a
WGU D260
Capstone Task 2 Reflection And Professional Development Plan
Complete 2025/26 Study Guide ||Complete A+ Guide
This Document Contains:
WGU D260 Capstone
Task 2 Reflection And Professional Development Plan, Sarah E. Smith
Complete 2025/26 Study Guide
College of Health Professions
Western Governors University, Diana Gardner
,A.1. Experience In The BSHIM Program
Reflecting on my experience with WGU's Health Information Management (HIM)
program and my professional practice experience (PPE), they have proven educational and
inspirational. I am confident and feel well-equipped to pursue HIM job opportunities that will
continue to enhance my knowledge of healthcare compliance, data governance, and
information systems. Before entering the WGU BSHIM program, I had a generalized
understanding of the HIM professional’s responsibilities and how the HIM field worked. At the
time of my enrollment into this HIM program, I had been working as a certified medical
assistant for the past eighteen years. I knew I wanted to change my career path to allow me to
pursue higher-paying job opportunities. Before enrolling in the HIM program, my perception of
the HIM profession was that it was a technical healthcare role instead of a clinical role, which is
what I was ready to change about my current job role.
As I began to learn different aspects of the HIM field, my perspectives of it became
enhanced and changed as I completed the program. After learning about integrating technology
with healthcare, I understood how big data and technologies like machine learning (ML) and
artificial intelligence (AI) lead revolutionary transformations in healthcare decision-making,
analysis, and data management processes.
My experience with the HIM program at WGU was positive overall. If I had to choose
one improvement, it would be to improve the PPE II internship approval and placement process.
The PPE II course is one of the last in the program. I believe it would benefit HIM students, to
have a greater understanding of what will be considered their responsibility concerning the
immunization requirements and the compliance and approval process of the PPE site for
, completing that course. I would suggest more detailed discussions of what that particular
course in the program entails at the beginning of each term leading up to it and at the time of
enrollment to ensure that each HIM student fully grasps the more involved contributions they
will be responsible for. Knowing that WGU does not have pre-approved PPE sites, the student
should be very well informed of how that process works so that they can prepare and plan for
the timing of the immunizations and site approval processes. Failure to understand the
complexities of the PPE II course process could result in the student's frustration and add an
unnecessary term to their degree plan. My experience academically has been generally great
overall as I feel I've had two awesomely supportive mentors and very informative instructors
throughout my HIM degree plan and courses.
One area of HIM that has captured my interest is Data Analytics. I see myself pursuing
opportunities to learn more about data extraction and mining. This could comprise
unstructured data from research publications, clinical notes, and other patient-generated
sources, as well as structured data from healthcare databases, claims data, and electronic
health records (EHRs).
A.2. Critical Thinking And Decision Making Experience
Throughout my HIM academic journey, I've had to use critical decision-making and
critical thinking. In my Healthcare Project Management course, I was responsible for creating a
process improvement project plan to implement EHRs from a hybrid record system, and critical
thinking was required. I chose an agile method approach for that project to conduct and
complete the implementation plan. Decision-making was needed as I had to create the Gantt
WGU D260
Capstone Task 2 Reflection And Professional Development Plan
Complete 2025/26 Study Guide ||Complete A+ Guide
This Document Contains:
WGU D260 Capstone
Task 2 Reflection And Professional Development Plan, Sarah E. Smith
Complete 2025/26 Study Guide
College of Health Professions
Western Governors University, Diana Gardner
,A.1. Experience In The BSHIM Program
Reflecting on my experience with WGU's Health Information Management (HIM)
program and my professional practice experience (PPE), they have proven educational and
inspirational. I am confident and feel well-equipped to pursue HIM job opportunities that will
continue to enhance my knowledge of healthcare compliance, data governance, and
information systems. Before entering the WGU BSHIM program, I had a generalized
understanding of the HIM professional’s responsibilities and how the HIM field worked. At the
time of my enrollment into this HIM program, I had been working as a certified medical
assistant for the past eighteen years. I knew I wanted to change my career path to allow me to
pursue higher-paying job opportunities. Before enrolling in the HIM program, my perception of
the HIM profession was that it was a technical healthcare role instead of a clinical role, which is
what I was ready to change about my current job role.
As I began to learn different aspects of the HIM field, my perspectives of it became
enhanced and changed as I completed the program. After learning about integrating technology
with healthcare, I understood how big data and technologies like machine learning (ML) and
artificial intelligence (AI) lead revolutionary transformations in healthcare decision-making,
analysis, and data management processes.
My experience with the HIM program at WGU was positive overall. If I had to choose
one improvement, it would be to improve the PPE II internship approval and placement process.
The PPE II course is one of the last in the program. I believe it would benefit HIM students, to
have a greater understanding of what will be considered their responsibility concerning the
immunization requirements and the compliance and approval process of the PPE site for
, completing that course. I would suggest more detailed discussions of what that particular
course in the program entails at the beginning of each term leading up to it and at the time of
enrollment to ensure that each HIM student fully grasps the more involved contributions they
will be responsible for. Knowing that WGU does not have pre-approved PPE sites, the student
should be very well informed of how that process works so that they can prepare and plan for
the timing of the immunizations and site approval processes. Failure to understand the
complexities of the PPE II course process could result in the student's frustration and add an
unnecessary term to their degree plan. My experience academically has been generally great
overall as I feel I've had two awesomely supportive mentors and very informative instructors
throughout my HIM degree plan and courses.
One area of HIM that has captured my interest is Data Analytics. I see myself pursuing
opportunities to learn more about data extraction and mining. This could comprise
unstructured data from research publications, clinical notes, and other patient-generated
sources, as well as structured data from healthcare databases, claims data, and electronic
health records (EHRs).
A.2. Critical Thinking And Decision Making Experience
Throughout my HIM academic journey, I've had to use critical decision-making and
critical thinking. In my Healthcare Project Management course, I was responsible for creating a
process improvement project plan to implement EHRs from a hybrid record system, and critical
thinking was required. I chose an agile method approach for that project to conduct and
complete the implementation plan. Decision-making was needed as I had to create the Gantt
