What is Medical Records and Health Information Management?
Whenever we envisage about Medical profession, we only speculate doctors and nurses but we often forget about the paramedics who are responsible for the efficient and smooth functioning of a hospital. Here, we will discuss one such course which is at par excellence in maintaining patient care and quality standards in hospitals and that is Medical Records. Medical records/health records/health information systems are terms that are used interchangeably to define data of an individual patient which includes patients’ demographics, medical history, and records of all the reports of treatment during his/her stay in a hospital. The Healthcare industry has evolved drastically over the years; to ensure quality standards, the commencement of medical records also took place. With the rapid advancement of technology, the demand for medical records technicians has also increased. They take care of all the work of extremity.
What are the roles of medical records technicians?
Some of the important roles of health records technician are being given here.
- One of the important roles of a medical record technician is to manage and handle patient data, which includes registration, filing, assembling, indexing, and coding of files efficiently to maintain transparency in inpatient care by keeping a record of the ongoing treatment and patient service.
- This a great job for those who tend to be a part of the medical fraternity by contributing their immense knowledge of medical coding and management of files.
Eligibility criteria for medical records
To pursue medical records, one must have completed 10+2 education with physics, chemistry, biology/maths as their main subjects. Students can get enrolled in the diploma as well as bachelors’ course.
Courses for medical records
- Diploma in medical records – It takes two years to complete the diploma in medical records.
- Bachelors in medical records – It can take three to four years to complete a bachelor’s depending on the college. Some colleges include an internship in their final year which takes four complete years to be a graduate in medical records.
- Masters in medical records – One can opt master’s in hospital administration or MBA in healthcare/hospital/public management for post-graduation. There are varied options available for a master’s after graduation in medical records.
- Ph.D. – Those who aspire to continue their education can opt for Ph.D. after completion of masters. Ph.D. can be done in particular subjects like hospital statistics, hospital administration, etc.
Core subjects of medical records
- Medical Records Science – To get a better insight into medical records, one has to dive deep into the roots of this subject. Medical record science is a subject that is comprised of the history and making of health records that includes varied filing and numbering methods for health records, microfilming in medical records, statistical classification, medical audit, etc.
- International Classification of Diseases and Procedures – It is a comprehensive subject for medical coders as this lays the foundation of medical coding. To be a medical coder, one should have great knowledge and skills to do medical coding as the codes of any specific disease or procedure are issued by the world health organization which remains the same all over the world.
- Medical Terminology – Every profession has its jargon, which means specialized words which can be understood by the people of the same profession. The medical profession also has its language composed of medical terms.
- Hospital Statistics – To prepare patients’ data on an enormous scale, one must know statistics. The implication of statistics in hospitals is important for calculating census of death rates, birth rates, autopsy rates, etc., for a given period.
- Legal Aspects of Healthcare – For the better functioning of an organization, some law pursuits need to be followed by the employees working in the organization. Legal aspects in healthcare deal with such laws and certain duties medical professionals abide to follow.
- Health Management Information System – There are numerous modules in hospitals such as registration desk, radiology, pharmacy, billing counter, laboratory, and many more, that manage the functioning of that particular department. Medical record technicians must know all the modules because ultimately these modules have an interconnected network of records.
Salary of Medical Records and Health Information Technicians
There is no dearth of jobs for the deserving candidate in the field of health records and information systems. If one has the instinct of assembling, indexing, and coding files, there are huge hospital chains wherein one can be accommodated easily. The average annual salary of a medical records technician is about $ 40, 000. However, with experience and expertise, one can get placement in a better environment along with a handsome package.
Jobs scope in medical records
Top institutions for medical records in the USA
- Mira Costa College, USA
- Loyalist College Toronto, Canada
- Stratford University, USA
- Kaplan University, USA
- Butler Community College, USA
- Open Training and Education Network, Australia
- Delaware County Community College, USA
- Cape Fear Community College, USA
- University of Phoenix, USA
- Louisiana Tech University, USA
Top institutions for medical records in India
- Christian Medical College, Vellore
- SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre
- Jamia Hamdard (Deemed to be University), New Delhi
- Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi Institute Of Medical Sciences & Research ( MAIMSR), Kanchipuram
- Indian Institute Of Technology ( IIT BHU), Varanasi
