BS in Health Informatics and Information Management

The goal of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Allied Health Science (CAHS) is to prepare students for the practice of the professions of cytotechnology, dental hygiene, health information management, medical technology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. This includes undergraduate education and graduate education, where applicable. Modern allied health education requires that the accumulation of scientific knowledge be accompanied by the simultaneous acquisition of essential skills, functions and professional attitudes and behaviors. The faculty of the College of Allied Health Sciences have a responsibility to graduate the best possible practitioners and graduate students; therefore, admission to educational programs in the College is offered only to those who present the highest qualifications for education and training in the art and science of the respective allied health professions.

Applicants to programs of the College must possess the following general qualities: critical thinking, sound judgment, emotional stability and maturity, empathy, physical and mental stamina, and the ability to learn and function in a wide variety of didactic and clinical settings. Graduates of the College must have the minimal skills, essential functions and knowledge to function in a broad variety of clinical settings, while rendering a wide spectrum of healthcare services.

The faculty of the CAHS have a responsibility for the welfare of the patients treated or otherwise affected by students enrolled in the College as well as for the educational welfare of its students relative to the educational programs of the College. In order to fulfill this responsibility, the Committees on Admissions for the various professional programs of the College maintain that certain minimal technical standards must be present in applicants to the various educational programs of the College. Candidates for the bachelor of science degree, as well as those enrolled in any graduate education programs of the College, must have the following essentials: motor skills; sensory/observational skills; communication skills; intellectual, conceptual, integrative, and quantitative abilities; and behavioral/social skills and professionalism. The Committees on Admissions, in accordance with Section 504 of the 1973 Vocational Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (PL101-336), have established the aforementioned essential functions of students in the educational program offered by the CAHS.

These Committees on Admissions will consider for admission applicants who demonstrate the ability to perform, or to learn to perform, the essential skills listed in this document. The College must ensure that patients are not placed in jeopardy by students with impaired intellectual, physical or emotional functions. Students will be judged not only on their scholastic accomplishments, but also on their physical and emotional capacities to meet the full requirements of the College’s curricula and to graduate as skilled and effective practitioners.

The essential abilities listed in this document can be accomplished through direct student response, the use of prosthetic or orthotic devices, or through personal assistance, e.g., readers, signers, note-takers. The responsibility for the purchase of prosthetic or orthotic devices serving a student in meeting the abilities noted remains with the student and/or agency supporting the student. The College will assist with this accomplishment, as required by law and institutional policy.

Upon admission, a student who discloses a properly certified disability will receive reasonable accommodation but must be able to perform the essential functions of the curriculum and meet the standards described herein for the program in which the student is enrolled. Possible accommodations include opportunities for individual and group counseling, peer counseling, linkages with community services, faculty advisory committees whose members are aware of disabled students and their needs, career counseling, assistance with job searches and interview skills, and extended test taking time, if and when appropriate. Students seeking accommodations should initiate their request in the Office of the Dean, CAHS.

In addition to the general standards described above, each professional program requires additional specific standards as follows:

ADDITIONAL SPECIFIC TECHNICAL STANDARDS FOR
HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

Empathy, integrity, interpersonal skills, interests, and motivation are all personal qualities necessary to function in the health information management field in working with other health professionals and supervising employees. Candidates must possess the emotional well-being required for the full use of their intellectual abilities; the exercise of sound judgment; and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with their peers, supervisors, subordinates as well as the medical staff and other users of health information management department services. Candidates must be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility, and to manage under stress.

Students in the health information management program must have the following minimum abilities:

• Ability to read, comprehend, and discuss information from reading.
• Ability to speak and communicate clearly using proper English grammar.
• Ability to write and communicate clearly through writing using proper English grammar.
• Ability to acquire and apply information from classroom instruction, lectures, laboratory experience, independent learning and team projects.
• Ability to communicate effectively in English in oral and written form with colleagues, clerical employees in health information management departments and other health professionals as part of the health care team.
• Ability to communicate effectively in English in oral and written form with patients, attorneys, and other individuals and agencies who need information from patient records or information systems maintained in health information departments.
• Ability to use typing and keyboarding skills to utilize computers and complete computer-based assignments and to acquire competence and knowledge of a variety of computer software programs.
• Ability to function (consult, negotiate, share) as part of a team.
• Ability to read materials used in HIM settings such as coding manuals, policies and procedures, patient medical records, aggregate patient information from many sources.
• Ability to calculate mathematical information such as healthcare statistics, budgets, and productivity information.
• Manual dexterity necessary to file medical records and cards as well as assemble paper medical record forms.
• Visual ability and manual dexterity necessary to prepare office layouts and to design forms and computer screens and analyze data on-line.
• Ability to operate equipment, such as, transcription equipment, electronic movable files, copiers, scanners, etc.
• Ability to use presentation equipment such as overhead projectors, projection panels, etc. for presentations.
• Ability to synthesize information regarding health care outcomes for formal, verbal and/or written presentation to health care professionals.

Effective July 1995
Reviewed July 2002

Link to Bachelor of Science in HIIM