Kathy Cookman, BS, CSTR, CAISS | AIS International Technical Coordinator
Many of you may already know Kathy Cookman or attended a course she led either online or in person. Kathy is the AIS International Technical Coordinator and serves as the primary authority for AIS coding guidance and instructions in order to maintain consistent education of injury scaling and application of AIS. This role works closely with the AIS Chair and AAAM staff on many aspects of the AIS program including but not limited to:
- Supervising faculty assignments for the courses in North America to ensure quality instruction of each course offering.
- Assuring ongoing continuing education and competence of all AIS faculty.
- Mentoring new faculty for online and in-person courses.
- Developing, updating and maintaining briefing materials, training manuals and other documents used for providing instruction of all AIS© Injury Scaling Courses.
- Representing AAAM in the United States and other countries by conducting international AIS© Injury Scaling courses as requested.
- Maintaining active communication with international faculty to ensure reporting on activity, educational requirements and responds to questions in order to maintain consistency of AIS instruction.
Kathy has more than 40 years of experience in trauma systems, including a first responder/EMT, trauma data manager, injury prevention specialist, medical terminology instructor, injury provider of trauma education, guest speaker as various trauma symposia, and consultant who manages a staff of twenty-five employees. She received her Certified Abbreviated Injury Scoring Specialist (CAISS) designation in 2007 from AAAM and has been utilizing AIS since 1985.
Kathy has delivered numerous presentations related to trauma data management, including but not limited to data abstraction, medical record interpretation, ICD-9-CM/PCS, ICD-10-CM/PCS coding, reporting, injury prevention, research and process improvement development/monitoring. She continues to be actively involved with data validation and consistency on a national level.
Kathy has a Bachelor of Science in Health Management from Ohio State University and currently lives in Fort Myers, FL.
I am interested in continuing education for AIS. Where can I find continuing education? I see that the CAISS is good for 5 years at which the person has to retake the exam or???? or “meet such alternative requirements.” As stated in the application. What are alternative requirements?
When is the next update? Love the updated website with coding question of the month!
Hello Anne,
Every time you take and pass the CAISS exam, your certification is extended 5 years from the day you pass the exam. You are required to renew your certification every 5 years in order to use the credentials. I hope this helps.