The best coding advice I can offer is to read the very front of your book. Here, you will find the coding conventions and guidelines. Without a mentor or supervising coder to guide you, this will be your most important resource for understanding the ICD-9-CM book. Reference it often!

To find a code, always start in the alphabetic Index to Diseases. Your main term will be a descriptive word or medical condition - never an anatomical site. Then confirm your finding in the Tabular (numeric index). Follow any "includes/excludes" notes or instruction to "code first" or "code also." Sometimes this information will only be found under a 3-digit category heading.

For example, you are coding "elevated blood pressure" and assume you can code it as Hypertension. Don't just look up 401.x in the Tabular -swim upstream and read what it says under 401. Otherwise, you will not see the Excludes note that this code is not intended for elevated blood pressure without a diagnosis of hypertension, or the suggestion of where to look for the correct code.

I hope this gets you started in the right direction.