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No accents/ESL. PERIOD!

Posted By: Renee on 2008-01-18
In Reply to:

Okay, I have a confession... I cannot understand accents.  Period.  So, when going to see a new physician, etc., I make sure to ask right off the bat whether the doctor speaks clear English, and if the answer is no, then I tell them that I am sorry for wasting their time and I go to the next doctor.


Just the same, when I was being considered for the accounts I have now, I told the lady I work for that I cannot do heavy accents or ESL doctors.  I know - - could have kept me out of work, but you know what?  I don't need the money that bad, because I would just be spending it on psych meds because trying to do the work would make me crazy! 




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Late period, test negative, 1 week later my period arrived.
To be honest, when I did become pregnant, I knew it right away. Sounds weird, but I just knew and it showed up on HCG test at 4 weeks.

Sometimes, you just know! Good luck whatever results you have.
Actually, chosing "cap after period" will not force a period in the instances I mentioned. --
Even with it checked, it WILL NOT cap after a number with a period in it. Like "white count 14.1. hemoglobin 10.9.

If you know of a way that it WILL, let us all know. I have never had a version of Word that will work that way. Always puts in the lower case, even though there is a period there.
"period, period, period..."
Yes I've transcribed for an MD who said this constantly while he was trying to think of what he would dicate next. I also had one who would say "ahhhhhhhhhh....." for what seemed like an eternity!! So annoying isn't it!
MedQuist? Ctrl+shift+F, period, space, tab, period, space, space, change all. nm
.
Accents - sm
Just wondering - do you southern MTs have as much trouble with northern accents as I do with southern accents?  They sure take some getting use to; no disrespect intended, but some words are pronouced so differently that I have to listen several times to get them.  I suppose I'll adjust eventually - I hope!! 
accents
YES! we do, I'm from Texas.
to JWJ on accents
You are SO RIGHT. I do a LOT of ESLs and I rarely have problems just because of what you said - think with an accent and pay attention to where you are in the report. If you can't beat 'em - join 'em. When you are done, you can go back to your real thinking but in the meantime, think like them.
accents
White males who make long, convoluted sentences with improper sentence structure.
southern accents
Being a Yankee who now lives in the south, I can relate! Had far more trouble with the southern dictators than with the foreign ones.
And yest, those British & Australian ones are sexy!
Spanish accents. sm
I worked on an account out of San Diego once, heavily thick Spanish (Mexican), brilliant docs, but very difficult.  I work on an account in FL now, still Spanish but Cuban and very, very different.  Those of you who say you don't do accents, try another field.  This job is all about dialects and learning and hanging in there.  If you are pompous enough to say, "you don't do this or that", bet your pay reflects it. 
Spanish accents. smC
Clarification:  You probably still make good $$$$ if you are the perpetual cherry picker.  I hate cherry pickers, that is cheating, lying and stealing.  Most managers even those Rhit sort of people, do not realize how much cherry picking hits those of us in the pocket who do any job assigned.  I hope all cherry pickers rot in hello.
I know you can learn accents

Ever wish you could take your post back after more thought?  I spent alot of time thinking about this topic of ESL/accent/ignorant dictators, and I guess I would like to clarify now.


I understand that if you listen to the same dictator or dialect repeatedly, you learn to understand it, and there are several that I have become quite familiar with.  But, my point was that for the $2.00 +/- per page that I get paid, I choose to listen to someone who is willing to take the time to speak with courtesy and clarity into the microphone.  I understand that at some point I may not have the choice, but while I do, I choose to work for someone who gives what they expect.  They expect clear reports, I expect clear dictation.  And they get paid ALOT more than I do to hold up their end of the bargain.


On the same token, for the hundreds of dollars that I pay out in medical expenses every year, I choose to give that money to someone I can understand and that I am relatively sure understands me, without the language barrier.  I don't want to chance a compromise in care because of a misunderstanding in communication; there are enough other things that can cause a compromise in care.


The medical language is hard enough when everyone is speaking the same language, with all the sound-alike words and similiar words, etc.  I don't want to confuse it even more with any extra variations.  I know it is here to stay, but I want to stay under my rock as long as I can.


Hope I haven't I haven't worsened my "foot-in-mouth" disease, or made anyone else even more upset...


I'd estimate about 200+ - all accents
x
worst accents

I agree with the person who said not really an accent.   Those who chew, yawn and dictate while falling asleep are the worst.   the only Hispanic I ever worked for was very precise and even said comma, period etc. his words were very distinct but some of his pronunciation was difficult but once becoming accustomed to that it was no problem. 


 


Vent on accents. SM
Why oh why does a doctor who has been in the United States practicing medicine for over 20 years continue to have the same thick accent and poor grasp of the English language, as well as inability to grasp proper grammar and punctuation. It's like they do not even attempt to lose the accent. I understand young foreign doctors who have not been here long and are struggling to deal with language barriers, their residency, etc., but these older docs who I know have been around for a long time, drive me insane. I would in no way, shape, or form see them for my medical care, if they have made no effort to improve communication with their U.S. patients. Hello, what country are we in here? Thanks for listening to my vent.
vent on accents
I think most of the larger Medical Schools do offer the remedial courses, at least the 2 I worked for did, in fact, it was required for all foreign docs at first. Just wish that all ESL docs would take advantage of it.
I prefer non-Southern accents

I'm from the south but lived out of the area for several years.  My favorite accents are Northeast and MidWest.  For a while I did MT for a hospital in rural Alabama where a resident from Cuba was working.  He had acquired a number of southern altruisms that cracked me up with his thick Hispanic accent.  I'll never forget when he treated an elderly woman who had received a rattlesnack bite to her foot through her "teenie shoes."  (if I hadn't been from the south, I wouldn't have known he was referring to "tennis shoes!")


Once my dryer needed servicing and the repair man came out.  After talking for a while I asked if he was from somewhere near southern Russia because of his accent.  He got so excited that someone knew the geographic area of his origin!  He was from a tiny little country bordering southern Russia!  (one of my neurologists was from Russia).  I love to try to place someone's accents


d~ 


I have a bad time with southern accents too
Their words just sort of fall into one another and it seems like they put emphasis on the wrong part of the word, so I need to concentrate with them.  The worst however is the Chinese accent by far.  Especially when they do try to slow down and enunciate, it makes it worse.
middle eastern accents
I had one yesterday for that sang and hummed most of the report. He dictated in a sing-song voice that made me think he was casting some sort of spell. In between words and sentences he would say, ahhhh, ummmmmmm, and then speed ahead with the sing-song again. And it was all in a middle-eastern accent. It was an extra long report and awful. I was so jittery by the time I finally finished.
anyone else think British accents are sometimes difficult?

There are few doctors with British or Australian accents compared to Indian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, East Asian etc....but perhaps because I don't hear them as often I am sometimes really thrown off by them..  not ESL! But I find myself relistening before I get some of the words.   Also difficult are some of the other European dictators...do not get as many of those either. Used to get a guy - I looked him up on the hospital web site - it said he spoke about 6 different European languages - he had a very unusual accent.


No, not for me! I love European accents
and do well with them. However, the middle eastern accents throw me. There's something about the tone or pitch that I simply can't hear. Maybe I have a deaf spot or something. It's caused problems at jobs because MT employers think I'm "refusing" to do those work types when it's actually a hearing problem. Some of the Hispanics are the same way. I can do Asian, French, German, Scandinavian, east coast, American Indian, southern, British, whatever, just not east Indian/Arabic accents.
I have as much trouble with southern (USA) accents (sm)
as I do with most ESLs!
My mom is from the south. Thanks to that I have no problem with southern accents. nm
:+
Hope you're good with accents! sm

All customer service is outside of the US and I had a really tough time communicating with them.  Also if you choose to discontinue early there's a whopping $90 fee that's buried in the fine print.


I used Vonage with broadband satellite for 2 months and it disconnected frequently on me....my satellite has been stable for years with multiple platforms so I suspect Vonage is just not suited for satellite.  Just a heads up!


Accents (Kim Komando's Cool Site of the Day), 8/10

Always something interesting in Kim's world:


TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE:
www.languagetrainersgroup.com


What's the worst part of it? Accents, research, TAT, etc.? Hope
x
No, not at all, plenty of people with accents, not all sound dopey.
Then again, maybe it's all the pot he smokes, kills a lot of brain cells, ya know?
LOL
I don't know about that, but I do know that towards the end of pay period...

when we run out of work, I have to call in and have them special-assign me the ASR reports that just sit there like a lump and can't come to me automatically anymore since I don't (and won't) do ASR.  Getting sick of it, too. 


At least I do know what's going on now, after researching it via various sources. I pity the others who don't know and just assume there's totally no more work on the account at that point without checking.  Those ASR reports do "turn over" at some point and go automatically to whoever's on, but they have to just sit there for awhile first, waiting for an ASR MT to come and do them.  Isn't that just GREAT for patient care, too? 


I was 26 before I got my first car, period!
b
Period, period, period, uh, uh

Didn't someone around here (in a dictator gripe thread) talk about how one of thier dictators would "fill the space/silence" by repeating "period, period, period, period"???  This has GOT to be the same guy that I've got right now!  How very annoying!  He can sure make 5.5 minutes feel like an ETERNITY!! 


I think I would prefer the ones that "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" or hummmmm or something to this "period, period, period, uh, uh, uh, period, period" crapola! Yikes! Somebody save me!


12,000 a pay period is FT.
x
At MQ we are to space once after a period.
That just changed in the last 6 months.
End of pay period every other week.
I hope they do away with IC status with new pay plan. SE's have to turn in a schedule, so I think the IC should also turn in schedule and adhere to that schedule, rather than pouncing on the work at the end of each pay period the last 3 or 4 days of the pay period and getting their lines then -- leaving employee status MQ MT's to be without work. I dread this each and every end of PP, as they do all the easy work, then leave the "junk" to us to scramble for. But the IC's disappear on the 1st and 16th of each and every month until the last days of the PP once again, and they show their faces  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is what they say in Britain for period. sm
They call a Z a zed, and quotation marks are called inverted commas. These docs must have been educated in British-influenced schools.
Exactly! One board is all we need - PERIOD
No wonder this board is deserted.
One space or two after a period.

Which is the correct way, one space or two spaces after a period in medical transcription?


Thanks for any help in advance.


IC who works when she wants. Period! sm
Yes. You read that correctly. She only works when she feels like it. Why do I keep her on? When she works she does a good job. And she is family. I've hinted, joked, and got downright bitchy about it many times. Work is to be returned in 24 to 36 hours, but it is sometimes five or six days. The only time she really seems to put her best foot forward is the two days before the pay cutoff date to be sure she has a nice check. Then she'll make all types of strange excuses for why her work wasn't returned in a timely manner. No internet service. At at a restaurant and got sick. Problems at home. - I'm being taken advantage of in a big way and I know this. I wouldn't tolerate it at all if it weren't for the fact that she's family. My other ICs don't get away with it. ---So, I need advice on the best way to handle it. If your advice is that I should never hire family please save yourself the time by not posting. I know that now, but its water under the bridge and I have to deal with this ongoing problem yet preserve peace. Thanks in advance for your input.
By law...you wrote it, they are yours period

Those belong to you, end of story. The law automatically states that if you wrote it, it is yours.  Registered copyrights cover if someone distributes.  The link below provides the forms.


 


http://www.copyright.gov/forms/


I think she dropped a period.
As in: I didn't. Thank you very much.
Bayscribe, to cap after a period
Someone mentioned awhile back that they never could figure out how to automatically capitalize after a period in Bayscribe.  Well, I wasn't looking for it, but accidentally discovered it.  You go into productivity tools, and go into tab for local configuration; just check or uncheck the box. I'm still discovering little helps like this that I missed when I started the program. And if you want to momentarily de-activate, of course, just hit the escape first. Hoping this helps someone else! 
Bayscsribe, to cap after period
If you do that in your productivity tools it will cap every word after a period.  So now when I type q.i.d., b.i.d., anything after that, i.e. daily or as needed, all comes capitalized and I have to wait a few words and then go back and uncapitalize it.  It is very frustrating when doing meds.
I ALWAYS space twice after a period and I ALWAYS will!
says!  I learned to type on a typewriter and it is ingrained in my head.  Now that I'm doing VR, as I'm editing, I add the extra space after the period.  I look at it as just more money the MTSOs are trying to screw us out of!
VR compensation/2 wk period
It seems that we have to make that high productivity in voice recognition for two weeks straight. If for even ONE day in the two weeks, your productivity was not as high, it bumps your average back down to making way less money. For example, let's say you work hard to edit 350 lines (voice recog.) per hour for 6 or 7 days, but one day your productivity was only their minimum of 150 lines per hour- that reduces your two-week average. What am I missing? What are you doing to keep productivity really high for that two week average?
VR compensation/2 wk period
No, I have not been able to achieve 350 lines per hour with voice recognition, or anywhere near it. But at 150 lines per hour at 4 cents per line for editing voice recognition, that is $6.00 a hour pay, and so the minimum wage requirement kicks in, as I am an employee, and I make $6.55 per hour for 150 lines per hour. So, how do I double or triple my voice recognition editing production per 2-week period, to at LEAST 300 lines average per hour (or even more if possible) so I can make more money?
Nothing more than rumor and gossip. Period.
nm
this is so true across the board period (sm)
especially about hiring "minorities".  My DH's work exclusively hires Spanish/Mexicans to work in their warehouse, cause they will work, not like the spoiled American youth in general.  It's our own faults, people.  That's just the way it is!!!
It is crazy. I don't believe in spanking period.
There are other ways to discipline.  My kids know how to behave (99% of the time they do) and fortunately they aren't in our public school system so I don't have to worry about that.  School should be a place where children feel safe and there are lots of kids in school who you could use some discipline, but paddling is not the way to accomplish it. 
Post-pay period blues...
I simply cannot get motivated today! I always feel sluggish and lazy just after a pay period, especially on the first day of a new one. I worked so darn hard yesterday to have a decent paycheck that I'm, well, too pooped to punctuate! Anyone else have this malady?
Anybody ever taken Prometrium for PMS? Just for 2 weeks before period.
x
Last day of the pay period. No work on the system.
x
you need to support her and let her know you love her. PERIOD.
X