Note from the ACDIS Editor: CDI Journal, ACDIS Scholarship offer avenues for professional development

by Linnea Archibald

The ACDIS team has been working remotely since March 16. Of course, the ACDIS team aren’t the only ones who’ve been social distancing and working remotely. As of ACDIS’ May survey, nearly 70% of CDI professionals who had previously worked on-site had been sent home to work 100% remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the ways we’ve had to accommodate our new reality is in education and personal professional development. Before COVID-19, most of us leaned on in-person avenues—attending conferences and local chapter events, plus collaborating in meetings and impromptu interactions with colleagues in the office. Now, however, most of those options are gone or moved to virtual platforms.

Just because the landscape has shifted, however, doesn’t mean our professional development has to be put on hold until we return to “normal.” That’s why we’ve dedicated the September/October edition of the CDI Journal to professional development and career opportunities. Most of the ideas found in this edition’s pages are not limited to the in-person space. You can accomplish a lot while sitting in front of your computer at home.

Within this edition’s changes, you’ll find articles focused on:

• Starting your CDI career
• Taking physician education virtual
• Recruiting and hiring qualified CDI staff members
• Developing CDI roles specific to data analytics
• Building career ladders
• Rounding with physicians
• Clinical validation processes
• Surgical documentation principals for accurate coding
• Launching CDI reviews in home health
• Clinical nuances of acute kidney injury and COVID-19

Plus, we also have articles from Associate Editorial Director Melissa Varnavas on ACDIS’ own virtual education efforts, from Associate Editor Carolyn Riel on CDI Week 2020 plans, advice from our Regulatory Committee on COVID-19 presentation in children, and insight from one of our ACDIS members in our standing “Meet a Member” column.

While this edition of the Journal certainly offers many opportunities for personal professional development, ACDIS wants to support the CDI community in every way we can. Last September, we launched the first ever ACDIS CDI Scholarship program to assist CDI professionals in enhancing their careers with further education and to increase collaboration among their colleagues by sharing knowledge.

I’m excited to share that we’ve opened up applications for our second Scholarship year! The application will remain open until 11:59 p.m. eastern on Monday, November 30, and all applicants will be notified of the selection committee’s decision by mid-February 2021.

Interested CDI professionals can find all the details and information they need to apply on our website, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing how your CDI careers grow over time!

Editor’s note: Archibald is the editor for ACDIS. Contact her at larchibald@acdis.org.