Note from the Associate Editorial Director: Farewell to Monday Meet Ups

by Melissa Varnavas

Want to see ACDIS Director Brian Murphy in a Santa hat? Join us this coming Monday, December 21, at 10 a.m., on our Facebook page for the last installment of our Monday Meet Up series.

These little 15-minute sessions started back in April as a way for us to stay connected with CDI professionals and ACDIS members, a way to spread information about clinical documentation and coding related to COVID-19 and the effects of the pandemic on the CDI profession.

For a while, I would turn my camera on each Monday at 10 a.m., and review the news of the day, highlight upcoming activities, showcase case studies from those working in the field. Sometimes I’d start by sharing some personal experiences—I showed photos of my mom for Mothers’ Day and told everyone how we held a car parade for my dad’s birthday. Sometimes I was successful. Sometimes I wasn’t. I don’t quite consider myself a Luddite but there were a handful of times I had to come back and re-air our session later because the first take didn’t have sound. Or I could see the video and others couldn’t. Or my cat, Katrina, tried to steal the show by walking across the keyboard.

By the end of summer, I thought maybe folks might want to hear from others (other than me) in the CDI community. So from time to time, I was joined by ACDIS Director Brian Murphy, ACDIS Editors Linnea Archibald and Carolyn Riel, or Boot Camp Instructors Sharme Brodie and Laurie Prescott. Several members of the ACDIS community “stopped by” for a virtual visit and shared how they got their start in the profession, talked about the pandemic’s effect on their work, their families.

We chatted, and got to know one another a little better in some cases. We hope you got to know some of these amazing folks a little better, too, and we hoped you enjoyed the time we spent together in this venue.

Despite the hardships of 2020, there’s definitely a lot to be thankful for this past year—one of the greatest graces being our comradery, our collective compassion, our capability to be there for one another in times of greatest need.

Although we’ll sunset our Facebook Monday Meet Ups for now, we have a ton of wonderful ways to stay connected with you all in the coming year. So let’s get started now. Please watch Holiday Monday Meet Up finale this coming Monday and play our “CDI recipe” game by visiting Facebook and posting your “CDI recipe” for program success, for provider engagement, or professional advancement. We’ll pick a few winners in the new year and send out some holiday cheer.

Thank you all for your kindness, stay safe.

Editor’s note: Varnavas is the associate editorial director for ACDIS. Contact her at mvarnavas@acdis.org.