Nursing

Coding complex metabolic procedures

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, May 27, 2005

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Metabolic diseases are complex and not easily understood. Patients suffering from these diseases present unusual combinations of symptoms or require obscure laboratory tests. You need to carefully review the medical record when a work-up is being done for any of these conditions as there may be several "rule-out" conditions considered before a definitive diagnosis can be made.

Consider ordering family testing to determine susceptibilities or traits. Also consider genetic counseling with families as they weigh future options. You can involve nutritional counseling because several conditions require special dietary regimes and restrictions. If not diagnosed early, infants with several of these disorders may have severe irreversible organ or brain damage, so it is important to conduct early testing (mandated by several states). Abnormal test results in infants may then require additional, more sophisticated tests, to pinpoint the specific deficiency and initiate treatments.

Editor's note: The above excerpt is from the new online course, "Inpatient Coding Module: Coding Complex Metabolic Procedures." For more information on this and other courses in our Coding library, go to www.hcprofessor.com and click on Coding/Reimbursement.



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