A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

How am I going to remember all of this? - New Student

Posted: Jun 16, 2015

I am in coding school (home-based program) and as I read through the coding book, I try to understand all of the rules, etc., about what gets coded first and dual codes, when to use a particular code as a primary diagnosis, etc. However, I find that I remember little of those rules the next day or even later in the day. How do you remember all of these things, or do you even have to? Is everything I am reading about rules also included in the instructions in the tabular index? Any advice would be appreciated on how I can keep all of this straight in my head.

Everything you need is in your books. - see message

[ In Reply To ..]
You don't need to memorize anything but you should have a good knowledge of how to use the books, where to find things, tab things if you need to. There's a lot of great advice on YouTube that can help you organize things so you can find things faster.

Don't do that! - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Don't go off in all different directions, YouTube, etc., to find answers when you aren't even far enough along in coding to have good questions yet. Settle down.

First, are you in a very serious, comprehensive medical coding program. If you are, leave all the strategy to the instructors, if they are credentialed. If they aren't, there is no way they can teach you what they themselves don't know.

Let's assume that you are in a solid program with credentialed instructors who have a plan. You don't learn it all at once. That's just so unrealistic. Think of it as bite-sized education. As a new student, you aren't expected to know everything.

This is a demonstration of why people in those really short BASIC courses don't succeed. The courses aren't detailed enough to ever get past that and move on to more advanced coding. You aren't at the advanced level yet, so don't try to do the work as if you were.

In my own course, Andrews, we are told that we're first being exposed to a certain system in general, but only expected to understand part of it at the beginning. In the next module, we go to understand some of what didn't make any sense at all in the last module, because we were ready for it at the intermediate and then the advanced level. If we had been asked to understand all of it in the first module, we would have all failed.

Don't turn to YouTube for instruction. Settle in, follow the instruction as it's planned out for you in whatever course you are taking, and give it time to sink in, in phases or modules or semesters or whatever it is your course goes by. At a certain point you will know enough to ask intelligent questions, so ask them. Not now, because it sounds as if you don't yet know which way is up. Give it a few weeks. By then you'll have answers to questions you didn't even know you had. Good luck with your studies! I hope you are in a really good program, because this is not easy. If it were, the jobs wouldn't be so good now, would they?

People who panic often make silly mistakes that lead to failure - Do Not Over-React

[ In Reply To ..]
The worst thing you can do is to go looking for answers outside the course you are in. There is one exception here and that's the person who posts under 'Coder' who really knows what she is talking about. Other than that, who knows! You could be getting very bad advice from people in very poor programs, no instructors, poor or no textbooks at all, but very sure that they know the answers to your questions. We can offer you a little bit of encouragement and help you get back on track in the course you are taking or encourage you to get out of a bad one. It would be very bad advice of each of us tells you to go running off here and there because someone heard of someone else who thought something else was helpful. See how unproductive that is? Go back and read your course instructions again. Do what it tells you to do. That's the best advice any of us can give you.

My advice is not to get ahead of your instruction - Just my opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
You aren't supposed to understand everything all at once. What you're experiencing is normal. It's overwhelming to think about all that you will eventually have to know, but you don't have to know it all now. Pat yourself on the back for anything you have learned and don't waste one second of time worrying about how much more there is to learn. You can do this.

Everything is in your books. Stay away from YouTube. - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
Everything is in your books. Please remember that Rome was not built in a day. This has to build brick by brick, in layers.

You seem to be encountering information about dual codes and code first, but I think you are seeing it in your textbooks. To my reading of your post, you are missing it *in the code book.*

In other words, you are seeing your textbook saying "Oh, every time you code this, you need to code xyz first." You are going through the textbook reading all this and probably answering questions based on what you see there, and you think that is what you should be doing, and that makes you think you need to memorize all of that.

However, you are not looking that disease up in the alphabetic index, then in the tabular list. I am almost sure of that because if you were, you would be seeing a little note that says "when you code this, code xyz first."

Really, everything you need to know is in the code book. Most textbooks just go over the major things so that you are aware. Those are big things or important things.

There are two ways to study coding. One is to read the textbook, looking at the examples, saying "yeah, ummhmm, yup, got that, right ..." That does not work well. You won't learn much.

The other way is to use the book more actively. When you see an example, like "when you code blah blah, always code xyz first", don't just read it. Instead, stop and look up blah blah and FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO. Read what the code book says--all the notes, any guidelines, everything. After you figure it out, THEN see what the textbook says to do. If you don't match, retrace your steps.

If you do that, you will see that coding is not such a big deal. You will also start learning all that stuff bit by bit because it will begin to make sense.

You learn coding by doing a lot of coding. Reading a textbook is not coding. It is not learning coding. You have to use every opportunity to look up codes. Figure it out.

I strongly suggest that you stay away from YouTube. It is a crutch. You don't NEED someone telling you how to do this. It is in the book and you need to get it from the book. YouTube is not available on certification exams.

I also do not recommend sticking notes all over your books, tabbing so you can "find things faster," etc. That is another crutch. You do not learn much by doing those things, but you THINK something fabulous is happening. Nothing is happening at all. You do not learn to use the book ... you learn to become dependant on notes and tabs. You also run the risk of being told you can't use the book on an exam. Nice.

I saw a book a few weeks ago that bristled with tabs. Probably a hundred or more. It looked like a rainbow colored porcupine. They were all over the tabular ... "Diabetes" "MI" "Stroke" "PNA" Everything known to medicine. You could hardly see what was written on them there were so many. I was struck speechless. The owner explained they were there to save time on a test.

The thing was though, that we don't look up codes by going straight to the tabular. We look them up in the alphabetic index first. For a reason. That is how the book is designed. If you do not do that, bad things will happen to you.

You know what that told me about that person? She does not code correctly.

People tell me all the time that you will fail exams if you don't tab to save time. That is completely untrue. You just need to learn where things are in your book. You can do that.

Before you mess up your books, look up the rules in the exam test info. The organizations differ slightly, but neither allow writing a lot of notes.

TO Coder - hopefulcodertobe

[ In Reply To ..]
As another poster mentioned, your information is great. You really seem to know what you are talking about. Perhaps you should start your own forum.

Anyway, I do have a question for you. I am an Andrews student at the end of Module 1. I am not having trouble with coding. I actually find it interesting and fun and get good grades on my coding exams. You are right, go step by step (within your program) - do not try to go ahead.

I am having some trouble with the medical terminology and A and P portion of the program, despite having been an MT for over 30 years. Yes, I am familiar with the terms, know what most of them mean, and obvious I can spell the words correctly. I just can't seem to retain the information in the chapters (systems). I read the chapters over and over, I outline, etc. But, when it comes to the chapter review tests, I can only remember about half of what I studied. At Andrews, our actual terminology and A and P tests are open book, and I find myself looking up half the answers. As a result, I get a good grade. But, I just do not feel I am learning anything. I am afraid that on the credential exams, I will be lost on that portion of the test.

Can you offer any advise on how to study better.. or am I just being crazy, worrying about this portion of the test. Are there that many questions on the credential exam test regarding terminology and detailed A and P.

Thanks for anything you can offer me.

Hmm ... - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, the more you actually know by heart, the better off you will be, but certification exams have a limited number of questions. Only a small number will be devoted to A&P. The ones on the CPC are not going to be very in-depth, either. For that reason, you will probably know "enough." That does not mean you can slack off. The better you do on that part, the more errors you can make elsewhere and still pass.

A lot of the items tested are going to be things that are relevant to coding. If you see it discussed in your coding text, chances are it is important. Diabetes, hypertension, CHF, sepsis, and such are important, so you need to be clear about them. Obscure things that are not a problem in coding, not so much.

We also don't learn very well unless we are using the material or have a need to know it. If you relate it to coding or life in general, it is going to be easier to remember. That is why courses that teach A&P and pathophysiology by themselves far before actual coding tend to result in poor learning. That is the college structure, but not good for learning.

Repetition helps, too. You are only in the beginning, so you have not repeated anything. You will see it all again in pathophysiology. Study the anatomy over again and add on the disease processes. You will remember more. When you review for your exams, yo will remember still more.

From what you said, I can already see part of the problem ... you do not know how to study. You said you "read the chapters over and over, I outline, etc." That is not studying. It is a study-like activity that works in high school if the material is easy and is talked about and repeated and repeated in class, but it does not work for this. This is technical materi. You need to study differently.

Look up Coursera online and do the course called Learning How to Learn: Powerful Tools to Help You Master Tough Subjects. It is free and very good. I recommended this before, but no one seems to have bothered.

This course is easy, hugely interesting, self-directed, and short. You can complete it whenever you want. It is probably the best thing you can do for yourself. THE TIME YOU SPEND ON IT WILL BE REPAID OVER AND OVER IN YOUR CODING COURSE.

Reading over and over and outlining is not effective in learning. It does not help you store the information. It is mostly just mindless la la la. You have to RECALL the material to remember it. You have to RECALL it yourself, and repeatedly.

Reading ONCE and outlining is a first step. After that, you need to work on understanding and being able to recite, recall, and put the concepts together.

MT only requires recognition of most material, so you learned to stop at that level. It is the lowest level of learning. Now, you need to be able to do more.

Also, not to diminish your literacy skills, because they are important ... but, the goal here is not to be able to demonstrate that you can spell medical words. It may be that you are judging your success in learning using an MT ruler, then being caught by surprise because the ruler expects more.

Please see the link below and do that course. It only takes a little while to gain important skills. Then let us know what you think.

TO Coder - hopefulcodertobe

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for this information. I will try that course.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. sm - New Student

[ In Reply To ..]
I have taken 2 exams so far (Andrews) and have made a perfect score on both of them. I have been skipping the exercises in the book for Module I as instructed by the course syllabus. It is the examples in the coding handbook I have trouble with, especially when there are multiple codes. I am not talking about the exercises, but rather in the explanations, where the handbook states that this is the proper code for such and such. I try to look it up and figure it out but many times am unable to. I am finding the Andrews exams that I took so far to be quite easy. I wonder if that is the reason they instruct to skip the examples in the handbook, knowing it is too complex in the beginning. It just irks me that I can't get it.

Ah yes, that is why you aren't supposed to do those 'yet' before you are ready for th - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I know the ones you're talking about. Later in the course you cover those, so you aren't supposed to do them now. They say just to be aware that they exist, but ignore them for now. That's very good advice. Otherwise you will just be frustrated, because you are definitely not ready for them now. At the right time though, you will be, and you'll understand why it was wise to wait. Been there.

But I am instructed to read these particular sm - New Student

[ In Reply To ..]
chapters in the coding handbook. I wonder what I am gaining from it if I am not understanding what I am reading. That is why I try to work these out. I want to be clear that I am not talking about the "Coding Exercises" in the handbook, which I know to skip. I am talking about the text in the chapter itself, where it is mentioned how to do particular codes and rules of sequencing, etc.

Just a note about that book ... - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I should have mentioned this before. That book is not just a textbook -- it is a well-respected reference work. If you notice, it is published by the American Hospital Association, the same people who develop the code set. They answer coding questions in a publication called Coding Clinic. The Coding Handbook provides instruction and includes a lot of advice from Coding Clinic. Coding departments keep it handy so they can look things up, buying a new copy each year.

If this was a textbook teaching another subject, it would start out with something basic that you needed to know before something else. Like math, where you learn addition before you can learn division. In coding, though, it is not easy to do that, especially if it is a reference work like this. Some books do start out easy and move to more complex things, but the good ones usually don't.

Because of that, you will see more complicated material right in there with easier things. That is why your instructor said to skip some things. You don't yet know something you need in order to answer that.

There is another possibility, too. That book covers all kinds of coding. You are learning outpatient, I think. If those examples are more inpatient, they might be more complicated than you can figure out. It is a lot better to teach outpatient separately from inpatient, which your course does. When you go over this again later, for inpatient, everything will make more sense. You will also be able to keep outpatient and inpatient rules separate in your mind.

This is part of the difference in the way your course teaches coding. It is very different from the way others teach it. These differences are the reason you will learn coding well enough to pass certification and employer exams when others fail them, and to work successfully even though you might not have "experience."

It is good that you are trying to figure out those examples. That is the mark of a fine student. Just don't worry if they are too hard. A few chapters down the road, you will start seeing the reasons. It should all start coming clear.

You will get to that down the road - Just read and take

[ In Reply To ..]
it all in make notes to yourself with your questions. Later on, you will be hands on doing those and that is when you will learn it. They are just introducing it to you now. Don't try to get it, just follow their instructions. You will be coding many cases and put those rules to use.

Follow the course instructions! They are there - for a reason!

[ In Reply To ..]
The course instructions were written that way for a very good reason. It is not helping you to circumvent them.

You cannot understand all of that now because you do not know enough. They told you to read over it, but not to obsess over it. That is so that when you DO have enough knowledge to deal with that, you will be able to. It is also so when you are exposed to the background for those questions and examples you will recognize why you need to know that and what you need to know. Without that, you will have trouble understanding it.

That is a big part of why Andrews students are able to do so well. It is all in the way the course is constructed.

This is not the only time you will see that book. Next time, you will understand what it says.

Becoming frustrated with it now is not helping you. Just follow the instructions so that you learn what you are supposed to learn when you are supposed to learn it.

Similar Messages:

Apr 23, 2010

Remember when – you were proud to be an MT – proud of the work you did and the physicians said thank you when you did a good job? How about the bumper sticker years ago from AHDI (AAMT) that they handed out at one of the conferences that read – MDs need MTs. After 35 years in this profession, I call it quits. All of us really just need a "thank you" from time to time to feel appreciated. I have worked at ho ...

Sep 01, 2010

Remember when we used to get that newsletter in the mail? I found some today as I was packing my stuff. Remember when they used to pat us on the back now and then? (usually right before they made a change that was a major hassle, though--and NEVER a pay increase, absolutely unheard of) Now they just hang us out to dry and we have to fend for ourselves. Wonder if they even notice we are dropping like flies. We never hear anything from management unless it's that they are i ...

Sep 02, 2010

Remember back when you worked for a client of say 20-40 doctors? When when you could kick your feet up and type with your eyes closed, you knew what the doctor was going to say before he said it. Remember when you could type what he meant to say and not what he actually said. Remember them appreciating that? Remember no BOS or auditing scores? Remember always having an abdundance of work and feeling very comfortable about it because you made great pay? Remembe ...

Sep 18, 2010

catch errors, highlight them, and send them to you with a score? No comments, no ridicule, no 'teaching, preching, and/or belittling.' I mean, QA used to just point out the errors once a quarterly run, and be there as a backup on blanks or questions because supposedly they are just that good at it. When were they told to scold? Why would they think a humiliation approach works? ...

Jan 11, 2012

You know the weird thing is that even after just 3 years, I cannot even remember the name of the last 2 companies I worked for - I was an independent contractor for the first 15 years and had my own accounts. That's pretty sad when you can't even remember a past employer (or maybe it isn't because you've blocked them from your memory because of the poor pay and constant outsourcing and waiting for them to find you more work). Now that I do remember. If anyone knows who I w ...

Jun 09, 2012

a drug website where you could put in the last part of a drug name and get some possibilities as far as the whole drug name? I have a dictator that pauses the recording and then restarts during the medication list so I only hear the last part :( ...

Feb 17, 2014

Dangerous abbreviations that are in BOS are not to be observed unless the specific CP says to? I have NEVER operated like this, EVER. So now we get to check the CP and try and remember the BOS fix for the dangerous abbreviations (used to just keep it as a shortcut). I gotta get out of here, my mind doesn't process all this crap. ...

Nov 12, 2009

You actually looked forward to getting the PA instead of the doctor because they were so much easier to hear, understand, etc., except for the fact that most of them have no clue when it comes to pronouncing medications and feel that it is above them to spell the medication out. In my case it seems that the roles have flipped nowadays, I absolutely hate seeing the PA coming up and would rather do the doctor any day of the week!! ...

Feb 22, 2010

BEWARE. We talked about her last time, how everyone tested and never heard back from her . . . there was a term they used for it when they get their work done by sending it out to people that thinkithey are testing for a job but they were being used to get her work caught up!!!! ...

Mar 25, 2010

Awhile back we talked about this Vance. He obviously reads this board and writes his stories. I know someone mentioned STEPFORD WIVES CLUB and he has used this term now. He is a writer and will be speaking at the AHDI in Phoenix coming up. Also, any of you working for MQ, there is an AHDI meeting May 8th in Eugene, OR. I AM GOING. I am so curious to hear what they have to say and I might not be able to keep my mouth shut and they might not like some of the question ...

Aug 06, 2010

How do the figure what we send to QA as far as our pay goes. I am having a brain fart and cannot remember. I sent 1 to QA with 1 blank in it so does it go by that or the number of things they decided were wrong with it, because this person totally picked it apart changed things such as operation done at xxx hosptial to done in xxx hospital, etcetera. It is not a verbatim account either. I don't recognize the QA name either. ...

Aug 21, 2010

The unconstitutional employment practices of MedQuist and CBay - ACalfornian Posted: Mar 17th, 2010 - 2:30 pm I'm NOT an attorney; therefore, cannot give any legal advice. If you want to pursue the issues addressed below, please consult an attorney. In the case of Department of State v. Washington Post Co., 456 US 595 (1982), the Department of State refused to disclose private information of individuals to an "American" corporation, "Washington Post", citing the polic ...

Oct 05, 2010

Does anyone remember what the required lines per hour is? Thanks! ...

Nov 18, 2010

Hey all you loyal MQ people who have been here for years (why we do it, I don't know) Remember when....they used to tell MTs DO NOT ENTER S/L in the QA NOTE, because it made QA "think" they would hear that word....well guess what...and this is for the suits and the managers who are looking, and we know you are .....ASR is nothing but a full report of sounds likes. They wonder why errors are being seen in ASR reports? DUH!!! ...

Nov 26, 2011

Fresh out of a local vocational school for MT back in 1993, I met with an established local MT, who allowed me to do a little of her work (with pay) to see how I would do because she wanted someone to take over on Fridays so she could have that day off. Within a few months, she partnered with another transcriptionist in town for a separate account and gave me all the work from group that she was doing! It was 5 docs and 2 NPs. I did the work at her house on her computer. ...

Dec 28, 2011

Does anyone remember CyMed (who was bought out by SPi in 2006)? I was trying to remember the platform they used. ...

Jan 24, 2012

nm ...

Apr 18, 2012

When was it they "capped" our pay, giving most of us a pay cut? I meant to write it down (don't know why, but I usually record these things), but I never did and can't find the cheery e-mail informing us of our "new" rates! I have all my pay stubs, but they're basically indecipherable. Anyone remember what month that was? ...

Feb 05, 2013

that suddenly closed down in India.... IIRC, the story goes that people showed up for work one morning and the doors were locked. The entire company moved out overnight without any notice or explanation. A friend and I were trying to remember who this was. it was a well known (with us transcriptionists, anyway) service. Thx ...

Feb 24, 2013

down near Philadelphia and what happened to those people that worked in that office. I would like to know where they are now. This is going back a few years and I cant remember the name of the town but I know it was near Philadelphia. ...

Mar 27, 2013

TIA ...

Apr 16, 2013

Boston bombings made me think of her. If I remember right, the only place I learned that she was a MedQuist employee was on MT Stars. MQ didn't bother to put out an e-mail about her, jckas company that they are. Just curious... ...

Aug 31, 2013

How in no more than 90 days, VR would be completely trained to put out perfect drafts? What the happened to that? I am going to throw that up to my TL, just for grins, every time they rake us over for critical errors, customer complaints and so on. Yes, we are making the errors (or at least some of them) but with drafts getting worse, we are being set up! ...

Jan 23, 2014

when you could make a good living by being an MT? What's up with these companies over-hiring and having us sit for hours on end with no work? Why hire so many if you don't need them? I finally quit and will never do MT work again because after going to VR, I sat here for 11 hours on average each day either waiting for work or doing very little work and my last check for an entire month was $240. After 17 years of this work and working for a company that I loved until they sold out ...

Apr 19, 2014

x ...

Oct 23, 2014

I have no idea what username or password to use, what with the different work email, escription, fiesa, weblock and ADP site usernames ans passwords. Can anyone guide me in the right direction? I feel like I am up a creek w/out a paddle! ...

Nov 05, 2014

And there would be a ton of available jobs to choose from? Now we're lucky if there are 2 or 3, and those would be snatched up by Nuance or M*Modal. ...

May 01, 2015

Okay, enough already. She is repeating everything 3 times. I got it the FIRST time. I have already done 2 of her reports and more to follow. Anybody else what a shot at this? ...

Oct 13, 2009

A friend of mine gets the occasionally, and can barely function. Imitrex was the only one that came to mind, but I couldn't remember what else could try to get that won't sedate her. That's the short story. Thanks! ...

Mar 02, 2010

were supposed to be paid more for doing? MQ knows exactly what it is doing and knows very well that things need to be sent to QA. This is nothing but a reason to drop our wages to Indian wages, they have no respect for us at all. They are now putting these rules on us, THEY ARE, and then saying it is totally on the MTs shoulder for anything that goes wrong. Is this legal? ...