Note from the ACDIS Editor: Contribute your diverse ideas to the next CDI Journal

by Carolyn Riel

I think it’s so easy to forget the joy in our work, that there are things about our profession that initially drew us into the role to begin with.

The other day I was waiting in the airport terminal to get on a flight back to Boston from San Diego. I had planned my timing perfectly, getting through security with just enough time to grab a coffee and board the plane.

Wouldn’t you know my luck, the flight got delayed for two hours the moment we were supposed to start boarding.

“What can I do with myself to keep entertained for another two hours,” I thought. I scrolled through the social media platforms on my phone for a while, then dipped into its photo albums, poked around the only restaurant in terminal in search of an open chair to sit and sip a glass of wine.

Bored of social media, pictures I’ve seen a hundred times, and with no open seats at the restaurant, I settled myself back into a chair at the gate wondering… what to do, what to do.

I could read? I did bring my tablet with me, loaded with a new book I’ve been meaning to start for a while now.

It was like a lightbulb in my head, as if I forgot I could read for fun and not just for work. Between the five-hour flight and hour and a half in the terminal, I read almost a third of that book.

I truly love reading and could sit in one spot with a glass of wine (what can I say, I love my wine) and a good book for hours unaware that the world continues moving around me. But it’s almost as if I forget reading for pleasure exists. I forget that reading doesn’t have to always be related to work, and that reading and writing is the reason I studied English in college to begin with.

Similarly, I often forget that writing doesn’t have to just be a job, doesn’t have to be something I “need” to do, and that I enjoy. I forget the joy of writing and that it doesn’t always need to be viewed as work.

I have to imagine folks in the CDI field feel the same way. I have to imagine you all started in the profession because diseases fascinated you and helping people made your soul light up. I have to also imagine that you sometimes forget not all CDI-related things need to be work.

I think that’s one of the main reasons people are hesitant to write for and submit to ACDIS. It just becomes another “to-do, work item” on their list.

But it doesn’t have to be.

The beauty of writing for an ACDIS publication is allowing yourself to get back to the core of what first drew you to CDI and write about it. Maybe you have a fascinating process for reviewing records. Maybe an article you read about gender inclusivity inspired you to explore ways to make your EHR program capture that inclusivity better. Maybe you have a great story to tell about how your journey into the field started, and where it is now.

The March/April edition of the CDI Journal will publish soon which means the ACDIS team is already working on content for the subsequent edition. Each edition of the Journal has its own theme, with the May/June edition focusing on diversity in CDI, a topic I feel both passionate about and excited for. And we're hoping you will contribute and share your stories with us.

Journal articles tend to be 750-1,500 words long and a bit on the formal side. To go along with the May/June edition’s theme, contributors can write about gender incongruities in CDI, entering the field from a non-traditional professional background, ways to make a program more inclusive, or pretty much any other topic you can think of that encompasses the theme of making CDI both more diverse and inclusive. While it’s great for submissions to center around the theme of the edition (in this case diversity in CDI) they certainly don’t have to and can focus on anything you feel passionately about. If you need any further convincing, contributors published in the Journal receive 0.5 CCDS/CCDS-O CEUs per 350 published words.

Those looking to submit to the May/June CDI Journal must have their submissions sent to me (criel@acdis.org) on or before April 1. For any questions, feel free to reach out! And I look forward to reading and sharing your thoughts with the CDI community.

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