The Virtual Lab
I have been learning how to use the American Health Information Management Association virtual lab applications for the HIT program. The virtual lab simulates various HIM functions, such as release of information, master patient index (MPI), chart deficiencies and the encoder, which gives students exposure to the electronic health record (EHR) and computerized HIM functions.
When I started out in the HIM program years ago, everything we learned was demonstrated as a manual function. These manual functions were so tedious and often caused bottlenecks to occur. I worked my way through college by working in a hospital on the evening and weekend shift in the HIM department. One of my primary responsibilities was maintaining the manual MPI. I remember typing up the MPI cards and filing them in the huge cardex. The cardex was cumbersome and had a foot pedal that allowed you to access the other part of the alphabet. I remember cards falling behind the cardex and the foot pedal getting stuck so I could not access the other side of the cardex. When I filled in during the week for the MPI clerk, only one person could access the MPI because it was not built for multiple access. We often had traffic jams around the MPI during the busiest time of the day.
When I landed my first job, the hospital had a motorized MPI that moved all the trays containing the MPI cards. This motorized cardex had the some of the same drawbacks as the previous cardex I worked with in college, but it also had some new tricks. Once you pushed the button to retrieve a particular MPI card, for example, the trays would move so fast that it would dump some of the trays holding the MPI cards. My biggest headache occurred when the motor malfunctioned; the company had to be called in to fix the motor so we could be operational again.
I can look back at these days and just laugh about all the wacky things that occurred. I am reminded of the slogan from a television commercial back in the day: "You've come a long way, baby."