Purpose
The purpose of the THIMA Mentor Program is to prepare Health Information Management (HIM) students and other HIM professionals for a successful career path in the HIM profession by integrating learning experiences with professional career experiences, thereby preparing them for effective leadership roles in HIM field, and other careers in healthcare industries.
Goal
To establish and maintain a long-lasting and trusting mentoring relationship between mentor and mentee.
Program Objectives
- To develop and describe guidelines for roles, functional duties, and responsibilities of mentors, and also develop criteria to measure their effectiveness as mentors.
- To integrate students learning experiences with professional career experiences, thereby preparing them for effective leadership roles in HIM field, and other careers in healthcare industries.
- To pair Health Information professionals with Health Information students who seek educational advice, career guidance, professional and personal growth, development, and real-life learning experiences.
- To help the mentee identify and set realistic, measurable, and attainable short-term and long-term professional goals.
- To guide the mentee in setting their career goals outside the walls of the academic environment.
- To help the mentee not only become an effective and productive HIM professional, but also become mentors to junior HIM, and other employees working under their supervision in their respective places of work. This will strengthen and increase the pool of HIM professionals in the workforce. Such efforts will reduce the high turnover rate in the HIM departments, and other healthcare industries.
- Help HIM students develop a sense of empowerment through mentor-mentee relationships.