normals, templates, shorthand programs, etc
Posted By: tired fingers on 2008-01-29
In Reply to:
I was reading an earlier post that refers to companies making adjustments in our line counts because we are using these word expanders. I have been wondering about that because even using as many as I possibly can, it seems like it does no good. I do about as many lines as I would normally do just typing the darn things out. How are they making these adjustments, does anybody know and is it legal? Seems we have no standard anymore as to how lines are counted and companies are doing whatever the heck they want to us.
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Misys, compatible shorthand programs
Does anyone know if ShortHand or InstanText is compatible with Misys? If not, are any other 'shorthand' programs compatible?
Word Expander Programs - Are there any expander programs that are easy to use and learn
that are similar to the MS Word expander? I prefer something very simple. I like MS Word expander; however I have gone over my limits and cannot add any more shortcuts so I need a program that will hold a larger amount of shortcuts. Many thanks.
My normals sm.
I had a supervisor accuse me of holding hostage MY normals. I reminded her that they were documents I had brought to the job as I had done this doctor at another national previously. Anyway, don't the ding dongs realize they can just d/l a copy of a finished job and, tada!, there is a copy of a doc for that doctor.
What are normals?
I am new to MT and I keep reading "normals" are these macros?
normals
After creating a normal, ctrl-N to save it. Should be able to retrieve it after.
Normals
We use "normals" too but I change them to fit the dictation. I was always told those are mostly for reference to help us get through the dictations. Not every MD dictates the exact same Normal and even when there's Normals for each particular MD, they don't always dictate it exactly the same. The only time I would leave "as is" is, for instance, a radiologist says "Chest x-ray, #36, end" and I would just pull normal #36 and send off. Of course, if the Normal doesn't fit the title(I.e.#36 is a head CT) I would still pull it but mark for the QA/practice manager to see the error.
Oh and keep the standards/normals for themselves
NO EXPANDERS AND NO NORMALS
You don't believe me? I really don't care...That's my line count.....and I do it without Expanders or normals. I love my job, I'm the best at what I do and I always strive to do better than the day before. Maybe you could do the same if you weren't so negative....
Boss asking for normals
Is anybody working for a company where your boss is asking you to share your NORMALS. Be very careful. My company is asking us to share your normals and come to find out who they want us to share with, overseas. Also asking questions like, who are the best dictators, etc. Also experiencing block of work just disappearing. Several hours just gone. Anybody else.
I'd say "What normals?" (sm)
I had an OM tell me that he was contemplating not paying for macros. I said, "Oh, I don't have to worry. I don't use macros, I use an expander." That was the end of that. I'm sure he had to run back to his office to try to figure out what an Expander is! LOL
Abby Normals.
z
DocQscribe normals
I will be leaving my company at the end of the week without a job to take its place. It's taken me several years to accumulate all my normals, and I hate to think I will have to start over creating them. Does anyone know how to transfer/move all the normals from DocQScribe to Word or to save them on my hard drive. I hate to think I'll have to start over creating all new normals. Thanks for your help.
do you mean making normals
for same docs?
Yes, I mean making normals. nm :)
x
The majority of normals are seen
Normals can also be a repetitive statement that the dictator makes, which you then turn into a normal so you do not have to keep typing the same thing over and over again. Some use shortcut keys or Expander program. I am not an expert on any of these as I do not use them. Some who work in MS Word use autocorrect to expand terms or phrases that are said time and time again by a specific dictator. I use autocorrect in Word and like it. Hope this helps.
SpeedType and Shorthand are the exact same program. Shorthand is lots cheaper and also has a trial.
.
Has anyone been able to transfer their normals/standards from
nm
No way, Jose. My normals are MINE. Don't let them do this! nm
x
I never give anyone my normals. I have my own accounts and one
but it was a nice account - a surgery center with 200+ surgeons. I told the surgery center I just couldn't continue doing the account, gave them the names of a couple of other MT companies they might want to contact. They did contact them, elected to go with one of them, and then while I was finishing up with them while they transitioned to the new MT Company, they asked asked me for MY normals to give to the other MT Company. Okay, there were SOME normals that the hospital associated with the surgery center had given me to begin with, but I felt that it was the responsibility of the hospital to give those to the new transcription service, not my responsibility. Besides, I had changed the templates as needed, etc. But most of the normals I had were ones that I spent a couple of years developing. Now I wasn't just going to hand those over to a new MT service to make it easy on them. Those were something I spent a LOT of time on and were, in my opinion, MY property.
Why would you create normals for doctors
 and/or accounts you don't even know? That makes less than no sense. Do you just create your own things that you consider normal? Seriously trying to figure it out - I must be missing something.
Are you still cutting and pasting normals? I can't do
nm
What aggravates me are normals and samples
full of obvious typos and stylistic issues that we MTs get dinged for. In fact, I remember having a normal op at one place that had a made-up instrument name in it. It kept coming up on the spell check. Took me months to finally find the proper name.
I've come to expect sloppy and/or poorly written emails from managers and admin staff otherwise.
Normals in Expansion File
Just be aware that your company may have set a size limit for individual expansions to prevent transcriptionists from making "normals" that are not really normal, that is, not always exactly what the doctor says.
EXText Question About Normals
Hi,
I've had trouble recently being unable to retrieve normals I've made.
When I make a personal normal and then try to access it during the current work session, it does not show up in the list. This is true even after having been logged out of the system entirely, such as overnight and then returning to work the next day.
If I try to re-do/re-create the normal using the same "Properties" info., I get a ping and message stating that that normal already exists. Any info. on this?
Also:
Could there be a limit to how many normals, personal or shared, can be created on one person's list?
Can personal normals be deleted?
I need more help than I've already gotten, so I'm posting here. (My next step is contacting Dictaphone)
Thanks.
Also have errors in normals I am told to use--sm
Does your platform allow you to have Transcriptionist normals? Mine does and i have corrected the normals and saved them in my set of normals. I also complained for over a year and they were not corrected. One of the most notable is an ultrasound abdomen that has the technique for an MRI. The transcriptionist has to remember to make the correction on every report she transcribes.
Expanders and normals...not mormals
just felt the need to correct your mistakes since you are picking apart others.
yes of course I use tons of expanders. At the most 25% normals though.
x
{@KEY BkSp}-pack-per-year is for Shorthand. Using the semicolon works with both Shorthand and
;yo = -year-old
;py= -pack-year
etc...
Shorthand and SpeedType are exact same program. Shorthand will cost you lots less.
you can import your autocorrect into Shorthand.
Try putting in the normals by blocking and control Y....
then name it the name you want and then use control R to retrieve it. Works for me.
Will be variable depending on the normals and shortcuts you have and how
s
Hi, I've gone the personal normals-only rte., still no luck. NM
x
Shutting it on and off doesn't restore normals? Are you
s
I took shorthand too. But it sure comes in helpful for my expanders. I view words in shorthand for
i did use shorthand once in a job but i was so nervous the "boss" took pity and dictated the report on dictaphone.
Re your normals: keep a list handy, name them with short names..sm
then use Control R after you have typed the normal name; i.e.: Dr. Joe Blow has a ROS that he uses all the time - name it JBROS or something like that, then in the document type JBROS and use the control R to bring it automatically in.
If it is Shorthand, save the SPF file to a disk, then if you buy Shorthand yourself....
you can just drop the SPF file into it. That is not dishonest since you are the one who put the macros in. I am sure is it is another Expander there is a way to save the macro file and then drop it in the expander you buy on your own.
I would never voluntarily give them "my" normals, my work product. SM
The nerve of these people. 
Maybe if it is gross lines, lots of headers and footers and normals......sm
Other than that, I really can't imagine it.
Templates
I am currently looking for a new MT job but with my previous job I have always found that making my own templates worked best for me. I had the same doctors all the time so I knew what needed to be in the reports and what did not need to be there. :-) I have always found my own shortcuts to be the most productive ones.
Templates?
Yes, I know what EMR means. I understand that they can also do the point and click method and also create templates?
templates?
Could she be using templates and she just has to change a few things here and there? If that's the case, I still don't know about 800 unless there is an awful lot on that template that remains the same and it's a long template so fewer starts and stops.
Using MS templates with EMR
Anybody create Microsoft templates for EMR documents?
I have a new account that uses EMR. I want to include Microsoft fields into the document so I can easily tab through them but I just don't want the code Word uses to generate a field to conflict with the XML code used for the EMR system.
Does anybody use fields in EMR documents without any problem?
EMR has templates
EMR has many templates: ROS, HOPI, lab orders, Plan, health histories, immunizations, specific diseases, etc. Each template has many fields with corresponding questions that can be checked off indicating a yes/no response or severity level. Similar to filling out a survey by checking the boxes that apply. After completing these templates, the physician can click a button that automatically pulls the information that was entered in each of the templates, and generates a "document" in a determined format. Thus, no reason for the physician to dictate a tape for someone to transcribe.
We implemented an EMR where I work and it did result in less transcription.
Templates......
Template or no template, any time YOU have to take away or add to a template, delete, redo, whatever, I count everything....after all, it's my time to add and take away. I use Sylvan also... any will count the template.
Don't screw yourself over.... count everything!
Re: Templates
Yeah really... we get screwed over enough, let us keep SOME things that work to our advantage.
We have templates where I work but - sm
we get paid for all that (no spaces though). They do the templates because is it what the doctors want at the hospital I type for; they all have specific needs. They put in jump markers {} that we jump to using Alt-F (WP 5.1), so it is very easy to get through. On a account of my own I did the same thing on the template I made up for myself for 1 of my docs in MS Word, jump from spot to spot, very easy. If you can save the template and make your own "markers" to jump to, yes, you still have to delete unused ones but boy is it a lot easier.
question about templates.
I have a question about during a physical exam portion, I know what it means to "flush left, sub headings all caps," but what is the other instance of "stacked form". thanks.
Templates in Meditech
When I worked on Meditech for 15 years, there was something called canned text. Ask your new employer if there is a way to submit canned text entries and how this works.
Thank you all!!! i do use templates, but its easier for me to just add the cc on the ones i need as
i put the cc: in autotext and it is working like a charm!! i have never used autotext, just autocorrect and it wasn't working in autocorrect. never knew what autotext was about. thank you so much!!!!!
I have templates for one account that are
n
Templates from doctors
Really need your thoughts. One of my doctors has about 50 templates/shells. When doing combined procedures he will tell me to just combine the 2 or 3 or 4 shells he has for the individual procedures without taking out whatever is redundant or conflicting. I have to do that. Several of these individual op reports are 3 pages long, so can end up with a 6-page final report.
On his follow-up notes, he will use a shell and then say "add this to the physical exam" but he does not say what to take out of the standard note.
Many of his op notes have numerous variables. He oftentimes does not tell me which to use and/or which to delete.
For "risks" he will dictate some and then say "and add whatever Dr. X uses."
I am requesting a meeting with him and with the office administrator, but would like to know what you think and what you would do.
Thank you
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