I agree...verbatim is not a laughing matter
Posted By: luv2cruise on 2007-02-08
In Reply to: Agree, verbatim transcription equals poor quality transcription. - nm
I am a grammar geek. I was an English major in college and actually once upon a time wanted to be an English teacher. I've been an MT for 22+ years now, and one of the hardest things for me to do is to type verbatim when all I want to do is correct the grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, etc., of a dictator who has neither the knowledge of proper English grammar nor the time to care.
Sometimes it's not just a matter of being grammatically correct but a matter of being accurate. For instance, if a dictator says under a review of systems, *No history of chest pain, palpitations,* and I type it that way (verbatim), it could be construed to mean that there is no history of chest pain but there IS a history of palpitations, when the dictator most probably meant no history of chest pain OR palpitations; that is, NO history of chest pain AND NO history of palpitations. Now, I realize *verbatim* transcription doesn't take a Transcriptionist off the hook for not using common sense, but if you tell people *verbatim means verbatim,* then you will more than likely get finished reports with verbiage similar to the above example. My trouble is that some days I can't find a happy medium--I either want to fix it all or leave it all and blame bad sentence structure on the dictator. Of course, I do neither, since wholesale editing is not appropriate and *verbatim* does not mean incomprehensible. One of my pet peeves is when a dictator says something on the order of *The patient was explained the risks and benefits of the procedure.* What? I think the dictator means that the risks and benefits of the procedure were explained to the patient. Do I dare edit? Of course, I make just as much money if I leave it, right? Plus, I can fall back on *verbatim,* LOL. What about when a dictator says something like this: *The patient was taken to the operating room by Dr. Smith after he was hit by a car and suffered multiple orthopedic injuries*? I actually did laugh out loud when I heard this sentence recently in an actual dictation. Poor Dr. Smith, performing surgery right after being struck by a car!
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I agree with the other MT on this matter
Wow, is this ridiculous, or what? I have been an MT for 5 years, and I enjoy every single minute of it, even if I always get the hard work that no one wants, or seems to be able to do, for some reason! I also get the less than 1 minute cherry-picked jobs from my "SO-CALLED MANAGER," who does give a rats ____ if you get your quota, or NOT !! They send all of the bigger jobs to people in India, etc, and MTs like myself get all the small, small, almost nonexistent jobs, and that is every single day!! I am switching to another company with much better pay, and much better respect for MY HARD WORK!! I am, basically, MY OWN QA person, as MOST OF MY work needs NO editing by QA people !! You had your vent, now I had mine, so let's get to work, already!
Agree, it really doesn't matter what anyone else does.
IF you are happy with your line count and paycheck, who cares what anyone else produces........I don't. I am quite happy in my little bubble.
It doesn't matter to me if you agree with all of my posts or none of them.
Not trying to hurt your feelings or anything, but that's just the way it is. 
Verbatim is verbatim, but I defintely to the little things to make the doc look better such as..sm
an eye problem instead of a eye problem. I definitely wouldn't change too much. Stick with what they say and only make changes when you absolutely think it is necessary. I took a test last night and have an interview today and this is what I did. FYI, I do clinic work.
I dont agree with any of the things you are saying here but I moved on so it doesnt matter.
Agree, verbatim transcription equals poor quality transcription.
x
Doesn't matter, IF you are not paid an hourly wage, i.e. a set amount no matter - sm
how much or how little you type, say $12.00/hour, you do not get OT. As someone mentioned here, certain jobs are exempt, and as most of us are paid a flat rate of .08 cpl or .09 or .10, whatever it is, that is all we get regardless of how many hours under or over 40 hours we go. If you want OT then go get an in-house job or get a job doing something else.
Verbatim = verbatim......flag it...NM
x
They are using US and laughing at us. NM
xxx
Laughing!
For someone who has been on "both sides of the game" you sure do not have your facts straight. You do not have to be a member of AAMT to take the CMT exam!!
not laughing
but cutting it off with a knife takes all the fun out of it.
eating vertically is, I guess, round and round, as opposed to side to side. Didn't know how to describe it. I eat both ways, actually, I don't want to miss a thing!
got me laughing too!! Thanks. nm
t
still laughing
giggles are good and docs come up with some fine ones. just had this on H&P.
GU, RECTAL, and BREAST exam are deformed!!!!!! lololololol
Not laughing at all.
I have read several articles where people talked about doing that. I hadn't even thought of that and my tailbone is as sore as the rest of yours are.
Thanks for the reminder! I think I even have one of those babies stashed somewhere. Time to take a break and find it.
I'm still laughing...that is great...
Now I've got all these images in my head about Internest Street in Transcription City. This is really, really funny. My dog is looking at me wondering why I'm laughing to myself. Oh well!! Probably will be thinking about this all day...will develop a whole town, with many streets and avenues.
What other names can others come up with. Lets build this city. OK everyone, send in your suggestions!! 
I am not laughing at the technology.
At this point, at least to my understanding, the health insurance industry and Joint Commission require detailed documentation,especially the insurance companies who love to quibble on what they'll pay. When the detailed documentation is no longer being required and standard text and check off systems are used, the docs have no way to cover their butts. Let a few of them be sued for malpractice because they have no detailed proof of exact treatment, and we'll see just how wonderful this mobile system works. The insurance companies will be in an uproar over the judgements they are paying out.
I didn't see anybody laughing.
Everyone thinks Frankie boy has major mental problems.
lol! well, laughing through my tears, actually.
nm
Laughing Out Loud. nm
;
If you can stop laughing for a sec...
Where are these "places where typing pays decent$$$" and "there are tons and tons of men," please? I've been in the working world for over 40 years and no matter what the job, men are going to be paid more, even if they are just standing the "Slow" sign on road construction. The only exceptions I know of are jobs where equity is demanded by law - such as state government and big corporations that are affected by the federal wage and labor laws.
Part of the reason are men paid more is because they think they deserve it and will not accept the same kind of treatment most women will take for the sake of a job. Also, men are more likely to be put into management and supervisor positions, despite their education and experience. It happens in nursing, customer service, any job that is predominantly female. There are probably a lot of reasons for that and I won't even go there.
ok, got it - you were on floor laughing *LOL.nm
 
LOL=laughing out loud (nm)
x
ROFL ASR keeps me laughing
I get lots of funnies too
Laughing at this doctor
he thinks cc, as in carbon copy, stands for closed caption. Please closed caption Dr. So-And-So. 
Those are both priceless!!! Now I'm laughing. nm.
x
Laughing - you are soooo right
QA is overrated and yes they do need to get themselves.... QA are MTs that think they know more than a regular MT... in a nutshell....
I think this must be a joke, and I am not laughing.
Why are you both obsessed with laughing??? sm
Jasper is laughing... You're laughing... Acusis is laughing... Glad to see you're all so easily amused.
My personal experience with the MTSO in question is that they have been above-board and forthcoming with info in past *crises* and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Besides, as I read Jasper's post, this pay cut was strictly for the editors... I'm not an editor.
I'm also smart enough NOT to cut off my nose to spite my face: IF my MT pay rate is cut, I'll still choose to stick around with Acusis because I have decent benefits including freebie money in my 401K, relatively pleasant accounts, and I KNOW that to start all over again with any other company out there, INCLUDING the beloved and hallowed WMX, I'd be making LESS per line and I'd be running out of work. So...
You and Jasper go right ahead and jump ship. I'll be glad to pick up your OT, and I'll bet I'm not the only one who stays behind to pick up the slack.
Best of luck to YOU, too, and thank you for leaving. *chuckle*
Laughing when you said the doctors are doing their own
editing. They cannot even spell most of the time.
OMG, I'm in tears I'm laughing so hard!
That is so funny!
Still laughing my ... off and now im gonna work
z
Not laughing at your bill.. that bites..but
in California gas & electric has sucked big time for decades! I average around $2000 a year...throw in some rolling blackouts too.
lol=laughing out loud, tia= thanks in advance
b
I believe lots of laughs/laughing and
thanks in advance.
When new, my boss started laughing
when looking over my report, apologized and said she was sorry but she couldn't help laughing. I had typed "the patient has a four-foot stump" instead of forefoot. Then another time, the doctor's first name was Gus, and I had typed Gums, thankfully they caught it right before it went on the record.
I'm not sure which I'm more disgusted with..your glee at the money or your laughing at him bei
upset. Better check the will..he just might add a clause that you lose the money if you remarry!
I defend her for being out there while you were yoda'd out on the couch laughing at her. :) nm
x
I can barely type I'm laughing so hard
Yes, you are going to get slammed for saying some of that stuff, but it is Hilarry-ious!!! And, oh so true. Oh, my side hurts!
And: Today you are laughing, tomorrow you wil be crying, believe me...nm
nm
Who's laughing? I'm just shocked that you take offense to the person who is correcting
YOUR mistakes, rather than the morons who are making these ridiculous errors, making the MT profession look silly. These mistakes should not have been made. I'm embarrassed for you my dear, not laughing at you.
Absolutely Hysterical!! We did not stop laughing. My side hurts. nm
nm
Not rebuild an historic city in US? We would be laughing stock of world, oh, we
zz
Oh, geez! My cheeks hurt from laughing. That was pretty good!
Hilarious! First time I've burst out laughing all week! Thanks. nm
xxx
I am laughing so hard, I swear I fixed my 'pot' (for potassium) expander, and it came out pota
xx
Verbatim for ESL too?
Geez, if that were the case on my account (not MQ), you wouldn't believe the crap I'd be putting out - "59 years old pt, denies of chest pain, comes to ER for short of breath," and I could go on and on.
Verbatim
I still don't understand, for example I have a doc who does about 20 lengthy bypass operations a week. I have a 4-page "standard", that I just immediately pull up. He never dictates it the same way twice, I just simply pull up my standard, put ears on, follow along and delete, insert, change and so on as he dictates, and that is as good as verbatim.
Since I am on verbatim also, I use whatever s/he says..
Jim for James etc....however, if the doc is clearly off track, he starts calling Mary by the name of Frank for instance (it has happened) then I flag it.
verbatim
The docs at a big teaching hospital I formerly worked for did not put punctuation marks after the word HOWEVER. That's the way they wanted it and we were marked down if we added the comma.
verbatim, really?
Of course verbatim means typing EVERY SINGLE word they say, even when it's a side conversation, a snide comment, etc. One thing I do that may not help them at all but makes me feel that I've at least let them know that I know - I enclose such words in quote marks to set them off from the real words.
Verbatim
As a private IC there was a prominent heart surgeon from Iran whose dictation I "cleaned up" constantly or he would have been the laughing stock of the community. Sometimes you have to "save face" for the client. If I worked for a national and they QA'd me from saving someone from a drastic error, I would immediately "quit." Another ESL went to hospital admin to tell them I was "his friend," I did not change the meaning but there were several instances when I had to make sense of things for him to cover the hospital's reputation. I was taught never to "change the meaning" and to put certain language "in quotes" although as an IC, I would always call the client first and they usually thanked me. When you work for another service, you can't do this, so it makes it very difficult.I guess you have to go with who pays you, but I would never, never type a senseless sentence.Good luck to those who have "bad QA assessments." They should know better.
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