Spohn to present at CAHIIM Fall Festival
September 26, 2022
Dr. Renae Spohn will be speaking at the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) Online Fall Festival 2022 Summit on Higher Education September 28-29.
Spohn, DSU Director of Health Information Management (HIM) programs and coordinator for the Master of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management program, will be sharing her experience utilizing escape rooms for Health Information Management students for assessment, soft skills reinforcement, and recruitment. She will be paired with Lisa Delhomme, program director for University of Louisiana Lafayette.
“I use escape rooms primarily for recruiting students,” Spohn said. It provides an interactive activity for prospective students to understand what health information management is and what types of duties those in the profession complete. Participation teaches prospective students about patient electronic health records, coding diagnosis and procedures for billing, reimbursement and research, analyzing data for healthcare administrative reporting, and secondary use of electronic health record data for state and national disease reporting. The escape rooms can also be an assessment to determine how students are progressing in the classroom.
Spohn utilizes PowerPoint for the escape room and gives students 10-20 minutes to solve the challenge. She has created multiple versions based on her target audience. She uses the escape room challenge to explain Health Information Management to high school students during Scrubs Camps, events for high school students held across the state to explore careers in health.
“I’ve got different versions based on who the target audience is,” Spohn said. “I’ve got a shorter, simplified version that can be used for middle school students.”
By presenting at the conference, Spohn hopes to help other schools’ HIM directors and faculty in developing ideas for recruitment and for increasing student engagement within the classroom.