If you're numerically driven, analytically minded and eager to make a contribution to health care, the Health Information Management Program may be the ideal career choice for you.
This career combines aspects of health, computer science, business and research in a unique records and information management program.
New graduates typically begin their careers as "coders", assigning an international code to every procedure performed and illness treated in a hospital or other health care facility. Others specialize in managing access to and disclosure of information requests.
The Canadian Health Information Management Association, CHIMA, awards a certificate-level designation of CHIM to graduates who successfully challenge the national certification examination.
Health Information Management professionals are expanding their role in the health care industry, the private sector and in government agencies. Once traditionally found in hospitals, their skills are in demand across a variety of sectors.
Health Information Management graduates typically work in:
career agencies
mental health
clinical registries: perinatal, trauma, organ transplant, bone marrow/leukemia
hospital departments: health records, admitting, quality management, research and statistics, information systems, utilization management, risk management
government agencies
educational institutions
community health clinics
legal offices
insurance and pharmaceutical companies
long term care facilities
Maureen Mol, Health Information Management graduate, describes her work at Vernon Jubilee Hospital: "I get the emergency room records and record information such as triage, physician and nursing time, what procedures were performed, what other health care providers were involved and why the patient came to the emergency room in the first place. All of the data helps provide information on waiting times in the ER, and may eventually affect health care policy."
