Transcription Musings - 5 - Two-Word Phrases (and more)
TRANSCRIPTION MUSINGS #5 Two-Word Phrases (and more) 10/29/02 I apologize for the delay in writing this column. In a college instructor's life, there are two times a semester that life outside school comes to a screeching halt--midterms and finals. The process of administering midterms involves much more than actual administration of a test. In addition, there is time spent preparing tests to adequately reflect material covered, time spent grading midterms, and then finally, probably the most time-consuming part, one-on-one counseling of students who have been less than successful for the first half of the semester. That intense process has preempted my goal of providing you with additional ideas for working smarter, not harder. Before I begin with further ideas, allow me to encourage those who have responded via email (or in person, if you're a personal friend), to post on the forum itself. We can each learn from others, and some of you have had some terrific comments you've shared via email, but other MTs can also benefit from those ideas. We all benefit from shared ideas and questions, as none of us has the perfect system for doing everything. Please take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to learn from and share with others on the IT forum. Some transcription websites now charge for this same opportunity; take advantage of the one we have (at no cost). In the last column, I gave you ideas for using IT to shorten common words, including a method for remembering verbs quickly with just the addition of an extra letter. At the same time, I confessed I used IT like a cook without a microwave--that IT will compile common short and long forms from reports already transcribed, eliminating the need for remembering long lists of macros. If you’re a new IT user, the quickest way to success is allowing IT to do the work for you. Phrases can range from a long form of two words to an entire paragraph. It has been documented that an MT can increase productivity by 30% with text expansion for words, but increase 70% with phrases!!! Our efforts should then be directed toward adding many phrases to our glossary, thus, saving keystrokes, increasing pay, and decreasing the risk of careless errors. The key is to create short forms for any word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph that is transcribed repetitively. To get started here, I built on the most common "x" abbreviations--those used throughout the medical field. I then added possibilities by the addition of an extra letter before or after the common abbreviation. My “building block” abbreviations were:
To explain, ebx then becomes excisional biopsy, bxp becomes biopsy-proven, lbx becomes liver biopsy, pex becomes physical examination, pmhx becomes past medical history, nrx becomes new prescription, rxr prescription refill, etc. I have many macros built on these foundational abbreviations and continue to add new ones as they occur in my dictation. To further expand the use of phrases, I utilize another system for remembering two-word macros. I use the initial letter of the first word and the initial two letters of the second word. For example, cte is calf tenderness, pdi is Parkinson disease, afl is atrial flutters, aby is accompanied by, aga is anion gap, etc. There are hundreds of two-word phrases encountered every day in medical transcription that could be shortened by using this combination of letters. Some conflicts will be encountered using this system, such as bso for bowel sounds as well as breath sounds. Instant Text eliminates the necessity of remembering each one, because one can look at the advisory and select either entry 1 or entry 2 for the correct form. If an MT remembers easily, then he/she could remember that bso1 is breath sounds and bso2 bowel sounds, or establish a convention that the differing letter (“r” in breath sounds) can be inserted to distinguish between the two; hence, bso becomes bowel sounds and brso becomes breath sounds. There is less chance of conflict with longer phrases. Because of that, I simply create a short form just like IT does for you--the initial letter of every word in the phrase. For even longer phrases, I eliminate the initial letter for short words in the phrase. An example is the phrase, "Thank you for the opportunity of consulting on this patient". My short form is tyoc, and the long form is the complete sentence. Saving keystrokes reaches exponential proportions when increased numbers of phrases are expanded and phrases used contain as many words as possible. In the next column, I will discuss a concept called "nesting", a process of building on a macro already in one's glossary, creating the potential for lengthy phrases by adding just a few keystrokes. As some of you have indicated in emails, you are methodically either adding glossary entries or using short forms compiled from reports you've transcribed. It's exciting to see the rewards of using IT, and I hope you're using the IT upgrade to check out your productivity stats as well. If you have questions, please feel free to email me or, better, post comments and questions on the forum. Sharon B. Allred, CMT
|