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Why do a lot of MTs leave the punctuation off? - jusme

Posted: Jul 02, 2011

I've noticed at most mtso's throughout the years - no periods on the end of sentences such as:

HISTORY: Headache

COMPARISON: None

POSTSURGICAL DIAGNOSIS: Same

Is there a specific reason for this? It's...well...certainly doesn't make us look good, that's for sure.

IMO they don't - not my experience

[ In Reply To ..]
I've worked for TONS of MT services over 35 years and NOT ONE has ever told me not to punctuate at the end of a sentence or even fragment as you show above. And I've worked for just about every larger service who are usually the ones much more penny conscious. Must just be very different experiences we're having.

oops - not what I meant. you are right, not one mtso - - jusme

[ In Reply To ..]

has ever told me to either - I see it on the reports, though. All the time, and not just on the 1-word sentences.
It's the MTs doing this for some reason. QA doesn't seem to catch it on their 'rounds' either.

Just wondering the phenomenon, becaue I see it all the time.

I have never seen that - Billabong

[ In Reply To ..]
And if I have not seen it, it is not a phenomenon.

I guess you're lucky, then. - justme

[ In Reply To ..]
and I've worked with some Lulu's, or rickety systems.

phenomenon figure of speech leaning toward strange - but you are right there, if you haven't had the exerience - not one...for you. I have. so...to me, yep.

Never seen that either in 20 years - MR

[ In Reply To ..]
Have to say that I've never seen that either so don't agree with "Why do a lot of MTs leave the punctuation off".

the only time - not my experience

[ In Reply To ..]
I have ever seen it is when a NP or the physician himself has done the note. I've never seen MT-generated notes like that.

Probably that is the way ASR has it and they - do not take the time to

[ In Reply To ..]
"edit" it, trying to run the million lines per hour that some put out. I don't run a million lines per hour, but I do use punctuation :)

different systems over the years, all straight typing. - justme

[ In Reply To ..]
but I think maybe you are right about the trying to crank out a million lines per hour, figuratively speaking.

oh well.

The only time I do that - is when

[ In Reply To ..]
the line under the header is a name, such as REFERRING PHYSICIAN: Dr. Joe Smith

Not sure why, but it just looks better to me. Otherwise I always use periods, even when it is a number like ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS: 0 mL. Once again not sure why.

I also do not place a period after a physician's name such as you do and also - with dates or procedures, was taught that way

[ In Reply To ..]
not sure why either and I also place a period after the end of all other sentences no matter how long the sentence.

Punctuation... - elias

[ In Reply To ..]
Probably because of the confusion generated by petty, ever-changing rules in BOS and certain QAs (on power trips) promoting them as if gospel. For example, according to BOS-3, preferable form now is MD instead of M.D. So, under a header, if MD is followed by a period, it looks like incorrect(per BOS-3) or partial punctuation. Same with metric abbreviations. Petty nit-picking based on arbitrary rules results in confusion.

leaving off periods after certain headings - ex-webbie

[ In Reply To ..]
At Webmedx, we were instructed to leave the period off after a heading with a physician name just as in the example you gave. I actually had QA correct a report of mine and remove the period (VR had placed a period after physician's name, and I left it, was told not to over edit, but they didn't want me getting credit for that 1 extra character I guess). Otherwise, all sentences had periods.

well, yeah..because names and dates are not sentences. - NM jusme

[ In Reply To ..]

x

Just never occurred to me someone would look at those - and think I was a slob. :) NM

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Same reason they quit using 'the'? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm not sure exactly why it happened, but it's one of the things that drives me crazy. How hard is it to stick a 'the' in front of a word, really? THE patient said....THE daughter tells me....THE radiology consultant.....

I guess we all have our peeves.

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