Q&A: Tips for new CDI specialists

Q: I’m a new CDI specialist and I am terrified by all of the new information I have to learn. What do you suggest?

A: I know this may seem overwhelming when first starting out, don’t be too hard on yourself. You are in the infancy stage of learning and this is a position that is built on not only knowledge, but also on consistent practice.

Try to absorb as much education as possible. If you’re participating in one of our CDI Boot Camps, go through the modules once to introduce yourself to the information and then go through a second time to pull all the big pieces together.

If you’re not enrolled in a Boot Camp, avail yourself of the collective knowledge of your teammates. Shadow them as they do their rounds. Ask lots of questions. Join ACDIS (that goes without saying) and read the articles and other materials available on the website. Participate in the online ACDIS Forum network where you’ll find a number of helpful CDI specialists to pose your questions to.

I promise you that, in a couple of months, you will see a difference and, after six to 12 months, so much more information will become clear.

As a CDI specialist, your job is to look at all the documentation in the record and make sure that nothing is missing. Start small and work up to more complicated reviews.

Someone once told me that clinical documentation improvement is like a paint by numbers picture—all the codes used to paint the picture of the patient’s condition are based on the documentation. Our job is to make sure the documentation is as accurate as possible, so we are using the appropriate codes. We wouldn’t want to be using the wrong colors in our pictures!

Editor’s note: Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS answered this question. Brodie is a CDI education specialist for HCPro in Middleton, Massachusetts. Contact her at sbrodie@hcpro.com. For information regarding CDI Boot Camps offered by HCPro, visit www.hcprobootcamps.com.