| Course | HI305 Management of Health Information |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Seminar reflection |
| Length | About 790 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Information Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HI305 Unit 9
The Saturday Nobody Could Repeat: A Unit 9 Seminar Reflection on a Scanning Backlog Cleared by One Heroic Weekend, Why I Admired It and Why the Seminar Talked Me Out of It
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HI305: Management of Health Information
Unit 9 Seminar Reflection
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospital, the team and the weekend are composite; the sources cited are real.
Where I Started
The case described a document imaging supervisor whose team had fallen nine days behind on scanning discharged patients' paper. On a Friday, she asked all five specialists to come in on Saturday, bought lunch, worked beside them for eleven hours and cleared the queue. On Monday the director sent an email to the whole department thanking the team. I read the case the night before the seminar and thought this was what good leadership looks like: she did not complain or wait for permission; she rolled up her sleeves and fixed it. In my own job, the people I admire most are the ones who pull everyone together when things fall behind.
What the Seminar Did to That View
The instructor asked a simple question: what did the queue look like six weeks later? The case answered it in its last paragraph, which I had read but not thought about. The backlog was back to seven days. Nothing about the work had changed. The same two new sources of paper kept arriving, the same five people worked the same hours, and the gap between work and capacity was still there. Queue arithmetic says a backlog returns when arrivals keep exceeding capacity, however it was cleared (Little, 1961). A classmate who supervises a billing office said that she had done the same thing twice in her career and that both times it made her look good and made the problem invisible. The director had thanked the team, so the director believed the problem was solved. No one asked for a workload analysis, a staffing change or a conversation with the units sending the new paper. The weekend turned a structural problem into a story about effort. The weekend worked, which was the problem with it. A fix that succeeds once teaches everyone, including the director, that the system is fine and the team only needed to try harder. The reading for the week gave this a name. Tucker and Edmondson (2003) studied how hospital staff respond to problems in their work and found that people often work around a problem quickly and capably, so the problem is solved for the moment but never reported, and the organization never learns from it. Their nurses were praised for the same kind of quick fix that the supervisor in the case was praised for. The habit that makes a good employee in the moment is the habit that keeps an organization from improving.
So What
This matters for the kind of supervisor I want to be. I still admire the willingness to work beside the team. But I now see that a supervisor's real job when a queue grows is to find out why and to tell the people above her what it will take to fix, with numbers. The weekend took the place of that conversation. It also cost the team: eleven hours on a Saturday after a full week is the kind of overtime linked to more errors and injuries (Dembe et al., 2005), and in indexing work an error is a page filed to the wrong patient. Nobody in the case checked the accuracy of what was indexed that Saturday. I also had to admit that my admiration came partly from my own experience of being thanked for heroic efforts. Being the person who saves the day feels good. Being the person who explains why the day keeps needing saving is less rewarding and more useful.
Now What
If I were the supervisor in the case, I would still clear the backlog, because physicians need complete records. But I would do it with a plan that could be repeated and that told the truth. I would count what arrived each week, show the director the gap, ask for overtime or temporary help as a stated bridge, and set a date to review whether the new paper sources could be removed. I would report the backlog and its cause in the same message that thanked the team. In my current job, the next time I am asked to stay late to fix something, I am going to ask, gently, what will be different next month. If the honest answer is nothing, I will say that in writing, which is what the reading suggests front-line staff rarely do and organizations most need.
References
Dembe, A. E., Erickson, J. B., Delbos, R. G., & Banks, S. M. (2005). The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: New evidence from the United States. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(9), 588-597. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2004.016667
Little, J. D. C. (1961). A proof for the queuing formula: L = λW. Operations Research, 9(3), 383-387. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.9.3.383
Tucker, A. L., & Edmondson, A. C. (2003). Why hospitals don't learn from failures: Organizational and psychological dynamics that inhibit system change. California Management Review, 45(2), 55-72. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166165
What the HI305 Unit 9 assignment asks for
Unit 9 in this course usually centers on a seminar case about a management decision that solved a problem for a while. The written reflection asks what you believed before the seminar, what in the discussion or readings challenged it and what you would now do differently in a supervisory role. You are expected to use the case's details and at least one course reading, and to be honest about your own starting view. Some sections give headings for each stage; others leave structure to you. Students who could not attend generally write on the same case using the posted materials. A page or two is usual. Avoid simply reversing your view without explaining why; graders want the reasoning, not only the change.
Inside the HI305 Unit 9 example
The reflection opens with the case and the writer's admiration, tied to the writer's own experience of being thanked for staying late. The seminar section reports the instructor's question about six weeks later, the classmate's experience and the case's final paragraph. A highlighted line names why the weekend's success was the problem. The reading by Tucker and Edmondson is used to explain how quick fixes keep organizations from learning, and queue arithmetic shows why the backlog came back. The so what section keeps the admiration for working beside the team while naming the supervisor's real job and the unchecked accuracy of a long Saturday. The now what section clears the backlog with a stated bridge and reports its cause in the same message that thanks the team.
Where the points sit in the HI305 Unit 9 rubric
Reflections in this unit tend to be graded on depth, evidence and application. Depth points reward an honest starting position and an explanation of what changed it, including the writer's own part. Evidence is weighted well when a course reading is used to interpret the case rather than mentioned in passing. Application points go to a specific plan a supervisor could carry out, with steps that differ from what the case describes. Instructors also notice balance, such as keeping what was good about the original choice while explaining its cost. Writing in first person, organization and APA citations finish the scoring. Reflections that criticize the supervisor in the case without examining the writer's own habits usually receive lower marks.
Common HI305 Unit 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
A common weakness is condemning the supervisor in the case while never admitting why the choice looked appealing, which makes the change of view hollow. Another is citing a reading without linking it to the case's details. Some students swing to the opposite extreme and say backlogs should never be cleared with overtime, which ignores the physicians waiting on records. Plans that promise to communicate better, without saying what would be reported and to whom, rarely earn full credit. Missing the case's outcome, such as the backlog returning, is another frequent gap. Our writers can draft this reflection around your own seminar and readings, starting from the view you actually held. Send the case, your notes from the discussion and the assigned readings, and say which reflective structure your section requires.
Get an HI305 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Describe the backlog or staffing crisis your Unit 9 session examined and say which seminar route you took, live or written; send the instructions and rubric alongside. A reflection on that case returns within 24-48h, first sample free. Any figures quoted in the discussion help it match what was said. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HI305 Unit 9 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HI305 Unit 9 sample paper?
The finished Unit 9 seminar reflection is on this page, about a backlog cleared in one heroic weekend that returned six weeks later.
Why is a heroic fix a problem for a department?
It hides the cause. Once leaders see the backlog cleared, they stop asking why it formed, so the same gap rebuilds.
Which reading fits a reflection on workarounds and quick fixes?
Tucker and Edmondson's 2003 study of why hospitals do not learn from failures fits well, as the sample shows.
Does the reflection say overtime is always wrong?
No. It keeps the backlog clearance but uses overtime as a stated bridge while reporting the cause and planning a lasting fix.
How should a supervisor thank a team after a backlog push?
The sample suggests thanking them and, in the same message, stating why the backlog formed and what will change.