Showcase Your Research!

Are you a student who has put together a research project in your program or on your own?  Why not share this research for a chance to win prizes and promote your talents to potential employers?  At the 2017 OHIMA Annual Meeting, we will host a Student Research Poster Showcase.  This opportunity allows students to create a poster demonstrating a researched topic in HIM.  Your poster will be displayed throughout the conference.  Creating a poster can be an excellent resume builder!  Employers like employees who stay up-to-date in the field and demonstrate critical thinking skills. 
 
Students often wonder how they may find potential jobs in the field.  This is an excellent way to demonstrate your talents and network with potential employers.  Already employed?  It is still an amazing way to network and demonstrate your interest in advancing the field of HIM. 
 
At our 2016 Poster Showcase, we had posters on Disproportionate Share Hospitals, Biases in Patient Safety Indicator Score Distributions, and Validation of Cancer Readmission Predictive Models.  Allison Flaker, a student from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College displayed her poster on the root causes of duplicate medical records as well as the latest literature-suggested solutions to the problem of duplicate medical record creation.  She was the winner at the Associate level.  

Our winner at the baccalaureate level was Liam Corrigan-Carias.  His poster was titled What Does the Money Do? (The Association Between Disproportionate Share Payments and Hospital Safety, Quality, Efficiency and Financial Health).

Prizes will be awarded to the top poster at each level (associate, baccalaureate and graduate levels).  Three judges (an OHIMA Board Member, HIM Educator and HIM Professional currently in the field) review the posters and score them using a standardized rubric. 

No topic is too small or too large!  All student levels from Associate to Bachelors to Graduate Programs (as well as new graduates who have graduated in the last year-March 2016 to present) are welcome to participate.  You can complete this on your own.  It does not have to come from a project completed in your program. 
 
Think about all the emerging topics in the HIM field, they are vast!  Perhaps you want to research the potential dangers of Medical Identity Theft and how HIM may play a role.  Share statistics on the occurrences of Medical Identity Theft and potential consequences. Maybe you want to tackle Information Governance.  Interview a local facility or look at national statistics.  The topics are endless! 
 
More information is available at http://ohima.org/information/information183.html.  There are several resources to help you with submitting, poster samples and printing instructions. The deadline to sign up is February 20th so you will want to sign up as soon as possible (even if your poster is still a work in progress)!  Contact the OHIMA Central Office with any questions (ohima@ohima.org).

About the Author 

Megan Patton, RHIA is a 2nd Year Director on OHIMA's Executive Board of Directors.  She currently oversees the Information Governance Strategy and the Educators Committee.  

Megan has over 12 years of experience in the Health Information Management field which includes, small hospitals, teaching hospitals, mental health facilities, and independent consulting.  She is currently a full-time professor at University of Cincinnati's Online HIM Program.