Today brings 2010 to a close. This evening people all over the world will ring in the near year in celebrations with parties, fireworks, music, and time with family and friends.

It’s hard to believe the year has come to a close. This blog is less than a year old (we will be celebrating our one year anniversary next month!) and it’s been a wonderful experience for me. The community that has come together with each of you and your participation has been more than I ever hoped for and I thank you for that.

I thought a good wrap up for the year would be to post some of my favorite posts for the year as well as some that were quite popular. For those of you who might be new here, it will give you a few things to check out. For long time readers, take a walk down memory lane with me. So, here are 27 stories we’ve had over the year. You may ask “Why 27?” And my response would be “Why not?!” Here goes!

General Posts About the Profession

We covered a lot of different things this year. Many of the posts had some great interaction as you added your insight.

We talked about what’s in a line and the way line definitions are determined in our industry. It’s pretty clear there is still no set standard for a uniform definition!

The discussion about “How we became a commodity” was an interesting one. It was a walk down memory lane for me as we talked about some of the history that led us to where we are today.

You all jumped in to be teachers in the post titled “What’s Your Best Tip” and that has some great ideas.

If you’re searching for a new job, you might want to revisit the post that lists questions to ask during a job interview. Remember that you are also interviewing the employer!

In a two-part series, we talked about the pros of working from home as well as the downside of working from home.

Goals and Values

I love talking about goals and values, and here are three of my favorite posts on that topic:

Perhaps good to revisit, is the post where the question “What is holding you back? was posed. It’s a good thought for the new year.

During MT week, we also had a great discussion about Values and what it is that we hold important in life.

Then just last week, we talked about what your 3 words would be. If you haven’t thought out your three words for 2011, I encourage you to do so!

Holiday Posts

The holidays this year brought two series that I enjoyed a lot. During the 30 Days of Gratitude challenge, we were all challenged to find one thing that we were thankful for. One day, our topic was being thankful for our spouses. I loved reading all of your stories about your awesome spouses, and even the ones about the spouses we are glad are no longer a part of our lives. On another day, I shared being thankful for my niece and her children, which brought out a lot of kid stories.

During the Christmas season, we shared many of our wonderful traditions. We talked about our favorite decorations, about the wonder of kids at Christmas, and about finding that perfect gift.

Industry Updates

A lot happened in our industry this year, with many changes announced. These posts generated lots of conversation, which I am always grateful for!

In July, we talked about the release of AHDI’s Blueprint for Greater Governance and the changes that would bring to our professional association. These plans are moving forward, although it has been determined that changes to the structure must be voted on by the entire membership and not just the House of Delegates. As I understand it, members should be getting that ballot sometime the first part of the year.

Scribes was a much discussed topic in September, as we explored the role and whether it is a possible fit for an alternative career path for MTs. Although the jury’s still out on this one, I still think it’s worth considering.

In December, the MT blogosphere once again buzzed about scribes because an AHDI-approved training program started a scribe training program. This led to much discussion about medical transcription and mandatory credentialing. As a follow up to that post, I asked the question “What is our Compelling Story?” I still think that question must be critically thought through and answered before we will make much progress on mandatory credentialing.

Awesome Guest Posts

We were fortunate to have a few guest posts this year. My hope is to increase that next year. I know some of you would do an awesome job at this and hope you will consider submitting a guest post for 2011!

Carol James gave us a great post that said “All I needed to know I learned in medical transcription.” Carol’s blog, Journey to Simplicity, is also a great one to follow and you will enjoy her writing style.

In May, we had a post by Ava George, AHDI President-elect, about “Documentation: The Final Frontier.”

Susan Ledger, who at the time was a new graduate who had just taken and passed her credentialing exam, gave us some great tips for taking your exam. This is a must read for those of you who are planning to take your exam in 2011!

And then, my very own Turbo the Wonder Dog shared his life lessons from the dog. I sure wish he would learn to type so he could do more of his own posts! :) I believe it’s that lack of opposable thumbs thing.

Regulatory Changes in Healthcare Documentation

This year was a big one for changes in our industry related to government regulations. These topics were popular and highly read as we attempted to figure out what we had to do to be sure we were compliant with the changes.

The year began with the implementation of the changes in the HITECH Act and how that would impact us. A more indepth look at what an MT has to do to be compliant with the HITECH Act showed that sometimes even those in charge aren’t sure how to handle these things.

This summer brought out proposed changes in the HIPAA laws that have a huge impact on independent contractors. We discussed how those changes will impact us and the best way to handle some of them.

This was also the year that we began to hear the term meaningful use. The requirements for providers to show meaningful use in the electronic health record are having a huge impact on our industry and this is one we need to stay on top of and learn as much as possible. We must continue to advocate for the narrative story of the patient in order to have a complete picture.

So there you have it. Any favorites that you have that I missed?

For all of you, I hope you have a wonderful New Year’s Eve night (or “Old Year’s Night as they say in Barbados), stay warm and safe. I look forward to the awesome things we will do together in 2011!