Life as a Student

As you think about becoming a UIC online Health Informatics student, it may be helpful to know what a “week in the life of a UIC student”  looks like. Below is a series of journal entries from a student during a typical week in the online Health Informatics and Health Information Management program.

Sunday

I love Sundays. It’s my day to catch up on small things around the house and relax.  The kids and I took the dog to the park so he could run around a bit.  He jumped into the lake again today, chasing after the ducks and now the back seat of my car is soaked! Arggh!

While the girls were having their bath, I was able to get on the computer and read through the rest of last week’s class discussions. I also finished the Minute Paper that was due for my Health Care Information Systems class; the professor was right, it really took only a minute or two to finish.  After putting the girls to bed, I spent a couple hours reading Chapter 3 of our textbook.

I’m headed to bed because I have a long work day tomorrow.

Monday

I was expecting a rough day at work today but it turned out to be okay.  Monday is normally a busy day in the office, but for some reason, most of our patients were pretty easy on us.  I wish everyday as a nurse would be a breeze like this. ::fingers crossed::

I was so excited to try this new chicken recipe since I had some energy when I got home.  Can you believe the girls actually liked it? Hmmm. I was sure to make enough for leftovers tomorrow.

Now that everyone’s in bed, I can get on my laptop to start the research for my part of the group case study assignment due on Thursday. It focuses on how information technology is utilized in the delivery of patient care in the ambulatory environment. I was a bit confused about the question so I emailed my instructor for some clarification. He happened to be online at the time, so I shared his response with my 4 teammates on this case assignment.

Tuesday

Today was a VERY difficult day.  We received word that one of our long-time patients has passed away.  Maggie was one of the sweetest ladies you could ever meet.  She always brought us sugar-free cookies when she came in for her appointments.  This is the part of the job that I don’t care for.  It’s like losing a member of the family.  I mean, I literally watched her children grow up and I can only imagine what they are feeling right now.

It was pretty somber in the office today, but we have to push on.  I should probably send flowers to the family. I hugged and kissed the girls EXTRA hard tonight.

I was up for several hours writing an analysis of the case study assignment. Our case study question was on the utilization of RHIOs and the implementation of web portals for clinicians at Grace Memorial Hospital.  I have some experience with this since our office has started to use these tools. Last night, I was able to find quite a few articles and recent publications focused on this subject, so I feel good about my analysis of their implementation.

Wednesday

Well, it was another tough day at work.  Everyone is still feeling the effects of Maggie’s death.  We were pretty busy with some of our “more interesting” patients today.  If there was any patient that could lighten the mood in the office, it’s Frank.  Frank is from New York and has the funniest stories ever!  He absolutely cracks me up!

Dan (my husband) and the girls went bike riding through the neighborhood while I cooked dinner.

After dinner, I sat for a couple hours to finish editing my analysis of the Grace Memorial case study.  After proofing and editing it, I emailed it to my team’s discussion leader who will post our collective response on the discussion forum by the deadline. I’ll be interested to see how my peers comment on it.   After the girls went to bed, I curled up on the couch to page through a few magazines for some light reading.

Thursday

It was hectic in the office. We were booked solid all day.  I’m having a hard time remembering what happened.  It was an endless stream of patients for the whole day. Whoa!

The doc ordered lunch for us, so that was a nice surprise. I have no energy tonight.

Our case study analysis was due today, so I hopped online to make sure my group’s analysis was posted on time. I noticed that a couple of the other groups had already posted their case study responses, so I went in to read a few of them.  Some of them had very strong analyses with solid sources to support their thoughts. I’m pretty impressed. I posted my thoughts on each of them, as I supported some and disputed others. Reading through the case study analyses was a lot quicker than writing one; each one made me think about other aspects of the web portal implementation. This type of dialogue makes for very good discussion.

Friday

TGIF! And it couldn’t come at a better time….what a week, but we survived.  We don’t typically schedule many appointments on Fridays.  That’s our day to catch up and close out the week’s work.

I talked to the doctor and the office manager about my studies in the Health Informatics program.  It’s been pretty interesting to share what I’ve learned in the program with them.  They are really starting to see the importance of a well-integrated EHR and CPOE system.  As I’ve gone through the program, I’m starting to see that my future is in consulting small physician offices on systems integrations.

We went out for dinner with the kids, which is always fun. After coming home, we played a few games of cards and talked about school with the kids.  My husband supervised the bedtime rituals while I logged in to participate in the Unit 3 debate.  I read some of the comments on my analysis.  I did pretty well.  Good feedback from the instructor and my peers. There were a couple challenges to my thoughts on RHIOs and the need for government mandates.  There are a few in our class who feel strongly that government intervention would hinder the development of RHIOs rather than help it. I can see both sides of the argument, even though I don’t agree…..

Saturday

I woke up early this morning, feeling refreshed.  So I decided to read a few chapters of the Unit 4 to prepare myself for next week’s assignments. You really have to remain disciplined if you want to stay on track in this program.  It gets hectic sometimes, but I’m doing it.

I made breakfast for the family and now the rest of the day belongs to me.   No more reading or writing today……