A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Gotta Gripe - MT

Posted: Jul 19, 2012

I've got a gripe. I hope this is not too long but would really like suggestions if any of my fellow MTs have been in this predicament. If you are QA turned MT, don't bother to reply. I don't need sarcasm to start my day.

The company I worked for went into partnership with another company. The new company even changed the name of the company and the new partner is the president of the company. We're supposed to make all complaints to her; however, I had problems from the start and don't really understand why and I believe any complaints I make will be pushed under the rug and maybe even give them cause to terminate me and I really like my job and the accounts I have. I have been able to keep the same accounts but did have another one added because one account was lost and I needed more work.

I had a problem with QA from the start and it seemed to me like one of the QAs was out to get me fired. I'm a stickler for perfection and always check my reports thoroughly before sending them on. This may be hard to explain but here goes... A patient's name that usually has a normal spelling was spelled unusual. In fact, the way she spelled it just happened to be one of my shortcuts which expanded when I typed it. I immediately corrected it. I had to send the report to QA because of a blank (a doctor's name I couldn't find). I later got an email stating I had committed a grave medical error and it was even grounds for termination. I believe the QA noticed the spelling of the patient's name and she believed it to be misspelled. When she tried to correct it, my shortcut expanded and she left it and sent it in. I know I didn't make that mistake. I know the QA did it for some reason and now I feel whenever I have a complaint I have to keep quiet about it.

Now, there's another problem and it frustrates me so much. I have a doctor on one account who uses TERRIBLE grammar. Before the company partnered up with another one, we were always to correct a doctor's terrible grammar, even if it was a verbatim account. Now, I'm not sure what to do. This doctor will say, for example.... The patient is a lady that... She saw a doctor that told her... She has a son that goes to school... I change the word "that" and replace it with "who" because we're talking about people here, not things. If I have to send this doctor's reports to QA for any reason, QA will mark out all my "whos" and replace them with whatever the doctor dictates. This QA makes me look like an idiot and she can't be very bright herself. I hate to complain because of my history and it sure frustrates me because I'm a stickler for getting things right.

Just had to rant. Please, if you can't offer suggestions without being civil, don't bother to respond.

Have to agree - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know which company you work for, but when I worked with SS, I always changed "that" to "who" because I learned way back in English class that you never refer to a person as "that" or "it".
QA at SS always changed it back to that and it drove me crazy. You would think that anybody who went to school in the US, and SS claims they are totally US based, that you never refer to a person as "that."

reminds me of a time - downtime

[ In Reply To ..]
I had a supervisor once who insisted I had to put "shoddy lymphadenopathy." I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice.

Now, that is really showing her ignorance...nm - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
`

I always change that to who - when it refers to a person

[ In Reply To ..]
but if you notice in the newspapers, listen to newscasters, and I could name some names here, it is so common now for people to say and write "that" instead of "who," that I don't know if it is considered wrong anymore. It is annoying, for sure, not being able to get a consistent or correct answer from QA.

did you contact QA? - clauser

[ In Reply To ..]
Did you point out that the name was spelled correctly the way you had it? I'm also wondering, I don't think my expansions will expand for someone else? but that may be the case on your system. Did you ask QA for clarification on the grammar issue? QAs can be real jerks. Sometimes you have to bow and scrape before them. So just swallow your pride and try to communicate with the QA person.

QA - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Yes, I pointed that out but not to the QA. I actually contacted the new partner, the president, because we seem to get along fairly well. She, of course, wasn't going to lay blame on the QA. I work with the Emdat platform. They can change things. I see all kinds of corrections they've made that I wish they would just leave alone because they're already correct. I know the QA did this because I checked it right before I sent it in, just to be sure. Some QAs just have attitudes. I would never apply for the position of QA. I think some of them have ego problems and they can't stand to see an intelligent MT. I can admit when I've made a mistake but I also know when I haven't. I've learned to bow and scrape, but I sure don't like it. ; )

MT, I'm wholly with you on "that" and "who" and change it - often myself; however, the use of

[ In Reply To ..]
"that" this way is common usage and is not actually incorrect, just inelegant.

These days as companies throughout the industry try to get us to limit corrections and get faster, it is VERY important to realize that often there are a number of correct versions of various grammar and punctuation rules. This is why the style guides publishers adopt are called just that. Also, we really need to accept that many of the rules we learned in school are not only NOT the one true way but actually were considered wrong then by many grammarians--and still are.

Like not splitting infinitives. That came out of one style book, written by a guy in Texas I think, whose precepts found their way into schools, etc., across the country even though most most publishers did not agree with his invention, and has been causing people grief ever since. Same with various other things our A's depended on, like not ending a sentence with a preposition, which has been a normal language pattern forever; it can also result in some off-sounding sentences when applied, but that didn't protect us from its new disciples. BTW, notice my "can also result"? Should have been "also can result" according to one rule most of us pay no attention to whatsoever.

In any case, before deciding one particular way is worth taking a stand on, it makes good sense for us to go ahead and google it to see if it's really that important to us. After all, it's not just company profits that increase with speed, and that irritating QA may just actually be on your side.

tell that to my QA - clauser

[ In Reply To ..]
she thinks the style guide is the Bible.

I agree, but here's what I do... - ....see message.

[ In Reply To ..]
For the longest time, I transcribed "who" when the dictator said "that," because I learned it was correct, the way you did. On ASR, I also would take the time and trouble to change it. Then, one day, I discovered that it was actually considered totally acceptable to use the word "that," even when referring to a person. Soooo, even though it wasn't the way I learned it, and I thought it didn't sound "right," I decided to save myself the grief and just leave it (or type it the way the dictator said it--not worth getting it marked as an error on my verbatim account).

Same with ending a sentence with a preposition. I always recast the sentence until I learned that it is now considered acceptable....and it must be, since so many very intelligent doctors do it!! LOL.

Like a poster above, I didn't think my personal abbrev. expanders would work for other users on their computer, so I wouldn't think my QA person re-typed the patient's name and missed that it expanded to something else (unless it was a "shared" abbreviation); but then, perhaps my system works differently than the one you use. I have, though, often seen things that QA has changed through their lack of knowledge of the right way or the right spelling, and that drives me totally nuts. I can sympathize with you!!!

Whoops, to be clear, of the many style guides out there, the - one the client adopts IS the bible. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
x

I always change it - for doctors

[ In Reply To ..]
For doctors, I change "that" to "who" but for nurses I leave it. They are ignorant anyway and it doesn't hurt to highlight it!

let me understand - if i heard you right

[ In Reply To ..]
You are blaming QA for correcting a name that looked unusual and that expanded your shortcut? That doesn't even make sense. Your shortcuts are yours. They don't sit there like bombs waiting to go off. Sounds more like you actually made an error. It does happen, even to the best of us.

As to that/who -- if the account is verbatim, the account is verbatim, even if it breaks your heart. As we move more toward structured data, grammar will never be considered.

I guess you.... - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
didn't read my entire post. I said no sarcasm and I said I checked my report and corrected my expansion before it was sent in. If the QA didn't change it, then the boogie man did. It doesn't matter if my shortcut is mine or not, if QA tried to correct it, it certanly could expand. This certain program doesn't have a brain and it certainly can't differentiate between me putting the cursor there or the QA. They change things all the time for us. I know when I make an error and can admit it but this time I didn't...that was one of my gripes. Sorry you didn't like it but that's life missy.

As far as verbatim, it isn't only bad grammar that we have to transcribe...sometimes it's the misspelling of a drug and we have to change it. I would hate for you to be typing my medical information.

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