Many aspiring medical coders often wonder about what their life will be like once they get into the workforce. What on-job duties will they have to perform? Will they be working with some mind-numbing programming languages to code medical transcripts? Who will they be interacting with? Will they be working all day? Is it going to be stressful?
And things like that.
If you are preparing for a career in medical coding, and you also have the same questions to ask, then you’ve come to the right place.
Today, we’ll be taking you on a ghost visit to a medical coder’s office to give you a sneak peek into a day in the life of a medical coder.
So, let’s get rolling without any further ado…
And no one’s here—yet!
It’s still early morning.
But wait, what’s that othermedical coder doing in that other office?
Why is he here, when his colleagues are still not here?
Umm… this could well be to do with the other coder’s shift timings.
You see, medical coders may work in different shifts. Some may work at night, some in the morning and some in the afternoon. This is especially the case in large organizations.
Look, there he goes—he has left for home!
Ahh, that big coffee mug on the table. But isn’t that too big?
Take our word, you’ll need it.
A medical coder’s job is quite exhaustive (that’s why they are paid well for it) and they have to be attentive all the times to make sure they don’t make an error while coding a transcript. So, a coffee definitely helps!
Okay, but why two screens at the workstation?
That’s probably got to do with work efficiency.
Medical coders often have two screens installed at their work station. On one screen, they have got the patient’s record and on the other screen they have got the coding software opened.
And here comes the medical coder.
Observe him silently…
The very first thing he does is he checks his computer to see what tasks have arrived overnight. He sorts out the patient records that need coding, and the ones that have been coded, he emails them to the medical biller.
Oh, where is he heading now?
To get some coffee because his work is about to start.
See those charts? Well that’s how a medical coder codes. There isn’t any advanced programming software that he uses, neither does he remember all the codes in his mind. He transcribes every detail of the patient’s visit using the chart.
For the symptoms that are mentioned in the patient’s record, there is a different set of codes. For the tests that the doctor performed, there is a separate coding scheme. For the diagnosis, the codes are different. And same is the case for the prescribed medicine or treatment.
The medical coder converts all this information provided in a patient’s record into a coded transcript.
But why has he left few of the fields blank?
Coding is not easy, and there will be cases where you are going to get confused how to code certain information. There might be a clash in the coding scheme, or data may be missing from the patient’s records.
Etc., etc.
When faced with such a situation, coders usually first consult the doctor. If the doctor isn’t able to help them, they then consult their more experienced colleagues.
See, he has just emailed a query to the doctor?
You’ll also be interacting heavily with the doctors, nurses and your fellow coders on the job.
This dude just keeps encoding records. How many of them is he going to encode in a day?
That actually depends on the flow of patients. On a typical day, a medical coder is expected to encode around 60-70 records. Those, that are priorities, will be dealt with first.
And he has already worked on fifty-eight records. So, there are probably two more to go.
His coffee mug is also almost empty.
It’s time to leave before the coder unknowingly locks us in his office, and leaves for home.
Let’s get moving!
A BONUS read: Medical Coding Classes: What You Will Learn
Awesome Blog!