Launching new organization takes time and effort
It took Nancy Sikorski, RN, BA, nearly four months of research, telephone calls, and e-mails to bring together some of the RN clinical documentation improvement specialists in northern Illinois for a meeting.
"We are all so busy that it took a long time for everyone to connect. I had to leave telephone messages or e-mail messages to get in touch with the nurses and they had to get back in touch with me," recalls Sikorski, clinical documentation improvement specialist at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, IL.
Since that first meeting of the Northern Illinois Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists Network in April 2008, the organization has grown as more RN clinical documentation specialists learn about it and join.
Sikorski suggests that clinicians who want to set up a similar organization in their area start by compiling a list of all the hospitals they want to include and contacting them to get the names of the clinical documentation improvement specialists.
"This is challenging because, depending on the hospital, the clinical documentation specialists may be located in the finance department, medical records, or nursing," she says.
Since the hospital operators may not be familiar with the clinical documentation improvement specialist position, it may take a few telephone calls to locate the right people, she says.
Often the medical records staff can steer you in the right direction, she adds.
Once she identified the right people at each hospital, Sikorski asked them what they would like to discuss and set an agenda for the meeting.
"We invited everyone who was interested to our hospital and provided refreshments. The meeting lasted about three hours, and everybody learned so much, we decided to continue," she says.
"Since that first meeting, we have been building a networking resource for each other in this unique and very exciting field," Sikorski says.
It took Nancy Sikorski, RN, BA, nearly four months of research, telephone calls, and e-mails to bring together some of the RN clinical documentation improvement specialists in northern Illinois for a meeting.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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