Sanitarium

The American Health Information Management Association is a professional non-profit organization for medical record management. Traditionally working out of hospitals and to referring paper files, the field presently refers to all healthcare systems and types of media. AHIMA’s mission is as stated: “to be the pre-eminent foundation recognized for excellence in health information leadership, policy and research for the healthcare industry and the public.” The foundation formulates and issues opinions, supports education, conducts research, and compiles its contributions into a single Body of Knowledge (BoK).
AHIMA can be traced back to its origin in 1928 when the American College of Surgeons established the Association of Record Librarians of North America (ARLNA). ARLNA’s purpose was to “elevate the standards of clinical records in hospitals and other medical institutions.” In its 82 year history, AHIMA has undergone three name changes; from its original name of ARLNA, it became the American Association of Medical Record Librarians (AAMRL) in 1938; then in 1970 the name was changed to the American Medical Record Associations (AMRA); then finally in 1991, it was given its current name of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). The name changes were justified with an explanation that reflected the progression of contemporary medical record use, practices, and perceptions.
As of 2010, the association has more than 59,000 members in four membership classifications. Each member subsequently belongs to relevant state chapter. The association offers seven credentials pertaining to four areas of practice; HIM, Coding, Data Analysis and Privacy. Two credentials require formal education; the others are acquired by a combination of testing and work experience. AHIMA requires members obtain regular continuing education to maintain their credentials. The Journal of AHIMA has a circulation of 59,000 and publishes both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed articles. The Association’s membership is overwhelmingly female.

The Vision, Mission, and Values of the American Health Information Management Association

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the US State Department of Labor. The agency is headed by a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor. OSHA was created by congress under the Occupational Safety and Health Act signed by President Nixon in 1970.
The mission of OSHA is to help prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and occupational fatalities by issuing and enforcing health and safety standards in the workplace. OSHA’s federal regulations cover most private sector workplaces. Therefore the OSH Act allows for states to develop their own plans to cover the public employment sector, as long as it provides equivalent protection to that provided by the federal government to the private sector. In return, the federal government pays 20% of the cost for states that have had their plans approved by OSHA.
OSHA’s most notable regulation changes in the last 40 years include:
•Guards on all moving parts (1970)
•Permissible exposure limits (based on standards from 1968): maximum concentrations of chemicals stipulated by regulation for chemicals and dusts
•Personal protective equipment: broader use of respirators, gloves, coveralls, and other protective equipment when handling hazardous chemicals; including goggles, face shields, ear protection in typical industrial environments
•Lockout/tagout (1980s): requirement for locking out energy sources when performing repairs or maintenance
•Confined space (1990s): specific requirements for air sampling and use of “buddy system” when working in small, confined spaces
•Hazard Communication (1983): aka “Right to Know” standard which requires developing and communicating information on the hazards of chemical products used in the workplace
•Process Safety Management (1992): issued as an attempt to reduce large scale industrial accidents. In this situation, process refers to any activity that is in reference to dealing with highly hazardous chemicals in the workplace
•Bloodborne pathogens (1990): a standard designed to prevent healthcare/ other workers from being exposed to bloodborne pathogens, i.e. hepatitis B and HIV
•Excavations and trenches: OSHA requires that any trench or excavations wherein workers are more than five feet deep must be provided with safeguards in addition to proper sloping and storage of excavated material to prevent collapses/cave-ins
•Exposure to asbestos

From the days of my youth, till now, MCC is my Masjid. I am a product of the MCC Sunday School; the information I learned at this institution has stuck with me over the last 14 years. The importance of this school for me went beyond just learning Islamic history or how to read Arabic; it gave me an environment to pray, relax, and have fun with people who had the same beliefs and values that I had. As a student in the American public school system, it was important that I had somewhere to feel truly like a Muslim; an environment such as that is especially important for younger children. The Masjid truly became a sanctuary for me; It gave me a feeling of satisfaction and happiness that I did not find elsewhere. There are very few things in this world that truly gives security to a man’s heart, to me it is MCC.

Growing up over the last few years, I have noticed that the younger generations know less about Islam or choose to ignore what they know and be more ‘American’. As a college student I know what temptations lie out there and how difficult it can be to fight those temptations. The only way to ensure that one remains on the correct path is by looking to Allah for refuge and guidance. I would love to be given a chance to not only teach the young students vital Islamic information, but also be given a chance to share with them stories or lessons that I have learned over the last 19 years of being a Muslim in America. The current path that society is taking is exposing children as young as 10 to things that my class was not exposed to until high school; as educators in an Islamic Institution we need to recognize and refute this with lessons from Allah and the Prophet PBUH.

In essence, I believe that the things I was taught while attending MCC Sunday School has helped make me the man I am today. I want the opportunity to share with the younger generations these same lessons and insha’Allah aid them in their path to Junnah.

RIS is a computerized database used [by radiology departments] to store, manipulate and distribute patient radiological data and imagery. The main parts of the system include: patient tracking and scheduling, result reporting and image tracking capabilities. The RIS is a compliment to HIS (Hospital Information System); both are critical to the efficient workflow of a radiology practice.
RIS has several basic functions; ranging from:
•Patient management – RIS can track a patient’s entire workflow within the radiology department; images and reports can be added to and retrieved from EMRs and viewed by the authorized radiology staff.
•Scheduling - Appointments can be made for both in and out patients upon reception of the order. RIS has the ability to place patients in allocated time slots with the proper radiology staff.
•Patient tracking - A patient’s entire radiology history can be tracked (from admission to discharge). This also includes all past, present, and future appointments.
•Results reporting – Statistical reports concerning the results of a single patient, a group of patients or a particular procedure can be generated by the RIS.
•Film tracking – Individual films can be tracked.

Additional features of RIS are important because it allows for radiology departments to be in tune with several other systems being used by other healthcare institutions as well as the hospital the radiology department may be a part of. Thanks to the help of HL7, RIS is able to communicate with it’s HIS counterpart, as well as with PACS and PACS workflows.
RIS’ initial use was in the 1970s; its original purpose was to manage and store radiology information.

Practice Management Software is a genre of software used by medical practices to aid with day-day operations. The PMS software allows practices to capture patient demographics, schedule appointments, maintain lists of insurance payers, perform billing tasks, and generate reports.

Most PMS software (in the USA) is meant for small/medium sized medical offices. PMS is often times divided into desktop-only software, client-server software, or Internet-based software.
•Desktop-only software is intended for use by a handful of users sharing access.
•Client-server software requires that offices own server equipment to run the software; so that individuals users’ workstations contain client software that accesses the server. The advantage of client-server software is that it allows multiple users to share the data and the workload.
•Internet-based software is the newer breed of PMS. IB PMS decreases the need for a practice to run its own server [and having concerns over security and reliability]. The prominent security risk of IB PMS is that patient data is removed from the practice itself.

PMS and EMR are many times linked together; much of their information overlaps (patient and provider data). The major difference between PMS and EMR lies in their main purposes. While EMR is more geared towards clinical matters, PMS is more for administrative and financial matters.