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

Melenic versus Melanotic - Di

Posted: Sep 15, 2013

I recently typed a consult letter for a gastroenterologist. This was the impression:

Impression: Nausea and vomiting with questionable tarry stools, possibly melena.

He sent the consult back to me to make corrections. These corrections were handwritten on the original consult.

Impression: Nausea and vomiting with melanotic stool.

Now....I know I'm not nuts and I know I'm not stupid, and I KNOW that melena pertains to blood in the stool and melanotic pertains to pigmentation. This doc clearly wrote "melanotic". Do I need to show him a medical dictionary????

We know that melanotic is incorrect, but I'm just - wondering exactly how the

[ In Reply To ..]
impression was originally dictated. Also, I would send a note back to him politely explaining why you transcribed "melenic." Hopefully, he'll appreciate knowing about his error so he doesn't make it again. However, sometimes a person's ego just can't handle the fact that someone (especially someone whom they regard as subordinate) has corrected him. Let's hope it's the former.

A case could be made for "melenotic," but never melanotic. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]

The issue was raised with Dr. John Dirckx, physician and linguist, who writes for the JAAMT, on whether melenotic was a legitimate term since it is not found in two of the most widely used medical dictionaries.

He said:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Melenotic 'refering to melena' is no more irregular in formation than amniotic, congressional, diphtheritic, operatic, psoriatic, syphylitic, and countless other adjectives that no one dreams of questioning."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My personal preference is to use 'melenic'; however, if a doctor insists on tacking on the "otic" and expects to see it typed that way, it appears that you can legitimately offer 'melenotic'. Melanotic, however, does not refer to melena and should never be used as such.

Spoke with the doc today regarding - Di

[ In Reply To ..]
that consultation. He was insistant that the word is "melanotic" rather than "melenic". I was in the office with him and asked him to please just to a Google search of "melanotic versus melenic". The color seemed to drain from his face as he was reading!! He apologized and said that I taught him something today. He also said that all these years he thought it was "melanotic". He's a new doc who just joined the practice where I've been transcribing for 14 years. Sadly, this is my last week there. They are going live with the new EMR system and I will no longer be needed. I told this doc to file "melenic" in his long term memory because I won't be around to pick up any more errors.

Similar Messages:

May 24, 2010

I've gotten conflicting answers over this. Is it melenic or melanotic stools and is it urine nitrites or urine nitrates? ...

Jul 15, 2010

Melanotic, melenotic, and melenic stools, is there a difference? Does anybody have any documentation to back this up? Thanks ...

Apr 05, 2010

x ...

Jan 13, 2015

I think he should get 3 points off and his pay deducted this week in the amount of $219.00. ...

Mar 13, 2012

Two words that come up often for questioning. These are strictly used in an orthopedic setting. Stedman's and Dorland's list end point and hand grip HOWEVER the office transcription manager, girl is asking for me to correct this to endpoint and handgrip. She is only basing this on what an old medical transcription company she used to work for had her typing. I would rather base it on the medical reference. The doctors are not even aware this has come up. She is ...

Nov 04, 2009

Im new in this game and appreciate help with a silly question. When a doctor dictates the word versus should we type vs. ...

Dec 08, 2009

Hi, Can someone tell me which is correct? 'suspected of driving under the influence' or 'suspected for driving under the influence'. I think it is 'of', but not sure why this is so. Thanks. ...

Dec 10, 2009

What is the difference between an IC position and a p.r.n. position? ...

Jan 27, 2010

Whey typing for plastics is it okay to use ccs for the size of saline implants or is the preferred way mL....thanks. ...

Feb 20, 2010

I am not familiar with VR and have never used it, but I understand that there is a difference between voice recognition (VR) and speech recognition (SR). I am told the difference is that with VR the program has to be trained because it goes by voice only, sort of like us getting used to different dictators when we start a new account. SR is supposedly different in that it goes by speech alone, meaning I guess, just the actual words dictated and is not affected by voice differences. Does ...

Jun 08, 2010

Hi, I have a dictator going over the patient's hypertension. At the end of the section he says (BMP/BNP) was unremarkable. I have no values, so I don't know if it was a single test or multiple. If he's talkign about hypertension, I would think that BNP would be feasible, but it really sounds more like BMP. Any help is great! ...

Aug 15, 2010

Present ventilator settings: Assist-control mode, FiO2 35%, tidal volume 400, PEEP 5, s/l sat or set rate of 12. ...

Oct 21, 2010

which one to use...... He called the prescription into the pharmacy. or He called the prescription in to the pharmacy. Thanks!!!! ...

Nov 01, 2010

If you were offered 9 cents for straight transcription and 7 cents for ASR, which would you prefer to do...editing at 7 cpl or transcription at 9 cpl or both? If you had to do both, but at given rates, would that be satisfactory? ...

Jan 07, 2011

Is 780 mL of urine correct. Or is 780 ml of urine. TIA ...

Jan 28, 2011

I've been marked wrong on QA because I typed "5 out of 5" (as dictated) instead of transcribing it as 5/5 (which I would have typed if the doc had said "5 over 5"). What is your opinion on this? Any proof one way or the other in BOS? I haven't been able to find it ... ...

Dec 20, 2011

I have a question for you coders out there. I decided I want to make a career change from MT to coding. My question is, is it realistic to expect to pass the CCS exam after completing Andrews or other online schools? I looked into AHIMA's courses they recommend on their website and they only train you to take the CCA exam (Career Step and Kaplan). I want to be a CCS and not waste my money training for CCA. I don't see job listings for C ...

Jan 30, 2012

When transcribing range of motion is it zero to 125 degrees or 0 to 125 degrees? ...

Feb 11, 2012

I have read the rules on when to use an and a and it seems to me that it should be "a MRI" and not "an MRI". Is this correct? I was marked wrong on Medquist (Momodal) for typing a MRI. Help Michelle ...

May 01, 2012

I keep "hearing" everyone talking about QC and QC scores. What is the difference between the two? ...

Aug 12, 2012

When physician clear dictates "emergency deparment" why does ASR continue to put "emergency room?" I suspect it is because ED has fewer characters than ER, hence, less pay, and this is easily overlooked if one is not focused. I see it so much that I have an expansion to change "room" to "department." Anyone have any other ideas why this is? ...

Mar 08, 2013

Hi there, Is anyone here able to tell me where I can find a reference in BOS 3 about using lowercase c in A1c? I cannot find it anywhere! Thanks so much! ...

Apr 27, 2013

I am pretty sure I was told to type am and pm as AM OR PM, not a.m., p.m. this is on accounts. Anyone know for sure??? ...

Feb 25, 2014

Ok, so I have been an MT for over 14 years. I have an opportunity in QA. Trying to find out what the QA pay rate normally runs and if its better than being an MT. Any info would be greatly appreciated. ...

Mar 14, 2014

I know when in doubt defer to what the physician prefers. But suddenly we have one doctor replacing "an" with "a," and is just doesn't sound right. I was always taught to us a when followed by a consonant and an when followed by a vowel. Apparently this is incorrect, the rule is a when followed by word that "sound" like a consonant and an when followed by words that "sound" like a vowel. See the rule below: Citibank is a MNC Bank Citibank is an MNC Bank The correct ...

Dec 22, 2014

Was our old pay 0.0825 for straight and 0.0425 for VR? I'm trying to do the comparison. Thank you. ...

Nov 12, 2009

I was just wondering if anybody is getting transcription anymore. Throughout this whole entire pay period I have gotten nothing but VR, which makes it extremely difficult to make decent money unless you spend 24 hours a day online. I am wondering if they are going VR with almost every dictator in order to screw us out of more pay. This company really knows how to screw with you. ...

Aug 14, 2010

after a week straight of NJA...as well as the last 2 months or so of sporadically getting that dreaded message (!)...I had had it. Had sent numerous messages with very brief and cryptic responses as well as often not even getting work flow updates, which were commonplace with other CCMs.... spoke to new CCM who was 'aghast' that ASR was not in my pool. She felt that was the sole reason I was getting no work (???) Anyway, now getting work.....ALL ASR...better than nothing ...

Aug 22, 2010

"He was tried/trialed on amiodarone drip." This is a heavy ESL dictator. I think I've heard both terms "trialed" and "tried" used, but now I'm wondering which one is correct. Or are both correct? Any ideas? ...

Oct 01, 2010

A very interesting post over in the VR forum which is proof IMO why we are going so broke doing ASR, and isn't even taking into account how horrible MQ DocQSpeech software is. Yesterday I had a 10-minute ASR report and I ended up typing at least 50% of it. Several times I thought of doing F11 on that report. Unfortunately, using F11 part way through a report while saving the text you have done so far on note pad, and then pasting it back in rather than starting all over, however, can ...