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

Safely elminate proofing? - Wendywondering

Posted: Aug 10, 2010

I have read on here before that some people do not proof (only as they go) before sending their reports. I am wondering if there is really a safe way to do that?

I always proof and most often finding something wrong. Sometimes I accidentally use an incorrect expander. When I am typing and reading as I go, I see it expanding but don't notice it is the wrong thing until I go back and proof. Other times I skip over a word, which is a pain, because when proofing I am often not sure if I missed the word or the dictator did not say it (as their sentences are often odd that way), so then I acutally have to re-listen to that spot. Those are a couple issues.

Am I unusual? How do those of you who proof manage to avoid problems and maintain good quality. I would love to be able to stop proofing, as I think it could provide a decent boost in my line count, but I think it would be a mistake for me at this point.

Proof on the fly - my2long

[ In Reply To ..]
I proof as I go. I'm reading "behind" my keystrokes. Not sure how to tell you to do it. I have a 99+% accuracy rate. If I try to proof at the end of a report, I miss things.

wendy.. - proofing

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you relisten to the entire report as well?

I always wondered why people miss things the first time around but not the second time.

If I were paid hourly, I might consider going back and relistening to the entire report.

The only time I go back is for blanks. I do not struggle with a blank the first time. I will leave as many blanks as I have to the first time. After hearing the entire report, you usually get used to a voice, so when I go back, I almost always fill them in.

I guess I just "trained" myself to do it right the first time because I have the need for a paycheck.

I proof as I go, though we are told to re-listen - sm - Notime

[ In Reply To ..]
to the file before submitting. I don't have time for that and would make squat if I did. I do a quick perusal of the report when done, do my formating, and submit. I have the odd typo here and there sometimes (that spellcheck does not catch) that I have to fix on an edit but it is rare. Generally mistakes will jump off the page at me when I am doing my blow through when done, but what does go through is nothing that will kill the patient.

proofing and formatting - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you mean you do the entire report and then go back and format?

Wendy: I have the same problem you do. - I have only been SM

[ In Reply To ..]
doing VR for a few months and I find myself looking over the whole report as you do. I always seem to find something to fix, a word left out, an extra word in, etc. I find this happens when the VR draft itself is really bad and I have to delete all the "garbage" and type what was actually said. I am hoping that I'll get faster with more experience, but I'm really not sure I will. Good luck.

Proof as you go - LK

[ In Reply To ..]
I have always proofed as I go, except for about my first month or two as a new MT. There is the occasional missed word or something the spell checker doesn't catch, but I have always had an accuracy rate over 98%, so I know it works. At the kind of line rates we are paid, there is no way there is time to go back and re-read the entire report. Unless you are very new, I would advise you to really focus on proofing as you go until you have trained yourself to do a good job of it. You might have to slow down a bit while you train your eye to do this. I think it's what most MTs do.

I proof as I go, with a caveat - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I have an odd situation in that the doctors I work for expect 100% accuracy despite garbled patient lists, an older doctor says anything that pops into his head, etc. For the most part, I proof as I go and glance over it real quick before sending it on. However, every 5-8 weeks when I transpose a couple of numbers in the date and get screamed at, I proofread all reports a 2nd time after it's typed. It's frustrating because I rarely make a mistake and am certainly at 98% or better, but these doctors think the industry standard is 100%.

I've only been an MT for a year, so I think practice makes perfect when it comes to the need to proof. Everyone has their own system and you'll find yours soon. Once you discover problem areas, you'll learn to always glance over those before sending it on.

Proofing,, helpful handy hint maybe - INMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Hi,

Not sure this is gonna help make things go faster,, but years ago, when I started my mentor was an old MT college teacher,, Her advice on proofing was to re-read the document from the bottom up. She said that you just finished typing this report and words and sentences are fresh and we sometimes hear the same thing in our "minds ear" even if that is what is not said. So by proofing bottom to top things make little since and you see if you put ies, ly, ed on or left it off faster. It has helped me and I feel I see things faster this way. Now dont go looking for misspelled words here.. its late and I am tired LOL..

How do you proof from the bottom up? - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Thanks and more ... - Wendywondering

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for all the input.

I don't relisten to the whole report but only to spots where it looks like I might have made a mistake vs what I would think the dictator would have said. Also usually if I have one blank I will relisten to that. It is interesting how it will often be crystal clear the 2nd time. I think during the initial go through, it's almost like the mind has preconceived ideas that make plain things sound strange (not sure you will get what I am saying, lol).

I was taught to think of the report as a story and proof that way too. The truth is, it pretty much goes in one ear and out the other. By the time I get to the top to proof, I often don't remember what it was even about.

I will try the as-you-go method as if I am really going to send it without proofing, and then proof to see how I do. If I can get good enough at it I will send them and see how that goes.

I will also try the bottom up method. That reminds me of the upside down drawing technique.

Thanks again, everyone, for your input. I appreciate the help. :)

I also proof during pauses of dictation, rereading - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
from the bottom up what I have just typed.

Only if I'm incredibly tired... - cindyoh

[ In Reply To ..]
do I make myself go back and listen through the whole report. Most of the time, I watch as I go and when done, do a quick recheck and/or go back and try to fill in the blanks if there are any, one last time, when I'm usually able to fill them in. The sleepy times have gotten me into trouble; you can type some incredibly weird nonsense if you aren't careful, ha-ha.

MTSO cut my pay, stopped paying for headers. - Result? I stopped proofing.

[ In Reply To ..]
They want proofread work? Then they better cough back up that 15-20% they stole from us last year.

Hope by not proofing there are no mistakes that could - harm the patient. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
x

If the MTSO and/or the hospital were that concerned - about "harming the pt", theyd pay us better.

[ In Reply To ..]

Similar Messages:

Sep 05, 2012

I am looking for a way to have my docs send digital voice files safely??? ...

Oct 20, 2009

would anybody proof for 2 cents per line? that seems awfully low to me so just looking for some feedback. ...

Feb 24, 2010

Yikes, I am glad I proof my work. The physician dictated "palpation reveals a firm mass"; I had typed "firm mass (but without the M in mass)". I am relieved that I caught it! ...

Jun 01, 2012

Would anyone be willing to share their proofreading tips. I find that VR requires a much higher level of concentration and focus to catch errors. The text on the screen can become a blur. After a couple of hours it is so easy to "hear" what the voice engine blew out and not catch a small but significant error. I am finding that something that needs to be deleted from the text is actually harder to catch than something that needs to be changed or added. Any tips would be helpful. I do see m ...

Nov 19, 2009

I was wondering if someone could quickly proof and give me feedback on a vasectomy procedure. This was a doctor with quite an accent and I am not terribly famiilar with some of the terminology for this type of procedure. The left vas was grasped with a towel clip through the skin and a short linear incisoni was made down to the vas and the vas was cleaned of adventitial tissue. Cautery was used to control the bleeding of the skin and around the vas. The proximal end of t ...

Jan 10, 2013

Haven't failed an audit, tier 3, and suddenly my reports are going through proofing today. And the only changes made are those preference ones where it doesn't matter anyway... (I still don't get why a proofer would waste time changing stuff that doesn't make a difference.) Crazy... ...

Dec 11, 2012

So I guess that was just legal boilerplate for CYA, since there were no pay changes for EditScript. Like what we're paid per line automatically includes enough "extra" to cover for these duties, supposedly. "Base Pay Program Philosophy .... Compensates for all time spent typing and editing reports; to include researching, proofing, and demographics" (I always screenshot these conferences/presentations, since we never get any written/e-mail followup that includes all the ...

May 03, 2013

I badly need your tips on proofing and what works for you. I was always taught (sorry, old school) to type your document and then proof the entire thing, but that takes a long time, especially when documents are 30+ minutes long. Using that method I do not get any errors. But I am told I need to speed up, so I tried THEIR way of proofing as I go along, but last night made many errors, ugh! What works for you? Your tricks? Your methods? Any tips on speeding up, ...

Mar 09, 2015

Just wondering if anyone has been able to cross over to that field? I'm currently working on my first proof/editing job for a novel written by a family member for free as a favor to them and really enjoy that type of work versus the structured MT/Editor work I've done for over a decade. I would love to get out of MT all together if possible and was wondering if any of you were able to make that transition. Thanks in advance! ...