24
June
2020
|
09:33 AM
America/Chicago

Former STC faculty finds her calling in new medical career

Student of the Week: Joy Wells

As former faculty at South Texas College, Joy Well learned first-hand how the college was the ideal place to launch a new career in the medical field.

Joy graduated in May 2020 from STC with an associate degree in Health Information Technology (HIT).

Originally beginning her courses at STC in 2017 as a part-time student, Joy is a former full-time developmental reading instructor at the college who opted to retire from teaching and pursue a new career in healthcare. Her new plans include pursuing a career as an inpatient medical coder or in the field of HIT.

“STC was the ideal place for the pursuit of my associate degree in HIT, because I was full-time faculty, South Texas College provides institutional grants for tuition for faculty and their offspring,” she said. “I knew I was going to be retiring from teaching in 2020 and wanted to find a new career in healthcare using my already existing skill set.

“I was able to take most of my classes online and the classes I needed to take in person were offered as evening courses, so it worked very well with my work schedule as a full-time South Texas College developmental reading instructor,” Joy said.

STC student of the Week Joy Wells
“STC was the ideal place for the pursuit of my associate degree in HIT, because I was full-time faculty, South Texas College provides institutional grants for tuition for faculty and their offspring. I knew I was going to be retiring from teaching in 2020 and wanted to find a new career in healthcare using my already existing skill set."
STC student of the Week Joy Wells

Health Information Technicians (HIT) are responsible for maintaining components of health information systems that include medical administrative, ethical, legal, accreditation, and regulatory requirements of the health care delivery system.

Health information technicians use their technical knowledge and skills necessary to process, maintain, complete and report health information data for a host of functions including reimbursement, facility planning, marketing, risk management, utilization management, quality assessment, research, and many others.

As part of the degree plan, students complete an internship that enables them to gain real-world experience. In addition, students are prepared for a national exam that measures proficiency and competency in the standards set by the American Health Information Management (AHIM).

“My approach to learning is to be serious. Don't mess around,” Joy said. “You're going to college for a purpose and you are responsible for whatever the coursework is for the class, no matter who the teacher is, no matter what the assignments are. Just do it and do it on time, the way the directions say. If students will just do that, they will always be successful.”