With the healthcare industry expected to grow as baby boomers age, colleges and universities throughout the country have been adding degree programs intended to train students for healthcare careers that come available. Students who participate in these programs might benefit through an understanding of medical terminology. In some instances, medical terminology courses are a requirement of the new degree programs.
Terminology courses provide students with an understanding of the language they’re likely to use and hear in the healthcare industry. This specialized language includes root words with suffixes and prefixes attached – cardiovascular, cardiogram, and cardiology, for instance. It also includes eponyms – illnesses, exams, parts of the anatomy and more that are often named for people.
A college in Kentucky and a Utah-based institution, which offers online education programs, are among the institutions launching new healthcare programs. For the fall 2010 semester, the Kentucky college began offering an associate degree in medical coding and, through a partnership with another institution in the same state, plans for the fall of 2011 to provide those students opportunities to pursue Doctor of Pharmacy degrees with them. Recently, a health care education company has introduced a new pharmacy technician program and offers medical coding programs as well.
Pharmacy technicians generally fill customer service and administrative roles while helping licensed pharmacists prepare prescription medications, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes. Medical coders assign codes to patient files that indicate health insurance reimbursement amounts. Where the Kentucky university’s medical coding program combines accelerated online courses with time in the classroom, the healthcare company’s programs are entirely online. Medical terminology courses often are a part of programs for pharmacy technicians and medical coders.
While students in medical terminology courses might learn about common prescription drug names, medical terminology might not necessarily be a required course for pharmacy training programs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts faster than average employment growth, both for pharmacy technicians and medical coders. In addition to growth within the healthcare industry, changes in patient medical records are expected to add to growth, and changes, in the field of medical coding, information from the Bureau suggests. That’s because the federal government is spending stimulus money to help the healthcare industry go “paperless,” or move to electronic patient records.
When it comes to education requirements for medical coders and pharmacy technicians, there are no standard requirements. However, information from the BLS shows that employers favor pharmacy technician applicants who have formal training, certification or previous experience. There also are no formal training requirements for medical coders, though information from the Bureau shows that most professionals in this area have associate degrees, as well as professional credentials.
At least one professional association for medical coders requires that those in the field have taken a medical terminology course or are familiar with medical terminology. In addition to the new medical coding offering, the aforementioned college offers degree programs in nursing, teacher education, equine studies and business. The institution plans to open a School of Pharmacy in 2011.