Cheesecakelady

Deleted duplicate.

What do you mean by "creating the MDS assessment?" You surely don't mean for Medical Records to assess the patient, do you?

It sounds like she loves her job. Maybe she's just not ready to "settle down" and start a family.

Not to be a worrywart, but please keep an eye on him. I am not trying to scare you, but I have seen MRSA infections that started out just like this. Seems to get better, then, next thing you know, it's much, much worse with swelling, pain, redness and drainage. The next thing you know the patient is headed for emergency surgery. The doctor told me one indication of a MRSA infection is that the pain is much worse than you would ever expect for the size of the wound and that was the case with the patients I knew. It sounds like your husband is doing fine, but please make sure he continues improving. If it seems worse, get him to the doctor quickly. By the way, I am not a nurse, just speaking from experience.

Tbarn, it sounds like you have a good career ahead of you. Good luck. I think I would prefer to work in a specialty office. There is so much to know when you are coding for all departments. The thing I like about this job is I work from home and can set my own hours. I'm not sure I want to work 12 hour shifts, especially not on midnights like I keep hearing new nurses have to work.

I'm not an expert, but for anyone wanting to get into coding, the 2 main things employers look for are experience and certification through AHIMA. For hospital work, they are looking for a CCS.

Well, what happened to me was I worked as a coder, but took several years off to stay home with my kids. I had always been interested in nursing so I started taking my prereqs. I have all of the prereqs for the LPN program and was ready to start clinicals next month, but the RN program requires a few more classes + longer clinicals. I saw a parttime coding job and applied for it thinking I would let them pay for my tuition. They offered me flexible hours and the opportunity to work from home, along with benefits so I couldn't say no. I am taking the summer off from classes so I can concentrate on learning the new job.

Tbarn, have you been coding for very long? I have many years experience, but have been taking prereqs. for nursing school. I was offered a coding position that pays better than I would start at as a new nursing grad so I accepted it. Can I ask why you are changing careers?

I'm a coder, but not a nurse. I graduated from the Medical Assistant program at our local community college. Check out AHIMA.org.

Congratulations on your new job! I hope they provide you with enough training to be successful. I worked as a coder for many years and it can be a challenge. With a nursing background, you will catch on quickly.

This may not be of much help to you now, but I always make it a point to read the chapters in advance. You've already got the book and you know it will be covered sooner or later so just get it read ahead of time. It helps me understand the lecture much better if I have some idea what the instructor's talking about by reading the chapter beforehand. Whenever I am studying for a test I review every bit of material that was covered in class. As I go through it, if there is anything I don't know, I write it down in a notebook. Then I keep going through my notebook repeatedly until I know everything. It takes a lot of time to do this. If your textbook has an associated website, you may be able to find online quizzes, flashcards, etc. These save me a lot of time when reviewing coursework. I always make up my own flashcards covering the material I find more difficult and carry a few of them in my purse so I can study even when I'm not home. Realistically, if you have to learn 7 chapters of material you have never seen before in 3 days, I think it would be very difficult. I would break it up into ~2 chapters per day and just learn everything I could for each chapter in that time frame. Good luck. It sounds like a challenge.

Blue note, thanks for the link. Who knew there was so much interest in coding? I haven't read all of the discussions yet, but I'm working on it. Segalpn, you do sound a bit burned out. I, too, have many years experience in coding and have been taking prerequites for nursing school. I thought I might go in to nursing, but now I have been offered a better (remote) coding job. It's hard to decide which road to take.

I don't know anything about that particular hospital, but I do know that they get a lot of bad weather in the Valparaiso area. Lots of snow. There is a hospital in Valparaiso also. Sorry , I don't know much about that one either.

Do any of you nurses (or anyone else) work as a medical coder and, if so, how do you like the work compared to nursing? How does the pay compare to nursing? I know coding probably pays less, but the hours are usually better. I did a seaqrch for previous posts on this topic, but they were all old and some of them seemed rather incomplete- people seemed very interested in the topic, but then never posted back with follow up. Thanks for any insight/experiences you can offer.

So, how is your job search going? I'm curious if you've had any job offers without actual coding experience. Good luck.:)