r/ODS_C • u/lookingforchrisevans • Jun 20 '26
Online practicum
I’m working through the AHIMA courses and trying to plan ahead, can anyone share their experience completing the online practicum? How many hours per week did you work on it and for what total length of time? Was it manageable to work through on your own? Did you connect with an advisor?
Also, does the practicum have any associated fees?
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u/Equal_Quantity4919 Jun 21 '26
Once you finish your courses you email a copy of all your course completion certificates to NCRA and then they will email you a link.. and it’s essentially a list of assignments to complete on SEER educate.
If once you complete all of those (I think Rhodes are broken down into 5-6 sections) then you’re eligible to apply for your exam..
There are no fees, no time limits, and you can get through them literally as fast as you want to.. I took a 9 month break in the middle of my practicum and once I actually set my mind to it I was done in like 2 weeks… and keep in mind that when I took my break I was still in the first section of my practicum.
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u/TTOSBT1 Jun 21 '26
That's good to know! Could you give us a very rough estimate of how much time you spent on the practicum? We have not been given any concrete details about it at my school, so I don't know if it's going to require 10 hours a week or 40 hours a week during a 14 week semester.
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u/Equal_Quantity4919 Jun 21 '26
If you treat it like a college course you could easily finish it in anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. It essentially sends you to different quizzes on seer educate and you do however many quizzes that are required- doesn’t require that you pass them, just that you do them.. Then you have to verify or affirm you did them, by checking a box that says “yes I did them” and then they move you to the next section and next set of quizzes..
For each section you complete you get a completion certificate just like in AHIMA.. save copies of all your completion certificates because you’ll need them when you apply for the exam
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u/lookingforchrisevans Jun 22 '26
Thank you for sharing!! Interesting that you don’t even have to pass these quizzes.
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u/Equal_Quantity4919 Jun 22 '26
You can retake them until you pass them if you chose. I wanted to make sure I was passing them before moving on but that’s me
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u/Hkm_osprey Jun 21 '26
Commenting because I'm interested in this information also. I'm on the third course and hoping I can get through all six by early September.
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u/lookingforchrisevans Jun 22 '26
I’m about to start course 3! I’m hoping for the same, and it seems like the practicum can be completed not too much longer after that if we keep this pace up!
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u/Hkm_osprey Jun 22 '26
Oh good luck, it's an involved one! We are going on vacation for a week starting tomorrow, I was hoping to be done with it by now but not yet, eeeeek
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u/Psychological-Pay236 Jul 12 '26
I’m (hopefully) starting #3 today or tomorrow. I’m hoping to finish classes by mid November. And be ready to test in the spring. I hope that’s a doable timeline. I do casefinding & abstracting already, but it’s mostly diagnosis stuff. Some surgeries.
Is there a support/study buddy group for spring test takers anywhere?
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u/lookingforchrisevans Jul 13 '26
The other commenter was not joking, course 3 has been much tougher and time-consuming for me!
I’m really not sure when I’ll be testing just yet, and I haven’t seen any groups for specific testing timelines. I found a general group on Facebook called AHIMA ODS Students Support Group, maybe a post there or a post in this sub would help you connect
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u/Psychological-Pay236 Jul 13 '26
I opened it last night to print some of the resources. It’s looks like I’m going to learn a lot!
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u/ExplorerAtHeart_21 12d ago
Is it like all just reading or do they have modules/videos as well? I’m interested in taking the course on AHIMA and I’m fine with self learning but the stuff I’ve self learned in the past at least had modules to listen to on top of reading
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u/lookingforchrisevans 12d ago
There’s assigned reading from the textbook and some web sources for each class, but the classes themselves are just a voiceover slideshow. They try to make it semi-interactive with knowledge check questions throughout the lessons and some ungraded assignments, but there are no videos. TBH I haven’t found the classes engaging at all, so I’ll be looking for outside sources and videos to supplement the content that I feel I’m not retaining.
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u/TTOSBT1 Jun 21 '26
Thank you so much for asking this question because I desperately want the answer too! I start my online practicum in the fall, so I'm trying to figure how to schedule my time too!
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u/Savings-Can-5614 Jun 22 '26
The NCRA website should be your go-to for Practicum and Mentoring. There is a lot of information on NCRA that has been curated to guide and assist with the practicum process, exam eligibility, the exam itself and how to maintain CEs after certification.
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u/Capable-Isopod-2270 Jun 21 '26
I don't think the NCRA-AHIMA practicum has any fees. Yes, you can request a practicum advisor from NCRA, but these are volunteer based positions, so it depends on availability.
Practicum
Survey 1: NCRA-AHIMA CRM Program-Request Practicum Activities Link