Does anyone have any real world advice and tips for medical coding? I'm currently a student. What am I in for?

Hi, I use to do medical coding for a while.





For medical coding, you better have a passion for learning about diseases, anatomy, surgical techniques and surgical terminology, medications, etc. I can't emphasize surgeries enough!





I found coding very difficult and stressful. One really has to know so much about disease and surgeries, surgical techniques, etc. For example, having to read coronary bypass surgeries and count how many arteries were bypassed, were autogenous saphenous veins used or mammary artery or thoracic artery, was extracorporeal circulation used (heart lung machine)? Was there prolonged mechanical ventilation after the procedure? Not to mention after training you are expected to meet daily production standards.





They don't start beginners on work like this, but I'm trying to demonstrate how envolved this is. You should like to read because you are reading non stop all day and concentrating all day on medical office visits, radiology reports, outpatient surgeries, and inpatient visits. Make sure you get plenty of rest! Some inpatient charts were so long, I would start one in the afternoon and have to come back and finish it the next day. Surgeries were the most difficult for me. Also determining when something was a complication of a procedure vs an adverse effect of a procedure.





For outpatient, deciding when to code an e/m consultation code or a new patient visit (not as easy as it sounds).





After finishing the medical coding program at a community college, it took me a year to get a job. There is a high demand for coders, but experienced coders! Couldn't even volunteer anywhere, everywhere wanted experience. Medical coders can get credentials by passing tests by the AHIMA (www.ahima.org). I had to pass the CCS (Certified Coding Specialist) test to even get an interview. Maybe the school you're going to will help with job placement?





It is difficult to find a job where you only code one specialty, like only cardiology or only radiology. Most places expect you to do a little of evertyhing, inpatient and outpatient.





YOU know what your limitations and capabilities are, if you are getting the concepts of coding, then go for it. I regret going through the whole medical coding program, studing hard and forcing myself to do it, even though I had serious doubts that I would ever be comfortable doing this, to eventually not do medical coding all together.





Good Luck