Pandemic Phalange Pitfalls

by Dianna Foley, RHIA, CHPS, CCS 


Test your ICD-10-CM coding skills with this Klutz family experience.

Image by Annalise Batista from Pixabay

As a way to help pass the time during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mrs. Klutz suggested the children put on a backyard gymnastics show.  This would help keep the children active and entertained, as well as showcase their gymnastic talents from years of lessons.  In true Klutz family form however, each child sustained an injury during the show.  Read on to see what injury befell each child and test your ICD-10-CM coding knowledge by assigning the appropriate injury and external cause codes for each situation that occurred in the backyard of the single- family home.

Little Dana began the parade of phalangeal injuries when she attempted a somersault and bent back the little finger on the right hand.  Luckily, the sprain was minor and Mrs. Klutz put an ice-pack on it to keep any swelling down. 

Raymond chose a floor exercise routine to illustrate his talent.  All was well until he went to perform a handstand and his left thumb got caught in a hole in the ground and twisted as he tried to walk on his hands.  He immediately fell over and Mrs. Klutz brought out another ice pack for Raymond’s undoubted flexor tendon strain.

Next, Peter attempted a vault, but on his barefoot run up to the vault his Dad had built, he stepped on a sharp rock causing a small, open wound of the second toe on his right foot.  Mrs. Klutz cleaned the wound with alcohol and applied an antibiotic ointment and band-aid.

 Janine did a very complicated routine on the balance beam her Dad constructed and was quietly confident that she was going to emerge unscathed when, upon her dismount, she struck her left foot on the beam and ended up with an abrasion of the left big toe.  Mrs. Klutz was glad she had kept the alcohol and antibiotic ointment handy after Peter’s injury and used them to minister to Janine.

The final act was from Egon whose routine was on the parallel bars. He was making his last turn at the far end of the bars when his right hand slipped and he struck it hard on the parallel bar, bruising the index, middle, and long fingers.  Another ice pack was brought out for Egon’s hand.

Mr. and Mrs. Klutz were glad that the children had not suffered greater injuries…at least for now!        

 

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