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I would never begin a sentence with an abbreviation, for one thing. nm

Posted By: Blu on 2006-01-30
In Reply to: Actually, when it starts a sentence - it IS CAPPED.

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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
The rules for Op notes are a little different. You may begin a....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.
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
need help- OB abbreviation
ITP?
abbreviation help

What might WPW stand for?  All he says is 35-year-old female with a history of WPW.


TIA!


What is the abbreviation for...

square centimeters, or does it just get typed out?


TIA


abbreviation q
Yes, but I believe the abbreviation "q" must be changed to "every".  The use of q can be confused for a U or a 0.
RE: Abbreviation
I got into this with someone the other day. I was told Joint Commission has a Do Not Use List and this is on it. You put by mouth.
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 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.
MT is abbreviation for Montana
x
Help on abbreviation board, please
Thanks!
What is the best abbreviation expander??

I normally use autocorrect, but it is very slow lately, and I think I have about reached my capacity.  I am looking for a good Expander that I will be able to convert my autocorrect to.  Thanks in advance for your opinions!!



medical abbreviation.

no doubt acronymfinder.com is a good site but it is more general.

to be specific about medical abbreviations try this.

http://www.pharma-lexicon.com/
Abbreviation programs

Hi - What type of abbreviation program is good?  I used to have Abbreviate, but no longer have it.  Is Foxfire a good program?  Does anyone just use their Word autocorrect strictly?  If you use Word autocorrect - do you know how to copy it and put it on another computer? 


Thanks for any help!!


PO is not a dangerous abbreviation (see msg)

Go to this website: 


http://www.ismp.org/tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf 


 


IV is not a dangerous abbreviation.
For Pitocin it is WAS given.
q is a dangerous abbreviation.
x
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
Portability of abbreviation lists

Your question raises the portability of abbreviation lists when you use different trascription platforms.


Each platform offers a utility where you can create your list of abbreviations, but you don't want to start over and over each time you change platforms.
The solution to this problem is that EITHER these platforms provide you with another utility that lets you convert your list to their format OR you invest in an Expander software like ShortHand or Instant Text that let you use your list practically on all platforms.
With Instant Text you can import your AutoCorrect with a few clicks and then you can use it with EMDAT or any other platform.
Your time is worth money. You may want to evaluate how much it is worth by calculating how much time it takes to redo your list.


Is p.o. considered dangerous abbreviation?
nm
Thanks! I have the dangerous abbreviation list
I was just afraid I was missing something buried in the book somewhere. I just didn't want to be making a mistake. Thanks again.
Use a semicolon prefix before your yo abbreviation, then you can
type 34;yo to get 34-year-old. There are lots of prefixes you can use--see SH's help file. BTW, this also works in autocorrect.
cc is on the dangerous abbreviation list and should be converted to ml.
x
SM for a really awesome abbreviation website I have in my favorites.

You can look up expansions for abbreviations.  It also lists normal lab values, symbols and numbers definitions for the deciphering the ShortHand that nurses and other clinical personnel use on the chart.  It even has the JCAHO dangerous abbreviations list.  It just has a lot of little neat functions that I've found helpful.  Here it is:


http://www.medabbrev.com/main.cfm


Here's a link to that dangerous abbreviation list

This is the site the BOS recommends visiting, so I did.  It is a long list of stuff fer sure!  Here's the link...just copy and paste it into browser.


http://www.ismp.org/Tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf


Hope it helps!


When I use my CAPS LOCK only the first letter of my abbreviation is capitalized..sm
and not any other.  The only way I can get my entire abbreviation to be in capitals is by holding down my Shift key.  I thought maybe I have something set up incorrectly in Preferences, etc. but can find nothing that would be of help. Do you have any other suggestions?
Can anyone suggest a good, up to date abbreviation book? Thanks nm

nm


The Joint Commission's Dangerous Abbreviation List... SM

applies to written entries on a patient's chart, i.e. nurses' notes, doctor's orders, etc.  For some insane reason, someone somewhere decided to apply it to transcription as well which is just silly.  I work for a facility that has decided not to force transcription to strictly adhere to the dangerous abbreviation list and Joint Commission has not counted it against them in the last three audits.


I will say most MTs where I work do not use qhs, qac or qd.  We expand those out because WE (the transcription department) decided that we should for clarification purposes. 


My dangerous abbreviation sheet doesn't list...sm
q. as a dangerous abbreviation. It lists q.d. and q.o.d. and q.n. but not just q. by itself. ?
Some rules I follow..for #6, I think the first time an abbreviation is used, you expand and paren th
but no abbreviations in diagnosis at all.
I must be tired. but if I had an abbreviation for Mickey Mouse, that mistake wouldn't have been m
nm
Bad sentence
But if could affect the hysterectomy as if she kept bleeding it could cause complications with the hysterectomy  i.e. transfusions, longer time, etc.  which also could be what he means -- who knows. 
Please sentence. TIA!
Cardiac catheterization showed mild coronary artery disease, osteocircumflex in the late mid right coronary artery 20% disease, normal LV function.  Does this sentence make sense? 
And they can't say a sentence without
Just to be cool - or kewl - or cool beans - whatever!
Need whole sentence.
The phrase high-resolution images is very common. Need more info before I can guess what else you are hearing.