The Library provides books, magazines, journals, newspapers, CD-ROMs, videos, online databases, and other materials for your research needs. In addition to our collection, we offer one-on-one reference assistance and classes in research strategies and skills.

This Research Guide is designed to help you become familiar with some of the Health Information Management resources available from the Miami Dade College, Medical Center Campus Library. If you need assistance, please contact a librarian by phone at (305) 237-4087 or by email/chat.

Health information management professionals:

1. Advocate, uphold and defend the individual's right to privacy and the doctrine of confidentiality in the use and disclosure of information.
2. Put service and the health and welfare of persons before self-interest and conduct themselves in the practice of the profession so as to bring honor to themselves, their peers, and to the health information management profession.
3. Preserve, protect, and secure personal health information in any form or medium and hold in the highest regard the contents of the records and other information of a confidential nature, taking into account the applicable statutes and regulations.
4. Refuse to participate in or conceal unethical practices or procedures.
5. Advance health information management knowledge and practicethrough continuing education, research, publications, and presentations.
6. Recruit and mentor students, peers and colleagues to develop and strengthen professional workforce.
7. Represent the profession accurately to the public.
8. Perform honorably health information management association responsibilities, either appointed or elected, and preserve the confidentiality of any privileged information made known in any official capacity.
9. State truthfully and accurately their credentials, professional education, and experiences.
10. Facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration in situations supporting health information practice.
11. Respect the inherent dignity and worth of every person.

AHIMA Code of Ethics, 2004

*Please note: Our electronic resources have restricted access and are only available to Miami Dade College students, faculty or staff with a current login.  

Most universities and colleges use the Library of Congress Classification System to organize their materials. Items are arranged A-Z, with each letter corresponding to a subject area. Most Sonography materials are shelved in the following sections:

Following is a list of journals in Health Information Management and related fields subscribed to by the Miami Dade College, Medical Center Campus. By following the link, you can find the latest issue received by the library and other holding information.

Drug Topics

For the Record

Journal of Allied Health (contact the Library for passwords for online access to fulltext articles)

Journal of the American Association for Medical Transcription (JAAMT)

Journal of the American Health Information Management Association

Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)(contact the Library for passwords for online access to fulltext articles)

New England Journal of Medicine (online access to fulltext articles is available only in the library)

Advance for Health Information Professionals: selected fulltext from 1996-present.

Health Data Management: fulltext from 2000-present.

Health Management Technology: fulltext from May 1998-present.

Journal of Medical Internet Research: fulltext from 1999-present available.

Lancet : selected articles from June 1996-present are freely available from the publisher's website at http://www.thelancet.com. Fulltext from January 1991-present available via Academic Search Premier and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition ; fulltext from March 1990-present available via General Reference Center Gold , Health & Wellness Resource Center and InfoTrac OneFile.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: fulltext from July 1989-present available via Health & Wellness Resource Center and InfoTrac OneFile; fulltext from July 1996-present available via Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition and Academic search Premier.

Perspectives on the Medical Transcription Profession: current issue only.

Copies of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association are available in the Reference area at all MDC Libraries.

For online information about APA, see the following links:

Using APA Style for Academic Writing & Avoiding Plagiarism (PowerPoint tutorial)

APA Style Sheet (Provides examples of citing articles, books, and websites in APA style)

APA Style Microsoft Word Template (Type over existing text and save it as your own)

American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)

What you will find: provides education and certification for professional medical coders and provides links to local chapters.

American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

What you will find: provides a career/job bank, continuing education opportunities, certification information, and an extensive section on coding and the current coding system.

American Hospital Association

What you will find: provides a career center, a certification center, and advocacy resources on topics such as billing & collections, HIPAA, and Medicare & Medicaid.

American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)

What you will find: provides meeting opportunities, job opportunities, research & grant opportunities as well as current news and legislation in the field.

Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI)

What you will find: provides career/job information, continuing education opportunities, certification information, and an open discussion forum.

Florida Health Information Management Association

What you will find: provides job opportunities, a calendar of relevant events, and a link to information about legislative issues affecting the field.

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

What you will find: provides professional certifications, an annual conference, job opportunities, and information on hot topics, such as HIPAA, electronic health records, and wireless technology.

Medical Association of Billers (MAB)

What you will find: MAB is an international support organization that provides training in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). This site also provides a forum for discussing issues and asking questions. This site also includes information on dental billing and coding.

What is critical thinking: Beyond merely retrieving information, critical thinking involves the ability to reason, process and evaluate information, using it to problem solve and reach accurate conclusions.

How to evaluate information: Critically evaluating information is imperative, especially in the health fields, as it could potentially affect the health of the information consumer. Following are a few sites that will aid you in critically evaluating health information:

Health Information Literacy

What you will find: a powerpoint that will aid you in identifying quality health education materials written at various literacy levels, in various formats and in other languages; help you in limiting your use of medical jargon; assist you in instructing consumers/patients to evaluate health education materials for authority, currency, and bias; and help you improve communication skills with your co-workers.

Medical Library Association (MLA): Content Evaluation Guidelines

What you will find: poses four sets of questions on which to evaluate the content of a website.


The Health on the Net (HON) Foundation: HON Code of Conduct (HONcode) for medical and health web sites

What you will find: defines a set of rules to hold medical and health web site developers to basic ethical standards in the presentation of their information. You may search to determine if particular Websites have obtained the HONcode seal.

Following are interactive learning objects that provide opportunities for you to practice your skills:

Building Medical Terms for the Digestive System

The Colors of Medical Terminology

Dietary Manager Training: Documenting the Nutrition Care Process

Medical Terminology Pronunciation Jukebox

Miami Dade College's Libraries subscribe to a number of online databases that provide access to full text reference materials, such as medical dictionaries, and to periodicals, such as journals and magazines.

Please note: Our electronic resources have restricted access and are only available to MDC students, faculty or staff with a current login

Click here for descriptions of the health & medicine databases & tutorials on how to login & search them.

Click here to go to the login screen.

AIDS Info

What you will find: offers information on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and research. Topics include a drug database, clinical trials, and vaccine research.

Career Guidance Resources on the Internet

What you will find: scroll to the bottom of the page for links to the websites for Occupational Outlook Handbook, Florida Health Careers, Choices Planner and other career related sites.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

What you will find: provides up-to-date information on many aspects of health care, including diseases and conditions, vaccines and immunizations, and emergency preparedness and response. It also includes a section with health statistics.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

What you will find: provides comprehensive information on Medicare, Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

Classifications of Diseases

What you will find: provides access to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), ninth revision and tenth revision. The ICD is the official system of assigning codes to diagnoses and procedures associated with hospital utilization. It is also used to code and classify mortality data.

Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)

What you will find:  describes the process of how CPT codes are maintained and how to request changes or a new code. This site also provides continuing coding education opportunities and downloadable copies of the CPT (for a fee). 

Florida Statute 456.057: Ownership and Control of Patient Records

What you will find: provides the text of the Florida laws that govern reporting and providing copies of patients' records. 

HCPro: Health Information Management

What you will find: provides an information center and newsletters on the "hot" topics in health information management.

Health Data Management

What you will find: provides information portals on HIPAA, vendors, new products, government legislation, trends, and mobile technology.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

What you will find: links to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance procedures.

Health Privacy Project (HPP)

What you will find: HPP's goal is to raise public awareness of the importance of ensuring health privacy in order to improve health care access and quality. HPP's website provides links to information on federal and state laws related to health privacy and a consumer coalition. 

Healthy People 2010

What you will find: a statement of national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats. 

ICD9CM Codes and Medical Dictionary

What you will find: provides a searchable tabular and alphabetical index to ICD-9-CM.

ICD-10

What you will find: provides comprehensive information about the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

What you will find: the United State's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body for health care organizations and programs.

JustCoding

What you will find: provides discussion groups for coders, job listings for coders, and other information relevant to coders.

Managed Health Care Plans

What you will find: explains the differences between Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), and Point of Service (POS) health care plans.

Medical Privacy

What you will find: this page is hosted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and provides information on current problems and pending legislation related to medical records and medical privacy. 

Medical Records Institute

What you will find: provides comprehensive information about electronic health records, including news stories and conferences/seminars on the topic.

MedlinePlus

What you will find: includes a Medical Encyclopedia, Medical Dictionary, and Doctor and Dentist Directories. A section on "personal medical records" is included, which covers topics such as "how to file a health information privacy complaint" and HIPAA basic facts.

MERCKSource Resource Library

What you will find: includes A.D.A.M. Health Illustrated Encyclopedia, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Merck Manuals, the PDR Family Guide to Over-the-Counter Drugs, and virtual body tours.

MT Desk

What you will find: provides a number of resources for medical transcriptionists, such as a medical and surgical glossary of terms, sample operative reports organized by specialty, and a chat board to post and answer questions.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

What you will find: provides health standards, regulations, and inspections to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths.

Student Success Center (SSC), Medical Campus, Miami Dade College

What you will find:  provides a listing of computer based tutoring programs accessible from computers in the Medical Campus Library and in SSC. SSC also offers online and face-to-face tutoring services. For more information on any of these services or programs, contact SSC at (305) 237-4499.

Miami Dade College, Medical Center Campus
Department of Health Information Management

950 NW 20th Street
Miami, FL 33127
(305) 237- 4141

The Medical Center Campus Health Information Program is a two-year course of study requiring 67 credits for an Associate in Science degree.

Certificate programs available at MDC that are eligible for credits toward the Associate in Science Degree in Health Information Management are:

Medical Coder Biller Specialist - a 5 semester course of study requiring 33 vocational credits.

Medical Record Transcriptionist - a 5 semester course of study requiring 40 vocational credits.