Health Unit Coordinator, Short-Term Certificate

A Health Unit Coordinator (HUC) is an essential member of a health care team with nonclinical responsibilities who manages all nonclinical tasks on hospital nursing units. Responsibilities include coordinating the activities of the nursing staff, doctors, hospital diagnostic departments, patients, and the visitors to the nursing unit. Health Unit Coordinators are skilled in transcribing physician orders for patient treatment, preparing patient charts, maintaining statistical reports, and much more. It is one of the more key positions on the nursing unit. Health Unit Coordinators may also be employed in emergency departments, doctor's offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and long-term care facilities to assist the nursing staff with clerical duties related to patients health records’ and coordination of treatment.

This program is available to be completed 100% online.

Program contact: Learn more

Financial Assistance funds cannot be applied towards this program.

This certificate will be automatically awarded when the certificate requirements are completed. If you do not want to receive the certificate, please notify the Office of the Registrar at RegistrarOffice@tri-c.edu.

Learn more about how certificate credits apply to the related degree and about related training programs.

Program Admission Requirements

Application may be submitted to the Health Careers Enrollment Center after meeting the following requirements:

• ENG-1010 College Composition I.
• MA-1020 Medical Terminology I.
• IT-1090 Computer Applications.
• GPA required: 2.0.
• Number of students accepted per year is based on openings available in the course cap as offered for Health Unit Coordinator (HIM-1060 Health Unit Coordinator).

Other Information

• In order to be awarded this certificated, MA-1020 Medical Terminology I and MA-2010 Medical Terminology II must be completed within three years of program completion if not using Medical Terminology in current work environment.
• Students must be 18 years old and have completed their High School Diploma/GED  in order to be employed as a Health Unit Coordinator.

Program Learning Outcomes

This program is designed to prepare students to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

1. Utilize oral and written skills to effectively communicate and interact with health care professionals, colleagues, administration and customers to enhance satisfaction.
2. Develop effective interpersonal skills to conduct yourself professionally among clients, colleagues, and other health care professionals.
3. Conduct yourself ethically and professionally according to the National Association of Health Unit Coordinators (NAHUC) code of ethics and standards of practice.
4. Use a variety of techniques to problem solve and arrive at best outcome.
5. Follow regulatory, legal and accreditation standards when performing day to day activities.
6. Find, file/enter and maintain the integrity of patient records both paper and electronic format.
7. Use word processing, spreadsheets, email and health care software to coordinate patient care services.
8. Coordinate the daily operation of the Health Care Unit.

Suggested Semester Sequence

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In order to be awarded this certificate, a grade of "C" or higher must be earned in all required courses.

MATH-1140, MATH-1141, MATH-1200, MATH-1270, and MATH-1280 can no longer count towards fulfilling the college-level mathematics requirement.  These courses were re-classified as developmental mathematics by the state of Ohio in 2016.  Tri-C established a 5-year transitioning window for students who had completed these courses prior to 2016 to apply them towards meeting graduation requirements, which expired in Summer 2021. It is highly recommended to see a counselor to determine the appropriate math required for your current major.