Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Our docs freak out if youreplace the pt's name with -

Posted By: 'The patient', so we don't do it. -nm on 2007-11-28
In Reply to: Dpn't you hate it when ..... - sg

nm


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

Why does it make someone a freak
if they disagree with you or come on here and complain? Everyone obviously has different situations, especially with MQ where the is absolutely NO consistency from office to office. There are more people unhappy with MQ than there are happy with them - so majority rules - that would make happy MQer freaks - right?? They are not freaks, just in a different situation than you. Glad you're happy though.
YOU ARE A SICK FREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
x
Starting to freak out!

In all the years I have been an MT, I have never been without work and have never NOT been able to find someone hiring. This is ridiculous.  I have even looked for local in-house jobs and...NADA, NOTHING!!



Does anyone else freak when work runs low?
We received an email a few days back discussing about a low workload. Also received another email for maybe increased workload on another account. I get nervous and ready to jump when this happens. It's a very bad time of year for this to happen (like any time is a good time). The work is great but the pay is on the low side, especially with my experience (21 years). I took this position some months ago at the referral of another MT I know, hoping this would be it, but I really don't think it is.

I have been browsing the job boards this morning, almost applying with another company, but something made me close the browser, thinking maybe I should hang tight for another week and see what happens.

Does anyone else do this? I'm really thinking I should maybe look elsewhere because I've always thought, work smart, not hard. This pay scale is just a bit too low at 7 cpl.
You could change yours to freak or something I guess nm
x
Who cares - he's a liberal loony freak anyway.
.
I did live with an alchy and coke freak....sm

When HIS (ex-husband) problems got too much for me to bear and with him going BACKWARDS in the life....I dumped him.  He eventually got clean and sober via a 12-step program and becoming a Born-Again Christian, but 16 years later, know that HORSES don't change colors and while he is *clean and sober* he merely replaced the drugs and alcohol with born-again Christianity and leans on it like a crutch.  He still remains the nasty racist judgmental rude person that he always was, only I didn't know that he was racist, rude, or nasty and judgmental when I married him. 


There is life, I promise, after these *men* - and the word *men* is questionable as real men don't need emotional crutches of any kind.


She can start with the control freak from hell board
I feel so sorry for anyone who has to live with this woman on a daily basis.
agree with Patti and can't believe how many people freak over having IC status...sm
just over the taxes. I mean, we're all grown ups here right? Get over it.
I'm a "study" freak and read up on whatever journals publish.
...it was "discovered" that men's and women's brains are wired differently in one significant respect in the pons, the "cable" that connects side 1 and side 2 of your brain. In women, the pons is rich with connectors and cables and wiring and communication! In men, the number of connections is SEVERELY reduced from that of women.

The study conclusions were interesting, in that the scientists extrapolated that ONE reason men/women are very different about housekeeping (men=slobs, women= neat) is due to this wiring difference. And yes, there are some males who are neat, and some females who are messy.

Upshot is, a number of things predicate of of this rich connection in the pons for women. It's supposed (not tested yet) that "women's intuition" could be based on this. Whereas men see facial expressions, and snippets of conversation, and situations and body language, they don't think much of it. Because the two halves of a woman's brain connect so richly, her "facts" and her emotions are melded together. She notes all of the above, and puts 2 and 2 together and gets it! A man's 2 halves kinda scratch themselves and go "What?"

Then too, when a woman thinks about a dirty house, it's as if the house is crying out to her, filling the circuits, affecting both halves, 'talking' to her, crying out for help. Not so with a guy. One half of the brain notes the mess, the other half does not respond, it doesn't matter to him, it's dirty, so what. Meanwhile, the woman is being driven half to distraction by the interactions between the two brains, creating a DRIVE to get the thing back in order so the mess stops talking to her.

Do I make any sense? Does anybody else recall this, have access to this data? I've lost all references to it.

But for me, at least, it was fascinating!
My daughter's elementary school was on lock down yesterday afternoon cause some freak in a red S

truck drove onto school property behind the school (where the playground is) and tried to get some kids on recess to get into his truck!  Thankfully the teachers on recess duty were paying attention and gathered all the kids back into the building and the school went on lock down.  The police showed up within minutes, but the guy took off before they got there.  So now they are looking for him.  The news was parked in front of my house most of the morning this morning.  I live directly across the street from the school.


It's just scary out there.  My daughter who is in kindergarten was matter of fact about the whole thing.  All she said when she gave me the note from the principal telling parents what happen was "It was for real mom.  We thought it was a drill, but it was for real."  Then I thought what a sad state this world is in when our schools have lock down drills now in addition to fire and tornado drills. 


I live in a small town too and had a false sense of security until the Amish news and until yesterday.  It seems like you simply aren't safe anywhere anymore.


ESL Docs

That is SO true!!!!  There is definitely a problem with dictating the appropriate gender when it comes to ESL docs. They tend to go back and forth umpteen times during one dictation, so you really have to pay attention.  Verb tense can also get very confusing.


I agree that sometimes slowing down and concentrating can actually increase productivity. Even though I feel like I'm transcribing like a tortoise, I'm really getting more done than I think when I slow down and allow myself to think.


Just hang in there with QA. They are just doing their job and you need to take a good look at what they are telling you and concentrate on that issue. It's really hard not to take it personally, that's for sure, but it's gonna make you a better Transcriptionist in the long run. On the other hand, if you feel they are truly wrong about an important issue, then challenge them!!  But you'd better have major references to back up your challenge.


Ellen S.


 


 


ESL docs
are you on VR yet? you can choose to have a 20% cut on your baseline rate and get the "better" dictators ?? or you can choose to keep your MT 100% baseline rate and probably get all of the ESL docs -- what a choice - not fair, huh??
This is almost as bad as the docs
I got three of them yesterday...three different docs. I think this is soooo rude! I'm almost to the point where I'm going to refuse to attempt to do them. Surprisingly, it's always a female doc who is dictating either a GYN or breast cancer related report.

I can picture a couple of these ladies hopping on a Harley Davidson riding home from work.
I think they should ask all ER docs

if they even know the English language to begin with, 'cause if they do, they don't practice it.


I know everyone knows that a lot of docs don't

read the reports after we have transcribed them, but I just had a doc on my account dictate that he wanted the line "Dictated but not read" added to ALL of his reports from now on.  He was mad because he said he requested this to be done a few weeks ago and has been "keeping track" and it hasn't been getting done.


Amazing.


All of my PAs were better than the docs before

I switched companies and along with my new account came all new PAs (and might I add, quite a few of them) who all make me miserable. They botch the dictations beyond belief and I am left to fix the sentences which look like riddles and are actually confusing after they get done with it.


Change thoughts in the middle of a sentence...start talking and forget where they left off so I am sitting there for another 2 minutes waiting through the ummms and ahhhs and the start of sentences "the patient umm.... ahhh" and I'm waiting for them to say something and they just hang up.


Mine are good for this too... they will dictate an incomplete report and then a few dictations after they will start finishing incomplete dictations, adding in something they forgot to say, or they will say CC a copy to: Dr. ____  on a 4 second report and not say whose report it goes on. This would be easy to figure out if they didnt have 40 dictations and at least 5 hang-ups with about 8 of those 40 dictations being something they want added on to some nameless patient's report.


Had I not switched jobs, I would have had a hard time believing any PA was hard to transcribe...just because I had a good bit of them on my other account and they were all PERFECT speakers.


Now when I see that I have to transcribe a PA-- 


 



ESL docs
Hey there,
Hang with it a little while longer. You'll probably find that it gets easier. Those ESL doctors do say the same thing over and over again and it takes practice to get it. Try listening a few seconds longer than the phrase you aren't getting because sometimes that helps. I agree that samples help an awful lot so be sure to request as many as you can. Good luck! You can do it!
I would always rather have my ESL docs over the sm
English as first language docs, who speed talk, slur words, and don't seem to care about the patients.  I am usually very impressed with the patient care given, and the understanding of the human issues, by the ESL docs.  I think the problem with the original poster is she needs to learn to transcribe these docs, with all the suggestions, especially getting samples, mentioned above.  She doesn't really seem that concerned with patient care, but her inability to transcribe difficult dictators.  It is, quite simply, the nature of the business.  The easy docs go on voice recognition, and the transcriptionists transcribe the difficult dictators.
I tell ALL my docs that I'm an MT...
...and I transcribe and read my own reports (I work for a large healthcare co).  Hubby signed a HIPAA form for me to transcribe and read his reports, too.   Now the docs are more careful 
how many docs know?

When I mention to physicians that if they send their work out it might be sent overseas they are appalled!  Sometimes they say things like, "So that's why there were so many mistakes."  Companies don't always tell them where the work is being done or by whom. 


I still fault them for trying to save money at our expense, but in a certain sense some of them are being taken advantage of as well.  Perhaps our "enemies" could turn out to be our best allies should a good case make it to Court TV. 


We need to educate the physicians as well as the public. 


docs
Or I like when they make up their own spelling of words, especially meds.
docs
sorry made a mistake above...I meant the docs take me to the bathroom with them LOL!!!
docs
Let's face it ladies and gents - doctors have absolutely NO respect for what we do for them so they can make $$$$$$$$$$$$$$....
My ER docs do it alot

I guess it gives them the right to charge PREMIUM prices,  although I


think ER prices are quite pricey enough.  My friends trip through the ER


the other night was a cool $10,000 and all she got was an aspirin.  (she thought


she was having a heart attack and it was GERD.  But to rule it out they gave her


the works; CT scan, CXR, blood work, cardiac enzymes......and on top of that came the doctors (including the cardiologist, oh my) bill.


 


 


of course, I know 'bout as much as the docs do...sm

yeah, and that's why I'm here typing and they're out on their yacht somewhere, right?    But I do try to diagnose, even did this when I worked for a doc in the back office.  And sometimes I was actually right!


Cheap docs

They absolutely don't care about quality or any of that jazz, which is why I have always wondered why we as an industry keep beating each other up over issues that doctors couldn't care less about. Not that I think we should all just transcribe any old way we want, but it seems like we act like the slaves out in the mud pit slapping each other around about how much or how little straw to use for the bricks while the slavedriver sits on the side line with the whip completely content with end product either way.


I suppose the answer most would give is that we should take pride in the quality of our work whether they (the doctors) do or not, but I can't get passed the notion that these are the same individuals that the powers that be seem so intent on pleasing and are also the same individuals who would see us all in the soup lines tomorrow looking for the next homeless shelter to sleep in if they had their way. They (the medical profession) will not think twice about putting all transcriptionists out of business at their first opportunity, and yet we as an industry continue to bow to their ridiculous and uninformed demands concerning how to do what we do or their complaints about how much we charge or that we shouldn't charge for line count generated by short forms or macros, etc. They have no clue how many times their butts get saved by transcriptionists on a daily basis.


I've never met a transcriptionist who wouldn't readily agree with the notion that we are part of the health care team, and yet many of us continue to act like we still work for the doctors instead of the patient. Oh well, go figure.


Just venting as well.


also, most docs won't do certain tests (sm)

without your consent, if they are not considered standard and will probably have to be paid for by the patient out of pocket, unless the patient agrees to pay either up front or if the charge is denied.  At least that's been my experience! Good luck, I hate insurance companies, too!


Isn't she cute? 


Do your docs talk 2U?

I have one doctor who, when she wants to correct something or other always says "This is an aside to the typist." ARGH. I feel like I'm in a Shakespeare play or something - don't those have a lot of "asides"? I always want to scream at her "Don't you know I'm not a TYPIST?? I'M A MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST, DAMN IT!!!!" Of course she's 80 or something so I shall forever be "the typist" to her.


I have a resident who always says "For transcriptionist, would you...." to get my attention - but when he was new I thought he was saying "Poor transcriptionist..." I always nodded my head in sad agreement until I realized what he was actually saying....


And then there's the doc who loves to complain about his job to me, sometimes in great detail - "Here I sit, waiting for some x-rays to come in so I can make a buck" and "I cannot believe this hospital."


They crack me up!


docs talk to me
I always get one who says, "uh, secretary, please correct..." and then I have one who always says "oh, operator, could you kindly...." Does he think that because he dictates into a phone it's a telephone operator on the other end or what?
Docs don't have those guidelines because... sm
they realize how stupid they sound and look.  They learn the language of medicine and stick with it.  They don't bow to some silly-*ssed organization's whims. 
Hoo yah. I hear ya. Then you have the docs that. . .

think for some reason you know exactly what they are going to dictate for ROS so they just basically babble right through it and take a big deep breath at the end.


Or the one like I had today that sounded completely wasted off his butt and even with the speed up or down it still sounded like a drunken drawl. It was ridiculous. It was also dicatated later on Thanksgiving night, so who knows? Maybe doc had a few too many rounds of Thanksgiving cheer and then thought, "Ow thith, I thstill gottsa do my dictatheen."


Report them to your supervisor. It's worked for me in a few cases. It's up to them to pass the word along that the dictator needs to slow down.


I had one guy that I do locally on tapes that suddenly decided that he was going to take his machine and dictate on his way home in the car.  I don't think so pal. I called my local boss and said I wasn't going to do it. His tapes have been clear as a bell ever since because he's doing them in the office again.



that won't do nothing but give you a bad name and p*** off the docs...sm
that is definitely NOT the professional way to handle this. Give a little bit more time to get the check, ask for more details (in a neutral tone of voice) about when the check was sent, the number of the check, etc. Document the answers. Then consider filing a claim in small claims court. Sometimes it's a scam but sometimes it's a cash flow problem.
Chiropractors and other alt med docs?
Does anyone know of a good site for this? I usually use WebMD or AMA but chiros and the sort are not listed, and I can't find a good resource for them.
contacting the docs re. this sm
What she did does seem cruel to you and perhaps she is cruel, but those accounts are absolutely hers to deal with and I think it is wrong for the subcontractor to contact the contractor's clients, totally wrong. I do feel for you. As an IC and MTSO, I have been "kicked to the curb" for cheaper price undercuts by "so-called" friends, etc. You must let it go and move on, perhaps contact your local church if you need help with food, utilities, etc. I do feel very badly for you, but I think to contact her clients would be "tacky" and make you look bad. Perhaps one day you will own your own accounts and see what I'm saying is true. Good luck to you, I am sure you are very hurt, I have been there as well. Not much you can do but log it into your "experience" book. Stay well, things will get better. Sometimes change forces progress, I hope so for your sake. With all my best wishes to you.
Hopefully docs will realize
that their time is better spent seeing more patients than doing data entry..glad that your docs realized this. I had one lone hold-out who refuses to do the clerical entry... but doesn't dictate either... still writes ShortHand notes in charts....Ugh!
Lots of ESL docs
Have worked for prison system in Tx. They hire lots of ESL docs but work is not hard as they outsource serious cases to general hospitals. As regards pre-employment testing all I did was a typing test and gave my references.
Ask the docs what they are paying now and go from there. nm
x
foreign docs
And why do a lot of those same ones who speak such poor English also make no sense in putting together their sentences?  I have several that sound like they are clenching their teeth together and straining to get the words out which makes it even worse.  I know exactly what you mean.  Their oughta be a LAW! 
inconsiderate docs
I had one doc who gave me a bad checs. So, I found another account to make up for his lack of funds, but I picked up his work as usual. I did the last two tapes he gave me, but I didn't give him the work and I returned blank disks to him. His OM hated him, so she called me when she had a deposit and I met her at the bank with the checks and a bill for the new work. She gave me a new check, we took care of business, I got my all my money, and he got his work. I then notified him that I would not do his work for him any longer since he tried to stiff me for several hundred $. Boy was he mad. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Wow, there are some rude docs out there!

I guess I am very lucky to have such appreciative doctors.  They tell me thank you for the wonderful work about everytime I see them.  I dont get a Christmas gift from everyone of them, but out of my 7, I usually get 3/4.


Sorry you all have to deal with such unappreciative and lousy dictators


Rude docs
Judy, I have 6 docs like that.  First of all, I insisted on a sample for each of them.  That helped a little.  When blanks were happening in a place I knew I would be getting over and over, I would email or call to force them to find out what he was saying and let me know for the next time.  Believe or not, every day gets a little easier.  I've had them for almost 9 years now and get 99% of what they say.  It's rude and disrespectful, but just depends on how badly you need the account.  You will get it eventually.  Every new dictator is tough at first. 
fast docs
Why don't you get with the office manager and get copies of their standards and then all they have to do is say "use my usual or make changes". Mine were too happy to do this because they HATE dictating as much as we hate hearing them like that. And, I still got my line pain in spite of using normals.
When ESL docs use interpreters...
I just laugh when I hear an ESL doc on my account needs an interpreter to explain the risks and benefits of the procedure...LOL!
That's funny because my docs are
just the opposite. slow as molasses through the h&p and then speed up to warp speed through the diagnosis. I don't understand it, but you are right, it can be annoying.
Some docs are - I know an oncologist
making around a 1/2 million a year - not too shabby!
The docs might be making a little more because
patients now than they did in the past. Go into any office and you will see they are way overbooked. A rheumatologist I used to see saw 50 patients a day. He said it was to cover Medicare and public aid losses. That doesn't mean they are making money hand over fist, just seeing more patients to cover the hospital losses.
Docs I know have been doing that for years - sm
its a CYA and its nothing new unfortunately.
How about the docs that use the tapes sm
to dictate, then use the call in system, put the phone by the recorder and re-record the whole stinking tape via the call in. To me, that is the worst. It turns out to be 30-40 minutes of dictation and they sound like they are dictating from the grave. Yuk.
If the docs dictated like that, they would never get anything done, lol
nn
longwinded docs
I type for an American doc that will dictate a 30 minute report which should really yield some lines as he speaks so clearly, but he hums and flips through pages for 20 minutes of that report, and chats with others about their family, etc.