Adjectives vs nouns

catladyrncatladyrn
in CDI Talk Archive
We just had a discussion on our little team about when it is appropriate to code adjectives as nouns and when it might not be. Examples might be, obesity vs obese, malnutrition vs malnourished, cachexic vs cachexia. I have sometimes queried to get the noun because I think the adjective is more of a physical descriptor than a diagnosis, but the coder takes the adjective as a diagnosis, and then the reverse where I think the adjective is sufficient and the coder won't accept it as a diagnosis.

Any thoughts/

Renee


Linda Renee Brown, RN, CCRN, CCDS
Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center

Comments

  • tpeytontpeyton
    edited May 2016
    I have used cachectic for cachexia.

    Tracy M Peyton RN, CCDS
    Case Management
    Bradford Regional Medical Center
    Upper Allegany Health Systems
    116 Interstate Parkway
    Bradford, PA 16701
    814-558-0406
  • dbutlerdbutler
    edited May 2016
    Most often our coders will want the noun. I can't think of any consistent exceptions, so we routinely query (and the physicians do get frustrated with those type of queries). Just part of the territory I guess.

    Don
Sign In or Register to comment.