Medical billing and coding students do a lot of work with computers, but sometimes they’re the ones getting their buttons pushed.
During a recent professional development field trip, MBC students from American Career College-Orange County learned how to deal with frustrations in the professional environment they may perceive from customers or co-workers.
“The purpose of the event is to motivate and empower our medical billing and coding students to further their education as well as network with professionals in their future career,” ACC-Orange County MBC Program Director Christina LeDoux said.
As part of the field trip, the group attended a medical billing and coding association’s local chapter meeting and listened to a talk by Dr. Robert Ekvall, who went into the psychology of self-esteem and how it affects our responses to others.
“He was very animated and down to earth with his stories. Our students stayed behind to shake his hand and thank him as well as the chapter members,” LeDoux said. “This was a real-world setting where we discussed the impact of stress due to negative attitudes, not your boss or co-workers, and how to handle it.”
LeDoux said the cohort reviewed many of the positive and motivating stories from real-work scenarios like computer system changes and other personal and work scenarios. The class also posted photos of the event to social media and used them to discuss the lessons learned with students who were unable to attend. LeDoux and ACC-OC MBC instructor Sandra Cantero attended all three sessions with the medical billing and coding students.
“Regardless of the speaker or topic, AAPC is an organization that directly affects and adds to our students' learning experience as well as networking with professionals,” LeDoux added. “Our students were very professional, asked questions and are excited to attend the June meeting.”
The AAPC is the nation's largest medical coding training and certification association for medical coders and medical coding jobs.
