The rules for Op notes are a little different. You may begin a....sm
Posted By: VTMT on 2005-10-18
In Reply to: Numbers at beginning of sentence - a style questions (sm)
sentence with a numeral; so, you would never spell out cc for blood loss, IV fluids, urine output etc. In the indications section, if a sentence starts with a number e.g. "Three days ago the patient" or "One day prior to surgery, I spell out the number. Otherwise, in the body of the report or in the headings, I use the number.
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And you'll almost never get just Op notes. Probably get mixed acute care - op notes, discharge su
s
Where to begin?
Brandy,
Where do you live, most importantly? I am a mom to 3, in Georgia, and am currently homeschooling my son in kindergarten. I can give you some tips, if you want, but there is a lot, too much to post here. IF you want more info, post back and I'll give you my e-mail address or e-mail you privately.
Oh, where shall I begin. sm
The *hoopla* about offshore not being secure is absolutely a valid threat. It may have nothing to do with transmission and everything to do with the value system of another group of people though. At least three VERIFIABLE instances of offshore MTs holding medical records for hostage and at least one where the MT threatened to publish the records on the internet if she was not paid, exist. Hardly *hoopla* my dear. I seriously doubt if the CMT will ever become a mandatory credential and I seriously doubt that for several reasons. After nearly 30 years, the AAMT has fewer members now than it ever had. People are leaving in large numbers. I also have it on good authority that the test the offshore MTs take is not the same one given to US MTs. Personally, I don't put someone down for having a CMT, I just have no great real respect for it or the association. I trust I am allowed my opinion. I worked at a local hospital where the transcription supervisor was a CMT and she could not answer one blank when asked! I actually know a lot of CMTs who are not all that.
Maybe it's your attitude to begin with.
Change your tune. Be sugary sweet when you think someone is being rude to you and see what happens. Pay it forward. Give someone a smile or a kind word. Let someone in line in front of you. Just do one little nice thing per day and it will multiply. People are never rude to me. Everywhere I go, they know me by name because I take the time to be kind to them. Gas station, grocery store, bank, school, doctor's office. You might have to fake it 'til you make it, but you can change your outlook and how you perceive the world treats you. If someone is "rude" to you, blow it off. Maybe they're having a bad day and it's nothing personal.
To begin with, I would suggest
Paying for your rent/mtg, food and utilities without fail first.
I ended up in BK 13 so I can't help you with a company name but this is what I learned, food and shelter come first.
That's Why I Posted To Begin With
I didn't make the assumption that 'fast typing' was all it took. I still believe that you have to be able to type fast, but I also have 'top notch computer skills' and can learn well. I wanted to know more about training in this field because I assumed training was a necessary evil. One thing I didn't assume was that the folks on this forum were just downright rude!! Not saying you are, just most of the others that replied to my initial post. I am certainly not looking at MT as a way to pay my mortgage or put my daughter through college. Just a way to fill some free time.
Thanks for your post!
You should have a system to begin with. SM
I recommend mining the Productivity Talk forum for tips and a book such as Saving Keystrokes by Rolland. One high producer strongly recommends Easyscript Express by Levin, an old ABC-based ShortHand method that can be used with a keyboard.
When I first started with expanders, in the Ice Age seemingly, there were no forums like this to consult and I just started dropping definitions in without a good system. I've since had to redo everything a number of times as I wanted my Expander to do more and more for me.
As time goes on, you'll also want to abbreviate EVERYTHING for you, which requires system, both because you can't possibly remember thousands of abbreviations but remembering a few rules is easy AND because you need to have a way to enter various terms that seemingly need the same letters.
One tip just to jump you off: Some systems start two-word phrases with the first two letters of the first word and the first two or three of a second word. However, if you look up "lesions," say, in a medical dictionary, you'll see immediately that starting with three letters of the describing/adjective word and two of the noun (i.e., cocle for cochlear lesion and corle for cortical lesion) would serve you much better. Although if you gaze over just at the ones that start with intra- you'll realize more system than that is going to be needed for more complex terms. I personally start that prefix with "ia" to differentiate from ones that start with inter- "ie". Best wishes.
ADD vs. MT - Let the Battle Begin
Have you tried setting a timer for 20-30 minutes, then giving yourself permission to get up from the desk (setting the timer again for 10 minutes or so), wander around, surf the web a little (on a different computer if you can, it will help keep the surfing bug separate from the MT'ing bug), then when the timer goes off again, go back and set it again for 20-30 minutes and start typing again?
These days, I'm working in bed from a laptop due to back and wrist issues that don't play well with conventional desks, but in some ways that actually helps keep me focused, because it's such a pain in the neck to get up and walk away... I still struggle with wanting to surf while typing though - a problem I never dreamed of having back when my shiny new computer was an IBM PS2 or something like that - where the floppy drive held less information than my cell phone does today!
Good luck!
Does it have 3 letters, begin with an M?
If so, I'm there too...Ain't life grand???
The one time I asked for one, they said no. Ask and if they say no, begin looking elsewhere.
dd
Don't get excited. You should have provided it to begin with. nm
x
The head set worked to begin with so
if it was in the wrong hole would it have worked in the beginning? Because it worked until I downloaded the pedal software.
How do you begin to come up with a line rate..
to pitch to a new account? Been working for others as an IC, now contemplating approaching an account on my own. No clue how to not hang myself and selling out at too low of a rate vs giving a quote that's too high and will make them back off quick. Would it be a good "rule of thumb" to take what you make as an IC on someone else's accounts and add .05cpl? From what little I've gathered over time, that's about the ballpark of what the MTSO gets paid per line for the account vs what the IC gets paid to do the typing. Does this sound about right to those of you who have experience with this? Tks
I promise you - I begin work at 7:00 p.m. - I'm only PT, and my day always begins with
stat, H&Ps, consults, etc! I love it!
When they have me working mornings I am getting special procedures, ops, caths, and don't like it one bit! Maybe 2nd shift would work for those who just can't see themselves working from 11 to 7. Good luck!
Nope. It was a small account to begin with.
The work never went anywhere. The company has not lost contracts. I'm not being "phased out" either. The workload simply doesn't suit my needs any longer. I can do it in my sleep, so I'd like more work that's more challenging.
I would never begin a sentence with an abbreviation, for one thing. nm
x
I begin my day, every day, with a nice 2 to 3 mile walk with
This gives me time to think, alone time, fresh air and of course exercise. I love to walk and it seems that since I began doing this I am less stressed out. Have you had your thyroid checked??? Just wondering if that could possibly cause hair loss. I wish you the best.
Was taught in my program that all those eye words begin with
s
That is assuming they could even understand the dictation to begin with.
I would love to see the doctors having to listen to dictation.
Utilize the speed typing engines and begin
storing in their favorite phrases so that a few letters will bring them up. I am working for several physicians. Took me a few months to get all the words into speed typing mode but now that I have, the time I spend typing is cut in half.
Never type a word larger than 4 letters.
chest pain - cp
pneumonia - pnea
atelectasis or infiltrate - aoi
so on and so on - whatever works for you. This is how to make money these days, high production. And the speed typing engines lessen change of typos and other erros.
Okay. Where do I begin? I need some advice! My husband is in real estate. sm
He owns 5 houses (rents 4), and just closed on a house on Friday that he needs to "flip" really quick! Basically, it's a 30,000 profit IF he sells it quick! We've never bought a house to flip before, but have purchased them for rental property and to gain the equity. Okay. I'm spoiled. Very spoiled. Or you could call it blessed! We are both Christians with good jobs. I only work part-time and then we live off of his salary and the 700 we make in rent that is extra after paying ALL the mortgages. But we are in a real bind now. We have renters who owe us 2 months of rent, well now 3 months of rent! They won't take our calls, you know the rest of the story! This house that my husband bought on Friday cost us ALL of our cash because we had to put some down and then pay closing costs (close to 4,000!). So now, for the first time, we are broke (NO cash flow whatsoever now). And I'm struggling over here! I mean, we can't even go and get ice cream tonight. I'm really questioning our decision to purchase this house.
See, we had no idea UNTIL closing (honest to God), just how much it was going to cost! So, we couldn't back out of it. We were thinking 2000 on the high end. I completely flipped out when the attorney told us how much we needed to write a check for!!!!
We've gotten a couple of calls on the house, but obviously no takers. My husband went straight from the attorney's office to the house to put up for sale signs in the yard! It's a cute house. We just need someone to buy it ASAP!
So, if you've ever wanted to meet the people on the Carlton Sheets infomercial - here we are!!! yes, we've made a lot of money in real estate, but there are huge, gigantic RISKS! You could go for the gutso (like we did and buy all these houses) and you could lot a lot if it doesn't work out. The loan we got on this new house is a type of loan I've never heard of before. It's just a "quick" loan where you need to pay it back pretty quick in the hopes that you will make the 30,000 in equity that the house did appraise for.
What do you do on a budget? What do you do when you are so broke you can't even buy ice cream for the kids? I want to cry now, even though I know some of you out there have zero sympathy for crazy folks like us...Well, I need some ideas on food. What's cheap to make and cook? I put 30.00 in my SUV last night and that will have to last me until the 15th!
To all of you who struggle every week like this, my heart goes out to you. It truly does. Now I know what it feels like to live in desperate need every day.....
They're not thrown to the dogs when they had no work to begin with!
nm
that would be same rules not some.
nm
different rules
for different settings. Cinics are allowed to use abbreviations pretty freely as to where hospitals are not for a lot of things due to possible misinterpretation. It all boils down to the fact that they are paying you and what they say goes!
BOS rules
I am an 18 year MT and I just recently heard of this Book of Style. What exactly is it? Doesn't the style depend on the program the account has. I've used several plateforms, and just about each one is styled differently, so what is the point of BOS? Old school MT!
BOS rules
I have been reading these comments. I have gone round and round with my employer over why the BOS rules are BS. But, I think the reason they keep changing things is because the doctors are getting cheaper and cheaper and don't want to pay anything for quality. That's just my little opinion.
BOS RULES
Well, if the BOS states "disk is the correct spelling, but I have a Rad who went to Med school and was taught disc and discectomy and discitis, who am I to tell him he now has to change it because the AAMT has a "book" that says otherwise. I still spell out my numbers up to 9 just like I was taught in typing class way back in 1982. So far, I've been lucky. My Rads like it their way and they pay me.
They do seem to have a lot of rules.
I saw on the other board, they'd like their own board..... Yeah, okay! 
Name rules
I believe you can use relative names - first names - but just not the patient's. Can your QA give you any guidance on this? I know the company I work for has very specific rules about what can and cannot go in a report, etc.
MQ Rules, literally! Go MQ!
nm
follow the rules
I too thought crepitus was the only correct form -- until the pediatric rheumatologist "corrected" me and insisted on crepitance. (As the Red Queen says, "All ways here are MY ways.")
New Rules For The Office
New Rules For The Office - Effective Immediately!
SICK DAYS: We will no longer accept a doctor statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.
SURGERY: Operations are now banned. As long as you are an employee here, you need all your organs. You should not consider removing anything. We hired you intact. To have something removed constitutes a breach ofemployment.
DRESS CODE: It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary,if we see you wearing $350 Prada sneakers & carrying a $600 Gucci bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore you do not need a raise.
PERSONAL DAYS: Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday & Sunday.
VACATION DAYS: All employees will take their vacation at the same time every year. The vacation days are as follows: Jan. 1, July 4 & Dec. 25
BEREAVEMENT LEAVE: This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or coworkers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hourearly, provided your share of the work is done enough.
OUT FROM YOUR OWN DEATH: This will be accepted as an excuse. However, we require at least two weeks motice as it is your duty to train your own replacement.
RESTROOM USE: Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom. In the future, we will follow the practice of going in alphabetical order. For instance, all employees whose names begin with 'A will go from8 to 8:20, employees whose names begin with 'B' will go from 8:20to 8:40 and so on. If you're unable to go at your allotted time, it will be necessary to wait until the next day when your turn comes again. In extreme emergencies employees may swap their timewith a coworker. Both employees' supervisors in writing must approve this exchange.
LUNCH BREAK: Skinny people get an hour for lunch as they need to eat more so that they can look healthy, normal size people get 30 minutes for lunch to get a balance meal to maintain their average figure. Fat people get 5 minutes for lunch because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim Fast & take a diet pill.
Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience.
Have a nice week.
read what rules??
OK I'm a guy but I don't know if I have been counted. 40/7 that's nothing. I have 3 sisters.
HIPAA rules
A lot of the national transcription services have many accounts where the hospitals/docs still want the name of the patient in the body of the report and do not want "the patient" in the body of the report. So the facilities still respect what the doctors want.
RULES ON POSTING
Unless the moderator makes remarks what we post I am going to post what I want to. If we were in an office we probably would have a discussion about American Idol, family, relationships. I feel this board has been helpful when you feel isolated all by yourself all day transcribing. I have learned alot of information that was not related to transciption over the past years.
Definitely need to set some rules and stick to them -
I also had contractors working in my house a few years ago, so I can totally relate. The phone was also ringing off the hook. I had people knocking on the door (contractors) at all hours because they knew I was here. I finally just about had a nervous breakdown and told my husband if he did not take some of these calls or come home to meet some of these people I was quitting my job. Low and behold, he took the wheel and I got to actually sit and work. He said he did not realize how stressed I was over all this. Maybe this will work for you? Good luck. :-)
They don't have set rules for saving
I've never had to set rules to get them to save money. My kids generally save most of what they receive without me telling them to, and they just aren't into shopping and spending money.
I assume they've learned from my example because I'm pretty good with money myself and don't spend extravagantly.
JLG RULES to those who have a clue
I am amazed and not surprised at how many children we have out here who apparently have not cut it with JLG and now have to bad mouth one of the finest companies there is and I know it! I have had many of my former MT's come to work here -they are making wonderful pay....but perhaps that is because they work?! They aren't sitting on the message boards crying the blues because they didn't listen, couldn't follow simple rules, and probably lied about the length of experience as an MT so they were FIRED!! JLG is one of the finest companies there is. The work flow staff and owners are the finest I have every had the pleasure to work for and I have been in this industry as a CMT and now QA for 22 years. They pay ridiculously HIGH and you have to have knowledge to make it with them. Stop saying things that aren't true THEY DO NOT run CREDIT CHECKS> FOOL THAT YOU ARE... if you cant cut it as an MT why understand this...JLG asks for a social security# simply to make sure that you belong to that SS# and that you are not an illegal alien  working with someone else's SS#, also to ensure that you do not have any delinquent tax liens with IRS because by law they can not employ you as an IC and not pay uncle Sam because if you have not paid taxes before , well that says it all right there. So don't run your toilet when you don't know what you are talking about. What would they care about your light bill, phone bill or any bills on your credit report. That makes no sense but neither does anything negative I have read about JLG. So do yourself a favor, stop trying to work for a top notch company until you build your resume. Perhaps go to an accredited school and learn to be an MT and stop taking mail order courses that get you know where but broke and without a job to pay the student loan back. Anyone wanting to be an MT at JLG should be honored to get hired and also we have more work and more accounts and more new accounts that we can not staff fast enough to keep up. Perhaps you didn't have enough work because you are one lousy MT because that's usually why you don't get work. I wish everyone working here now could here this nonsense but we are too busy to do what you do all day which is make up fairy tales. Apply with JLG. Do yourself the favor don't listen to people that are just disgruntled because they couldn't make the grade. And contrary to MS Opinion....QA knows about everything at JLG. We have to baby sit and grade all the work that MT's do incase they fib about the experience and we have to make sure it is all spell checked and dot their Is and Cross their T's. So QA knows everything from how much work is waiting to be typed, how much has come in and how much will be there the next week. Get off it and get real. Perhaps McDonald's is hiring. Because I make so much money I am buying myself a new 40 thousand dollar vehicle in 3 weeks and let me say this I made just that in the past 6 months.  Sorry it didn't work out Now get over it and if you don't like other peoples opinions STAY OFF THE BOARD Back to my life. Sorry you couldn't have one too. By the way I wont be back I do have work to do! I just had to come see for myself at the clown like stuff written about our wonderful  company.
New rules? Hmmm....sm
Since you seem to be a theological expert on all religions maybe you could enlighten us with facts instead of sarcasm and assumptions.
I'm seriously not trying to sound snarky, but after just coming off another forum I go to, there was a similar post. Everyone preaches tolerance should be given to all groups except for Christians.
Actually, we do let our daughter Trick or Treat, but I challenge anyone to look up the origins of All Hallows Eve. There are evil roots and I actually feel like a hypocrit partaking of it because of my own personal convictions (and would never judge anyone else for it) and belief based on what I've studied from the Bible, whose rules by the way go back over 6,000 years. Not what I'd call new and not made by man. Maybe you should study Christianity so that you have the facts before making assumptions.
I apologize if I offended you. It was not my intention. It's just hard seeing your faith ridiculed, disrespected, and slammed on every secular board you go to.
BOS rules for dates-help!
My mind has blanked--what is the current rule for doing dates in dictation? Isn't it to write out the dates as October 21, 2006, rather than 10/21/2006?? Thanks!
Company QA Rules
Ditto to what ok said. I do also believe that QA people need to confer with one another and get the rules straight. I do love feedback because that is how I learn and continue to grow. But it is annoying and impossible for an MT to do a good job with constant conflicting feedback. I have seen proofed reports with mistakes that QA missed. For instance I saw a report which said "2-mouth-old male" Mouth -- should be month. I have seen such a statement as "please see his noted" Noted? Should read note. Even QA is not perfect. I do respect those in QA who respect me. I value opinions to make myself a better MT. However, smart comments are not needed and do nothing for the good of the company.
counting rules
I have Sylycount. Go into the software under counting rules and there you can tell it what you need it to count.
Anyone here ignore the BOS rules?
I find local docs and clinics here in NE do not care about the BOS rules and actually consider some of them "mistakes." They like things done the way they always were. It drives me crazy trying to stick to the "new rules" when even the samples they give me are set up the same way they have been doing things for years. I find they still make sense and cannot get my brain to wrap around doing things differently for each account. I am ready to give up.I was told by an ivy league institution health clinic to do it "their way" which has been in place since the dark ages. Am I alone in this predicament?
mean? the rules here at MTstars is you cannot
My advice is this: Get the IRS rules for ICs and
print them out and give them to her. Tell her you want to protect yourself and her from the IRS ever getting involved. If you feel like an employee then you probably are. I'm shocked at the number of companies with unbelievable expectations of their ICs, their demands, etc. They do treat them like employees while offering no insurance, no bennies, etc. It is up to you to be the IC - you will fare far worse should you ever get audited by the IRS. I have known companies who treated their ICs like employees and then the IC got 'let go' and they went to the labor board and the labor board determined from the demands the 'employer' made there was reason for the person to feel they were an employee - no one wants that. Show them the list of 21 (??) guidelines laid out by the IRS - tell her you are meeting your contract and try to smooth it out - 12 cpl is a good rate - be sad to see you have to give that up!
It's not needed, but before the rules
of general English punctuation changed back in the late 70s or 80s, we would have put a comma there I think.
The rules changed?
I would have used a comma in that situation. But, I had no idea that the rules of English grammar had formally changed. This is a revelation; most of my grammar education happened before 1972.
I just came across rules on this today
Here is a link to some style rules for MT that you might find handy.
http://www.mtdaily.com/style.html
followup - 3 rules
#1. Follow up (verb): I will follow up with the patient next week.
#2. Followup (noun): The patient will come in for followup next week.
#3. Follow-up (adjective): The patient will have a follow-up appointment next week. I disagree mildly with the post about BOS2 on this.
Grammar good info in BOS/AAMT. Also any good grammar textbook from a bookstore would be good to review/read/study. I tried out Whitesmoke grammar program and hated it. Hope this helps!
It would be against the confidentialty rules (sm)
Send the job back into the cue with an explanation of why; there usually is a dropdown box. And don't let your curiosity get the best of you and transcribe it...DON'T. If caught, you could be penalized up to 10,000 and/or imprisoned. Read you handbook entirely. I know this subject matter is in there.
Apply the BOS rules
Expand abbreviations in diagnosis, impression, and assessment. Otherwise leave abbreviated. If you have the BOS, you can check under "abbreviations." A lot of companies say in their ads and/or on their websites whether they adhere to the BOS or not, and/or if that is a reference they require. I do not think you can go wrong if you generally apply the BOS rules whereas you have to watch out because some are using the 3rd edition now.
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