Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Quick punctuation help!

Posted By: Lin on 2005-11-04
In Reply to: Punctuation - Margie

Thanks so much!


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

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! 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!
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
x
Punctuation question
Which is correct, longhaul truck driver, long-haul truck-driver, long haul truck driver?
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.


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.
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)
x
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?
Are you from India? Your punctuation and grammar are giving you away. nm
x
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.


We don't correct grammar or punctuation on this board...nm
x
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.




Well, grammar/punctuation can dramatically alter meaning, so it IS important. nm
x
Per Quick Look, it is
:}
No. There is no quick fix. (nt)

NEED HELP QUICK.....
I had to unplug my Infinity foot pedal from its USB port today and now my computer will not recognize it.  I had this problem once before and I cannot remember how I fixed it.  Finally I have some work and now the pedal won't work.  HELP ME PLEASE.....thanks a lot.
I only use the Quick Look because...
the company bought it for me.  I like it but it's gettin' old (2005) and missing a lot of new drugs.  I sure could use an update or something, so I'll be paying attention to the thread you've started here as well. 
need help quick!
Suddenly my enter button is acting as a spacebar and not a return key!  What do I do?
quick look
I bought the new version and found that I liked the old 2005 version that I had, because of the wild card function in the search. The newer one didn't have it. I just reinstalled the old one and add any new drugs as I find them through my daily work. Unfortunately, it now has a glitch that keeps me from opening the information about the drug in the index without locking up. At first I would close and come back in so that it would show, but I discovered that it would also work if you go into the appendix screens (any) before doing a search or using the index list. I like using the drug reference because it clearly lists the dosages and uses for each drug, and is quick to use. Since my account doesn't use a lot of brand new drugs it works fine for me this way.
A quick ?

Hello everyone, I am new to this board and just have a really quick question that I would like someone to answer please. On the MT job openings page when you click on an opening and in the employers description of the job they say to reply to and email address and then they list the address. However each job opening has a "apply now" tab at the bottom. Doesn't it just email your resume when you click that and submit it? You don't also have to copy the employers email address and then sign into your email and send a message to them that way too do you? Thank you,


Travis


Quick question for you, please?

Thank you for your advice.  I just need to take it!!


But my question remains, perhaps I did overstep bounds by voicing my concerns for his depression and mentioning that his brother had also noticed it.  He says I have betrayed him.  What would you have done in this situation? 


quick way to remember
Think of the Romans performing a play, like Julius Caesar....The ROMANS are on the STAGE.
Too quick on the buttons there.

Don't sign it.  It sounds as if they have a pending lawsuit and are trying to make sure no one else joins in.  If they call you about it, tell them you sent it over to your attorney to evaluate it.  LOL  It's NOT standard procedure.  You don't have to sign it.


The one I got had nothing to do with age discrimination, but it was a similar type of Hold Harmless document.


quick change tip

I haven't tried this yet (our office isn't on the one space thing.. yet), but I wrote down this tip that was posted last time this issue was brought up:  At the end of the report hit Ctr-Shft F, 2 spaces, tab, 1 space, Alta A to fix.  It should switch all your double spaces to single spaces without having to remember to change the way you've been typing for 20 years.


quick, where's the Dramamine!

just a quick question. sm
You knew one of us would ask--you said so yourself.

First of all, I completely understand being stressed out and needing a vacation. But don't you think your kids deserve a vacation too? Teenagers generally have a huge amount of stress, and so can the younger ones. They probably need it as much as you do, and would definitely enjoy it. If you need some "me" time, there are almost always activities to do separately and most Florida hotels have a day camp type thing or daycare that's fun for them too, so you can still have some alone time.

I'm sorry, and I'll probably get blasted for saying it, but I generally think it's selfish to leave the kids out of something so cool. What did you tell them... "we get to go on this vacation because we're more special and deserve it more?"
Get to a Dr. ---my mom had this and it was CHF--it killed her quick-
get checked out.
quick, anyone working for...

DO YOU HAVE WORK TODAY???


I don't and I'm going insane! I left another job at another NATIONAL because of lack of work (betcha can't guess who) and now I feel like I'm in the same boat here...just wondering if it's me, my account, my supe, or what!



 


quick math
3,000 characters divided by 65 = 46.15 lines x .09 = $4.15.

3,000/74 cpl = 40.54 x .10 = $4.05.
a quick link...
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/default.htm
AA FDA Drug Info
Quick update. ~sm~

This is my favorite show.  I have not missed an episode since it started.  Here is a quick update on what has happened:  Meredith is the star of the show.  Her mother is Ellis Grey who was a famous surgeon at Seattle Grace.  Her mother is now in an adult care facility as she has Alzheimer's.  Meredith kept it a secret until her mother was admitted for medical reasons.  Meredith and Dr. Sheppard had a one-night stand that developed into a relationship when she went to work for the first day and found him to be her boss.  Then along comes Dr. Shepperd's wife Addison.  They were separated because Addison had an affair with one of Derrick's best friends.  Since Addison came into the picture, Derrick has ended things with Meredith trying to save his marriage, as he thinks it is the right thing to do, but he is in love with Meredith.  George is the male  intern who slept with one of the nurses (can't remember her name) but he is in love with Meredith and Meredith has no idea.  Dr. Burke and Christina are living together.  Christina has a hard time getting close to anyone or admitting her feelings.  She and Burke are total opposites except for work, they are both devoted to being doctors.  Izzy is a former model who put herself through med school by modeling in underwear.  Alex is an arrogant (or appeared that way at first) intern who failed his surgical boards.  He and Izzy developed a relationship, but he has not been able to be intimate with her, which has Izzy upset as she caught him with the same nurse that George slept with.  Not sure what is going on here but I think Alex really cares for Izzy which makes him unable to perform, but when he is with someone that he is using, he has no problem.  The chief of staff is a workaholic and it appears that he and Ellis Grey may have had an affair years ago.  That should just about cover the basics.  I do not watch much TV either and this is the first show besides reality TV that I must watch.  Forgive any typos and not sure I have the spelling of all the names correct.


get rich quick
i'm looking to make extra money without having to do much.  I've researched online and am even thinking of buying that book from that question mark wacky guy "free money from govt."  Some programs that I have saved are secret shoppers and some other things, like real estate investor.  Can anyone recommend anything out there that is NOT a scam, where you can make thousands in a month, not spend any of your own money, and has anyone bought that crazy guy's book about getting free money? 
GET RICH QUICK..

Thats just for the lucky people that come upon something by accident.  lol.  If your looking, it will never happen.  If you ask most rich people how they got rich, they will say I worked real hard for it, or I just got lucky...   I tryed looking in to a few of the get money things, but they all seemed to be SCAMS to me..  If you do find any though, let me now.  


 


 


Quick Question.. sm

I just started a new job doing mostly op notes and radiology.  Whenever I start a new account, especially one with op notes, I like to look up a dictator's old reports just to get a feel for what he saying cause usually the procedure is the same over and over.


Anyway, when I was doing this I pulled an op report that had read "The patient was given adequate ella may anesthesia"  for LMA anesthesia.  I kid you not!  I have also seen reports with a number of other grievous errors such as a pacemaker implantation that read "patient threshold" instead of pacing threshold, etc.  I've noted the MTs' initials just for my own records so that I don't ever use any of their reports as a reference, but I am wondering if I should bring this to the attention of my supervisor and if I do bring to her attention, should I give her the MTs' initials?  I hesitate only because I just started the job and I don't want to seem like a tattle tale or know-it-all.  But seriously, these MTs' should absolutely not be doing op notes for sure.  And I'm wondering where is the QA person in all of this?  Why hasn't these kinds of errors been caught by now?


quick question

Well, know how you feel, I have run across this. I have indeed told me supervisor, given her the printed report...(I work in-house), and she can see the initials and deal with it from there. It all goes back to "THE GOOD OF THE PATIENT AND PATIENT CARE". Some errors I have seen could be very costly to the patient's well being.


Good for you in spotting these!