Exploration on the Work Stress of Coding Specialists from the Promotionof New Medical Policies

Objectives: The purpose of the present study is to explore the influence from the promotion on the new health policy on the work stress of the coding specialists. Methods: The present study mail or hand out questionnaire survey to be completed by the coding specialists throughout the nation; the surveys were collected for statistics, analyses and discussion. 802 surveys were distributed within the two months, and a total of 333 surveys were valid after invalid surveys were removed, the response rate was 41.5%. Results: Most of the coding specialists in Taiwan are females between the age of 34 to 50 years old; most are college educated with over 10 years of service. Most spent 6 to 8 hours coding each day, and finish coding for each medical record in 20 minutes. No significant main effect was observed in gender and age on competency characteristics and work stress. The length of service and level of education can influence how much the knowledge, skills and learning aspiration one holds, as well as significant influence on role stress, interpersonal relationship, professional knowledge and workload. Conclusions: Coding specialists are facing challenges in professional knowledge and stress from role transition. Recommendations are made to the government to provide different levels of training and to allocate additional training facilities aimed at the needs of those at different competence, and to value the professional value of the coding specialists to increase their enthusiasm and enhance their professional quality.