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College of St. Scholastica students learn about health information management at SISU

(Duluth, MN) - Real world scenarios in rural health information technology were the focus of a presentation to Health Information Management students and faculty visiting SISU this week.

Students from the senior class of the Health Information Management program at the College of St. Scholastica spent part of Wednesday learning about the information technology needs of rural healthcare organizations. Students are preparing for their senior internships, which will start later this semester.

Understanding how HIT works across various different settings and departments, learning about job opportunities in the healthcare informatics field, and understanding the technology required to support the applications used in hospital and clinic settings were some of the topics discussed.

"We talk about technology while in the classroom, but it's important to experience it hands on," explained Department of Healthcare Informatics and Information Management Assistant Professor Janelle Wapola, MA, RHIA. Wapola and other faculty members use real-life scenarios for the students to see how they can play a role in a healthcare organization's information management.

Mark Schmidt, CIO, SISU Medical Systems, discussed the role that SISU plays in supporting rural healthcare organizations in the state of Minnesota. "We are essentially an extension of our members' IT departments," Schmidt explained, "but we do support non-rural facilities as well. SISU support ranges from PC support to facilitating workshops, troubleshooting the systems, and providing disaster recovery solutions."

Among other topics discussed with the students were state and federal HIT mandates, such as the 2011 e-Prescribing Mandate and the 2015 Interoperability Mandate in Minnesota.

Senior Rachel Nistler, who is majoring in HIM and minoring in Computer Information Systems at CSS, was among the students visiting SISU. "In class we are learning about personal health records and electronic health records...and the mandates for 2015," Nistler said. "It was good to be able to put all that information together today." Nistler said she has a personal interest in rural healthcare settings.

The students' visit to SISU was meant to expose them to the professional world of information technology and management and to learn about future career paths. Students agreed that by learning about SISU and the services and support SISU offers, they recognized that other opportunities exist in addition to the traditional hospital setting.

Posted February 12, 2010.