Transcription Musings - 3 - Getting Started
Hello IT friends interested in increasing productivity. The focus of this column will be guidelines for building a personal glossary that is organized and easy to remember. Newbie MTs will realize the greatest benefit from these suggestions, but for MTs who already have an extensive glossary, it never hurts to "think outside the box". I have benefitted many times from the tips of other MTs; in fact, some of their suggestions for expansions were quite obvious, yet I had missed them. Considering ways other MTs increase personal productivity results in our own growth--one of the reasons we benefit from interaction with each other on this website. Let's start with a basic definition of short form and long form. A short form is what is actually keyed to produce the long form that is printed. For example, "chf" is the short form and "congestive heart failure" is the corresponding long form. When "chf" is keyed, "congestive heart failure" shows on the screen and prints. Since large numbers of MTs are paid only for what they produce, greater production results in greater pay. I do not know of any MTSO (medical transcription service owner) or transcription employer who does not pay for the words that print or are entered in the electronic medical record. In the above example, one would be paid for 24 characters, not 3 characters. It's the way we give ourselves a raise and work smarter, not harder. In addition to pay issues, significant time is saved, more can be transcribed, and keystrokes are saved, thus saving physical effort required to generate a livable income. An added personal benefit is that I get more motivated by seeing my expansions displayed on screen and realize great satisfaction by seeing how my productivity has increased by using expansions. This is one of the components of the recent IT revision and is a wonderful motivator to justify the investment of time spent in building one's personal glossary. Over the past few weeks I have been helping an MT supervisor friend whose department had a significant backlog. None of the MTs in her department were using macros at all. I immediately began adding entries to their auto correct file, which was empty when I started. As a result of my helping to alleviate a crisis, I think the MTs there realized the benefit of using shortcuts for increasing productivity. For me, transcribing without macros was like learning to type all over again; I could hardly remember how to spell even the simplest words. As I wrote in my last column, building an organized macro file takes time; however, consider it an investment that pays dividends immediately. Research has shown an MT can increase productivity by 30% just by using macros for words, which is the best place to start. If you're brand new to this whole idea, start by adding words: long words, hard-to-spell words, and difficult-to-remember words--any word that breaks the rhythm of keying. (I also teach keyboarding classes, and students soon realize how important maintaining a rhythm becomes for both speed and accuracy). In other words, any word that slows you down needs to be added to your glossary. Additionally, any word that has to be referenced needs to be added at the time you look it up. Why look up a word more than once? Each MT remembers short forms differently and uses various mnemonics for memory expansion. My brain does not work like yours, so it is important to realize that what works for one MT does not necessarily work for another. It is easier to build your own macros than to try to remember someone else's macros. The best way to add entries is to add them while transcribing. Consider my basic suggestions and start adding entries as you transcribe. It was helpful for me when I first devised my system to have my parameters written on an index card which was easily seen while I was transcribing. Here are some examples from the "A" section of my glossary. Note there are some words where I've used the first three letters of the word for the short form; in other examples, I've used the most prominent consonants for the short form. Again, it's how you best remember. Do what works for you.
I hope these tips have been helpful. I'll address some additional suggestions for word expansion in the next column and then move on to two-word combinations, phrases, headers, and limitless possibilities of text expansion. See you next time. Sharon Allred, CMT
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