Education - Blue Print for Component Engagement

AHDI Goal
To assist in the transition of the MT workforce to evolving roles through high standards of education and professional credentialing.

Rationale
An academically prepared, skilled workforce supports the transition to and maintenance of credentialed status as well as providing a foundation of skills for placement in evolving healthcare documentation worker roles.

Component Engagement Objective
The goal of this blueprint is to provide components with a comprehensive, but manageable, strategy for executing the association’s goals to provide continuing education, promote medical transcription education program approval, provide a connection for local students, and encourage involvement in education at association conventions and in regional activities. This would involve components serving as resource organizations that actively facilitate healthcare documentation education at the local level.

A component actively engaged in promoting healthcare documentation education will:

1. Develop strategies for offering educational opportunities to the following stakeholder groups

   • Students
   • Displaced workers (to encourage/facilitate re-tooling/re-training)
   • Noncredentialed workforce
   • Credentialed workforce
   • Local healthcare documentation employers
   • Local and on-line schools
   • General public
   Activities and Tools
   1. Identify members of the local student MT community and establish communication with them.
   2. Identify individuals in the local community who have been displaced and establish communication with them.
   3. Identify local MTs who are not credentialed and establish communications with them.
   4. Identify local credentialed MTs and establish communications with them.
   5. Identify schools that may be either local or with whom component members have contacts, and establish a network of schools for support and mentoring.
   6. Reach out to the local public to explain the role of medical transcription in healthcare documentation and patient safety.
   Resources:
   • New Professionals Alliance - Reach stakeholder: students, job seekers
   • About MT Education Program Approval - Reach stakeholder group: Not-yet approved schools
   • Information about AHDI and medical transcription: Where We Stand; Healthcare and the Electronic IT Revolution; Press Releases - Reach stakeholder group: the local public

    

2. Provide and promote educational programs to enhance the training of future practitioners in the evolving roles of healthcare documentation.

   • Support best practices in medical transcription education
   • Encourage and support universal credentialing of medical transcription program instructors
   • Promote participation of schools in the AHDI MT Education Program Approval process
   • Engage students in educational activities through the New Professionals Alliance
   • Support students in job searching and employment-readiness
   • Engage educators in educational activities through the Educators Alliance
   Activities and Tools
   1. Develop a schools information resource both for use of potential students and for outreach to schools to encourage upgrading of programs and/or application for AHDI approval.
   2. Promote to MT program instructors the advantages of credentialing for themselves and their students.
   3. Mentor a school through the MT Education Program approval process.
   4. Develop resources for students such as book exchanges.
   5. Work with local employers and members’ employer networks to develop extern, intern, and apprentice-type programs for new graduates.
   6. Facilitate connections between local schools and employers.
   7. Connect with technology vendors to boost awareness of new developments affecting transcription practice.
   8. Promote awareness of entry-level positions for new graduates.
   9. Develop webinars based on topics of interest to the students (e.g. topics discussed in the New Professionals Alliance).
   10. Develop webinars addressing topics of interest to educators, e.g. evolving technologies in medical transcription practice.
   Resources:
   • Schools information resource: Choosing an MT school; The Model Curriculum; Approved Schools list - Provide information about schools for student use and for outreach to schools to encourage upgrading of programs/program approval
   • Case for credentialing and credentialing guide for instructors; Steps to Credentialing Webinar - Promote certification of MT instructors
   • About Education Approval - Mentor a school through the MT Education Program Approval Process

    

3. Provide continuing education opportunities for workforce development and continuing education credits.

   • Reach out to working MTs and displaced MTs with educational tools for career development (including credentialing) and alternative career paths
   • Provide advanced educational opportunities for credentialed individuals seeking to maintain credentialing
   Activities and Tools
   1. Develop job-search and career-development support groups, providing assistance with resume writing and skills training.
   2. Publicize and encourage participation in relevant webinars and meetings offered through AHDI.
   3. Establish a working group within the component to deal specifically with workplace changes occurring locally.
   4. Present credit-worthy material at component meetings.
   5. Develop and present hands-on transcription/editing study groups.
   6. Develop user groups for the Book of Style and BenchMark KB.
   Resources:
   • For job search and career development support groups: Career Connection; Enhance Your Career; Continuing Education through Online Courses - Developing support groups including resume-writing and skills training
   • Credit-worthy meeting presentations:  Recredentialing Resource Guide - Presenting CEC-level material at component meetings
   • Study groups through local components for RMT and CMT certification

    

4. Promote involvement in educational programs at regional meetings and association conventions.
   • Assist component members with travel expenses and registration fees for regional and national meetings and conventions.
   • Reach out to the various stakeholder groups with information about meetings and conventions.
   Activities and Tools
   1. Develop fundraising strategies and savings plans to assist component members to attend meetings and conventions.
   2. Raise awareness among component members and other stakeholders in the community about meetings and conventions.
   Resources:
   • Schedule of events and meetings: Annual Convention & Exposition (ACE); Event Calendar - Raise member and community awareness of meetings and conventions

Oversight and Management
Execution of these key strategies would be managed by a single education contact or other named lead liaison at each component level working under the oversight and management of AHDI’s Professional Programs staff.

• Initial training and orientation to be provided by AHDI director and staff.
• Resources and tool kits, including handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and talking points for component customization and execution of key touch points outlined above will be provided by AHDI staff in consultation with components.
• Ongoing webinar training and update sessions will be held with AHDI director and staff to coordinate education goals across all organizational levels.

Development of Resources
Resources, including guidelines, policies, supportive documentation, strategy and tactical approaches can be wrapped into education resource kits on an ongoing basis.

Affiliate Agreement
It is the recommendation of this committee that components seeking to affiliate with AHDI should be required to agree and attest to the following:

Agree to support the association’s goals for education by executing measurable strategies to (a) reach above-mentioned stakeholder groups and (b) serve as a resource to those groups for workforce education and continuing education.