The Effects of ICD-AM Training course on the Coding Competency of HIM Staff in KSA: A Mixed-Method Study Research

Abstract

The following study reviews the effectiveness of ICD-10-AM training course on the coding competency of Health Information Managers (HIM) staff in Saudi Arabia. This topic was investigated using a mixed-method study. For the quantitative component, the results of 100 trainees scored before the course were compared with their final results after the course. The main findings were that the female trainees scored better than male trainees; Eastern region (Dammam) had the highest score in the regions category and there were around 30% of trainees who failed the course. In the qualitative component of this study, five participants representing all five regions of Saudi Arabia, whose grades ranged from “Excellent to Fail”, were interviewed via telephone to give their perspectives and thoughts about the course. The main findings were related to their experience with coding, course duration, course contents, trainees’ classification and the need for audit. This study concludes that in spite of the effectiveness of this course on the majority of HIM staff, further improvements are required in order to make similar courses effective for all the trainees attending them.