too many commas? Nope -
Posted By: AL MT on 2005-09-05
In Reply to: He is a healthy-appearing male, awake, alert, and in no apparent distress. - Do I have too many commas?
perfect punctuation - way to go!
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Nope, I don't feel "LUCKY" to be treated like an imbicile by my company. Nope, No way.
x
commas
You really need to think about this comma situation. Grammar and punctuation are there to make a document readable. A medical document is a patient care and legal document.
I know the transcription companies and hospitals do not pay fairly and I really don't blame you for trying to do something to increase your line count, however, this is simply not an appropriate way to do it.
I think if you approach your supervisor with some contrition and try to make a conscious effort to not do this you will probably see some positive results.
Again, I don't mean this to criticize you, but doctors are really down on transcriptionists a lot because this sort of thing drives them crazy and I can see how it could.
Good luck to you and I hope your situation turns around soon.
Commas (sm)
I am from the old school where commas were essential for clarity in reports. I find in today's world there are far too many errors being made, both in and out of the medical field, because people have not been properly trained in the English language. I have requested copies of my medical reports for a serious medical problem only to find multiple transcription or dictation errors which are inexcusable. The hospital I requested these reports from is a large metropolitan research facility where people come from all over the world for treatment. Obviously they are sending their work out to the lowest bidder. They do not have a transcription department. Not only was my name repeatedly in the body of the report, but it was spelled incorrectly and not in harmony with the correct spelling of my name in the header. Commas were not used in the proper places and the report was horrendous. I have not brought this to the attention of my physicians because they could "care less" in my opinion as long as they were reimbursed. What a darned shame! I don't know where they got their QA people, if they have any, but there is no "quality" in any of those reports. Don't feel bad. Whether we are talking commas, periods, common sense, etc., it is all "out the window" and the cheapest price gets the job! Just venting (and pretty upset). This is MY body and MY serious illness. I am so sick and tired of those pompous "asses" who proclaim 98% accuracy. I once received a reply to an E-mail from one of those companies who told me I "scored high" on their testing and stated I would "here" from them soon regarding potential employment. It's all pretty disgusting to me.
maybe you should try using commas...
in all those compound sentences in your post if you are so big on grammar.
commas
 Thanks for the help!!!
BOS and commas
The day that a doctor can actually transcribe a complete sentence/thought with the correct noun/pronoun/subject/verb/adjective, I will then use appropriate commas. Run on sentences is what they do. Most transcription is verbatim. As long as the WORDS are exactly what the doctor says, the punctuation (other than a period) is not even important, has nothing to do with the body of the report. I don't profess to be an English major and whoever thought it needed to be applied to transcription needs their head examined. In this industry, nothing is forever. A few years from now they will scrap the nonsense and move on to some other idiotic idea some moron comes up with in the BOS.
I applaud accounts that refuse to use BOS. I wish they would all do it and put an end to the insanity.
commas and which
which and that are often used interchangeably. You must decide what the dictator intends.
That always begins a restrictive clause.
Which always begins a nonrestrictive clause.
Test: Do you need what is said after which to tell tell what is meant? If the answer is yes, no comma. If the answer is no, add a comma.
Restrictive: Essential to what precedes it - no comma.
The arm which was fracture was splinted.
Nonrestrictive: Place a comma before which.
The right arm, which was fracture, was splinted.
That begins an essential clause or phrase. That is always specific to what comes before it. Do not place a comma before that.
I hope this helps.
...and someone who does not use commas. ROFL! nm.
nm.
typing letter. Do my commas look oky?
She is a 66year-old white female who recently transferred to our practice with diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, who I refer to you at this time for further evaluation of anemia
Grrrrrrrrr Wrong COMMAS!!!
OK this doctor dictates things like this all the time...."He wanted to cry (comma) and appeared unhappy."
There is no comma there, right? What should I do? Pretty sure you need a subject on both sides of the comma.......that's what I thought.
BOS is a crock, but commas are still important!
Especially as demonstrated in the post above. I think we all know (or should know) when a comma will change the meaning of a sentence. I agree that is very important. I believe in the AHDI BOS, Third Edition, it states that comma punctuation points are not deducted on audits because most of them are open to interpretation anyway. Some sentences could take them or leave them, doesn't matter.
Somebody please tell me why these stupid hyphens are so important!!!! How can they change the meaning of a sentence? And another thing, who has the right to change the title punctuation in M.D. to MD. We tried that on our account, HA, HA, HA. Heard from those doctors right away and they did not like it one bit. These things are why I say BOS is designed to cut an MT's pay, make more money for the MTSOs, and to give QA something to do!
I, too, love commas! I was told by an English
teacher years ago to use a comma anywhere in a sentence where you want to pause, emphasize, or separate. I worked for this one national where QA used to dock me all the time for my comma use. However, I got out my college grammar/English book and scanned in pages to prove I was right. Didn't matter. It was, "Listen to your QA person." She wouldn't even use a comma to separate two independent clauses with a FANBOY. I couldn't unlearn 25 years of grammatical habits, so I quit.
I can see your point about grammar, but using commas to pad line counts??!!
Please, tell me you're not serious, okay?
Did I use my commas correctly? Because I gave it a lot of thought, too much so to use it as a way to pad my line count.
What a crock. I've solved it by starting to put in commas
more Keystrokes for me, and hey - QA just LOVES their commas! The more the better, in their eyes.
No flame--commas & periods go inside quotation marks--ALWAYS.
"right", they get "left". Hate to see a good MT not do this correctly.
I also separate with semicolons--allows use of commas where needed within dose instructions. SM
I see the value of stopping each med with a period; but the voice rec programs I've worked with so far have been using commas (or nothing), and breaking the strings up with period+spaces+caps, etc. is much too time consuming. Plus, account instructions typically ask for either numbered lists or comma/semicolons anyway.
nope
I did that for a while, gave QA, my TC everyone my private email and then I got an email and phone call from my TC, no longer would I receive emails from them unless I did it through Imail..and now this new darn system..I dont need this drama in my life, for pete sake, Im just trying to make a paycheck, ya know??
Nope...
not if being paid on production. Questions and blanks go straight to QA. But this could depend on how much experience you have.
nope
nm
nope! nm
Did someone ask you what you think????? Nope!!!
:
nope!
Nope
.
nope
I would just chalk it up to experience and move on. Actually, that is just what I did, or had to do. If I was counting on them to either pass my tests, or offer me a position, I would have starved to death long ago. I had even found THEM work with a small company that was looking for an MTSO to do some of their accounts. I was promised that since I found the positions for them, that I would be one of them to test for the jobs. NEVER happened. They gave the testing and the positions to three others. When I questioned them about it, they told me that they had not even gotten the accounts, even after I learned they had signed the contracts. Consider it a loss, and take it off next year's taxes. That is the only way you will get any compensation back, and a lesson learned. But frankly, I am still bitter. Even though I found some pretty good positions and am doing now what I love. Good Luck.
nope
You would burn them up in no time. I would recommend unlimited services like Vonage or zerocents.com
nope
I would do this if not verbatim
She is a 66-year-old white female, recently transferred to our practive with diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, who I refer, blah blah
Nope, not for you. sm
Sorry. I must have gotten the Florida thing wrong. I thought she also said she was going to Florida, so I'm sorry for having the wrong destination. And I wasn't trying to pick some sort of fight. I was merely posing another opinion/option. There's nothing wrong with not taking the kids on a BUSINESS trip. BTW, thanks for the all-caps on the BUSINESS thing. It didn't come off at all snotty. So, no, my response wasn't meant for you. Thanks for asking, though.
Nope
Gave up holidays years ago and have never regretted it.
nope..
you are mistaken here. type 0-9 in three lines in NotePad and save it as a file. You will see 30 bytes, not KBs.
:)))
Nope.
Been there done that. The online classes are a joke and it is almost completely self study. Wish I had saved my money.
Nope, not to much to ask and we never should
have to! That said, while I tried all the usuals, nothing got my kids attention as much as no clothes to wear, no clean glasses and their rooms smelling like something died in them.
MOM, where's my jeans? How should I know, I did'nt wear them, usually led to finding them on the floor under 3 feet of whatever. They all got the same printed list of how to do's and now they do them well.
nope
the company I'm involved with puts food on the table and pays my bills........I don't exactly call that "gotten to me".....
Nope
Sorry, but it's all hype, and potentially dangerous. If you research it at medical sites, the phrase perforated colon is usually mentioned! 
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/caz/canc/colc/alert08162005.jsp
Nope. You really don't get it, do you? sm
I don't think any amount of explaining is going to make you understand, either. The same thing that was MISSING when you posted seeking medical advice for what could have been an emergency is the same thing that is keeping you from understanding why people are annoyed every time you post anything. Go back. Start at your post and the content of it. Begin at square 1 and read your post and the responses, followed by more of your posts. I have little hope you'll ever get a clue about anything, considering your original post.
nope. www.dol.gov -- they don't have to do that.
it's in their best interest to do that but not required to
Nope!
I surely would not, though there are many things about the job I like; i.e, working at home - making great money. What I don't like about it is always being tied down to it - can't take days off or vacation - that sort of thing. But then, there's no job that's perfect, right?
Nope! I just tell her to go lay down, and she goes. nm
x
Nope, I have never
had any kind of medical terminology course or MT course. I just lucked out. I worked in the billing department for a small hospital and the HIM manager called me up one day out of the blue and offered me a job as a transcriptionist. They trained me and started me out at normal certified salary.
nope, that's not it (sm)
I wish I had my wits about me enough to have thought to snap a picture. Trying to remember from the quick glimpses I had (at a safe distance). The harder I try to remember the less I do. Kinda of like the poster above who said by the end of the week it will grow as she tells the story. I can still see that tongue flicking at me though. Ugh.
nope, but I think there are
some sort of mystery fumes filtering through the computer screens today and people have sniffed it a little too long and it gave them a major case of WHINY HINEY.
nope. not at all
Yes. I agree with once in a while, but on a weekly or daily basis? Nope! Especially with young children at home. Married folks have to pull together, not apart.
DH and I have different interests on occasion. He is a runner, I'm a camper. I go camping with our youngest (16 yo DS) fairly often. DH would rather be on the track running in circles. So we often take a few days off and go in different directions -- me to the hiking trails, him to a track meet (and he's a gold medalist in the 1500 m Masters Nationals this year -- had to crow!). But when our kids were little, never, NEVER did he or I go and hang out anywhere on a regular basis. How unfair to whoever is left at home!
Nope that was the pay I saw for a job
That is why I asked it seemed funny
Nope...
this doesn't work either but thanks for trying.
Nope.
But I work on EditScript and it doesn't really interrupt anything. I don't have to worry about TAT either.
Nope.
Sometimes documents get "stuck" and will stay checked out to you, but usually if you have to do an emergency shut down, power outage, etc., then you lose whatever you have done and the note will go into someone elses queue.
Nope, I think she is trying to help. (sm)
I don't understand MTs who don't think about the reaction they get from MDs and nurses who read their reports and see medical or English mistakes. (Now obviously the only people who know the recent BOS rule changes are people in the MT world, and I think it is dumb that the BOS changes rules for us when nobody is explaining them to the MDs, who must think we are idiots now, but that's a war I can't win). What I care about are medical errors, anatomical errors, formatting errors, grammar errors, English errors. Those are the errors I have seen in many place I have worked that are inexcusable. A good MT cares about quality as much as production, and should gratefully learn from whatever QA can point out as errors for them. If MTs don't think excellence is important, why in the world did they go into a clerical medical field.
Where I work currently the work I see is much better, thankfully. This must be due to hiring of good MTs and good QA.
Nope, not there. sm
Thanks for the help but there weren't any that I put in there. This is absolutely horrible. I use autotext a lot with "canned" dictation.
Thanks for trying to help me.
Nope
Well, actually I have an electronic copy on my computer which was provided by the transcription service I worked for but I think I have actually opened it up maybe twice.
Nope
My pay cut happened about 4 months ago. You should have put your foot down and refused to take one like me. Stand up for yourself. You are contributing to the demise of this business. Have a nice life.
Nope
That is a real pain. When I leave a blank, I type the time of the dictation where the blank is, so at least I know where to rewind to. The only thing that helps is using the beginning of dictation arrow if blank is closer to start of dictation and fast forwarding etc.
nope
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