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commas and QA - SM

Posted: Apr 30, 2014

Which is correct?

On 10/14/2013 the patient underwent blah, blah, blah.

On 10/14/2013, the patient underwent blah, blah, blah.

I've been marked off both ways, darned if I do and darned if I don't.

Personally I use the latter.. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

That is ridiculous that QA would even bother to mark either of those off. - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Why on earth would they think the dictator would care about something like that?!

I transcribe the latter and correct the former to include the comma when I'm doing QA - nm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

it is an introductory clause - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Comma After Introductory Clauses
Introductory clauses are dependent clauses which are found at the beginning of the sentence (although they can be moved to the end of the sentence, too, without confusing the meaning of the sentence). After a dependent introductory clause, we use a comma to separate the introductory clause from the independent clause. The dependent introductory clause may start with an adverb or conjunction like although, if, or when.

As the man was walking into the store, he came face-to-face with his childhood sweetheart.

Because the rain was torrential, the dayâ��s Little League games were postponed.

Grabbing her umbrella, Kate raced out of the house.

Now then, we should head back home because the baby needs a nap.

My opinion though I am not QA - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
I think most QA people are very sincere and knowledgeable about following the "rules." The problem is, we are transcribing medical documents, not literature. I believe our job is to produce an easily readable and accurate report. Medical documents are full of incomplete sentences and other variations that just do not fit the standard "grammar and punctuation rules" the are meant for prose, letters, literature, etc. Sometimes this means using common sense rather than strictly abiding by rules that are meant for literary works. A very wise QA once told me many years ago to think of a comma as a pause. If the dictator pauses, place a comma. If no pause, no comma. The objective is for the report to "flow" when read by someone. Pretend you are a consultant who is quickly scanning the report for information. Too many commas will slow down the "flow." This works most of the time to use the pause=comma guide, but of course there are those dictators who never pause! That's where common sense comes in.

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