You have to change your way of thinking about phrases in IT. sm
Posted By: Cheri on 2007-01-05
In Reply to: let's talk expanders - Snow Bunny
Think first letter of each word instead of full words and your phrases will come up. No memorizing unless you want to put customized shorts in IT. I watch the advisory lines more than my document window so my eyes don't cross. I just wouldn't work without IT because my productivity went way up in a really short time.
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- let's talk expanders - Snow Bunny
- You have to change your way of thinking about phrases in IT. sm - Cheri
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Thinking of trying to make a change...
I've been working now for nearly a year. Mostly I have done podiatry and clinic notes. I'm thinking of making a change to radiology or neuro/phsyc. Any tips on how to do this? I know podiatry terms and rarely have to look anything up anymore, but there doesn't seem to be much work out there for the subspecialty. Any advice would be great. I've been applying to every ad I see, but no replies yet.
I know a lot of new MTs go into acute care, but I'm finding I am far more productive working with one specialty rather than acute care or clinic notes.
Any advice? Thanks.
Oh, working in-office isn't an option because of where I live.
Thinking of a career change.
I am thinking about going back to school but I want to start off small. I looked into CNA classes at a local community college but I also found they have medication aide classes. I was wondering if it would be appropriate to call a potential employer and ask if there is a big job market out any of these, what they pay would be and what they expect out of their workers. I really know what a certified nurses aide entails, I was one 10 years ago but not quite sure about a medication aide.
I've been thinking about a job change recently
I've only been in this biz for about 13 years, but now that my last one is off to school, I'm also thinking about a career change. I live in a very rural area as well, so I understand completely what you mean about people thinking $8 an hour is a good wage.
One thing I'd like to suggest is looking into a state job. We have 2 state prisons in my area (about a 20-minute commute) and both hire medical transcriptionists as well as medical records personnel. These jobs generally start out at about $12 to $15 an hour plus state benefits, which in my state are the best bennies anywhere. The jobs that require coding certification pay even more. I would highly recommend that you look on the internet for state civil service jobs in your state. You'd be surprised at the opportunities in the medical field.
I'm considering this option myself but want to wait until next fall, after I have the summer to spend with my kids (and so I don't start out "in the hole" because of babysitting expenses) and to have time to look into getting my coding cert. I graduated from a business school with an Associate's in medical secretarial and did a lot of coding prior to working from home. I used to do billing for a very large rehab facility, so I don't think it will be too hard to brush up on my skills.
Anyway, good luck and let me know if this (a state job) pans out for you. Most people have no idea these kinds of jobs are even out there (I didn't). 
Thinking about career change..court reporter
Have any of you ever thought about court reporting or gone through court reporting school? From what I have read they make more money than transcriptionists and there are jobs to work from home too in captioning for television and movies.
Common phrases. LOTS of common phrases, just like ops. SM
pser = the patient was seen in the emergency room
wwd= the wound was dressed
Just two tiny examples. People need to learn to use their Expander programs. I'd be making like $10 per hour without mine. I also work in a job where I do the work type I do best. That's very important. I would imagine (don't know for sure) that H&Ps and DSs have the most lines (I work on a gross line count) but you have to think more, look up more, and type more to get those lines.
I have everything magicked in there. That's the way I like it, that's the only way I will work.
Even 4.5 is too low. doctors do not change - they still hem and haw, change, change stuff along wit
It is just not enough for the work. Speech is great on the wrists but you are not just reading what is typed, you are making a lot of changes. I have a hard time doubling a lot of days with all the changes I have to make. Just my opinion.
Speaking of Kenny Chesney, is anyone thinking what I am thinking? see message
When I hear the words, "annulment" and "fraud" in the same sentence, I can only think of one thing. Anybody else thinking the same thing?
Don't change. I had to change back to cable. SuddenLink DSL stinks! nm
nm
Change provider vs change to business plan
In your place, I would seriously consider changing providers if there were others available in your area, but I'd ask around about their service quality first. It may not be any better. If there are no other providers, then consider changing your service package to a business account rather than residential. They're usually more expensive, but they also tend to get faster service if there's a problem.
Last summer, I had no electricity for 3 days due to severe storms, but there were some 600,000 in the same boat with me. We just had to wait it out. It's a downside of working at home.
overused phrases
 LOL has to be one of the most overused phrases today.
I use w for was and wr for were within phrases to differentiate.
x
words and phrases
I currently only use the auto correct feature in Word. So my Expanders are mostly 2-3 word phrases and a few longer words like hypertension, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal, etc.
change attitude, change life
The first thing you need to change is that defeatist attitude! I know that's hard at times like this, but that's when you need to most.
I won't go into detail, but my financial situation is also at an all-time low, we couldn't even exchange gifts., daughter in hospital twice, & no med insurance)..but then I heard about how much worse things were for others around me this season. Now I'm thankful instead!
CATCH PHRASES ARE "AMAZING" - NOT!
It's time to move on from these phrases that I've heard ad nauseum from people who can't think of anything on their own.
"At the end of the day."
" . . . amazing."
" . . . awesome."
Anybody else?
(Forgot to say, 'type the phrases
Words and phrases advisories
Hello,
Any time you give a word or phrase a dedicated short form (meaning a short form consisting of 2 or more letters) it automatically goes into the Phrases Advisory.
An entry with only one letter for a short form automatically goes into the Words Advisory.
Favorite words/phrases
And then there's the psychiatrist who ends every sentence with "you know." Well, I sure do now.
Three word phrases are all that I put in my expander.
dd
More about phrases as other poster addressed
Since the dictators seem to say the same thing in so many different ways, I have found I often have to add a a bit extra, and it would have been easier if I had thought of that when I first started making Expanders so I would have started right off being very consistent.
For an example CTDW, CSTDW, CDTDW = (respectively) continue to do well, contintues to do well, continued to do well. - It is amazing how many things will overlap or conflict.
Or, they will use a phrase with the word "or" or "and" in it AND without them ...
like, cyanosis, clubbing, edema ... and cyanosis, clubbing, and edema ... Or even worse, they flip the words around to clubbing, cyanosis, and edema.
So many dicators and so many ways of saying the same thing. That is what gets frustrating to me. It's endless.
Are you using just word shortcuts, or phrases? sm
You should be able to type entire sentences with just a few keystrokes.
Maximize your expander with phrases rather than words.
Check out every productivity board that you can for more tips and tricks. Even after 8 years I've increased my speed with productivity tips.
How does it work with typing common phrases,
But how does that work in relation to typing phrases that are common usage, the patient, return p.r.n., etc.
I grew up in FL, and my black teachers used a lot of these phrases...sm
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet because every northerner I know has asked me about this..."I'm fixin'to" as in, "Get your shoes on, we're fixin' to go to church." 2 of my 5 elementary teachers were black, and they both used this phrase all the time, so it was perfectly normal to us. Those teachers weren't any less educated, they were just native southerners raised in segregated communities. My hometown was still segregated well into the '80s.
It's funny, half the phrases people are naming on here I wouldn't have thought were southern-specific, they're that common to me.
Some single words, but mostly 2-3 word phrases.
I have a few full sentences, too, but with so many different doctors, I tend to stick to the more commonly used short phrases, and build sentences & paragraphs from those.
Words and Phrases in Instant Text
The reason why you have a Phrase advisory different from the Word advisory in Instant Text is because these two advisories work differently.
The Phrase advisory works more like a traditional expander: you have a short form (abcz or tp) and it expands what you defined for it whether it is a word or a phrase.
The Word advisory works like a wild card search. There are no dedicated short forms. You type the first letter and any letter that is in the word like cardpu or cdpu for cardiopulmonary.
If you want the words to be in the Phrase advisory without having them cluttering your phrase selection you may want to follow sm's suggestion and create a glossary where the short forms are identical to the words themselves. They would then all be in the Phrase section, but as an included glossary these words would show up at the bottom of the phrases of your base glossary assuming it is a standard IT glossary (no words in the Phrase section).
If you need help, please contact tech support at Textware Solutions and we will be happy to guide you.
Marianne
Textware Solutions
Words, phrases, chunks of text ... sm
If a word has 5 letters or more and I use it more than once a month, I make it an expansion. Albeit, only do 1-2 a day this way but I don't have to add to my expansions daily now as I've done this for years and it is built up. Examples: Use fuv for follow up as a verb. Use fun for followup as a noun/adjective. Use a k in front of all drugs so kt is Tylenol, ka is aspirin, kprv is Pravachol.
Phrases -- do all kinds of combinations as you use them. Example: Use tpw for the patient was. Use mgr for murmurs, gallops or rubs.
Chunks of text -- not quite a whole standard but more than just a phrase, e.g., sentences. Example: Use nka for no known allergies but nkah for ALLERGIES: No known allergies.
Abbrevs/Acronyms -- Let your Expander do the all cap work for you and use an x to show expanded versions. Example: Use copd for COPD but use copdx for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
You should be able to skip along with the dictator just using expansions with occasionally typing whole words.
You can add phrases to single word glossary in IT (SM)
When you insert the medication and other information, hit tab and then, backspace to the first letter. It will ask you "are you sure? and just hit return and it will accept it.
I have many two and three word phrases in my single word glossary list. There is a web site for IT users which you can Google for; it is easy to find - forum style.
Having IT provide phrases, sentences is its best advantage. Two words together.
But one word? By the time it arrives in the layout screen, you have typed all but the last letter.
claudicatio - semicolon
of the - bracket
I miss Word's auto correct boohoo
Ever hear the phrases "Don't let yourself be a door mat" and "stand up for yourself?"
:+
I learned this many years ago: I type in phrases ,even when I'm not expanding but SM
I use Expanders VERY extensively. Doesn't ever have to be a canned report. Everybody says "the patient" and everybody says "within normal limits" for two examples that I'm sure you already are using. No telling how many thousands of abbreviations I have.
It helps me a lot to have most of my common English phrases in shortcuts.
I don't often drop short words just because I don't have to type very many of them, LOL.
I cannot tolerate the laziness of those phrases fixin and reckon!
It makes me scream. It just makes the people that say them sound unintelligent and lazy!!! AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!
Do you use expansions for common English words and phrases too? sm
I have read that something like 80% of sentences can be formed using the same 200 most commonly used words of the English language.
Think of common English phrases that you can add to your expansion software that you use quite often in MT reports such as "he has no significant" or "there are no significant" or "there was no significant," etc. :)
*This link leads to a listing of the 500 most commonly used words in the English language:
http://www.world-english.org/english500.htm
*And here is a listing of the top 100 English verbs:
http://www.world-english.org/100verbs.htm
Think I found it: ortho/neuro words & phrases by ..
Health Professions Institute. Found it on a book site. The 1994 edition got a good review. The 2000 edition got a bad one. Anyone?
Phrases appear in alphabetic order by short form.
You can type a few letters and see all phrases in the advisory or you can type a few letters and see a phrase, then a word, then a phrase. It all depends on the alpha order of your short forms so you are not going to get all phrases, then all words.
You can clear the option to sort by short form and use the frequency order instead, but I don't think that's what you want.
Unless a facility name accompanies the phrases you hear/type, you should not capitalize.
xxxx
HPI General Surgery/GI Words and Phrases shows lower case also. nm
NM
All; heavy dependence on single words and phrases/standard sentences of all lengths. SM
Like San Francisco does, they can be used with any account/any dictator, which is extremely important. Just entering mostly whole reports and sections makes one dependent on that account/that employer and back to square one when it's time to take on a new account or even a new dictator.
I also have dozens and dozens of headers, bolded, unbolded, capped, lower case, etc., in various forms of each, like "Indications" "Indication," "Indications for Procedure," "Indications for Surgery," and so on and on and on.
Sounds like a strawberry or raspberry cheesecake brownie. Google the phrases + recipes and lots of
s
Get out while you can. Things will *never* change unless you change them. (nt)
LOL, that's exactly what I was thinking
Let's try to focus on the original question, not debate the evils of daycare. I agree, many discussions on this board do end in negativity, but I thought this one was going pretty well until we hit the nerve about daycare.
I think Kira has been given a lot of great information from a lot of different points of view. It's all food for thought.
My thinking too - thus the OMG nm
That's what I was thinking.
It sounds like a case of misdirected anger here. Grandma was probably waiting for the right moment instead of springing bad news on them the moment they came through the door. Are you going to all have a yelling match late at night when your'e tired from your trip and all the kids are home? Better to wait until they're at school and discuss it like rational adults. How many times has the kid been arrested and suspended before now? The kid is the one who was wrong by misbehaving in the first place. If he's such a bad seed, why did he get left with Grandma anyway? Everyone knows Grandparents aren't as good as enforcing rules as parents are. All this communication and responsibility nonsense is control freak bunk. The kid wouldn't have been arrested and suspended if you truly had honest and open communication. Why was he arrested and suspended anyway?
That's exactly what I was thinking
nm
I was just thinking. . . .sm
I have a friend that was a Pug breeder. Unfortunately the "Pug couple" only had one litter as the female had major problems with her first and only litter. She still has the male and female who are almost 10 years old and in good health.
She "rescued" a "Puggle" (Pug/Beagle cross) a few months ago and that poor dog had the worst gas. STINK! It was just awful. She was feeding him Iams just like her older Pugs, but he would make everyone run outside. We had him in the car one day and we were all ready to just bail.
I'll have to ask her what she did to make the Puggle stop clearing out the neighborhood. 
I too have been thinking about it...sm
I have not raised my price for five years and am seriously considering going up another penny maybe after the holidays. I too pick up and deliver and we all know the cost of gas! Anyway, I think I am due or overdue!!!
by that thinking
We should all be speaking Native American, they were here first!
Thinking outside the box (Where is this box?) and
people calling eachother "DAWG" - how stupid is that.
and
Anything that comes out of Paul Shaffer's mouth (that guy just irritates me).
I was thinking the
I was tought to type way back in the 10th grade. We learned right from the start not to look at the keys. Why do you need the letters to stay on?? I really don't understand it.
Thinking about it.
I have a BS that isn't that marketable (at least all of my A&P, Patho, etc.. were useful for this job) and am contemplating the same thing.
I have thought about outpatient primary care nursing since I don't really want to work in an inpatient environment. I originally wanted to get my BSN but got sidetracked and am thinking about going back through a BS to BSN program sometime in the future.
My kids are 2,3 and 7 and while I know some people can do it, I think it would be really hard to go to RN school at this point in my life. Your child is older and it might be easier for you, but it will still be tough. You have to get to clinicals early and often stick around to get more information on your pt at the end. The night before your clinical, I have heard RN students have to do tons of prep work - you have to know your pt's medical condition inside and out and have all of your nursing diagnoses and care plans set up.
Its a lot of work but the career is very rewarding and the pay, despite all of the kvetching, is pretty darn decent.
If it is something YOU want to do, talk to an advisor. Get the lowdown on it. When I was in college the first time, the RN program had an information session for prospective students that included a Q and A with a current student. But, make sure it is your goal - I let people convince me to go pre-med and within a semester I realized there was no way I wanted to be an MD. Had I stuck to my desires instead of what someone else wanted for me and thought was a better choice, I might have been a pretty good nurse by now.
Good luck. Lots of people do it. It is much harder than when you have no kids but people do it all of the time.
If the guy is really as bad as she has us thinking,
and she could lose her current job and any future job. I am beginning to wonder if the site should start a "Support your local Jodi" page.
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