Anything an MT can do when you have grave concerns about patient care?
Posted By: Concerned MT on 2009-03-14
In Reply to:
Is there anything at all an MT can do when you have grave concerns about the care a patient is receiving? I know the answer to this is probably no, but I am so completely frustrated with my one of "my" doctors right now. I know that one of his patients is not receiving the proper care, and I am really worried for this patient. I wish I could contact the patient's mother and let her know my concerns, but I know that is not allowed and I would be fired for doing so. I know that I'm not anywhere near as smart as a doctor, but my son has the same condition that this patient does and I know that the patient is not receiving the proper care or even the correct diagnosis. It is hard to go into all of the details for confidentiality reasons. I just know, 100% sure, that this patient deserves better care than he is receiving.
Sometimes the virtual world that we work in is great, and other times it really stinks. If I were working in the doctor's office I could gently share my concerns (maybe I would still be fired but I could give it a shot). Here in this virtual world where the doctors don't even know I exist I can do absolutely nothing.
I'm just so frustrated at the doctor and so very worried for this patient.
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Probably something in patient care, maybe CNA. sm
They make about as much as I am making and with benefits on top of that at the hospitals around here.
Do you think patient care will suffer any?
will treat the laptop like it is you, and ignore you, the patient.
I think the average patient would care and
would think, 'Wow, they sure don't know English.' And what about all the abbreviations a lay person woudl certainly not understand.
where did you get the idea we were involved in patient care?
We are typists with a specialized vocabulary. If we were doing this for NASA, it would not make us rocket scientists.
I am neither advocating, nor participating in, low quality - I do the very best I can with the experience, knowledge, and tools that I have. The fact that employers do not want to pay me enough to survive, thus making my trips through *QA* a little more thorough, ensures that I will get through reports as absolutely expeditiously as possible.
My bottom line is MY survival. Good luck with altruism - it doesn't buy much at Safeway.
vent on failure in patient care
My husband took my son to see the doc for a tetanus shot after he stepped on a nail. I'm always transcribing and couldn't go there myself. After coming home from the doctor's office, my son and husband tell me that his foot was never even looked at by even a nurse, let alone the doctor. My son got the tetanus shot, and the paperwork said "do not give if a fever is present." Woops, they didn't even take his temperature. Rather than looking at his foot to determine if it was infected, they just asked my son if it was infected. I called the office totally irate, and they reduced the charges from $88 to $7. Wow, didn't expect that. It's a crying shame that we're a society so hung up on paperwork and billing (HIPAA, etc.) that a doctor or nurse would not even take the time to actually look at a patient's wound. What's really ironic is that very day I transcribed a report where the doctor states the patient shouldn't self-medicate with vitamins and supplements. So, we're not smart enough to determine what vitamins and supplements to take, but we are expected to determine whether or not we have an infection?
OR, instead of being funny, it could hurt patient care.
nm
A 2-day strike will not hurt patient care
it will give the physicians something to think about when they have to hand write their STAT H&P for patient's surgery tomorrow.
just like quality care for the patient is going out the window-nm
nm
ONLINE nursing program? Do you not care about the patient's well being?
/
I agree that if it hurts the patient's care you should speak up.
s
And all this time I thought the bottom line was patient care. nm
nm
Could your hubs become a patient of a home health care agency and then you could work for them
s
The hosptial administrators aren't interested in safe patient care.
I venting as a patient! No doctor cares if I live or die--could care less in my eyes!!!
Study found that electronic health records did not boost patient care. sm
Link to article on yahoo news stating that electronic health records fail to improve care, study says.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/records_dc;_ylt=AsT2t1nasUEaoOxgIsyoMUOs0NUE
Here I am, back from the grave!
You are so funny! LOLOLOLOLOL. Wanna play!
Here I am, back from the grave!
Did you miss me?
Think Martin just rolled over in his grave.sm
I am sure the Christian Reverend would not agree with that statement. Bigotry and being repulsed by an abdomination are 2 different things.
Stay out of it. She is digging her own grave.
df
I worked grave yard for years but then my jobs all
disappeared by midnight. This very large company said they needed help late and I always did my work, did all the preop hps, etc., but now I am lucky to get 5 jobs a night. This happened to several others that I know, too. It is simply that the off-shore do it cheaper. I did not get paid a differential, either. I just like that shift, but I also need work, so good bye big company
Personally I would not force her to go - she can alway visit the grave site to say goodbye- sm
My mom died about 18 months ago, but has there been a funeral I would not have had my kids there (they were 6 & 4 at the time). I know my in-laws would have thought me a terrible person for that but I would not have cared (my mom donated her body to science-- my dad is too). An open casket is a lot different than a closed one and can make quite an impression on some. I just don't think that is something that should be pushed. She is old enough to make the decision, you should abide by it.
Putting patient versus The patient (sm)
When did this "rule" come about? I've been an MT/Editor/medeical records tech/ART for 30 years - Never, ever was I told to put that. You cannot make the sentence be "The patient sent to Radiology" but you can put "Patient sent to Radiology."
Thats just insane.
sometimes this concerns me as well
I talked with my account managers about the future of MT and does she really feel there is a shortage. On the 1 hand she said yes there is a lack of qualified MTs, but what she also did say is that those with experience have more job security, which makes sense.
For ideas, have you ever thought of possibly becoming a paralegal or perhaps a legal secretary? Also, what about maybe delving into possible general transcription? I did a bit of that myself and it was not too bad. At least some of the skills you have learned being a Transcriptionist can still be used. I always try to keep a mental list of 5 different "paths" I could pursue if things got bad, but luckily things have never gotten to that point.
Like I said in my heading, sometimes the future of MT concerns me, but the reality is there is no such thing as a stable job anymore. I also got into transcription during my college years, 2 year actually. I ended up completing my AA as well and went on to pursue a degree in IT with an emphasis in networking, but it really bored me to death. Your family should not look at you like you did not succeed. So many people that I know from friends and family all think it is so great that I get to work at home and do so well for myself.
concerns--sm
I tend to agree with the other poster below. Do not discuss things with your mother. You already know how she is going to react and it only serves to aggravate you. If you have genuine concerns about your aunt or any other family member's health, try to address it to the doctor directly. As far as your mother goes, it sounds to me like you are seeking her approval and acknowledgement for your accomplishments. Apparently you are not going to get that. I have a mother who is the same way and it angered me to the point where I confronted her a couple of times about it. It only caused alot of hurt and anger when I did that, so now I just turn the other cheek and try to ignore it. The only person you have to prove yourself to is you and the good Lord. Since He already knows your worth, you need to work on your own. Don't look to others to validate your worth. You don't need to. You are already special. :^) Have a good day, and think positive thoughts of yourself and your abilities.
Concerns/questions
As always, if you have concerns/questions/comments regarding DSG, I have an open door policy. Please feel free to contact me at kdenson@dsg-inc.net.
Thank you.
Offshore concerns
They are smart , and that is why the jobs are going to them! Jobs don't make people smarter; smart people do their jobs well. If you don't believe this then you must question the wisdom of the American MTSOs and companies that outsource. As I have said before, all Indian MTs are not bad and all US MTs are not good. I've seen excellent quality from India and poor quality from the US - that's the other side of the story which none of you wants to see, let alone admit.
This is why I call US MTs insular. If you will only look outside of your own town/state/country you will see how the world has changed and the so-called developing countries have advanced in many ways.
The problem with the US is it has been functioning too long in a cocoon, sheltered and protected. But with the coming of the global age, competiton has become fierce and jobs are moving overseas and it is now finding it difficult to cope in this new business climate.
You say "sadly" because it affects you but have you ever wondered how Indians like it when American companies dump poor quality goods on them and Indian businesses have to shut shop because they can't bear the competition? Of course most of you would not have heard that pesticides were found in bottles of a premier American brand of soft drink sold in India!
Instead of treating "offshoring" as some terrible phenomenon, it is high time US MTs learned to accept the situation because this is the New Age Economy where everything is decided in competition.
You are an IC -- state your concerns
You need to get some faith in yourself. If you are an IC and if you agreed on a certain rate of pay, they need to adhere to that. If you have a plumber come and work for you and you don't agree with his rate of pay, you cannot halfway through the job decide to pay him less. It is the same thing. I give an offer to my IC's and if they want to work for that they can but I cannot suddenly change halfway through without re-negotiating with them and they must agree to a lower rate, etc. So if you agreeed fine -- accept it but if they just did it, don't. It is hard around the holidays but is appears you are not making that much anyway so what do you have to lose especially if they took away half of your job. You need to read and see what an IC actually means and if they are calling the shots you are an employee and can raise a little bit of trouble for them. But talk to them as sometimes until you stand up to them, they will walk all over you.
Your concerns are valid, unfortunately : (
EMR and voice recognition has put me out of a job. On my former job, there was one other Transcriptionist besides me. Because she had been there longer, she got what was left over after most of the docs jumped on the voice recognition bandwagon. They use Dragon Naturally Speaking. I have seen it at work myself and it is quite accurate. There is no editing being done on their work. Now, I'm doing a job that is just that, a JOB. I enjoy transcribing and am looking for another job, but MT jobs seem to be few and far between where I am. I can't get high speed internet where I live, so most services are out. I may move onto a different career if something doesn't come around soon. I thought about legal transcription. Anyone have experience with that?
Outsourcing Concerns
Did any of you watch the special the other night on identity theft? I think it was maybe on Dateline. If so, you heard them say the identity theft ring reaches far beyond the shores of the US. It involves many of the countries that are receiving outsourced transcription work.
The first thought that came to mind when watching that was our medical records. I often have dictation that gives me a SSN and DOB. I also often have dictation on a new patient giving me other details, such as where the individual works, how many children they have, etc. I always get their height, weight and race. With these details, the individuals being outsourced to have everything they need to supply a terrorist or identity theft ring information to enable them to pose as someone else. This is very frightening to me!
What do we do? How do we wake America up to what we're facing? Sure, we can write our elected officials, but you all know as well as I do that such correspondence falls upon deaf ears. Does anyone have any suggestions on where we go from here? At this point, it isn't only about losing our jobs, its about national security.
What concerns me about newbies is
that often they write these excited posts and reveal how tiny their working English vocabulary is. That's a terrible place to start out from. I try to be polite, but I do remember being a newbie for hospital work and how appalled the trainer was with the other MTs who had tiny English vocabularies. She about dropped her teeth because the first time I had to spell shotty adenopathy I spelled it right. I couldn't believe anybody would think "shoddy adenopathy" would make any sense. It's not logical.
How do you train people to THINK and be logical in their transcription? Those are things the person should bring to the table if they want to go into a career in the written word. Then you can build on that logic as you interpret MD slurring.
I've had similar concerns
about blacklisting. After all, anybody can see how easy it would be to paint a dark picture of a company on this board so why wouldn't companies have a similar board somewhere to do the same with employees? I think the answer is because it would be considered blacklisting which would likely violate some employment laws and it would be too difficult to keep it a secret. But I could be wrong.
Faxing and HIPAA concerns
I need to know the regulations imposed by HIPAA for MTSOs faxing medical reports to referring doctors. Thanks.
Of course they do. That was one of the concerns about Medquist. Info from the VA
was going offshore. The info included the location of the soldier's troop when he was wounded in combat and more.
Offshore concerns blog
I mentioned this a few messages below, but the blog has its first post. I am NOT supporting any Ad things on there and will not be making anything off this.
http://violatingamerica.blogspot.com/
If you have a link that would be useful to others to write their gov't reps, companies, news sources, etc, feel free to post them or e-mail me so i can get them up there. I am also looking for any news stories or any information we can get. One way or the other, we might be able to make a difference.
Know is old post - but valid concerns
I don't kow what they could do to help you RE: Katrina but companies need to verify the NEED to cut back or do it across the board, at least in the department / job level. I worked for this company for 6 yr & had several cuts in my take home. The platforms used became slower & slower because of the amazing amt of data in the programs. I had 3 gig memory & STILL took forever & you aren't making a dime for that several minute while a report is sending & the next coming in & then doing the demographic page.
I've been trying to find out if there was anything of that investigation - I never did get that paper that so many other employees got. And I had a definite beef.
Please use Offshore Concerns board for those topics. (NM)
Goldbird
be sure to mention HIPAA concerns with offshore...nm
..
Interesting info on Offshore Concerns board
OSI offshores and that is why they can't keep quality MTs
In Reply to: Today, I landed a client that was using and Indian service. They said the service - Kansas MTSO sm
The MTs they do keep are basically no more accurate than the Indians. The QA department is a joke because they hire people fresh out of MT school. It is a sad company and is destined to fail if they don't start thinking more about quality than keeping the brownnosers happy. This could be true for other companies that offshore as well.
D I T T O D I T T O
Taking 2 polls on offshore concerns board
Please participate!
Thank you!
d~
Take your medical degree into the office and voice your concerns.
How do you know the patient isn't getting the proper care? No two patients are alike, just because your child has the same condition doesn't mean anything. This parent probably has googled her child's condition and is working along with the doctor. As an MT, you should not talk about any patient even with the other people in the office. It is confidential information and very unprofessional.
Comedy Stop & Offshore Concerns were the last 2 boards to be changed over to the new format.
Archives will be available soon.
Kinship care versus foster care/adoption
Having been placed in a position where I now have custody of my 3 YO granddaughter and going through the legal system, I sought an online network of relative caregivers for children. I would encourage you, especially since you are in Georgia, that if you take any children into foster care with the idea of adopting them, there is federal law that requires the state to take certain actions in a specific time frame. When a child is removed from it's bio parent(s), the state is required to investigate any possible relatives who can take the child before foster care is considered, but even before that, reunification with the parents is the priority. Once a child enters the system and is in the system for 15 out of any 22 months, the state is required to find permanent placement for the child.
The problem with this is that there are case workers who may favor a foster family and do not seek out relative care. I have a good friend in Georgia who had to fight all the way to the state level to get custody of her grandson after the child was placed from the hospital into a foster care home with the promise that the foster parents would be allowed to adopt. She has now adopted her grandson, but it was a long, hard battle to get the state to admit their own interests were placed above those of the child and/or family.
If you get a child placed through the state, please make certain there is not a relative who wants that child before you get your hopes up. The courts are now favoring return of children to relatives even after a child has spent years with a foster family who hoped to adopt them.
States get bonus federal funds by complying with the time lines and being able to close the case, so some states place children in foster care because it is easier than trying to locate relatives.
Didn't mean to go off on a tangent, but I can't imagine my sweet bella going to someone outside her family.
If it was a clinic, it might have been urgent care, but it was NOT acute care. sm
Acute care refers to work in an acute care setting, a hospital, doing at least History and Physicals, Discharge Summaries, Consultations, Surgery notes, Emergency Department notes, and much more, including GI procedures, Cardiology procedures, Neurological procedures, Pulmonary Function Studies. It goes on and on and it means and acute care hospital setting, not a clinic.
I always figure if they don't care about their dictation, they probably don't care about their
nm
Dont care how many languages you took. Care
x
Please post offshore topics on Offshore Concerns board. (NM)
Thank you.
Goldbird
This thread belongs on Offshore Concerns; thread locked. (NM)
Goldbird
oh, so if I don't care about my job, I "should" care
you come off as narcissistic.
Is the patient
x
patient name
It's surprising your company lets you put the name in the report. The trend has been to use "the patient" instead of the name.
The patient is...
The patient is a 2-month-old elephant.
The patient is a 2-month-old infant.
Work from India.
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