A vent! And boy, this feels GOOD!!

I've had it up to HERE with doctors who have thick foreign accents and dictate past the speed of sound, expecting that we are to know everything they're saying.

I've had it up to HERE with dictations received that were made on cassette tapes and then fished through onto digital recorders that contain tons of background noise and static, drowning out the dictation on them or making it sound like the doc is dictating from an underground tunnel. 

I'm sending ALL these transcripts back as quickly as they're dictated - looking like swiss cheese, filled with holes and blanks - because it's NOT my fault I can't understand these docs. They don't seem to care and guess what?  Neither do I!  Garbage in - garbage out!  Think they'll get the message?

Now, just let the OM call me about this - after sending her notes after notes on this subject, I'm ready to and WILL bite off her empty head!!

Thanks for letting me vent!

• A vent! And boy, this feels GOOD!! - Joan
  • Your vent is my pet peeve with MTs now. sm - ETMT
  • While you may feel good about yourself, - ESLMT
  • I for one would love to know - let us know
    • This is how I look at it.... - Joan
      • that's right, at the UN as an interpreter....nm - a job that would yield beaucoup bucks!!!
        • Actually, simultaneous interpreters - NanC
        • GIGO - OTHMT

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Sounds like you and Patti are great people to work for and I'm sorry you both are having to deal with this.  You sound like you are giving it all you've got and are still getting stung.  I hear the same from the place I work for.  It just seems a lot more people are more irresponsible and unprofessional than they were when I was raised back in the 50/60s.  If you're anywhere near my age, I bet it seems like a different world to you too.  I don't think it's just an MT problem -- I think it is widespread through all fields but unfortunately, in our profession we are confronted with it on a daily basis and it has to be resolved. 

Although I am not a MTSO, I do overflow work from those who had other things to do and put the job second or hire on and then quit and I get their work and my own until they find someone else to hire and hope they stay.  I'm not that great myself by any means but I do get exasperated with the weak links who just don't care and do what you complain of in your first post.  It makes us all look bad.   

As an MTSO you are stuck between the doc and the MT.  Doesn't sound like a nice place to be these days.  You have my sympathies and hopes that the new year will bring you and Patti and everyone else in this predicatment better MTs. 

You should censor what other people watch? I don't mean -you- but I mean that it's up to people what they turn the channel to.

To some people, Jesus Christ was not the Son of God. That's how they believe. To them, he was a fictitious or a historical character and there's no blasphemy involved.

If you do cringe (I haven't seen the ads for it) then not watching it is the right decision for you, but not everybody feels that way. :)

Christmas. We had those years several times. But don't hock your wedding band. I know you were just kidding, right? Don't lose your priorities. If you have to, just TELL them. Really.

I wanted to post because I have had a very eerie feeling lately and wanted to see if anyone has been experiencing a similar thing... I was a home MT working directly for a hospital for many years and a high producer.  Then, the hospital cut our incentive and many of us ended up with a MTSO after that.  Well, after being with the same job for many years, I spent over 2 years with the MTSO and found out that my line counts were very low because the platform was not counting my lines in a well honest (to me) way.  I thought I was losing my talent, but after finding out about this for sure by looking at the minutes versus the lines over a couple of weeks and checking with other MTs (finally) I found out it was not me.  I since have been working for a very reputable MTSO (no hospital jobs around directly that I could find by me) and something is happening. I am struggling to get my line counts again, and I did a study with the minutes and though not as bad as the other MTSO, the same thing is happening AGAIN! (dont mean to yell, just emphasizing).  It is so hard to look for yet another job...My question is this: Is it my imagination, am I just losing my talent and my mind, or are most jobs now counting the lines differently than before say 3 years ago when I left the hospital job. And, if I can't produce that much anymore because they count lines differently now, how does one find at least a job which is moderately easier to get more than minimum? Look, I used to make over 50K a year and now I am eeking out perhaps 27 a year and feeling like I am losing my talent.  Any advice would be appreciated here. I don't want to go through job after job, stress after stress.  BTW: My husband will be able to provide benefits in a couple of months, but until recently I have been the one to have to provide health coverage and this has figured heavily into where I work.  Thanks in advance for your opinions.  I don't want my hand held, just a little reality check.  Thanks in advance.

I can not believe how rude you all are...  I make a simple statement and everyone jumps all over me?  If you all lived in our neighborhood and saw house after house with tree down, where you can see the roots are barely in the ground because they were planted so shallow, with no room to grow because the curb and the sidewalk are on each side, and you talked to all of my other neighbors who all feel the same way, then maybe you wouldn't be so quick to pass judgement.  I think it's ironic that everyone else I've talked to in person finds it surprising that trees as big as these were, that have been there a decent amount of time (2+ years) did this.  I have six trees in my backyard that were only planted 2 months ago, but were planted the right way and are fine...  I am not an expert on Arizona weather, having only lived here 2 years, but it doesn't take a genius to look at the way these trees roots are so shallow to know there is a problem.  The other tree snapping in two is not something I blame on the landscapers, it was obvious that it has a very thin trunk and was never very strong. 

God forbid anyone make a passing comment on what is obviously "your board".  And no need to respond anymore, you've made it very clear that newcomers are not welcome.

I have a note (discharge summary) that is 27 minutes long, dictated by RN, that goes into such detail that it might as well be the H&P, every consult, every operative report, and every lab report rolled into 1 document.  She is even dictating  problems the patient had on previous hospitalizations that have nothing to do with this admission.  To make matters worse, she is jumping back and forth between prior problems (that aren't related) and current problems for the hospitalization, as well as listing every single lab test/values from all prior admissions and comparing them to this admission, as well as dictating the whole report for every x-ray the person ever had in this one report.  The guy came in for nausea, vomiting, and dehydration and she's dictating x-ray reports for fractured ankle and rotator cuff MRI from 2 years ago...THE WHOLE MRI REPORT.   Good gravy, missy.  It's good to be thorough, but then too much information just confuses the reader.  arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

All better now.  Thanks for letting me vent. 

I've already had enough problems working this weekend with technical problems and down time and now that I'm breezing away and making good money, what happens?  My stupid cat decides she needs attention!  First she rubs on my leg and purrs (so far so good, not really a distraction) but THEN she has to move to look at my face through the crack in my desk where the drop down keyboard rests and reach her stupid little paws through, hit the function key that saves and closes the report (which I cannot alter once it is sent through) on a report of over 100 lines!

ARRRRRGH!!!  I was almost finished and needed to spell check it!!!  That just cost me $10.  Her food costs that much!

Anybody wanna a free soon to be hungry cat??

d~ 

I have worked with a company for over seven years as an IC.  I work part time and whatever work I do that morning has to be turned in at 3:00, which gives me around a six hour turn around.  I have two young kids and another account that I work on that has stats that I have to take care of too.  I have only gotten one raise in seven years, and a crappy one at that.  Every other company I have worked for gives me at least about 24 hours to get it back to them.  I am trying to get my kids ready for school and I also have other things going on at the moment.  I get an email in all caps "I NEED THE WORK NOW."  I am just so fed up with this.  I don't want to quit because the work is easy for me since I have been doing it so long, but I feel the need to put my foot down.

I'll try to make this to the point... ;o) My husband got bought out at the end of January so has been off work since then. His buyout will last us until about next January so for now he's enjoying the time with the kids. I on the other hand have gone from working very part-time to full-time, at home,  "just in case" and to help pay off some debt while I've got Mr. Mom here home to take care of the kids.

For the most part, he's being excellent - doing the majority of the housework, all the cooking, taking care of the kids all day. My only gripe is he sleeps in until 9:30 every day while the kids (ages 4 and 7)are up at about 7:30-8. Mind you this is spring break for the 7 yo but when it's school time he gets him off to school and then goes back to bed. The kids play pretty well on their own but if they come into the bedroom he'll put the TV on for them. This leaving them on their own w/o even getting them breakfast and/or the TV thing drives me batty. I've been a wahm since my first one was born and always made them my priority (working around their schedule very part-time), getting up as soon as they got up, rarely turning the TV on to "babysit" them, etc. I feel like he's undoing what I spent years working so hard at.

Now I get up at 5 to go to the gym and then get my work done ASAP so that I can have time with the kids later as I'm finding it very difficult emotionally to be so unavailable during the day. This is making me even more resentful of my dh with him snoozing until 9:30 while I'm so tired a lot of the time. Then to top it off, he gets hurt that I'm usually too tired to be "interested" by 10 at night and I want to go to bed early...  He supposedly understands that I'm tired but still is putting the guilt trip on me.

I know that a lot of this is my own resentments and largely there's nothing wrong with what he's doing and he needs to do things his own way with regards to the kids - I get that, but I'm still resentful. Any thoughts? Thanks for reading the novel and just letting me vent. So much for it being to the point!;o)

I am so sick and tired of day after day trying to figure out what in the heck these ESLs are saying.  I'm tired of them preventing me from making a decent line count and making decent money.  Why in the heck don't they learn English?  From this day on I refuse to make any sense of what they are saying and will type verbatim, stutters, poor grammar and all!  If the company I work for doesn't like it - then fire me.  It's about time MTSOs put it back on the docs to better themselves and NOT us!.  I've been doing this for over 6 years and it gets worse and worse. 

Please do not reply with "I'm sure your ancestors were from another country, etc......"  They were ----and--- now I was born here - AND I SPEAK THE LANGUAGE. 

MTSOs want to send work overseas.  Send all the ESLs.  Also, when it comes time to me "editing" overseas work --- Ha-Ha.... that will definately be my LAST day on the job!  Let the owners of the companies edit the overseas work and see how they like it.

Thanks all. 

Why on earth would a doctor prescribe physical therapy to strengthen a patient's muscles who is in the end-stages of myasthenia gravis?  Money?  A patient with nothing else to do but go to physical therapy?  I don't get it.  This group of doctors are a pain in the ***s.  One has such a high incidence of infections in his surgical patients that I cannot believe he is still allowed to practice - and this one puts everyone into physical therapy - unless they are a 4-limb amputee.  Does anyone know the # to the California Board of Medicine - because I think it is time to call them on this one - work or no work - I am sick of it.  i feel better now. 

No, I am not a doctor and would not care to be one.  But over the years I have seen so many cases go bad and with doctors policing themselves, very few ever suffer any consequences.  My husband works with a doctor who was using cocainen while in surgery.  At one point he was doing a prostate biopsy and passed out on the patient, jamming the needle through the prostate gland.  The other doctors in the  group encouraged him to get treatment or they would kick him out of the group.  So, he got some rehab.  The patient sued, thank God.  But guess what, he is back in the operating room - snorting in the lounge before each case.  The surgery center personnel are afraid of losing their jobs if they report him to the police, so he just goes on doing surgery under the influence.  Perhaps my animosity comes from being abused by several different physicians at different times in my life - and regret at not reporting them.  However, knowing the system, I realize that it is a losing battle.  But, having been through these experiences I can spot these docs a mile away.  Sorry  if I offended anyone - but doctors are human and our lives are at stake, as well as the lives of others when a doctor practices bad medicine.  I appreciate all of the input and understand your anger.  I posted this more as a person than an MT.  I just thank God for what I do know - and wish that there was a way to fix the problem of poor physicians, drug abuse in the medical world, and the patients that suffer at their hands.

Why is it that the doctors you know can speak perfectly perfect English...don't?  This guy is slurring entire sentences and when I slow him down, he sounds drunk.  And he doesn't even sound as if he is old enough to drink!

Thank you.  Venting over.  Have a good evening.

My son just came home from a week-long beach trip with his dad.  My son has three plantar warts on the bottom of his right foot.  I have taken him to the doctor about this and was told to try the OTC remedies.  I have been doing that, and was planning to take him back to the doctor this week actually because they have not gone away.

Anyway, my ex-husband took it upon himself to take a hot knife and attempt to BURN the warts off my 8-year-old son's foot.  My son said it hurt very bad, and now he is limping on his foot.  Now my son has a nasty looking depression on the bottom of his big toe that is very painful.  It's pretty deep, but it's not bleeding at this time, although I'm sure that it was at some point, and my son confirms this.  I have cleaned it and bandaged it and will be taking him to the doctor first thing tomorrow.

WHAT AN I-D-I-O-T!!!!!!  I am the one who takes care of all of our son's medical care.  He lives with me.  I have primary custody of him.  WHY OH WHY did he think he had the right or ability to do this?!?!  Why didn't he call me first and consult with me about what I have been doing to treat the warts?!?!?!?

I have taken photographs and forwarded them to my attorney.  It's a long story, but my ex is one of those people who thinks he knows everything...but really knows nothing.

Thanks, I just needed to get this off my chest.

I am so angry and I need to vent.  I work for a psychiatric facility and have been there for about three months now.  I really enjoy working there and they have been very flexible with my schedule.  Approximately 2 months ago, a temp was hired because we were so far behind.  The person they hired did not have any experience whatsoever in medical transcription, but she was a fast typist so she was hired. 

A couple of weeks went by and it was noticed that she was making quite a few errors.  One of the other Transcriptionist e-mailed her to inform her of her errors and advised her to proof her work.  She became so upset, she e-mailed a nasty letter back to this particular person.  A few more weeks went by and a different transpcriptionist noticed she was still making these errors so she tried e-mailing her as well with basically the same response.  Well last week I happened to come across one of her reports and noticed some errors that were totally unacceptable.  For example, Licinopril, psychogenetic polydipsia, albuteral, ibuprophen, etc. 

Anyway, I mentioned this to our supervisor and he asked that I correct the report and give him a copy so that he could go over it with her, which I did.  I also brought in a book from the course I took a couple of years ago so that she may review it.  She came in yesterday absolutely livid, she was slamming things around, speaking so loud that we could not hear the doctor and using the most foul language.  I turned to her and asked if there was a problem to which she replied I was not talking to you!  So I stated, in a very calm manner, then could you please keep it down as I cannot hear what the doctor is saying to which she replied that's too bad!  She then proceeded to call our lead and left the room. 

I started to think about the whole situation and could not believe how this person reacted.  I called the supervisor at home and informed him of the problem at hand and told him I was on the verge of walking out as was the other transcriptiont.  I told him this behavior was totally unacceptable and I would not tolerate it.  Mind you, this was all because she was still making errors on her report.  She felt people were talking behind her back.  She does not want us (transcriptionists) to tell her of her errors.  She wants us to speak with the lead, have him write the errors on a piece of paper, place it in an envelope and put it by her work area.  Can you believe this?  Who does she think she is? 

Well a couple of hours ago, my lead called to get my side of the story.  I told him exactly what happened to which the other transcriptionist can attest to.  He stated he would speak with her but that the next time there was a problem with a partiular report, we are to bring it up to him or our supervisor (which I thought I did).  I totally feel she should be reprimanded and that this behavior should not be tolerated by anyone, but it looks like she is just going to be "spoken to."  I am so angry and upset, I literally feel like giving my two weeks notice, but then again, I do not want to give her the satisfaction.  I really enjoy what I do but I am afraid if this type of behavior occurs again, I will not be able to hold my tongue as it took every bit of strength in me not to *******, well you know.

Sorry this was so long, I needed to vent.  I know I probably made 100 mistakes on this post, but I am very upset at the moment. 

I just have to vent.  This doctor is chewing in my ear and talking at the same time.  I can feel my blood pressure rise as she talks.    Don't they realize how annoying this is, not to mention rude.  I think colleges should make all doctors take a course in the proper way to dictate.  Sometime I think chewing in the ear is worse than a bad ESL. 

Thanks for listening.  Back to work.  I sure hope her lunch is over soon!!!!

I double checked my calendar and it still says it's Friday.  Thank goodness.  I am doing hospital discharges today.  Currently, I am listening to an ESL.  I have listened to this particular ESL three times already today.  One would think that by now I would be able to understand him....BUT ....when he mumbles, stumbles over his words, moves the phone from his mouth, does not enunciate clearly, and then just for fun asks me to go all around his dictation to add things he forgot.....I AM GOING TO SCREAM!!!   

OK...I'm done venting.  Thanks for listening.  Back to typing for "Mr. Wonderful."  (I can't for this day to be over!!!!)