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Coding Question du Jour - Main Terms - sm

Posted: Feb 23, 2012

What is going on with those main terms? My coding textbook keeps wanting me to identify the main term, but I can't figure out which one it is. If you can find something under three different words in the Alphabetic Index, how do you know which is the main term? The one I choose is never the one the book says is right!

This is frustrating. Does this mean I am not cut out to be a coder?

That is an excellent question - Answer

[ In Reply To ..]
Don't throw in the towel quite yet, sm! Coding books can be a little vague on this point. They try to state things very clearly, but in this case it ends up confusing us.

A main term is one of the bolded entries in the AI. We like to think a disease or condition, or whatever it is that we are looking up, would have just one of those, but they can have several. Your code book might just be underlining or selecting one to avoid confusing things. (That's helping, right? LOL!)

If you are looking up purple people eater syndrome and you can find a listing for PPES under syndrome, eater, people, and purple, then they are all main terms for that condition. If you could only find it under syndrome, then syndome is the only main term.

How many words should you look up? I am usually good at knowing how something will be listed, so I might look up only one, but that is OK for me because I have been doing this a while. You should look up all the words. If you do that as a student, you won't have to guess. You will know for sure which they are and you will learn a lot from it. You will get lots more practice looking things up, which will help you get really good at finding things.

Yes, - Look them all up

[ In Reply To ..]
now as a student. Down the road as a coder, you will have a better feel for the whole process and it won't feel difficult at all. Do this now, later it will be easier and second nature.

main terms - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Andrews requires you to look up ALL terms in the diagnosis in order to ensure you find the right code. It is a good habit, especially starting out!

perhaps - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
We are not answering her question. Identify the main term. Maybe you can ask yourself, what is the main condition they are asking for. If there is something wrong with the heart, you can look up heart but it will not get you anywhere. You know what it will say? See condition! What's wrong with the heart?

Thanks! This really helped! - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Great answer. Thanks for your time...what a wonderful resource you all are! I hope you don't mind if I stop by with more questions later.

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