Rn to HIM after one year experience?

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I am an RN (scheduled to graduate with my BSN in December) who has one year med/surg nursing experience only. I would like to get into coding, clinical documentation specialist, quality, chart review. I applied for a job in the HIM department as a chart completion analyst, just to get my foot in the door in that department. I will take a $4/hr pay cut. Many of the Clinical documentation specialist jobs want 3 years clinical experience.

Do you think only having 1 year clinical experience will hurt me? I do not want to go into any other aspect of bedside nursing.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I think that it may be better for you to approach via an Informatics route. HIM is a whole different (non-clinical) professional field which traditionally did not really value clinical input (was that diplomatic enough??) Healthcare informatics is a relatively new hybrid profession that combines clinical & information systems. There are many certification programs designed just for clinicians... check out this website for some program listings Home | AMIA

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I think it is a wise decision. I'm an RN working in Utilization Management. Coders speak a whole different language and any bit of knowledge we can gain to help put together the whole picture makes us a more valuable employee. Glean every bit of information you can! You'll become the conduit to the MDs for documentation improvement when you combine your clinical skills with the language of "coderspeak".

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I posted before, that AHIMA claims there is a current 30% shortage in coders, which will rise to 50/60% more when ICD-10 starts in 2014. It's gigantic. The shortage means the pay will rise accordingly. There are tons of jobs (a large hospital migth have about 100 differemt HIM job descriptions), and all have tons of advancement openings- it's a lot more complex a field than you might suspect, and more than ever will be riding on it once PPACA kicks in fully. With a BSN, and a few HIM/coding certs under your belt, you can easily make $100K in quick time. BTW- anyone can be a medical coder. Much like an MDS nurse, there's no legal definition or educational requirements (you don't even need any classes- just buy a coding manual) or certification requirement. But lots of places want certs. With coding though, anyone with a coding manual can be called a 'medical coder'. Check out the biggest players- AHIMA, an AAPC, to see all about the HIM opportunities.

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Hi, I also have a few questions. I'm an RN with 3+ years exp. I'm also wanting to move toward the HIM/coding areas. I'm actually looking into community college/continuing educ programs to see which would be the best fit for me. You stated no classes are necessary, but how would I go about trying to get my certifications? And what is a MDS nurse? Any help in pointing me in the direction of HIM/coding will be appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)

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