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Is there anybody out there who still knows how to use punctuation correctly? - Scared
Posted: Feb 21, 2014
I don't want to be too harsh, but some people need to go back to English class. All I do all day long is correct really, really basic, childish, stupid punctuation mistakes. Granted, most of them really don't make a different in the meaning of the sentence, but how would you feel if you were the one reading your medical report and it looked like crap or maybe faulty punctuation did change the meaning of what was in your report? Some representative examples I see all the time: She came to the hospital with a headache, and left in good condition. *Can someone give me a good reason why there is a comma? No comma is needed here. Medications include aspirin 81 mg; stool softener daily; ibuprofen nightly. *Semicolons are to separate two independent clauses that do not use a conjunction or to separate items in a list that contain internal commas. Semicolons are not commas (or colons, which I also see a lot). Extremities; No CCE. *No, no, no. Extremities: No CCE. This is an inappropriate use of a semicolon. Patient is a 35-year-old, Caucasian female. *There is no point in wasting your time putting the comma in. I am going take it right back out.
well about that comma - Old School
[ In Reply To ..]SR is putting that comma after 35-year-old, and some of us are just sick of taking it out.
And about that semi colon after Extremities, well it's the ILPs doing it. I'm an MME and I don't bother correcting it because it would take too much time and they never check their feedback anyway.
Sorry to say that it is the non-ILPs, too. - Scared
[ In Reply To ..]Also, people need to take pride in their work. If you don't feel like doing your job correctly, then you might want to find something else to do. Again I have to come back to the "what if?" scenario. What if this was your report and it looked horrible? If some of these reports were in my health record, I would probably find a different healthcare system that provides quality care throughout the entire continuum of care, not just during the visit.
Also just an FYI, I don't edit ILPs. All my examples come from USA transcriptionists.
I think you're making too much of it - Old School
[ In Reply To ..]It's just a document, not a novel.
They don't teach grammar - In grammar school anymore
[ In Reply To ..]I think they stopped teaching proper usage of punctuation in the schools. It started in the 80s. Ditto for phonetics so that our kids really know how to read well.
This problem is not new. I was in the QA Dept of "one of the biggies" back in early 2000s, and it was the same thing with the MTs not knowing proper punctuation use.
If I were you, I would not bother changing things that don't change the meaning. The MT will just go crying to her supervisor, and you'll end up being the one in trouble for picking on the MT.
Save yourself the headache and the time and the physical strain of fixing those things.
Old school is right - SM
[ In Reply To ..]I recently finally gave up overediting. I know some of the commas are wrong, but I'm tired of trying to fix them. For years, I was fixing the same mistakes, I finally decided to let it go. I don't make any more money than I used to, but what's the point? No one cares anymore. They've broken me, expecting me to be 99.6%, so I just don't give a hoot.
I totally agree with you....sm - mt2
[ In Reply To ..]I'm sick of constantly fixing VR over and over again. You want perfection? Then pay me 8 cents a line.
Semicolons - BH
[ In Reply To ..]As a matter of fact, one account I was recently transferred to wanted all medications in paragraph form, separated by semicolons. I had been used to using bullets for medications. This was very hard to get used to.
For me, those stupid commas are as a result of my audits. - dnr
[ In Reply To ..]Now I transcribe to the audit results, not what I know is correct.
As for "35-year-old, Caucasian female," I am SO SICK of that! I have been fixing that for YEARS now. I still take it out because it drives me up the wall to see that punctuation.
What I was told by QA about semicolons in meds - sm
[ In Reply To ..]In the example you gave yes, you are correct in putting commas between the meds...I was told say you have a med list, but one of those meds is say coumadin and you take it Mon, Wed, and Thurs, then you put the commas betweent mon, wed, and thurs and semicolons to seperate all the other meds..If that is wrong please tell me the correct way to do it
to: What I was told by QA about semicolons in meds - naturegal
[ In Reply To ..]Don't know if this is right or not, but I've been putting Monday/Wednesday/Thursday and then I stay with the commas - that way don't have to go with semicolons.
semicolons with medications - mt
[ In Reply To ..]I think another example might be a medication which is listed as 2 mg in the morning, 4 mg at noon, and 2 mg at 4 p.m. I would then separate all of the medications by semicolons. Is this correct?
Yup, in all such instances, not just medications. nm - L&L
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Oh and a lot of the reason those commas are there - sm
[ In Reply To ..]Is because ASR automatically places them there and people are sick of removing them..
My 2 cents - For the record
[ In Reply To ..]The main reason punctuation went awry was from the creepy rule changes from the BOS. Besides, in transcription today there are bigger issues than worrying about comma placement - like trying to decipher horrible English.
Why use a comma in this sentence?
"She came to the hospital with a headache, and left in good condition,"
The word AND is a conjunction that connects words, phrases and clauses. Technically the use of a comma in that sentence is not 100% incorrect, odd, but not wrong. I suppose it depends on how you digest the sentence as a whole phrase or two independent segments of time - the time the patient came as compared to when she left.
comma - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I completely agree with your post. It's become more an issue of perspective in how you are hearing the narrative flow and whether it's making any sense. But, you are absolutely correct when you say we have bigger issues than where a comma should or shouldn't be - as long as it isn't completely altering the meaning of what is being dictated. We're up against the clock and only get a quick shot at fixing so many other more serious SR mistakes.
No comma in the first sentence b/c - Sprung
[ In Reply To ..]no subject follows the and.
The ignorance or disinterest in punctuation is no new occurence. My supervisor riddled her work with comma splices because "that's what the doctor said." And she did that for 30 years.
Have you seen the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves? - L&L
[ In Reply To ..]I'm 62, and it doesn't get much more old school than that.
One of my supervisors told me to PUT the comma in for a 35-year-old, white male but NOT for a 35-year-old male.
I was also taught that if you have a string of whatever (diagnoses, meds, etc.), you should use a semicolon if there is no "and" and only use commas if there is an "and."
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