Shorthand will work with Cerner, but... SM

your hospital IT department will probably tell you it won't work and you will probably also be told you cannot load personal software on hospital-owned equipment.  There is a way around this, however.  If you have a jump/flash drive you can download the SH program for their website when asked where to save the download file, choose your jump drive (it is drive F: on my PC, maybe different on yours). 

Once the file is downloaded, open up your jump drive and double click on the install icon.  When you get to the step of the installation that asks where you want to install the program (usually defaults to C:programs) change that to your jump drive.  Then install the program.  Now, the program is installed on your jump drive.  You can take your jump drive and plug it in to any PC, open up your drive, double click on the SH icon to run the program, and the SH program will run in the background on whatever PC you are using (you will see the SH icon in your right lower corner with your clock).  It is not installed on the PC, so you are not breaking any "rules" that the hospital may have.  Once you are done for the day, double click the SH icon and shut down the program and unplug your dive.  No one will ever know.  It'll be your little secret.

I did this for years.  I worked on Cerner RadNet and got the same run around about Expander programs.  I just did it myself and nobody ever knew.

Good Luck!

• Cerner/Citrix and Shortand - frances
  • Shorthand will work with Cerner, but... SM - RockinMT
  • Shorthand - LK
  • I've heard that Smarttype is exactly like SH, so . . . - TTworkerbee
    • My apologies. I believe it is SpeedType not SmartType - TTworkerbee
  • who owns the computer? - cj
    • Another issue could be who owns SM - MissIndigo
      • How could a dictionary/text or word expander..sm - Bayou MT

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I am really considering presenting the idea that we measure productivity on minutes transcribed instead of lines.  I don't know if management will go for it, but it seems like the best scenario considering all the trouble we've had.

Thanks again!

Does ShortHand for windows work with plantform Charnet?  Thanks.

Need to find an Expander that will expand properly in any platform being that the right working situation for me is so hard to find.

Any suggestions?

TIA

Just getting to know the Expander program "Shorthand", and saw that it says to shut off all spell-checkers.  Does that mean that I cannot run Spellex or another Medical Spell Check program with it?  Has anyone any suggestions as to what they use?   Or any "work-arounds" 

I am just getting started and trying to decide if I like "As-U-Type" or "Shorthand" better as my word expander.  It seems that "Shorthand" does not act like a spell-checker like "As-u-Type" does, so need to add one.....preferrably a medical one.

I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

;yo = -year-old

;py= -pack-year

etc...

my ShortHand would type only the first letter of an expansion and then take all the letters away!  I checked and the Type It button is grayed out!  I have restarted the computer and looked on the Shorthand Help menu but can find nothing that applies.  Can anyone please help me ASAP?  I am lost without it!  TIA

It is very compatible.  You can set it up so that you can see a hint window while you type.  I tried using the built in Expander in DQS, and you have to have a great memory, because there is no hint window or suggestion window, like Smartype.  I also know that Instant Text is compatible with DQS, also; but I prefer Shorthand.  I hear so many great things about Smartype and wish I could learn it, but it won't work with DQS; however, there is a way you can get around that.  You can use Smartype and transcribe in Word, set your font size to 14 and save your file in Rich Text Format, then copy and paste into the DQS platform.  Then select all and hit Ctrl 5 to get the spacing right.  It sounds like a lot of steps and you will also lose your place as far as leaving any QA markers, so I personally don't care for the hassle, but I know of some MTs that do it that way, so you can try it.

Hope this helps. 

Is there a way you can import addresses into ShortHand all at once, instead of one by one?

Thanks in advance!

I worked for 25+ years in WP for DOS and used PRD.  I loved it.  This year I changed to WORD and was able to use ShortHand from the first day.  The file conversion from my PRD to ShortHand was quick and easy.  One thing I really like is that the length of the short form is not limited, sometimes with PRD I wanted "just one more letter." 

I have not learned how to write the neat macros I had in WP5.1 that would switch from document 1 to document 2, search and copy, and then paste.  I will do anything to keep from using the mouse.  Like I said before, it's all new to me this year, but I am learning.  One reason I held off the switch to WORD for so long was that I would not stop using my beloved PRD. 

Anyway, as far as I can tell, in ShortHand there is NO LIMIT to the number of abbreviations you can have in a directory, and no limit to the number of directories you can have.  So you could have one dedicated to surgeries, and another for discharge summaries, and it's easy to switch them. 

And after all these years, I found WORD was not really that technical or difficult to learn.  Whichever Expander you choose, I hope it works out for you like it did for me.