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Verbatim and Account Specifics - Fried

Posted: Oct 27, 2009

Is it me or what - I was always told to follow account spec and make sure I didn't use the forbidden JCAHO abbreviations.

Lately if I look at an old report to get a slurred/muffled word that I can't make heads or tails out of, I've noticed that others on my same account don't follow the specs at all! They do everything verbatim. It totally upsets me. I noticed it a while back and put it down to a new employee not yet knowing all the specs, but it wasn't as bad as it is now.

Am I wrong to feel this way or is this the "new" way to do things? Any suggestions? Or should I continue on my way as if I don't see these errors? I did try once and was "shunned" for doing so.

The way I look at it, it is none of my business - ht

[ In Reply To ..]
how another MT transcribes a report. If it is not done correctly, it is QA's job or the supervisor's job to point out their mistakes. I am not paid for that.

I think that defeats the whole purpose - Fried

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A company should give quality reports. If they don't, the client and account will just go somewhere else.....there goes your job.

I have always put quality first, production second. When I see some of horrible reports, it's like fingernails scraping a chalk board.

If you don't follow the specs of the account, what's the use of even having them? Client and patient care is the name of the game. Production comes next. Once the quality is there, production usually picks up after that. As we know, doctors really don't read their reports. If they did, they could pick out some errors (that is, if the doctor could even spell. LOL).

I'm with you 100% Fried - Fingers

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Quality should always, always come first. You owe that to the company you work for, you owe it to the patient, you owe it to the client who pays you, and you owe it to the other MTs on your account!!

I love the account that I transcribe. It is our job to make that client happy if we want to keep it (along with our incomes). We do not have newbies and there is no excuse for it. Everyone should put forth 100%. You may not know exactly what is dictated all the time, but do not guess and do not type phonically what you think you hear. I have seen things where they may not know what it is, but they certainly should know what it is not! We are welcome to send as many reports as we wish to QA. They encourage it. I send my slightest doubts to QA just for verification.

Every MT should follow account specifics and everyone MT should be consistent with each other. That's team work.

I agree, not your business, belongs to QA/management - darlene

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.

my thoughts - busybee

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Unless management has changed, if I had been "shunned" for bringing it to their attention that you noticed account specs were not being done, I would not mention it because they have already told you that they do not care and do not want to be bothered with it.

Now, I would probably ask to verify that I am indeed supposed to be doing x,y,z, and if they happen to ask why I asked, I would probably simply say that I wanted to make sure I was doing my job correctly and that things hadn't changed.

Seriously, I wouldn't go there since you've been down that road before. If it bothered me enough, I'd find another place to work that actually cared (been there and done that!).

Wish I could agree with Busybee and HT, but PLEASE READ AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND - Fingers

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I really have tried. It may be none of my business but I do feel very strongly that bad MTs hurt the rest of us. I know you all have seen them. You don't give it much thought do you? I believe they cause the tremendous turnover in jobs, affect the overall pay, affect decisions on offshoring, VR, problems with QA, and the like. We may not want to admit it, but there are so many of them that have infiltrated this industry that would have NEVER been allowed back in the day.

I am not just talking about the whining about what they do and do not want to transcribe. I am not just talking about the demands for certain limited hours. I am not talking about their unreliability to work when agreed upon. I am not even talking about comas, semicolons, and punctuations. I am talking about medical diagnoses, medication names, dosages, and lack of research that totally destroys a patient's medical document. For instance:

Klippel-Fiel syndrome typed as Copyfile syndrome.
BPH - typed out as benign prosthetic hypertrophy.
auscultation typed as ausulation.
AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT - Charcot Marie Teeth

The list goes on. These people have been MTs for years. Many of these reports do not go through QA. Is it my job to speak to these MTs, no. I do believe I am totally in my right to bring it to the attention of management. If they choose not to do anything about that, how sad. Line count is the name of the game and it shows in their transcription.

I hear so often, "I have been an MT for xxxx years." So what. Does that mean you are skilled and professional? There is a difference. So many MTs move from account to account and from job to job that they go undetected. They are unreliable, do not care about the client they serve, or the patient's medical record. That is why we have to have QA, who pesters most of us. That is why our work is offshored and are wages go down. It is a self-serving purpose to them. We all want good paychecks but the industry, and we as MTs, need to find a way to bring back the professionalism, reliability, accuracy, integrity, and dedictation to this industry.

This is all just my opinion, which seems to be proving true day after day. I do not have any answers but I believe all the good MTs should focus on these issues as much as on the bad working conditions, crappy QA, and low wages. It seems to be a vicious circle.

NOT TO MENTION THE CONSTANT CHERRYPICKING!! - nm

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xxx

maybe these reports are from overseas - gitarMT

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sorry but they are not under the same meticulous scrutiny we are under. perhaps your company sends work overseas.

also maybe you are seeing the unedited versions. any way to verify if they went directly to the client.

funny how companies are all over the map in this regard.

actually this is not the same profession no matter how hard those of us try to keep it that way. QA is used more often than not as a way to in short-form "get rid of" and terrorize USA MTs and that is my opinion but it is from experience. at least, MTSOs still need us for a while longer until probably everything goes overseas and to VR.

we are dumped on from the hospitals, from our MTSOs - to the point is almost laughable, if it weren't so ridiculous. hospitals can kick patients out early, only caring about their money and profit, and I could go on and on in the ways they do not care about patients, yet we are expected to shoulder everything else like conscience, quality, and privacy.

yes, for some 13 dollars an hour, we will jump through all the hoops, we will compromise our own lives and mode of living for the 'good of the patients' and for the clients, we will suffer and work diligently through every kind of disgusting work that comes our way, etc etc, because it is all up to us, the little peons to hold it all together. yeah, right.

...and yet the work from overseas comes back horrible and it is all so good because boy everyone is saving tons of money on transcription. heck with the patients then, right? that all goes out the window when the bucks are being saved.

Oh no, my company does not offshore - Fingers

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These come from right here in the good ol USA!!

FINGERS hit that nail right on the head girl! - sm

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Even after the cherrypicking is done, these MTs (who have been around much longer than I have) do things I would not dare - and then they brag about their production. We do not offshore either. When you pull up these reports to do the current one, they have already gone to the client and it is downright embarrassing. Makes the whole team look bad.

Totally agree with fingers too. sm - CrispyCritterMT

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Now days it seems that production and TAT is the only thing that matters. Its a vicious cycle. When MT became primarily a production-based industry, there were MTs who really didn't care about quality only production. It seems this has unfortunately become more and more prevalent especially as wages drop and MTSOs don't reward or seem to care about quality.

Agree w/Fingers. People in trouble come for help - MissIndigo

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from the teams we're a part of. MTs who put out shabby work shouldn't be allowed even within Internet reach of our patients and their charts.

Regarding client and company guidelines, some are important, others may not be that well thought out, but they always feel they have a good reason for each one, so I typically follow them--to be considerate if nothing else. The occasional good reason for not doing so would be one you wouldn't mind explaining face to face.

Fried, until the day you become a supervisor you should just concentrate on meeting your own high standareds. Slothfulness and passive-aggressive degradation of patient records are signs of poor character, so just count your blessings that you are not responsible for their work, or one of their patients.

what else should she do since they "shun" her for bringing it to their attention? - busybee

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I do not disagree with you on how MTs should be.....We should all strive to do our best and be a "team." I have been fortunate to work for a company that was very thankful for when I brought it to their attention of such discrepancies so that the matter could be handled appropriately.

However, she has ALREADY informed the management of what is going on and has been "shunned" for it. Their actions have effectively told her to leave it alone.

I don't know if there's a delicate way of informing them of these discrepancies without it possibly coming back to bit her in the rear. If she moves forward with informing them (again), she needs to know she very well could be asking for trouble that she does not want or need.

If I see a serious error (that could affect patient care) I do this... - FBL

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If the MT works for the same company I do and the report is not signed yet, I fix it and send that MT a note telling her I noticed it and fixed it for her. I don't cc anyone when I do this, and have always either not heard back at all or have received a note of thanks from the MT. This is what I would want done if the error were mine.

If the MT is not one of ours and the report is not signed, I send a note to my QA person about it, leaving it up to her to notify the client or not.

If the report is signed, I leave it alone...the dictator should have caught it.

We need to be better than the offshored MTs - sm

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With the new technologies, EMR, VR, etc., greedy MTSOs, low pay, etc. and etc., many seasoned MTs have gotten out of the business. Not too many of us left who take pride in our work first and foremost. Plenty of MTs whose main objective is lines, hours, and working at home. Yes we all need the money, but if we are no better (or worse) than offshore MTs, why would companies/clients want to keep work here?

Look what this process has turned our MTs into! Where is their skill? You have to be better than just a TYPIST!!!

you're not wrong, however - Snow Bunny

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More important than quality is your paycheck. And if your client wants you to capitalize every other word, that's what you do if you want to keep getting paid.

Pride (in your work) is a good thing to have, but it's not doing to put food on the table and keep a roof over your head.

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