Confessions of an HIM Student : Health Information Technology

Internship Beginnings

Travis Bankhead — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:54:00 GMT

So I've been working at my internship for 2 weeks and my schedule has been jammed to the max. I have been working in and out of the office mostly with the implementation team. I've been able to go out to three different practices for some QA issues with...(read more)

One Ending Leads to Another Beginning

Travis Bankhead — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:09:00 GMT

With class finished up one would think it would be smooth sailing all around. Unfortunately that's now how life works. I am leaving tomorrow for NY for my internship and I have yet to pack one item as of now. Albeit my fault, it still is an unfortunate...(read more)

Finishing Up the Semester

Travis Bankhead — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:51:00 GMT

Next Wednesday, we have our finance final and our finance project due and then we are officially done with our classroom curriculum. Cristin and I will also be finishing up our project next week, being that our last presentation is on Tuesday. Every presentation and meeting has gone really well, especially the one we had Thursday of this week. We met with the College Information Specialist at a local high school for about an hour and a half to discuss the major and career. Before we met with her she had never heard of the major and didn't realize that it was offered at our university. She was very interested in the information we provided her with and she gave us a lot of great feedback we can use in our paper to inform our program of how to better market to prospective students. Overall I think this project was a great success and I am really glad that we are helping to get the word out about our profession.

Only a Couple of Weeks Left

Travis Bankhead — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:29:00 GMT

It seems so hard to believe that I only have two weeks of class left before we go on spring break and all head off tour our internships. That's right, in three short weeks I will be in NY, working at an EHR company for a total of five weeks. It just seems so surreal and I can't believe that I'm actually getting to experience this great opportunity.

Other than my excitement and nervousness about my internship, I have been presenting for my project. We had three classes that we presented to and one guidance counselor meeting. I think that they all went really well and that there was interest in some of the classes. The guidance counselors also responded really well and were interested in hearing about the program because they were unaware of it, which was really surprising to me. I am really interested in seeing if all of our hard work makes an impact on anyone being interested and actually pursuing the major and profession. I guess only time will tell in this case.

Also, on an extremely positive note, we got back our finance midterms this week and I did excellent. Actually, I got an even better grade than I thought so I was really pumped about this. Well, I am off to do some homework even though it is a little late to be starting, but it must be done.

Midterm Down, Project to Go

Travis Bankhead — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:53:00 GMT

Our midterm on Wednesday in our finance class wasn't actually that bad. I went over some problems with Cristin on Tuesday during the day and then went over my notes that night. I think that I did really well on it and I am anxious to see what my grade is on Monday. Also on Tuesday, Cristin and I went and talked to Rebecca, our advisor/project facilitator, about our project and then we printed out a lot of information we are putting in the binders for guidance counselors.

We also are working on our video this week and are editing it and will be done with it by the weekend. Our handouts we are going to give out in our big lecture presentations are almost done as well and we will have to make copies of them on Monday before we go and do our first presentations. Next week we have three presentations at the university and one meeting with a guidance counselor, so we are on our way now to actually getting out there and sharing our information. I am actually really nervous to present so it should be rather interesting I suppose. Wish me luck!

Project Time

Travis Bankhead — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:56:00 GMT

This upcoming week we are having our midterm in our finance class and I am a little worried. I know that I definitely have to go over my notes and rework problems so that I am prepared. We are also still planning out our project. This past week I scheduled several visits with local high school guidance counselors so that we can meet with them and discuss our major and profession. We will start visiting with them and also presenting to classes here at the university in about two weeks. We still have some planning we need to get done and we will be busy with printing out information and preparing binders for the counselors.

We are also busy with the video which will have a little bit of filming we still need to get done, and then we have to edit it all into a cohesive piece. I'm probably the most worried about the video just because I want it to turn out well. Nothing else is really going on except just keeping up with assignments online from our electronic health record class. I still need to start looking for jobs and send out my resume in the very near future and will hopefully get that done soon.

Winter Blast

Travis Bankhead — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:25:00 GMT

Today we all woke up to freezing rain and frozen sidewalks. It was not a fun walk to class today to say the least. Thankfully we only had one class today, financial management, which I actually was on time for despite our unfortunate weather conditions. I also squeezed in a trip to the gym before heading home since I was already out in that misery. In our finance class we are going over assets, liabilities, owner's equity, revenue, and expenses. At first I was getting it, and then I was only able to get through about half of our homework that was due today. Fortunately though, he always goes over our homework with us as a class so that our professor can make sure everyone is getting the material. It really helped me today and I think I actually understand what is going on with all of the components and how they fit on the T chart. We were also supposed to have a meeting about our CE4 today, but it was cancelled due to the weather. Instead we all received an e-mail assignment in which we are supposed to write out at least five goals we wish to achieve during our externship. Also, a lot of people still need to choose where they are going so there was a list for those people and they are to list their first four choices in order. Hopefully everyone gets where they would like to go and it all works out in the end for them. I know that very thankful that I already have mine set up and don't have the stress of wondering where I will be going.

The Beginning of the End

Travis Bankhead — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:57:00 GMT

It's finally the beginning of my last semester and I am getting really excited to graduate. This semester is a lot of independent work for us so I feel that it is really preparing us for the real world when you don't have someone checking up on you every little step but rather wants your complete project. We only have one class that we have to physically attend and that is our financial management class. We've only had a couple of classes and I've heard that it's hard, but I'm hoping for the best even though we have to cram everything into 9 weeks so we can be done before we all have to work at our clinical.

Cristin and I have been planning and working on our senior project and I think it is going to come together rather nicely for us. We are planning on educating people about what HIM is and trying to attract future students for the program. We have been e-mailing professors at the university and will be contacting local high schools in order to see if we are able to reach the most possible students. So far we have had a good response rate and we hope to be adding more presentations to our schedule.

Other than that I just need to start really concentrating on researching companies and sending out my resume to them. I think I would really like to end up working where I am doing my clinical but I know that I always need to have some backup plans in the works.

Finals Crunch

Travis Bankhead — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:52:00 GMT

Well it's finally the end of the semester and I'm pretty much at my wits end. I've been having an erratic sleep pattern and pretty much going crazy, but it will all be over on Wednesday! Last week I turned in my twenty hour project and also presented it to my class. My professor gave me really good feedback and sent it on the people who are doing research on the topic, and there is a good chance that part of my research will get publish, which I'm super excited about. Last week we also presented our systems analysis group project. Our team's topic was electronic documentation so we made our proposal as if we were a consulting company in the physician setting market. I think we did rather well and our professor enjoyed the touch of creativity we added throughout our presentation.

Yesterday was our health law final and I don't think I did that well on it. I thought I did badly on the midterm too, but I ended up getting a really good grade, so I'm hoping this went the same way. Today I have our HR final and it's an essay so I should be able to do well on that. After today there's only one more and that's systems, and then freedom.

I am looking forward to the semester being over and having some time off to relax. I will be working on weekends at the mall though trying to make some extra money and probably starting my senior project with Cristin, so it won't be all relaxation.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday and I will be updating more when the new semester begins.

Time Keeps Flying By

Travis Bankhead — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:35:00 GMT

I swear that I've lost track of time because I don't even know where last week went or what even happened. All I know is that before I turned around it was gone and so was all of its precious time it contained. This week has already been slightly hectic being that we had a take home essay test delivered to us on Monday and it was due Wednesday. It wasn't too extremely bad except for the fact that my head spun completely around after reading the first question, but that is a minor detail. I've also been trying to get a little bit of work done on my 20-hour project being that the draft is due next Monday and I have a lot more work to get done so that's been in my mind this whole time too.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to try and get organized and see about setting up my 90-hour project where I did my CE1 last spring. Hopefully I will be able to be creative and get something figured out before it's too late. I'm going to go and visit there tomorrow after I have my clinical for the day which should be interesting because it's focusing on compliance and privacy and we've had our host as a guest speaker before and I really enjoyed her presentation. Other than all of this I'm just slowly losing my mind.

Focusing on My Future

Travis Bankhead — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:46:00 GMT

This week started out with my phone interview for my externship that I am applying for in the spring. It lasted about 10 or 15 minutes and was relatively casual so I'm hoping that's a good sign. There are three other classmates applying for this position and we all had very similar interviews, therefore we are hoping that we all will be asked to go.

On Wednesday Pitt had the largest job fair in its history. I believe there were more than 300 companies there to recruit upcoming graduates. Most of my classmates attended and I think that we were primarily focusing on the same companies, one specifically. I went up with one of my friends and we talked to the company we were most interested in. To our surprise we were invited to an applicant dinner that evening with other candidates. However, our joy was thwarted when we found out that several other classmates had interviews scheduled for the following day. We made the best of it, went to dinner and socialized and we are supposed to have a phone interview after a few weeks.

Other than that I've just been busy with my classes and trying to get everything organized for Saturday when my friends and I leave for Seattle for the AHIMA Convention.

Back Into the Groove

Travis Bankhead — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:49:00 GMT

Summer is over and in what seems like a blink of an eye we have all been thrusted back into classes, full force. We've only been back for 2 weeks and I am already overwhelmed. I have to start soon on my 20 hour project, write the proposal for my 90 hour project, find an internship for our clinical next semester, and still try to balance my classes with all of our homework. So far I think that my hardest classes are going to be Legal Aspects of Health Care and Systems Analysis, but I guess only time will tell how I will do.

I am also slightly nervous of graduating and being thrown into the "real world." Almost every day there is talk of sending resumes to employers and we are all on Web sites looking around at positions. In our HIM in Non-Traditional Settings class we had one of our program's alumnus come in and talk about her position at Cerner and how it was after graduation. I think that it made all of us feel a little better about the whole job search because she said that she absolutely felt prepared for her job after she graduated.

This semester, our Clinical Education 3 (CE3) is coordinated with our Non-Traditional class so we are able to see many different possibilities that will be available for us after graduation. This past Thursday I went to the UPMC Health System Information Services Division Decision Support Systems where we discussed all of the different systems they use in order to collect and analyze data. I was amazed that they are able to collect so much data for so many different facilities and they are able to have systems that coordinate with each other in order to be able to make the data to useable information. Our facilitator at this site also took time to talk to us about our job search and then she gave us some resume and interviewing tips that she felt confident in sharing with us in order to help us.

This upcoming week I believe that we are having someone from Career Services coming to our HR class in order to go over resumes and cover letters and then go over the upcoming career fairs with us.

Introduction

Travis Bankhead — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:41:00 GMT

I would like to use this first entry in order to introduce myself and let everyone get a feel of what I'm about. First, my name is Travis Bankhead and I am a HIM student at the University of Pittsburgh in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. I am currently in the summer session of classes, which is the transition between our junior and senior years. I am extremely excited to be that much closer to graduating and starting my career. Currently, I am interesting in pursuing a career either in quality management or perhaps start out as a consultant for a software firm for an EHR company. In all actuality, these are just my current preferences, and I still have my mind wide open to other possibilities.

As for me on a personal note, I am rather quirky and try to see the best of every situation. I am pretty much addicted to TV, the internet, and Starbucks coffee, which probably sounds like every other college student. With all of these distractions though and my skills in procrastination, I still manage to focus on my curriculum and look toward the future of having a prosperous career. I hope that everyone enjoys this blog and I welcome and encourage all questions and comments.

Thanks,

Travis