A Note From the CCDS Coordinator: You can do what Sarah did, it just takes hard work.
by Penny Richards
Sarah LaSource didn’t set out to do anything extraordinary on July 8. She took the CCDS certification exam—and lots of folks have done that. But she did what no one else has—walked out with the highest score we’ve ever seen anyone get on the exam, either the old or new version.
Sarah scored 116 out of 120, or 96.6% on the exam. Her secret? “I studied hard!”
She planned to take the exam in late June but some work matters arose that forced her to change her exam plans. She took the extra time to study.
She used several resources as she prepared: The CCDS Exam Study Guide, The Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist’s Complete Training Guide, and The 2016 CDI Pocket Guide (all from HCPro) and the ACDIS/AHIMA joint brief “Guidelines for Achieving a Complaint Query Practice.”
“I took the practice test (in the CCDS Exam Study Guide) several times,” she said. “The first time was to establish a baseline to find my weaknesses, then I went back over those points exclusively to hone in on my deficiencies.”
Sarah is a clinical documentation specialist at Jackson Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tenn., and will celebrate three years in the role in September. Her background is in SICU, case management, and utilization review.
“I got into CDI when my husband transferred to Tennessee to go to grad school,” she told me. “I applied here for an opening in case management, and when I met with the recruiter she told me about the CDI opening. I knew someone at my former employer who was in CDI and who tried to get me into it.”
She is pleased she made the move to CDI.
“This is right up my alley,” Sarah says. “I like to try new things and this is challenging. Definitely the favorite thing I’ve done so far in my nursing career.
“It was a difficult test,” she said. “The biggest challenge was the wording on some of the questions. I went back and changed some answers, something I usually don’t do. I’m glad I did!”
Congratulations Sarah. The hard work paid off in a big way.