Hollow Mistakes, Solid Fixes: Mastering Organ Injury Coding-Handout: Hollow Mistakes, Solid Fixes: Mastering Organ Injury Coding

Handout: Hollow Mistakes, Solid Fixes: Mastering Organ Injury Coding

Pdf Summary

The “Hollow Mistakes, Solid Fixes: Mastering Organ Injury Coding” presentation by Robin L. Schrader, Trauma/Burn Registry Manager at VCU Medical Center, provides comprehensive guidance on the anatomy, injury patterns, diagnosis, and coding of hollow and solid organ injuries in trauma care. It emphasizes distinctions between hollow organs (e.g., stomach, intestines, bladder) that contain a lumen and process substances, and solid organs (e.g., liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs) that have dense structures involved in metabolic and filtering functions.<br /><br />The presentation details mechanisms of injury including blunt trauma (compression, deceleration, crush) and penetrating trauma (gunshot, stab wounds), as well as blast injuries. For hollow organs, common injuries include ruptures, perforations, lacerations, and hemorrhages, which can cause leakage of contents and risk peritonitis or sepsis. Solid organ injuries often involve contusions, lacerations, hematomas, and devascularization. The clinical signs and symptoms for both organ types include abdominal pain, tenderness, distention, bruising, nausea, vomiting, and hemodynamic instability.<br /><br />Diagnostic methods such as FAST ultrasound, CT scans, diagnostic peritoneal lavage, laparoscopy, and laparotomy are reviewed. Treatment trends show that solid organ injuries often favor non-operative management if stable, whereas hollow organ injuries more frequently require surgical intervention.<br /><br />A large portion of the presentation focuses on application of ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS coding for specific organ injuries, differentiating by laterality, severity, and anatomic location, with many examples provided. The importance of accurate coding reflecting diagnosis, procedures, and clinical context is stressed, including coding for imaging, angiography, embolization, laparoscopic and open surgeries, as well as root operations like excision, resection, repair, and bypass.<br /><br />The presentation concludes with educational objectives, nursing continuing education credits, and quiz questions to reinforce knowledge of organ injury mechanisms, signs, coding principles, and procedure root operations, ensuring trauma professionals can accurately document and code organ injuries to support quality trauma care and registry data.

Keywords

organ injury coding

hollow organ injuries

solid organ injuries

trauma care

ICD-10-CM coding

ICD-10-PCS coding

diagnostic methods in trauma

surgical intervention

non-operative management

trauma registry documentation