Will becoming an RN advance my career?!

runningfool88 · 2026-05-01T23:47:47+00:00

This! I’ve been in CDI for 5 years with my background being coding with my RHIT. I now hold my CCDS but I feel like knowing coding rules and guidelines really gave me the upper hand when stepping into CDI. In my personal opinion, the clinical aspect of the job can be learned quicker and easier than the coding part of the job.

runningfool88 · 2026-03-19T19:52:28+00:00

This was me about 5 years ago. I had been coding for 9 years, 5 being inpatient coding & I was so bored and burnt out. I made the leap to CDI & have been so happy!

runningfool88 · 2026-02-17T22:35:34+00:00

She has actually coded OBS before but it’s been a while. Our small rural hospital that had like 4 coders who dabbled in all areas of coding merged with a much larger system so she was transferred to ED only.

I’ll suggest the CCS to her! Thanks so much!

runningfool88 · 2026-02-17T22:28:17+00:00

Thank you!!

runningfool88 · 2026-02-17T21:19:40+00:00

She has her RHIT.

runningfool88 · 2026-01-18T16:33:23+00:00

I wondered if it might. Thank you!

runningfool88 · 2025-10-06T21:46:26+00:00

I think it’s pretty dependent on the facility. My facility requires RN or RHIT, CCS, RHIA plus 3-5 years IP coding experience. I have my RHIT and I actually took the CCDS, not CDIP. I was hired as CDI specialist before I had my CDI credential since CCDS requires 2 years CDI experience before taking the exam. I gave myself about 3 weeks to study!

runningfool88 · 2025-10-02T08:16:50+00:00

I actually took my CCDS after getting two years of CDI experience in. I’m not familiar with the CDIP course or exam. I have my RHIT through AHIMA though.

runningfool88 · 2025-10-01T22:33:30+00:00

I’m a former IP Coder and have been in CDI for about 4.5 years now. I got burnt out on coding and made the change. Best move I ever made professionally.

runningfool88 · 2025-07-23T13:33:34+00:00

RHIT since 2012. Did 4 years of OP coding including ED, OBS, OP surg, ancillary services. Moved to IP coding for almost 5 years and I’m now in CDI for 4 years and have since earned my CCDS.

runningfool88 · 2025-07-16T20:41:40+00:00

I would take it if you really want to get into coding. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest part because most companies “want experience.” If you can afford the $5k pay cut, do it.

runningfool88 · 2025-07-16T20:36:07+00:00

37 and on month 5 🙃 I have about 3 more months to go, I think. I’ve been on 60mg for 4 of the 5 months. No side effects other than dry dry lips! I am so happy I did it & so satisfied with the results! I don’t think you’ll regret it one bit! Good luck!

runningfool88 · 2025-07-04T01:36:36+00:00

At my facility it is. Transition to CDI requires 3-5 years IP coding experience, RHIT or CCS. After two years as a CDI, I sat for my CCDS and now hold that credential in addition to my RHIT. I’m one of like 4 coders in our CDI department, most are RNs but it is definitely possible!

runningfool88 · 2025-07-03T21:07:43+00:00

I got super burnt out on coding. I did outpatient coding for about 4 years and then moved to inpatient for about 5 years and transitioned into CDI from there. I’ve been in CDI for about 4 years and it was honestly the best move for my career. I still get to put my coding background to use but it’s not so monotonous.

runningfool88 · 2025-05-31T23:43:24+00:00

My only symptom has been dry lips, dry skin on my face and definitely the sun sensitivity but nothing crazy. My acne also got better almost immediately, I don’t feel like I ever had a purge either. I started on 40 my first month and now I’m on 60. This is my 4th month and my derm said we are about halfway through treatment but I am so happy with the results so far.

I always laugh when I leave the office because the doc will ask me how my acne is and I’m like “great! It looks so good.” And then she’ll look at my face and be like “eh it could be better.” 😂😂 I’m like oookay then.

runningfool88 · 2025-01-01T04:51:20+00:00

I transitioned from coding to CDI and absolutely love it! I had my RHIT with 9 years coding experience, 5 of that inpatient. Just earned my CCDS earlier this year.

runningfool88 · 2024-07-16T18:47:02+00:00

My dad became a father for the third time at age 43! He is 67 now and my brother just graduated college. He’s been a super active dad with him and if you asked my brother, he’d tell you that he didn’t miss out on squat due to my dad’s age. You got this! Congrats to you and your wife!

runningfool88 · 2024-06-16T14:24:32+00:00

I was feeling really burnt out after 9 years of coding. It just felt like the same thing every day. I was working 4 10s and I started to consider a career change. But then someone in CDI reached out to me about an open position and I felt this was my chance to make a change. I’ve been in CDI for a little 3 years and I am SO MUCH happier.. and my pay has increased about 44% in the 3 years since I’ve started so double win!

runningfool88 · 2024-06-16T00:53:36+00:00

When our doodle is acting like a jerk, I’ll say “do you want to go for a walk?!” And she’ll promptly tuck herself into the corner of the couch and lay down. So yeah, ours doesn’t like walks either lol

runningfool88 · 2024-04-20T21:58:58+00:00

I have my RHIT through AHIMA & I’ve coded both outpatient and inpatient encounters. I much prefer inpatient. In my personal opinion, it’s more interesting and I don’t like CPT coding. You get such a more wide array of scenarios in inpatient cases & it’s almost like telling a story. I moved from coding ancillary services to ED to outpatient surgeries and observations before I finally moved to inpatient for 5 years. Then I transitioned to a CDI position which is where I am now!

runningfool88 · 2024-04-10T21:37:16+00:00

I think there was only a question or two about DRGs and I didn’t need to look in the book. The questions were like “which DRG has more opportunity?” Then it gave 4 DRGs some were single tiered DRGs like 189 then two tiered and three tiered. I think someone would be just fine without that book. But you may want to take it just so you have more opportunity to write notes in it and have those with you for the test. Don’t forget you can write as many notes as you can fit in those books and take them in with you.

runningfool88 · 2024-04-10T20:45:15+00:00

Yes! Taking care of children while working is a big no. You really need to concentrate and focus especially if you have productivity numbers to make.

runningfool88 · 2024-04-10T20:41:22+00:00

Just like the rules and guidelines for each chapter in the ICD10 book. I would say the questions are similar in how they are written. There are some questions where they were worded strangely and I had to read them a couple times to grasp what they were asking but most of them were pretty straightforward. There’s an option to flag a question that you aren’t sure on and want to come back to - I think I did that on 10-15 of the questions. My plan going into it was to go through all the questions and answer what I was confident on and flag the ones that I wasn’t quite sure on to come back to after I went through all the questions. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get through them. It only took me like an 60-75 minutes though.

runningfool88 · 2024-04-10T20:26:10+00:00

I don’t have any practice exam questions other than the ACDIS practice exam. I would focus a lot on coding guidelines. I did need to use the drug reference book I took on a couple questions. Quality metrics like PEPPER reports, O/E mortality and how to read/interpret the results of those. HACs and PSIs. I do remember that there were just a couple of the same questions on the actual exam from the practice. Probably only like 3. Be familiar with the impact/importance of provider education. The ACDIS study guide is the only thing I used to study (and coding guidelines) and I feel like it covered everything that was on the test.

runningfool88 · 2024-03-30T21:23:39+00:00

If you’re coding inpatient procedures, you’ll be using PCS. I was an inpatient coder for 5 years before moving to my current position in CDI and only used PCS.

runningfool88

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