Amanda felt lost untill she found HIM.…

 (Health information management)

For my Interview, I had a zoom meeting with Amanda Palacios. Mrs. Palacios is an assistant HIM’s director at Riverside Health System in Newport News. She has an Associate in General Studies and a Bachelor’s in Health and Administration. This led her to get an RHIA (registered health information administration certification) and then finally a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on management policies. Amanda said she always wanted to work in the health field. She initially decided to be a doctor but then realized the many years of school weren’t for her. She later met with the program director of Georgia Medical College and was allowed to shadow the HIM department. While shadowing the department she realized this was the right job for her. In our meeting, she used anatomy to describe the responsibility of the job. “I like to use the scenario that we’re the spine of the facility and the rib cage is all the other departments. So if we aren’t operating our department like we’re supposed to be it can lead to failures in other areas.” Her role and responsibilities are to watch over 90 employees and her department handles “operations” which is the scanning of medical records or any paper records. She also works with the compliance department where they could release medical information, which can involve attorneys. Mrs. Palacios would describe her job as “sustainable to an extent.” Yet you have to be able to change courses a lot. She does think it is essential to her job. Amanda believes that if you are not up to par it can lead to a breakdown in patient care. She says her favorite part of the job is everything but the meetings. She loves to help others get their medical records if needed and to train new people to also help others. What I take away from this meeting is there is always a place for someone in the healthcare field. Amanda Palacios always wanted to go into the healthcare field. She went through many different paths to find the right position. Once she found it she knew what she wanted and went for it. I will take her advice and not give up on a dream.

Interview zoom link: