Are you from India? Your punctuation and grammar are giving you away. nm
Posted By: nm on 2005-10-28
In Reply to: what are meant by 65characters per line - Teresa
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Grammar/Punctuation
I would mark it as a grammar/punctuation error, however they both hold the same weight score-wise, so it really doesn't matter if you call it g/p or spelling. If it were a case of having 2 different point values, I would go with the lesser of the 2 - I always try to give the MTs the break.
We don't correct grammar or punctuation on this board...nm
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Well, grammar/punctuation can dramatically alter meaning, so it IS important. nm
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looked like someone from India jobseeking with bad grammar
INDIA, INDIA, NEWBIE LOOKING FOR INDIAN-OWNED COMPANY-FORGET AMERICA COMPANIES HIRING NEWBIES!!!!
  Our country sucks when it comes to teamwork. My experience is in hospital transcription and 95% foreign dictators. Most of my dictators are from India and surrounding countries. Give up you all,  India is already way ahead of us!
Used to think we were using India, but now realize India is using us for our med. info, jobs,
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Punctuation
I would punctuate:
I told him to clean the area with hydrogen peroxide; and, after that he can apply the Neosporin ointment.
No, it is your punctuation. nm
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Punctuation question
Which is correct, longhaul truck driver, long-haul truck-driver, long haul truck driver?
Quick punctuation help!
I told him to clean the area with hydrogen peroxide, and, after that, he can apply the Neosporin ointment.
How would the punctuation be on this sentence? Did I do it right?
Thanks in advance for the help..
Quick punctuation help!
Thanks so much for the help!
Quick punctuation help!
Thanks, I have been doing a grammer course.
Quick punctuation help!
Thanks so much!
Quick punctuation help! sm
Sorry, but it does not seem you received much help here. The truth is every typist has her own style. It seems that quite a few want to place a comma every time the doc pauses to take a breath or shifts a page. If that is what your own doc prefers, then go for it. Most do not, however.
Grammatically, you may use commas or not in this sentence, but none are necessary. It has been my own experience that doctors would rather have less rather than more in the case of commas. Believe it or not.
Quick punctuation help!
Thanks so much for the advice!
Is question about punctuation? (sm)
If so, I'd change it to:
MUST HAVE: Two years' experience.
Transcriptionists that do not know punctuation
I just had a dictation in which the doctor specified (correctly) where the quotation marks were in relation to the period at the end of the sentence and stated that he was tired of having to correct reports where it was incorrectly placed. I was aghast! How could anybody transcribe and not know elementary punctuation?
punctuation problems
HI,
I am taking my medical transcription course through Allied Schools. I am having a problem trying to punctuate the dictations properly. I would like to know if anyone can help me with this problem. What I thought was proper punctuation seems to be different with medical transcription. Are we supposed to transcribe the punctuation as the doctor dictates or correct it to what we believe is correct?
Also, I have an assignment that I just transcribed that is impossible for me to punctuate. If anyone can help me, I would truely appreciate it.
punctuation issues
I was very careful about punctuation until I had to research things and found that the MTs at my hospital NEVER use commas. I could barely understand some of the long, strung out sentences. I always researched obscure medical terms to make sure my work was accurate, yet I make $10 less an hour than others there because the pools are set up so some MTs get the profitable work before the rest of us. The point of this is, I don't feel that my excellent work is appreciated, and I don't believe the pool situation is fair, so I just do minimum to get by. I also work IC to supplement my income, and my IC work is much better because I feel appreciated.
Docs and punctuation
Regarding the posts down the list about the docs who dictate run-on sentences or add bunches of periods, etc. I am wondering why they are not instructed to not include punctuation at all. Our company has us disregard what they say anyway (since it is usually way off), and it seems they are making it extra rough on themselves.
I have one who says comma practically every other word. It really threw me off at first, but now I hardly even hear it (so used to ignoring it). But think how much easier it would be for them to not even think about it. What works the best is when they just use their voice inflection to signal the end of one thought/subject and the beginning of another. Being someone without a whole lot of medical background, it gets confusing when they don't.
Why is it no one seems to communicate with the dictators about such things?
You are not wrong, Punctuation goes
inside the quotation marks.
Need help with punctuation and caps
I have MS Word 2003. This program has always capitalized the first letter after a colon (:) and for some reason today it stopped. I cannot figure this out for the life of me. I have been in Tools, etc, and see nothing that addresses this problem. If anyone has had this problem and knows how to correct it, please enlighten me. LOL
TYIA
Misspelled words, punctuation
I would love to be an Editor some day, love reading the typos in the newspapers, etc. However, I nor anyone else is perfect and we all have our days. On the other hand it depends on what you are accustomed to. I have typed radiology periodically and on one account told to use punctuation where needed and another account that I worked clinic in-house radiology was told by the radiologists not to use punctuation unless they told us to because it could change the meaning of the sentence. So, I obliged and no longer use punctuation unless it is dictated to me. Unless I hear differently I will continue to do as I am told.
Per BOS2 - there are spaces, no punctuation between T N M (nm)
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There are misspellings and punctuation errors.
NM
Punctuation "is not important"?!!
Consider these sentences:
The patient said her mother is insane.
The patient, said her mother, is insane.
Two commas that completely reverse the meaning of the sentence. We are not merely "word-slammers". We are expected to convey the meaning of the spoken word, and that is the role of punctuation. Punctuation substitutes for the pauses, etc. that are used in spoken speech to convey how the words are to be interpreted.
I'm no fan of the BOS by any means, but I can't agree with the extreme statements you make here, either.
You don't have to be an "English major" to know the fundamentals of proper punctuation, either. You should have learned that in grade school. And if they ever do scrap the BOS, you can be sure no one is going to scrap the basic rules of English grammar that you're expected to know and apply.
All that punctuation nit-pickiness was brought about by
They needed a reason to do it. (And to sell their anal little BOS). Get everyone so freaked-out about commas and semicolons that they either quit, or their production falls off and they can be 'justifiably' let go, forcing the 'poor MTSO' to have to look offshore for bodies to fill their sweatshops.
All that punctuation nit-pickiness was brought about by
They needed a reason to do it. (And to sell their anal little BOS). Get everyone so freaked-out about commas and semicolons that they either quit, or their production falls off and they can be 'justifiably' let go, forcing the 'poor MTSO' to have to look offshore for bodies to fill their sweatshops.
Verbatim radiology. Should I not punctuate when punctuation is clearly indicated?
Should I leave it up to the doctors to add their punctation for this verbatim account? Not putting commas around the word "however" is driving me crazy!
...your E-mails have to have proper English and punctuation.
Am I alone?
AAMT has rules on punctuation that are a great help.
Review them??!!??!!?!
Okay, I didn't renew with them this year, but it still doesn't negate the fact that you could use a calming influence. If AAMT causes you stress, remove it from your memory banks rather than fretting about it. It is what it is.
Re: expanding with punctuation, more info inside
I have been working on this platform for over a year and absolutely LOVE it. It is not the same as autocorrect expansions. This platform offers a LOT more.
I will type this directly from my manual to explain how the ESP abbreviations are expanded:
Press or type a delinter (a spacebar, enter, period, colon, semicolon, comma, question mark or exclamation point) that is appropriate to the sentence text or punctuation. The exapansion appears AS SOON AS you type the delimiter.
You can highlight entire sentences, paragraphs, etc and enter them directly into the ESP list and make a short abbrev. to retrieve them.
To add an ESP, press control, control and type it directly in, or highlight text in your document and then press control control and name your short abbreviation for it.
Sometimes, depending if your sentences are really LONG you will have to copy/paste directly into ESP and then give it a short.
In addition, with ESPs you can format words to be BOLD by inserting a tag. You can also put a tag in for something underlined, italic, etc. They also allow you to insert pauses and backups in your ESP so that you can type yof and get the hyphen first -year-old female.
Pauses are really neat when you want to nest an ESP inside another one. For example: if you put the following entries in your ESP:
lt (left)
tphp (The patient had pain in the)
(The ESPs need to first be created and exist)
Now you type the abbreviation containing the pause then press spacebar. The sentence expands to the point of pause and then type the abbreviation you want to nest, press the spacebar and hit enter. The complete next appears in your document. Believe me, this is something Autocorrect cannot do and really comes in handy especially when you have really repitious dictators who always give the same order on vital signs, etc.
You can also run a microsoft word macro as part of an expansion if you want. There is a special dialog box that the ESP uses for this.
ESPs also allow suffixes to be added to root words (another feature) but this is something I haven't used much yet.
You can also create more than one list of ESPs (can have 2 open at a time).
This platform also allows you to make "normals" for really long documents. Say you have a 2 page op report that a doctor will use over and over. You can just bring the entire document in. You can edit these normals at any time. These are like templates that you can insert jump codes, all your headings, numbering formats, etc.
On this board, I've been reading a lot about how people run to buy either Instant Text or ShortHand (as these are compatible with Dictatphone) but this is not something you have to run out and purchase. The ESPs offer a lot more than autocorrect.
So far, my one list of ESPs has over 20,000 entries and my line counts daily for 8 hours average between 1500 and 1800. Not bad.
The platform is REALLY easy to work from as another poster said you can pull up previous dictation from another Transcriptionist and copy/paste directly into the document you are typing. This is a really great feature when you have those really lousy dictators who pretty much say the same physical exam, etc. You can then just follow along and edit as you go.
It really is easy to use, and personally I love the Expander and have no complaints. Good luck.
I'm not giving up
Fortunately, even once I return to work outside the home my child will not be going into daycare. Even if I did MT at home and he wasn't there, my family-my mom would take care of him.
I'm not giving up, i'm just not willing to put all my eggs in one basket right now. I'm sure I will keep my day job, get my MT training and try to find something PT for 3-6 months. It will probably take me longer to find a PT job at home for a newbie, but this way I can get some experience under my belt and still be able to have a stable income. Once I have gained the much need experience, I'm willing to do this FT. I think I will have my mom keep him 4 hours while i'm working and then do 4 or more hours of work while he is asleep or napping. I think this would work better for me.
You will end up giving him away if you don't
You need to train him to accept being in his cage. If you don't do something about this situation, I can betcha you will soon be looking for a home for him. Which would be more humane? Taking the time and energy to retrain him or give him away to strangers? Also, neutering him may help. He is at that age where he is beginning to notice girls, and this may be contributing to the problem. ALso, when you try to find him a new home, it will be easier to give away a neurtered male.
For those giving up MT
what will you do next? Is medical billing the next logical step for MTs, or is that a bad gamble as well?
how is giving you that information
She isn't giving you the whole story on pay...
There are many different account levels. Each level pays a certain rate per line for transcription and per hour for training.
If she's at 6.5 cpl, she's on an account so easy you could do it in your sleep, literally.
Account levels go as high as just over 10 cpl as a base rate.
Spheris wants a certain level of knowledge whether you are new or not. Not all accounts have positions open at all times so you may well have 10 or 15 years experience but if the highest level account with an opening pays 7 cpl then that's what you get hired into. You can always bid off on other positions and even other platforms once you've passed 90 days.
I have 3 accounts...one I rarely type on. I switch myself back and forth on my other 2 accounts. One is easy and the other a little more difficult. While the easy account doesn't pay as much, I can do a lot more work on it with no effort so I make better money on it.
And, 127.5 lines per hour is how they base what you should be doing to get your lines in the minimum hours you can work for your status. Even at 127.5 lines for 20 hours a week as PT, you're making $8.28 an hour. That's NOT minimum wage. I agree, it isn't what I want/need to make (and I make much more than that), but you're statement that "...what you're talking about is not even minimum wage..." is completely wrong.
If you're going to give the story - get it right and give it all.
giving notice
Depends - either wait until you have a new job, if that's what you want; or, just tell them you quit and do they want you to finish out the week or? I guess I don't see the problem. If they wanted to fire you, it would be "bye bye now."
Giving Notice
I feel you should treat them the same way they treated you. Did they try to work with you or did you ask them/tell them their reports weren't your "cup of tea"? Myself, I am very professional, but an MT's job is different than an office job. They're like McDonald's; either they won't even replace you or they probably have 50 resumes to pick from and hire the same day. So my answer is no, don't give notice if they were tacky. I wrote an email and asked for a shipping label form a large company. They finally sent the slip after two requests and are open to hiring me again!! So I feel any more, MTs are a "dime a dozen." If you are ethical enough to sit there and type two more weeks while you could be spending your time finding a decent company to work for ASAP, I think it would be stupid to waste your time on them ... depending on your circumstances of which I know nothing about.
RadGuy, you are giving your age. I was only 11 and had no
:)
Giving up? That's their fault then!
Sorry, but where survival is concerned, you don't "give up". There's always a way. I've scooped dog pens, I've delivered phone books, I've cleaned houses. That's a lame excuse and people like that don't get any pity from me.
I eventually went back to school and am out of debt, own my home and both my kids are college educated, with me being the next to graduate from a major university.
I've been kicked in the butt financially, health-wise (lost my job, got fired because I had cancer and chemo made me "throw up too much"), divorce due to domestic violence.
I never gave up. I will never give up.
Life is YOUR responsibility. If you give up, that's up to you but there's no one to blame but yourself.
Sounds like she is giving you
certainly need it. You might be making $22 an hour, but your are being grossly overpaid if you don't know these things already. These are all standard and basic things any MT should know.
Nevermind - I'm giving it to you anyway! lol
For a REALISTIC but FANTASTIC job, here's what I think:
-- limited ESLs but completely accessible samples (meaning, a secure website that I can go to in the middle of the night when I'm typing and get all the samples I need)
-- Word Expander of my choice on YOUR provided equipment
-- Weekly teleconferences with my entire mgmt team and coworkers to discuss how we did last week, what we see coming up this week, what's on our mind, etc.
-- Base pay commensurate with worktypes: clinic and ER = 0.10 cpl; acute care w/o ops = 0.12 cpl; ops = 0.15 cpl; specialties (neuro, ophth, cardio, path, hem/onc, etc.) = 0.15
-- Production incentives based on that day's lines-per-hour averages; the more you type, the higher the incentive tier
-- Shift differentials of 1 cpl for 2nd shift and 2 cpl for 3rd shift if you work 4 or more hours into the shift
-- Difficulty pay for weighted ESLs and difficult dictators (not all ESLs are bad, some US docs are hideous) up to double lines
-- Weekend incentives of 3 cpl for 1000 lines or more on Sat and Sun
-- REgular QA feedback
-- Qrtly bonuses based on percentage of QA blanks sent and quality on regular QA analysis of my work
-- PTO rates averaged every quarter
-- PTO of 15+ days a year -- commensurate with yrs of svc
-- PAID HOLIDAYS (paid hrly if not worked and double lines if worked)
-- Mentor program -- pair up proven exp'd MTs with newbies and pay the mentors a flat fee per month
-- Let me earn a few extra rewards for top production and really high QA and not missing work and keeping my schedule and good communication
-- A $50 "thank you" during MT week
-- Never promise anything you cannot or will not deliver
How's that?
How about giving us some tips?
I do envy that ability. :)
How about some tips on how to work up to a level like that? I mean, aside from being glued to the chair and shortcuts (the obvious). Do you have to think about each letter as you are typing? How do you type so quickly while avoding typos? Are there exercises one can do to help with this?
Giving notice
I think it is a kindness. After all, they will need to replace you, and possibly need to train somebody for your account. Otherwise they could come up short on turn-around time. However, if they have been extremely unfair with you, I would give 2 weeks and tell them if they did not need 2 week's that I could to leave at any time.
Sooy, but I am not giving out the
name because it is small (at least compared to the mega companies I worked for) and they are not hiring right now. I just want to say maybe it is not that MT is a dying profession, as I see posted on the board here sometimes, and but maybe it is the companies out there causing some of the problems with MTing.
I am glad I stuck it out and did not quit, but searched around until I found the right placement for me.
IMHO these big companies don't care about quality, they just want quantity, and the MTs are just a number. I can't work like that. They are not concerned with patient care.
Giving notice as an IC...
I have been an IC for multiple years at a clinic and wish to resign due to extremely long hours and very little time off. I rather have more time off and a smaller income, rather than no life with more money. I would like to leave on a friendly note too, but I am confused on how to tell them. Do I tell them in a letter or speak to them in person? I also want to give them a few weeks notice. All opinions and advice are welcome.
Thanks again~
thank you for giving me insight on this
I can see now about your point on the certain days there is more work because this company does handle clinic work. I really don't want to sell myself short. I have been looking a year if that tells you anything!! it sounds like they didn't have much to offer somone. She did tell me "her ladies that work for her do not have that much experience." Thank you for listening. I don't feel quite as bad now about marking yet another off my list.
THANKS!!! Giving me the page...
.. number was what I needed.
(((((hug to you))))
I'm not giving my clients away, plus
up tapes twice a week; neither one of them will go digital. You would like the pay on one though; they pay me for blank lines, which is great. I do wish you luck on your search. I didn't say they were "pain in the butts," but just simply stating that 8 cpl not to have to deal with the administrative end can be worth it sometimes. I'm on the East Coast.
Giving myself a raise
I have been working for an office for 2 years now at the same line rate. I would like to increase my per line rate, but want to know how I should go about doing that.
I feel that I do good work for them and need some type of raise since I am an independent contractor and do not get bonuses, etc.
Thanks for your input.
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