Is that all there is?
Yes, I’m still studying for my Computers in Healthcare final, so nothing exciting (or dire) to report there--but I have been cogitating about the course in general and I’m curious to know if others have had the same, better, or worse experiences with this standard prerequisite for most healthcare courses. There are a couple alternate "schools" I had considered and I guess I'm just curious to know if anyone had a better experience in theirs. I do recall my son grousing about having to take a basic computer course to begin his degree (in digital media, at a school dedicated to computer brainiacs!), so perhaps this is just a cross we all must bear.
In a long preamble to the actual course, AHIMA informs us that since the class is taken by students in more than one course, “some” of the online coursework will be inaccessible to students in the cancer registry course and “some” of the test questions will pertain to these areas. Never fear, however--it won’t be many and it should still be quite easy to pass anyway. Mkay, that sounds a little odd, but I’m a sucker for a good reassurance, so plowed ahead.
In actuality, however, MANY of the sections had nothing whatsoever to do with the cancer registry side of the coin and HUGE numbers of questions pertained to this hidden wealth of knowledge. The coding students are apparently required to become members of AHIMA and thus, have access to the message boards and library that many of the lessons came from. Granted, in the final portion of the course pertaining to HIPAA and information security, many of these articles were reprinted so the rest of us had access, but in assessing the entire course I would say that almost three-fourths actually was irrelevant to cancer registry. Yes, it’s interesting to see how coding software works and no, I had no idea there were virtual shelves of dusty literature stockpiled in the AHIMA vaults, but really, what does all that have to do with the rest of us? And what the heck? The first module (one-fourth of the class) was spent getting us familiar with the message boards and online course format and how to navigate and post. That’s something that should be given as a free FAQ for anyone considering enrolling, not fleshing out a skimpy course! The way the online courses are presented, I know darned well most people probably have already taken the anatomy course and are also surprised that this information was not available beforehand.
I would humbly suggest that this course would better serve us--remembering that we’ve paid a hefty sum and want our money’s worth--by offering separate versions of the class to mesh with the specific courses of study it’s being required for. Utilize the modules with the word processing and database introductions and (yawn) security for everyone, but substitute more appropriate modules for the rest. It would be a lot more useful to know what software looks like for tumor registrars (yes, I know it’s probably similar--but not specific) and something else for the behind-the-scenes mumbo jumbo. Why not require us to become members of NCRA and walk us by the hand behind the scenes there to give us a leg up on mentors and resources? And fer cryin’ out loud. . . test us on things we really need to know. Half that stuff was from lessons I was instructed to skip over because they weren’t pertinent to my course of study and I simply had to guess at the answers. That just grates against my overdeveloped sense of what’s fair.
I dunno. It was just. . . lightweight. I suspect the course is also a prerequisite for other HIM courses and those students are even more bummed at what they need to learn. It would be far more valuable to have lessons more in depth about working with data in ways that we may actually encounter on the job. Biggest shock of all, perhaps, was that the actual hands-on part of the class involved Office 2003! That's amazingly outdated, as software goes. . .
Maybe I wouldn’t be such a whiner if the course was priced half as much as the others or if I hadn’t gone nuts last week researching software to better do my exercises (which actually proved totally unnecessary as they never went back to them!) *sigh* Well, I’ll just do my best to blow through the final and get back into the fun stuff.
As for my exercise in geekhood last week (LOL--as I know probably two people care), I did indeed install Leopard and with the new OS, Bento. I don’t see the latter as being quite powerful enough for serious database use in the big business world of brown-shoed squares (their FileMaker Pro is made for that), but WOW--it’s a blast! It takes those boring old tables of information and slaps a ton of Mac-style eye candy over it. My address book and calendar never looked so appealing and I’m going to be in danger of ruining my reputation as the black sheep of the family who can never manage a birthday card on time. I must have Virgo looming around my sign because I’m suddenly fantasizing about what I can catalogue next--recipes? books? movies? music? maybe a household inventory, complete with photos, or perhaps I'll finally organize and unload my stack of unused text and reference books I keep threatening to eBay!
Happily, though this computer course was not centered around the platform or applications I prefer, I can say that I am taking away some new knowledge that I’ll be able to apply everywhere. I just wish there was more of it.