EXText Question About Normals
Posted By: Anita on 2007-06-11
In Reply to:
Hi,
I've had trouble recently being unable to retrieve normals I've made.
When I make a personal normal and then try to access it during the current work session, it does not show up in the list. This is true even after having been logged out of the system entirely, such as overnight and then returning to work the next day.
If I try to re-do/re-create the normal using the same "Properties" info., I get a ping and message stating that that normal already exists. Any info. on this?
Also:
Could there be a limit to how many normals, personal or shared, can be created on one person's list?
Can personal normals be deleted?
I need more help than I've already gotten, so I'm posting here. (My next step is contacting Dictaphone)
Thanks.
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My normals sm.
I had a supervisor accuse me of holding hostage MY normals. I reminded her that they were documents I had brought to the job as I had done this doctor at another national previously. Anyway, don't the ding dongs realize they can just d/l a copy of a finished job and, tada!, there is a copy of a doc for that doctor.
What are normals?
I am new to MT and I keep reading "normals" are these macros?
normals
After creating a normal, ctrl-N to save it. Should be able to retrieve it after.
Normals
We use "normals" too but I change them to fit the dictation. I was always told those are mostly for reference to help us get through the dictations. Not every MD dictates the exact same Normal and even when there's Normals for each particular MD, they don't always dictate it exactly the same. The only time I would leave "as is" is, for instance, a radiologist says "Chest x-ray, #36, end" and I would just pull normal #36 and send off. Of course, if the Normal doesn't fit the title(I.e.#36 is a head CT) I would still pull it but mark for the QA/practice manager to see the error.
Oh and keep the standards/normals for themselves
NO EXPANDERS AND NO NORMALS
You don't believe me? I really don't care...That's my line count.....and I do it without Expanders or normals. I love my job, I'm the best at what I do and I always strive to do better than the day before. Maybe you could do the same if you weren't so negative....
Boss asking for normals
Is anybody working for a company where your boss is asking you to share your NORMALS. Be very careful. My company is asking us to share your normals and come to find out who they want us to share with, overseas. Also asking questions like, who are the best dictators, etc. Also experiencing block of work just disappearing. Several hours just gone. Anybody else.
I'd say "What normals?" (sm)
I had an OM tell me that he was contemplating not paying for macros. I said, "Oh, I don't have to worry. I don't use macros, I use an expander." That was the end of that. I'm sure he had to run back to his office to try to figure out what an Expander is! LOL
Abby Normals.
z
DocQscribe normals
I will be leaving my company at the end of the week without a job to take its place. It's taken me several years to accumulate all my normals, and I hate to think I will have to start over creating them. Does anyone know how to transfer/move all the normals from DocQScribe to Word or to save them on my hard drive. I hate to think I'll have to start over creating all new normals. Thanks for your help.
do you mean making normals
for same docs?
Yes, I mean making normals. nm :)
x
The majority of normals are seen
Normals can also be a repetitive statement that the dictator makes, which you then turn into a normal so you do not have to keep typing the same thing over and over again. Some use shortcut keys or Expander program. I am not an expert on any of these as I do not use them. Some who work in MS Word use autocorrect to expand terms or phrases that are said time and time again by a specific dictator. I use autocorrect in Word and like it. Hope this helps.
Has anyone been able to transfer their normals/standards from
nm
No way, Jose. My normals are MINE. Don't let them do this! nm
x
I never give anyone my normals. I have my own accounts and one
but it was a nice account - a surgery center with 200+ surgeons. I told the surgery center I just couldn't continue doing the account, gave them the names of a couple of other MT companies they might want to contact. They did contact them, elected to go with one of them, and then while I was finishing up with them while they transitioned to the new MT Company, they asked asked me for MY normals to give to the other MT Company. Okay, there were SOME normals that the hospital associated with the surgery center had given me to begin with, but I felt that it was the responsibility of the hospital to give those to the new transcription service, not my responsibility. Besides, I had changed the templates as needed, etc. But most of the normals I had were ones that I spent a couple of years developing. Now I wasn't just going to hand those over to a new MT service to make it easy on them. Those were something I spent a LOT of time on and were, in my opinion, MY property.
Why would you create normals for doctors
 and/or accounts you don't even know? That makes less than no sense. Do you just create your own things that you consider normal? Seriously trying to figure it out - I must be missing something.
Are you still cutting and pasting normals? I can't do
nm
What aggravates me are normals and samples
full of obvious typos and stylistic issues that we MTs get dinged for. In fact, I remember having a normal op at one place that had a made-up instrument name in it. It kept coming up on the spell check. Took me months to finally find the proper name.
I've come to expect sloppy and/or poorly written emails from managers and admin staff otherwise.
Normals in Expansion File
Just be aware that your company may have set a size limit for individual expansions to prevent transcriptionists from making "normals" that are not really normal, that is, not always exactly what the doctor says.
Also have errors in normals I am told to use--sm
Does your platform allow you to have Transcriptionist normals? Mine does and i have corrected the normals and saved them in my set of normals. I also complained for over a year and they were not corrected. One of the most notable is an ultrasound abdomen that has the technique for an MRI. The transcriptionist has to remember to make the correction on every report she transcribes.
Expanders and normals...not mormals
just felt the need to correct your mistakes since you are picking apart others.
yes of course I use tons of expanders. At the most 25% normals though.
x
It IS ExText, Word is simply the word proccessor used. ExText is marketed
by Dictaphone with Transnet and ESP is the expansion software incorporated into it. I used this platform when I worked for the hospital. I believe Wordclient is the speech recognition portion of this platform.
Try putting in the normals by blocking and control Y....
then name it the name you want and then use control R to retrieve it. Works for me.
Will be variable depending on the normals and shortcuts you have and how
s
Hi, I've gone the personal normals-only rte., still no luck. NM
x
Shutting it on and off doesn't restore normals? Are you
s
normals, templates, shorthand programs, etc
I was reading an earlier post that refers to companies making adjustments in our line counts because we are using these word expanders. I have been wondering about that because even using as many as I possibly can, it seems like it does no good. I do about as many lines as I would normally do just typing the darn things out. How are they making these adjustments, does anybody know and is it legal? Seems we have no standard anymore as to how lines are counted and companies are doing whatever the heck they want to us.
Re your normals: keep a list handy, name them with short names..sm
then use Control R after you have typed the normal name; i.e.: Dr. Joe Blow has a ROS that he uses all the time - name it JBROS or something like that, then in the document type JBROS and use the control R to bring it automatically in.
I would never voluntarily give them "my" normals, my work product. SM
The nerve of these people. 
Maybe if it is gross lines, lots of headers and footers and normals......sm
Other than that, I really can't imagine it.
Extext
Does anyone like extext? Any information on Extext would be helpful! Does anyone like the word Expander better than shorthand?
TIA
Extext
I like Extext a lot and use it with Shorthand also. I didn't even know there was an Expander in Extext until a couple weeks after I started the job. So much for training! No, I don't work for Amphion.
ExTEXT
Is anyone familiar with this program? I have been offered part time and she asked me if i had a dictaphone, and then said we use extext where it goes directly into the hospital. Help!!
Texas - sunny and 78 degrees!
Extext
I HATE ExText. There is NO foundation to build from. You have to start from scratch. I have Smartype which I currently am unable to use with a company I just signed up with, and I'm about ready to quit as ExText is the WORST word Expander I have ever seen. There are NO preloaded words or abbrevs. like there are in SmarType, so starting with the word "a" ... you have to create ALL of your shortcuts off the top of your head. Again, if I'm wrong about ExText, I hope someone will set me right, but for now, I detest it. Sorry; maybe some people like it, but if they do, ask them if they have ever used SmarType or some other Word Expander program.
extext
Thanks for everyone's input... I do use ShortHand now, and am glad i can continue to use it. Now I KNOW i'm going to take the account! 
Has anyone ever had EXText and VPN
installed on their home computer and discovered that Control T or Control X won't work in Word any more?
If so, does anyone know how to fix it? I really need help here and can't get it from anyone. 
i use extext
to stop expanding, i.e. if I just want PT, I've just created new "expansions". I create PTx for PT, MRSAx for MRSA, etc. It's much quicker.
ExText
I work on ExText, and have previously work on DQS;
Yes, it has a spellchecker (mine does anyway) and expander. As compared to DQS, they are comparable...not really much difference that I can say right off the top of my head. For me, the program really doesn't seem to make a huge difference, it's more the dictators that seem to make the most difference, as well as the company you work for. My company happens to be great! Loads of work, plenty of incentive, and nice nice supervisors and QA. I love it!!! 
EXText
I am so glad I could help. I have been using EXT for about 5 years now and I did the same thing with the Control/T when I first started using it!! Its a great program. I wouldn't use anything else.
Extext
I agree with poster below and am wondering the same thing - why are you using Ctrl T??? That ends your documement you are working on.
EXText
You cannot access voice unless the company has given you listening rights, which is usually not available on the MT side .. only QA.
I mean exText nm
nm
HELP WITH EXTEXT
I had made macros to enlarge my view to 145% (Alt-B) while I type, and then another macro to shrink it down to 100% (Alt-S) before I send document. All of a sudden, these macros will not work! They have been working for months. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
EXText
Ours is set up so that you have to search for the correct patient and correct encounter number. Hit select and that patient's name should come up on the demographics screen. When you open the document, the name should be changed to the correct one.
If the correct patient is not in your system, you have to create a new encounter.
Ellen S.
EXText
I checked my manual-nothing about deleting, but you can edit them: CTL R, select normal, then ALT T, edit, and CTL N to close. Hope this helps.
ExText
I use ExText and I can use my autocorrects etc... from MS Word. They have their own Expander in the program but I used my MS Word as I already had them all saved there. I didn't find it a hard program to learn at all. Hope this helps.
ExText
I use ExText. Easy program to learn. Great for searching for previous documents, etc. It has its own Expander but you don't have to use it. It is built-in, so if you leave the company you lose everything in it. It supports the other expander programs just fine. You can also make normals and save them in ExText in a different mode than in their expander. There has been some talk here of low line counts with it (which I tend to agree with) and you may want to research that a bit, but they say it is the company you work for that programs how the lines/characters are counted and not the fault of ExText.
Good luck to you!
ExText
I agree it's very "user friendly' and I am quite technically challenged so for me to say this, it really is! I have only used a couple other platforms but this is definitely my favorite - very easy to use.
Another Fan of EXText
I use it now and I love it. I started out on eScription/EditScript and that was a breeze. I was afraid EXText would be difficult, but it's very user-friendly and easy to adapt. I don't care for the ESP, but EXText works great with my Instant Text.
One of my favorite features is the search. If you don't know a doctor's name but can get the first 3-4 letters, you can type those letters and a ? and the search will give you a list.
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