scheduled hours.
5. Student must dress in a professional manner while at the site and adhere to the site’s dress code. Keep in mind that many facilities will not allow staff to wear body jewelry other than stud earrings (one pair). All body art/tattoos may be required to be covered during the practicum.
6. The site may require that the student abide by the lunch break policy of the site.
7. Cell phones may not be used at any time for talking, e-mailing, or text messaging during the time in which you are accumulating professional practice hours. Your cell phone must be on vibrate or turned off completely.

Student behavior that is detrimental to the working environment (including moral and conduct of business, unethical conduct, breach of confidentiality, unprofessional or disparaging remarks, not following company policies, repeated tardiness etc.) is not acceptable. Any may be grounds for removal from the practicum site or the course at the discretion of the onsite practicum director or DeVry official.

Should any problems arise during the practicum by the student, the student should contact his or her DeVry practicum coordinator and inform the course instructor so he/she is aware of the situation.

Managerial Activities and Managerial Project

A key component of the practicum is to have experiences as an HIM manager, which should be instructive, engaging, and meaningful while directly relating to the course TCOs. These activities will be varied due to different types of healthcare organizations that may be traditional and nontraditional; however, should advance the knowledge of HIM and developing skills and decision-making of an HIM manager. The TCOs should be the foundation of the conversation with the onsite practicum director in planning the practicum and documented in all course assignments and discussions.

A managerial project, in consultation with the onsite program director, is required of the course. All students will design a project that will be from the HIM management perspective that specifically meets one or more of the course TCOs and benefits the practicum site. Please see Practicum for guidance and topic examples for managerial project.

Students are require to submit a proposal of their managerial project to Week 3 Dropbox for instructor approval. The final managerial project is due in Week 7 to the Dropbox for grading.

Oral Presentation

An oral presentation will consist of a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation with audio. It will be a comprehensive overview of your practicum, assessment of the HIM profession and relevance of the RHIA credential, and retrospective analysis. To support a comprehensive assignment, there are graded assignments throughout the course that must be used in the final presentation.

Specific instructions on the use of PowerPoint to compile this final presentation can be found on the iConnect tab. Detailed content requirements are under the Presentation tab.

Mock Exam and RHIA National Certification Review

A key component of this course is also the HIM program review. Throughout the course, students will be reviewing HIM principles, content, applications, etc. as an aid to help students prepare for not only the mock exam in the course, but also the national RHIA certification exam.

During Weeks 1 through 7, there is a mock exam designed to simulate the national RHIA exam and is based on the HIM Baccalaureate Degree Entry-Level Competencies as outlined in the Professional Review Guide (PRG). There are specific guidelines in the Mock Exam tab; however, students may must take it at least once before the course ends and achieve a score of 70% or greater to earn up to a total 300 points.

If a student does not take it, or earn at least 70%, a zero is entered in the student's gradebook.

For the most current testing information, see AHIMA's Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information Management.

Referenced Textbooks (optional only):

As a Health Information Management student at DeVry, you may own the following textbooks and if you do not, there is no need to purchase them. Suggested readings/reviews are assigned out of these books throughout the course to help you prepare for the national RHIA certification examination, however they are only optional.

Abdelhak, M, et. al.  (2012). Health information: management of a strategic resource. third edition, Elsevier.

American Health Information Management Association (2005). Health Information Management and Technology Pocket Glossary (2005). Chicago, IL: American Health Information Management Association

American Medical Association (Current Edition). Current Procedural Terminology. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association

American Medical Association (Current Edition). Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association

Baker, J.J., & Baker, R.W. (2011). Health care finance. basic tools for nonfinacial managers. third edition.  Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Beaver, Kevin & Herold, Rebecca. (2004). The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance. Auerbach Publications. ISBN: 978-0-84931-953-2

Cengage Learning (Current Edition).  Ingenix ICD-9-CM Professional for Hospitals, Volumes 1, 2 & 3.

Elliott, Chris & Shaw, Patricia et al. (2007). Quality and Performance Improvement in Healthcare: A Tool for Programmed Learning. Chicago, IL: American Health Information Management Association

Johns, Merida L. (2002). Information Management for Health Professions. Second Edition. Delmar Learning.

Judson, K. (2005). Law & Ethics for Medical Careers.McGraw Hill.

Kuehn, L. and Wieland, L. (2003 - or latest edition) CPT /HCPCS Coding and Reimbursement for Physician Services. Chicago, IL: American Health Information Management Association

LaTour, K.M., & Eichenwald-Maki, S. (2010). Health information management. concepts,  principles, and practice. third edition. Chicago, IL: American Health Information  Management Association

Prophet, S. (2002 - or latest edition). Health Information Management Compliance: A Model Program for Healthcare Organizations. Chicago, IL: American Health Information Management Association

Schraffenberger, Lou Ann & Kuehn, Lynn. (2007). Effective Management of Coding Services: The Clinical Coding Manager's Handbook. Chicago, IL: American Health Information Association

Smith, G.I. (Current Edition). Basic CPT/HCPCS Coding. Chicago, IL: American Health Information Management Association

Zeisset, A. and Bowman, S. (2010). Guide of ICD-1-CM and ICD-10-PCS.  Chicago, IL: American Health Information Management Association