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

Soo, check out what my new GP said to me today - sm

Posted: Oct 10, 2013

I meet my new doc and go through the routine "things" So do you work? Yes medical transcription.. Really you guys still exist? How is that? everything is on this Electronic Medical Record, Seriously, who do you work for? Told her said, said I'm not too worried I do hospital transcription. She said you need to find another job, you have about 2 years left and you will be replaced. The doctors are starting to have "scribes" or medical students follow them and do the records for them. Said OK Ill come work for you, because above all I am a smart ass. Said, I don't need a transcriptionist, between me and my nurse we did your file and when you leave I'll print you a summary of what we went over..So glad I have an exit plan, riding the horse till it dies and apparently it is wounded bad at this point.

She gave you good advice - Wake-up call

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She gave you good advice ... 2 years is about right. If you do not have an exit plan, you should come up with one fast. You need to be finished with retraining and in a new job before you end up unemployed and facing the added stigma of being unemployed.

EHRs allow physicians several options for documentation. They are using them, too.

Let me explain something about using medical students to document. There is a misconception here that they pay them to do this part-time. That is not the way it works. Medical students have ALWAYS provided a large part of hospital documentation. It is part of their medical training. In paper records, they hand-wrote very lengthy, formal reports of H&Ps, daily visits, and discharge summaries. In fact, a lot of what you transcribe comes/came from those reports--the dictator reads from them.

With an EHR, they do the same thing, just electronically. Most of them type just fine. The EHR allows the attending to use that documentation. The student can document in the name of the attending for his signature, or the attending can cut and paste or can read from it directly into front-end SR systems.

All these people are doing what they did before. The difference is that now they are doing it electronically using systems that do not involve sending a final, dictated report to an MT.

I hope no one thinks of me as a "traitor" to our field when I say this but ... - anon

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I have to admit, I would probably use that technology instead of standard transcription if I was a doctor. I'm an MME - if you could see some of the mind-blowing mistakes in patient reports that I see every single day, you would totally, completely understand. And in fairness, the mistakes that I see are not always completely nonsensical ones ... many times they're just "soundalikes" and I can totally see how the transcriptionist might've gotten that but the terminology/medication names/diagnoses are dangerously incorrect. And before you call out the Global employees yes it's them but many times domestic ones aren't that much more accurate.

The idea of having a trusted medical student who was there seeing the patient alongside me during the visit and types everything into the patient record right then and there reduces the chances of misunderstandings and errors that I would expect as a patient or a doctor so I can definitely see the appeal.

Drs/med students - mt

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It's too bad there are so many errors by MTs, but whatever the field, all bosses and their assistants know more and can be more accurate than their typists/secretaries but they probably don't have the time to do clerical work.

That's true ... but have you seen the screens they're "typing" on now? - anon

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The med student that we think is typing is actually clicking buttons on their screen that are a preprinted "list" of symptoms, and they're actually just clicking the appropriate boxes that apply to that patient.

For instance, a patient comes in with headaches, fever, and nausea. She's a nonsmoker, non drinker. Family history is noncontributory.

On the screen, you will see a list of symptoms, and you go down the list to find "headache", "fever" and "nausea". Then you go down to a different list of buttons for social history and click "nonsmoker" and "nondrinker" and then finally "noncontributory" for family history. It's all automated, no fuss, no muss ... just a list of options with a few extra lines for medications, allergies, etc. It would be next to impossible for anyone to make a mistake on such technology, they practically make it error-proof. Best yet for the doctor, there is no option for "blanks", aaaaand they don't have to listen to a transcriptionist's endless complaining about their accent, mumbling, speed talking, etc and they can eat and slurp to their heart's content.

I had the chance to see what was in my file - sm

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I went to a specialist for a knee sprain..an ex-transcriptionist was filling the file in, pulled up my EHR to show me how it looks. Apparently I have hypertension, depression, anxiety, and fibromyalgia. News to me, since my BP runs 110/70 and it didnt list the things I really had, other than insomnia. WTH is that? I was pissed. So thats why I changed to the new doc.

Same here ... I have a very common name - anon2

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My file was essentially a blending of mine with someone else's - part mine which was accurate, and part someone else's with the same name. Maybe the same thing happened with yours ... in any case you're allowed access to those reports and to make corrections on your medical file - you may have switched doctors but always remember that the medical mistakes that are on the previous doc's file are still following you around.

Erroneous health conditions in your file also can/will increase your insurance premiums. - nm

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nm

I have had two instances while doing reports on - Rockabilly

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people I know, the info given was incorrect; one stated the right kidney was removed when it was the left, and the other was something similar.

med students as transcribers - So what

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I have to say having med students as transcribers is just as dangerous as sending out of the country, most of them can barely speak English let alone are understanding of many medications/terms. If I was going thru med school to become a doctor, I would be upset to be used as a transcriber, it cannot be any better, I have heard medical students dictating, bad, very bad.

That's just it, they're not transcribing - they're clicking boxes - anon

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They don't have to speak a word so nobody has to decipher anything they say. They are literally going down a "check list" on a screen and checking the boxes that apply to that patient. It doesn't require clear English speaking skills, it only requires a sense of comprehension and if they don't understand "headache" "nausea" or "vomiting" then they shouldn't be in medical school.

Med students barely speaking English??? - Wondering

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I think you may be confusing medical students with something else -- possibly foreign medical residents.

A medical student is still attending a medical college full-time. They are not yet physicians, so they are not licensed to practice medicine. United States medical schools accept very few, if any, individuals from outside the US. The few ESLs are US residents whose families immigrated to the states.

Medical students might dictate reports as part of their training. It is so they can learn how to write correct medical reports. If their speech is a mess, it is no surprise because dictation is actually quite difficult and they are just learning.

drs/med students/nurses - jrb

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I am not sure where you are getting your information about doctors and students, MA's being better at spelling. I have doctors spelling things incorrectly all the time. I worked for a home health agency where the nurses had hand written notes and they always had things spelled wrong. It will be just as bad to have them spelling and typing.

What, exactly, is your definition of "medical student"? - ???

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Everyone keeps talking about hiring "medical students" to do all this transcription and chart entry. Now you are describing a "trusted medical student" seeing the patient alongside the doctcor to type everything in.

Who are these medical students who have time to do this?

Where is this idea coming from???

I don't think of you as a traitor, I think those are some - Rockabilly

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interesting points you made.

I am more fortunate than most of you - sm

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this is a second "career" for me. I have a really good retirement. I just work to keep my mind occupied. Couple more years and I can retire with no problems, at 55, so I can't complain. It is just a shame to see what is happening, this afforded people a way to stay at home, make good money, with a responsible job, AND raise their children. This just paves the way for more lock key children. But technology has its costs doesn't it?

the term is latch key - not lock key - no message

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scribes or medical students - ea

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I had the job of interviewing and testing MT applicants and whomever was hired I trained them. Two medical students applied and could not even pronounce certain medical terms correctly let alone spell them. I also had to interview and test an RN and she was just as bad. MTs will always be needed. Good MTs are worth their weight in gold. It started going downhill when we started working at home and on a production basis. It is corporate who hires the bad MTs or inexperienced ones and who demands production over quality who is to blame.

scribes or med students - ana

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For crying out loud, why are med students doing our work? Are the med students from India? I know that med students in India are MTs but over here, Seriously? I have seen med students dictate in place of a doctor visit but never the point and clicks. The EMR I worked with had point and clicks but still again it comes down to this--no time to sit in front of the PC. NPs do not have time either. I guess the only way we will be sure to have a job is if the doctors and all the other layers of medicine such as PA, NP, etc., are doublel and triple booked. My friend, a nurse, sees her patients throughout the day for home health care, and because she is not allowed to transcribe anything, sits at home most evenings charting on each patient. Yep, I think there is the good, the bad and the ugly about the whole mess. And dont even get me started Obamacare...

scribes or meds - ana

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I meant she is not allowed to dictate. Haha, caught myself in an error. 10 points off!

med students transcribing - ea

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A doctor at the hospital knew of 2 medical students who needed jobs and he felt they had enough education to do transcription, so he called me and asked me to interview and test them. They did not get the jobs neither did the RN who tested.

Sorry "ea" med transcription is a dieing field - sm

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The girl doing the chart at the orthopedic I went to used to transcribe the ER reports for the local hospital, so did I. So we talked. She now comes in before the doc and does the chart via EMR, yes point and click. You can't misspell anything because it is all point and click, meds, diseases,everything. And she helps out with other things around the office, they basically cross trained her. Her advice, find another job, and fast. And if you think of it, having someone come in when your normally sitting twiddling your thumbs waiting for the doc is a smart move, people don't think they are waiting in yet another line to be seen. There is a profound loss of work recently, it is not ALL going overseas. Docs want to save money and EMR is a mandatory change in the next 2 years according to my friend who does billing for a dentist..She knows because she is freaking out because her dentist refuses to go paperless..

Sorry "ea" - dont be sorry - ea

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I cannot imagine the amount of doctors that are on staff of a hospital using a hand held computer or sitting down with scribes and telling them what to point and click. Transcription will always be around, there will be changes and the computer and scribe would work great for doctor offices and clinics but not large hospitals and not on a wide scale basis. Back in 1999, a friend's friend, who is an MD, created and sold a computer based transcription system that was going to wipe out MTs. He warned me to get another job as doctors will be doing the work themselves. Fourteen years later I see no decline in transcription, our competition is from other countries, not from a few doctors using hand held computers or scribes. When I still worked at the hospital, some doctors were already using scribes and I could see that it was time consuming for the doctor. You cannot just point and click a hospital chart, too complicated with too many variables and too much information. It also would get doctors more involved in paperwork and that is one thing the doctors always complain about, they want no part of charts or dictation or the paperwork. Our ER doctors thought scribes/VR was great, at first, within a few months the work was sent back to the in-house MTs.

Hope your right,,I told her I do hospital stuff - sm

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That is why I wasnt really concerned..She said don't let it fool ya, cost effective to use the other. But I have 3 years to go, or maybe less depending. So really, I am not concerned for me but the youngins in the field

View of reality - Not Speculating

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If you aren't familiar with what big facilities have available, you can underestimate their potential.

At my very large medical center, we have a state of the art EHR. No, our doctors do not spend hours pointing and clicking with something like what is sold for offices.

Our system allows them to hand type, use their own templated reports which can include choices and options, or complete reports using front-end SR that is trained to each of them alone and which writes right in front of them. They train it and it trains them, so they do not have the problems you think they do. We have no in-house MTs, no "scribes," and no transcription contract.

Instead, we have a fairly large contingent of IT support staff, software developers, informaticists, and documentation improvement staff who facilitate the whole process and make it all work.

Everybody's reports get on the record right then. That has changed everyone's expectations, so that the facility staff expects to see it right then. There is no longer any saving of dictation for later, no more waiting for the MTSO to return the report, and no more blaming the transcription process for lost, late, and incorrectly identified reports. We have no concerns about breaches occurring outside our control because nothing leaves our system.

The quality is just fine, too. We focus on content, not spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting.

Wow ... just wow ... it's worse than we thought - anon

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This sounds like the "cadillac" of software. Unless it's crazy expensive, why on earth would any facility ever want to deal with our antiquated and outdated way of documentation when they can have software like that?

If we have 2 years left in this field we'll be lucky. :(

I also think we will be lucky if we have 2 years - thats probably why M2 is pushing

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us to leave. I can take a lot of things from this company, 4 cents a line, QA nitpickiness. But being charged 3 cents a line for over 5% QA just tears it. But i really believe they are in survival mode, they know they will be gone in a few years so they are really just making as much $$$ as possible while they can now. still doesn't help my bank account.

Exactly - sm

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Of course they are making as much as they can, because we are gone soon. We may have heard it years ago and it didn't come true, but I darn sure took a pay cut in those 10 years and that is never a positive sign. So what does a company do? Just like you say make as much money as possible as you explore your next move and start by selling to someone else that has other ventures. Better have an escape plan. I have never taken U/E in my life and I don't really want to start now. Now who has a job idea for me that is nowhere near the medical field or sitting at a computer because I am sick of this work.

Same here, only a long time ago - JustMe

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My doc also told me unfortunately MTs would probably become obsolete due to technology in a few years. That was in....... the year 2000.

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