Does having a medical coding cert give you a better chance to get in nursing school

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Hi I've done a lot of research on the nursing field and I'm eager to start learning! But as a new mom I needed something a little quicker in the meantime to start generating income. So the plan is to go for medical coding and billing and then purse my bachelor's in nursing as I work as a coder. My question is, does having a medical coding and billing certification give me an upper hand or a better chance at getting into nursing school? Thanks for your input 😄

Thats true, I just hope that it will help me somehoew when I go into nursing whether it's getting a job as a nurse or nursing school cause I know that some schools recommend working in the medical field or at least knowing medical terminology which I will be learning.

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That's awesome, but like I said, I personally know a couple of people who went to "coding" schools (using serious financial aid that would have easily payed for a couple of community-college adn degrees) and they never worked a day as coders. If you know a couple who found great jobs, that's different than my experience, but both points are valid. If this coding school is sucking up $30k in financial aid (or worse yet, loans), and making the o.p. spend most of a year taking classes that won't translate to nursing school, it might be a waste & they should be wary.

I was responding to your statement of "facilities just aren't going to let you take hippa (hipaa) protected medical information home".

The market may be over saturated and checking out the job market is sensible in any industry.

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I agree with you on that, rzyzzy. Also, OP please make sure you have some experience or an "in," with someone because those coding jobs typically want you to have years of experience and there are a lot of RHITs, RHIA, CPC cert'd people that are seriously hurting for jobs simply because of their lack of experience.

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Well the community college I'm going to offers an internship included with the course, so do you think that would give me a better shot at landing a coding job? And I'm going to be volunteering at a hospital is there any specific field such as clerical work that would help me or should I stick with shadowing an RN/stocking supplies etc?

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That's awesome, but like I said, I personally know a couple of people who went to "coding" schools (using serious financial aid that would have easily payed for a couple of community-college adn degrees) and they never worked a day as coders. If you know a couple who found great jobs, that's different than my experience, but both points are valid. If this coding school is sucking up $30k in financial aid (or worse yet, loans), and making the o.p. spend most of a year taking classes that won't translate to nursing school, it might be a waste & they should be wary.

Accreditation matters. A friend of mine just graduated from our community college's HIT program, got her AHIMA coding cert, was immediately hired by a major local hospital system, and will be able to work from home soon. It's an incredibly affordable program, and it's a degree (AAS), not just a coding cert. BUT... it takes 3 years including prereqs, so it's certainly not a stepping stone to nursing, it's a program in its own right.

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And I'm going to be volunteering at a hospital is there any specific field such as clerical work that would help me or should I stick with shadowing an RN/stocking supplies etc?

I'm not sure if you're still talking about increasing your odds of admission for nursing school? My community college's admissions were strictly points-based, with points for your TEAS and your grades in specific classes. Some are GPA based. Talk to the colleges that you would be able to attend, and find out what they require.

There is a button in the bottom right corner of each post that says "quote," which will help with clarity when your'e replying to specific content.

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Do you know how hard it is to get a job as a coder? Most want years of experience and extra certifications before they would even consider hiring you. Be super aware of all the scams out there offering training and coding certification as a sure fire way to make a living. Computers have replaced coders to a large extent. All having a certificate in coding would mean to a recruiter is that you are probably good with medical vocabulary, which won't count for much at all. Working as a CNA is much more appropriate and worthwhile IMHO. That is something that *will* make a big difference to a recruiter.

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That will certainly help!!

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I'm not sure if you're still talking about increasing your odds of admission for nursing school? My community college's admissions were strictly points-based, with points for your TEAS and your grades in specific classes. Some are GPA based. Talk to the colleges that you would be able to attend, and find out what they require.

There is a button in the bottom right corner of each post that says "quote," which will help with clarity when your'e replying to specific content.

Thanks I'm still trying to get a hang on this forum. I was referring to ways that would increase my chances of getting a job as a coder but it seems that going for coding isn't such a good idea?

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Thanks I'm still trying to get a hang on this forum. I was referring to ways that would increase my chances of getting a job as a coder but it seems that going for coding isn't such a good idea?

There is nothing wrong with going for medical billing and coding but like others have said, "coding" jobs are hard to come by. Most start out in doctors offices, as medical billers or even medical receptionists making the same or less than the average CNA to start. It usually takes a few years to get into a hospital system or to get the experience needed to apply for the highly paid "coder" job, so to sum things up, yes you will make money before/ while in nursing school but odds are it wont be that good and it really wont help you with nursing until you've had a couple of years under your belt and become eligible for roles like Care Manager/Utilization Management, like I stated in my first post.

So if I were you I would check out either CNA or ER tech/EMT programs, because the skills learned in those programs and the working experience you'll get is within the scope of a nurse.

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Well the community college I'm going to offers an internship included with the course, so do you think that would give me a better shot at landing a coding job? And I'm going to be volunteering at a hospital is there any specific field such as clerical work that would help me or should I stick with shadowing an RN/stocking supplies etc?

A community-college program with an internship would be a whole lot better than the programs I've seen. I can see that working out & you actually having a job after. The people I know that got coding certificates went to for-profit private colleges that seem mostly geared towards sucking up grant/loan money & don't actually do anything to get their graduates jobs.

One of the community colleges I attended was doing a "patient care tech cert" that taught CNA skills in addition to 12 lead ekg & basic phlebotomy & they couldn't graduate people fast enough once the local hospitals found out - everyone got hired after they graduated & it didn't cost much (about a grand including books).

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A community-college program with an internship would be a whole lot better than the programs I've seen. I can see that working out & you actually having a job after. The people I know that got coding certificates went to for-profit private colleges that seem mostly geared towards sucking up grant/loan money & don't actually do anything to get their graduates jobs.

One of the community colleges I attended was doing a "patient care tech cert" that taught CNA skills in addition to 12 lead ekg & basic phlebotomy & they couldn't graduate people fast enough once the local hospitals found out - everyone got hired after they graduated & it didn't cost much (about a grand including books).

Wow I would've loved that but that's not available around me. And great! I'm happy to hear that, I was starting to get discouraged lol. This program is 2 semesters and a summer internship so hope all goes well! í ½í¹Œ

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