Mary, don't feel like you need to defend yourself or your questions...

Some people are just plain rude and maybe need a second job to occupy their time instead of lurking on this board waiting to make a nasty comment.

I was surprised when I first saw that too.

• May not want to type that! - Mary
  • It is a good reminder - Thanks for the tip.
  • I knew anyone could look at it but I did not know until recently (sm) - I symphathize
  • Oh for Pete's sake! Had Internet access long? - --nm
    • what - is your problem? Keep to your miserable self! nm
  • Yes - which is why you should not post under real name nm - regg
  • Well, it is called the World Wide Web! Sorry, your post made me laugh! No offense... but duh! nm - Cali girl
  • Yes, I knew that because - countrymt
  • ANYONE can view this site. How could you not know this? - Please, get real!
    • You could lay off her - clhmt
    • I'm sure Mary is real; why the exclamation? - world's nicer without people like you. NM
      • I have never heard... sm - Tired of the hatefulness
        • That comment about the world being a better place... - sm
      • I know - don't know why everybody has to be so mean
    • Well yeah... - Mary
      • Mary, don't feel like you need to defend yourself or your questions... - sm
        • I totally agree - nm

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That's what this board is for.  Well, that's what most of us believe.  Some us like to bash people and argue and just be plain mean, but ignore them.

SM stands for "see message."

NM stands for "no message."

Do you have an abbreviation expander?  If not, I would suggest PC Shorthand.  In my opinion it's the easiest to learn and use and it's affordable.  If you choose or already use PC Shorthand, then I would follow the Mary Morken link that someone posted below and download her abbreviation and Expander list as it is formatted for PC ShortHand and it would be a great starting point for a new MT.  I would take the time to print out her list as well so you can read over the abbreviations and expansions and become familiar with what you're using.  Then start adding your own abbreviations to the list.

I'm a relative newbie, so I don't want to weigh in with an opinion as to the good or bad of the BOS. I have it and the samples in the back were quite helpful when I first started.

I worked for a company briefly at the beginning of the year that was all about the BOS.  I got dinged for stylistic things often enough that I started to stress about the style of the report to the point where I was making content mistakes.  My line count was crap.  I don't work there any more.

I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

Skin care is so important....especially after 30!!!  I love Mary Kay's Time Wise Cleanser and Moisturizer and the Microdermabrasion is unlike any other on the market!!  I wouldn't want to be without it - EVER!!  It's a staple in my budget!  I highly recommend it for every skin type!!   It's GREAT!  Lisa

Check out http://www.mtdaily.com/abbvs.txt   I got Mary Morken's list from there.  I believe there are 13,000 of them listed. 

Also see http://www.mtdaily.com?mt1/abbv2.html   That should give you even more links.

I'm referring to a printout I did in 2005 so I hope these are still good sites.  I incorporated the lists into my own.  Some abbreviations I like, some I don't and have changed once I developed my own system, but this will give you an idea just what you can do.  But do get the book so you will know how to THINK in short form and come up with your own system.  It took me a while to see how my brain worked and I've made modifications but boy do I depend on them to produce!

I need to make at least $150 a day every day.  Where can I find a Mary Morken's method?

Thanks

Mary, I have never worked for Transcend so I don't know much about the company except what I see here and by looking at their web site.  It looks as though they offshore, never a good sign as it usually means low pay at the very least.  If you don't have a problem with offshoring, and you should, then think about giving it a try.  If India is in there, you probably won't be treated very well.  I have been told it is a "cultural thing."  Whatever.

Cranky Beach, I worked for a wonderful company (never though I'd leave) that was acquired by Acusis, a company with major offshoring.  It was the same situation as you, they told us everything would stay the same, nothing would change.  They were just biding their time . . . and after a while they started throwing all management from the old company under the bus.  Then it was change after change after change, none for the better, mostly to transition to running things "the India way" and eventually ended up cutting everyone's pay. Soooo glad to be out of there.

Visit ataus.org - Keep our healtchare info and jobs in the US

You can import Mary's list, or just copy it onto a CD or a little flash drive, I think it might be too big to print it out. Looking it over will give you a good idea of how to go about adding to your own list as well. There are 600+ dictators on the account I work on, so keeping whole reports doesn't work too well for me, and I have tried to make shortcuts for phrases instead. Also for capitalizing drug names that need it, and for correcting my most common errors. Happy New Year! Wise