Is Medical Coding Your Professional Calling?
What Is Your Professional Calling?
Have you ever had such a strong attraction to a particular career and felt it was your opportunity to make a difference? Maybe you have wondered if medical coding is your calling?
I’m not talking about your spiritual calling, your calling to your God. I mean your professional calling to a career. Not merely a job. Something that you have such a passion for that you could almost do it without getting a paycheck – if only you didn’t have rent or a mortgage to pay. Or even small mouths to feed.
We have all experienced something along the lines that caused us to think, “Gee, that sounds interesting,” or “I think I’d like to know more about that!”
And medical coding may have been one of those curiosities.
Turn Your Passion Into A Career
Maybe you lost someone in your family, or someone you were close to became ill, and you wished there was something you could do to help them. Or maybe you watched a medical show on TV and became interested in medicine through watching surgeries. I know I have.
This interest led me to look into various careers in healthcare. Previously I had transcribed medical records, and I worked in a hospital admitting department for a while. Something about healthcare really fascinated me!
No, I wasn’t able to fix a person’s medical problems because I wasn’t a doctor, but I could somehow feel like I was helping them in a roundabout way by making sure their medical records were correct.
I also knew I was somewhat of an introvert, and, as much as I liked helping others, my interest was more in the behind-the-scenes kind of thing. Consequently, I looked into medical coding. It seemed like a natural progression for me based on what I had done previously in my career.
So my point is that we all learn about our passion through life experiences, feedback from others, and self-reflection.
If you go to sleep at night thinking about healthcare and medical coding and wake up with thoughts of it again in the morning, this may be your professional calling.
In other words, if medical coding fires you up, turn it into a career!
Getting Started In A Medical Coding Career
If you determine that medical coding is your professional calling, or think it might be, you may want to learn about the differences between medical billing and coding. I talk about what medical billers and coders do, where they work, and how much they make here.
You will need to learn medical terminology and anatomy before taking a medical coding course or working in another healthcare profession. I discuss in another post the three reasons why you need to know medical terminology and the best ways to learn it.
If you’re interested in taking a medical terminology and anatomy course or a medical coding course, CCO (Certification Coaching Organization) offers many different online educational courses. Other companies offer them as well. Just make sure you do your homework when determining which course works best for you.
If medical coding is your professional calling, don’t let it slip away. Medical coders are in great demand, and the average salaries are lucrative.
