HIIM Personal Statement

Everyone’s exposure to health care is different. Mine began when I was born with chronic tonsillitis and spent eight years in and out of doctor’s offices, clinics, and surgeries. When I was in high school it was discovered that I was developing a form of blindness due to stress levels and not having coping mechanisms. Through this I was able to meet with specialists, research groups, therapists, etc. This constant exposure to all sorts of health care facilities and workers has driven me to become a part of the health care world, one way or another. One of the things that helped continue this was being able to assist my family in the end of life care of my grandfather through at-home hospice. At that point I decided that I wanted to become a …show more content…
Growing up in a rural area, access to technologies as well as the training was certainly lacking. I began to research what could be done to correct this shortcoming. Through talking to RNs and professors I found HIIM. Health Informatics and Information Management is the go-between for IT and those that will eventually use the programs that they create. HIIM is the field that would allow me to help fix this major problem that I was seeing every day at my clinical sites. From my experience in multiple health care settings, a lot of problems stem from miscommunications between IT and everyone else. I would often hear nurses complaining about not being able to navigate their EHR in order to find the chart they needed. There would be times that schedules were not properly put into the system and OTs were unsure where they patients currently were. As a patient I have witnessed countless times where doctors became frustrated because they could find the right diagnosis code or that their systems were constantly …show more content…
Streamline is a customizable EHR vendor based in Kalamazoo. Last semester I was lucky enough to be chosen for a special project. This semester I landed an internship working on creating training modules. Being able to get hands-on experience in the field has helped reinforce my belief that I am on the right path. Considering that I am graduating from Western at the end of this semester, this reassurance is much needed. As this is the end of my college career (as far as I know), it is bitter sweet. I feel both prepared and terrified to be out in the real world. My plan is to move to Albany, NY and pursue one of three jobs; data analyst, account manager, or customer support specialist. What will determine which I go after, relies on the type of facility I apply to. However, I am well trained to enter any of these