Note from the ACDIS Editor: Highlighting the significance of the CDI Week Industry Survey

By Linnea Archibald

I spent the first two days of this week in Washington, D.C., for the annual Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA) conference and awards luncheon. While it was fun to see the capital sights, the main reason for the trip was to receive an award for the 2018 CDI Week Industry Overview Survey and accompanying webinar.

For those unfamiliar, CDI Week is ACDIS’ annual celebration of CDI professionals everywhere, a time to recognize their unique skills and expertise, increase public awareness of the profession, and positively affect the personal and organizational performance of those working in the role. It takes place annually during the third week of September (the 2019 dates are September 16-20).

While ACDIS offers a number of fun celebratory ideas and downloadable materials (such as a poster and activity ideas from the CDI Week Committee), the main events of the week hinge on the 40-odd-question CDI industry survey. Each year, the survey garners more than 600 responses from CDI professionals both inside and outside of ACDIS’ membership and covers a minimum of five industry topic areas.

Once the survey results are in, the ACDIS team spends time analyzing the data from a variety of angles (e.g., did managers answer these questions differently from front-line CDI specialists?) with the help of the CDI Week Committee and industry experts. We then write a report summarizing our findings, shared on the first day of CDI Week.

The survey also serves as the centerpiece of our daily Q&As, sent to CDI Strategies subscribers daily during the week. These Q&As are conducted with our committee members and offer a deeper understanding of the data and give insight into individual organizations operationalize solutions to these cutting edge concerns. Starting in 2018, ACDIS provided a free webinar focused on the survey results and featuring a panel of industry experts from a variety of backgrounds. Nearly 2,000 individuals registered to attend the webinar live.

While we know that CDI Week provides an important anchor point for CDI professionals (in fact, ACDIS starts receiving questions about the theme a year in advance), this award from SIPA underscores its value. The CDI profession makes waves throughout healthcare and having the data and insight from the survey can help to shape the profession’s future. Anecdotally, we know that our members use the data to choose programmatic expansion areas, benchmark their physician engagement, and more. This award from SIPA validates its importance.

All of us here at ACDIS are extremely proud of our collective and collaborative efforts and grateful to the SIPA community for honoring this work. We’re proud, too, of how CDI Week has grown, of the number of CDI professionals each year who are willing to volunteer their time and expertise on the Committee and through survey responses, and the excitement and comradery it produces.

We look forward to celebrating with you for many more years to come!

Editor’s note: Archibald is the ACDIS editor. Contact her at larchibald@acdis.org. ACDIS is currently seeking volunteers for the 2019 CDI Week Committee. If you’re interested in applying, please fill out the application here by Friday, June 21.