Trista Vivian, CHIM, is one of the very few people certified in health information at Eastern Health in the Avalon Region of Newfoundland. Though she\u2019s based at Carbonear General Hospital, she\u2019s the site lead for three other hospitals in the area, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wasn\u2019t always in such a small, niche setting. Trista initially started her career as a coder in St. John\u2019s, where she was part of a team of more than 50 health information management (HIM) professionals. There, she was able to gain significant experience, including working on a data mining project and later in release of information (ROI). It was her coding background and ROI experience that was key to securing her current position: Health Records Technician IID (Health Information Services Supervisor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being part of a smaller team has been incredibly valuable for Trista. It means that she\u2019s involved in a lot of high-level project work that may not traditionally fall within the scope of HIM. \u201cWhere I am in rural Avalon, we get called on more, we\u2019re exposed to more, we\u2019re involved in more\u2014and it helps us expand knowledge of our profession,\u201d Trista shares. There\u2019s also a huge capacity to learn. When she first moved to the area, she held workshops with various stakeholders to teach them what she learned during her time working in a larger centre. And close relationships with physicians and lots of collaboration among coworkers help further continuous learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But working in a rural area definitely presents challenges, too. \u201cThe biggest challenge is that virtually nobody knows what we do,\u201d she says. \u201cOur chief of staff, Dr. Peggy Tuttle, has done a marvelous job of bringing people up to speed on what our department can offer and what our skillset is.\u201d Trista also feels that being in a small area has drawbacks in terms of being able to expand one\u2019s education base. She has done a lot of work on her own time, as there simply isn\u2019t the capacity in smaller centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Trista is excited by the new opportunities coming forward for HIM professionals\u2014such as being able to teach doctors how to improve their documentation standards\u2014she feels that the profession must be publicized more or risk being \u201cleft by the wayside.\u201d Particularly in Newfoundland, where there are no formal schools for health information, Trista emphasizes the importance of educating younger generations about the profession. \u201cPeople just don\u2019t know,\u201d she says. Current health information professionals must be willing to share knowledge and expertise, offer to preceptor for those who are interested in completing an HIM program, and constantly promote the profession to keep it moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trista Vivian, CHIM, is one of the very few people certified in health information at Eastern Health in the Avalon Region of Newfoundland. Though she\u2019s based at Carbonear General Hospital, she\u2019s the site lead for three other hospitals in the area, as well. She wasn\u2019t always in such a small, niche setting. Trista initially started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1504386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[391,356,136,378,350,144,362,137],"tags":[155,159,135],"class_list":["post-1504385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-391","category-chima","category-type","category-nl","category-partner","category-chapters","category-stories","category-year","tag-chim","tag-health-information","tag-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n