Path to Follow to Qualify as a Clinical Documentation Specialist
The primary task of this professional is to manage health information data for healthcare facilities, laboratories, clinical trials, hospitals and so on. It is a full-time job that requires you to work during regular business hours with exemptions where possible. You need to read more about what they do with the EHR system among other tools.
Post-secondary certifications take two years. They will also teach your computer systems and database-oriented practices. Second-year course work deals with medical transcription, human diseases and an internship. You will find that knowledge important when you are on the job because you will need to practice business communication skills and standard office practices.
A degree is needed when you need to find a job in consulting firms, public health organizations, pharmaceutical companies and many other healthcare facilities. You will also learn anatomy, medical terminology, informatics, and coding procedures whether you do HIM or HIT. Also, HIT degree is offered in the following colleges; thus, read more about what they do. However, there are independent institutions that do not offer degrees but teach medical coding only hence check them here and read more on what they do.
Both masters programs of HIM and HI are practical to offer you experience, but HI is more of research. HIM master’s degree program will teach you administrative issues, information policy, and systems, cost-analysis for issues related to information processing and record maintenance.
You will also need a license or certification. You need a professional certification to allow you to explore different certifications before you settle on a specific program. It is offered by the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS); thus, read more about what they do. A clinical documentation specialist likewise needs RHIT certifications to a license. Being a member of RHIA allows you to work as a clinical documentation specialist legally; hence, read more about what they do.
You can only get working experience in nursing if you have done a nursing degree and RHIT certification. Your work as an RHTI is also to maintain the security of records of patients, organize databases, code medical information. You need to read more about what they do. You will earn more than an RHIT.
These voluntary certifications add value to your CV. You need one to two years of professional documentation experience and college-level coursework for you to qualify to sit for a CDSS exam.
RNs renew their licenses after two years, and they should provide documents to support that they have completed education course work for their licenses to be renewed. You will take twenty continuing education units if you are an RHTI.
You can apply for a medical secretary in a healthcare facility. However, you have to be post-secondary certified or have an associate degree for you to move to higher levels of your career path. A medical transcriptionist use special software to transform audio recordings made by doctors into text formats and input them into electronic health record.