I used to warn people before they enrolled that there's a part of the course, Neoplasms/Mental Disorders that is MELT-DOWN TERRITORY. That's the area where everyone wants to throw Linda Andrews out the window with their instructor and their computer...and probably Glenda too. :)
If it isn't Neoplasms/Mental Disorders, what is or was YOUR own personal melt-down area, and how did you get through it?
My two are Pregnancy and The Circulatory System. For Pregnancy, with the possibility of so many codes, I had a tick box approach - checking the entire list of possible codes to ensure I had captured every possible one. And I had to re-read the chapter many times - I even took a week off from it and did other chapters. And lots of questions to Debby...
Circulatory - this one almost made me cry with frustration of trying to figure it out especially bypass....many many questions to Debby....
I think E/M coding was my meltdown territory! I still greatly despise it, but know it's a crucial part of a coder's knowledge bank. I think that's one of the topics where continuing education will have to be focused for me.
Also, Circulatory system bypasses were a great frustration to me too, but Debby is a huge help! So, you're not alone, Susan!
The more we're exposed to these topics and practice the coding for them, the better we'll get at them!
You all are scaring me, I am currently finishing up circulatory system and I thought it was the never-ending section:) Now I am worried about what is to come. Good thing we have access to good people to answer questions. I have Glenda's e-mail address at the ready!
Yes! I thought I had it until I took the test last night. I was so disappointed that I had gotten 5 wrong. The funny thing is, the ones I was having trouble with I got correct - and the ones that I got wrong really surprised me. Anyway, right now I'm working on my errors and figuring out how to get the right answer on the ones I missed.
Yes! I thought I had it until I took the test last night. I don't think the 10 questions on the exercises prepared me for that at all. I was so disappointed that I had gotten 5 wrong. The funny thing is, the ones I was having trouble with I got correct - and the ones that I got wrong really surprised me. Anyway, right now I'm working on my errors and figuring out how to get the right answer on the ones I missed.
I'm currently working on this, and it is definitely the most challenging test for me so far. I just keep in mind that if it was easy, anyone could do it. If anyone could do it, there would be no job security or profitability in it. :)