How about this situation. A couple weeks ago, an office called and hired me. They were desperate and needed someone right away. I agreed and they gave me 2 days' worth of work to start off with. The problem? This was a new specialty for me which they knew, and I got no time for training. Oh, and their printer didn't work. I got a full week behind even with working nights, early mornings, weekends, and until my fingers were having muscle spasms, I was in tears and my back was screaming for mercy. I apologized but explained that realistically I would need some time to get used to the docs, procedures, terms, etc. They just didn't seem to understand this and became annoyed with me. By the end of the second week I was totally caught up, but my dad fell ill at the same time. I called and explained, and we agreed that they would just find someone else. I just didn't need that level of stress in my life. I wish I could get these kind of folks to understand that we work so much harder when we want to, rather than because we're afraid not to. Anyway, I know I'm having a pity party here but you guys all seem so nice and understanding. I really tried my best to please these people but they don't seem to get that even an experienced MT needs SOME time to adjust and train, especially when they know you're on your own and doing a new specialty. BTW, one of their docs was the worst I've ever typed for! He holds his recorder up so close to his mouth that it sounds like a two-year-old giving a speech through a New York subway loudspeaker, only sped up! Okay, I'm better now. :-) Back to my other 2 jobs which are nice and fun and a vacation in comparison!
-Ada

[This message has been edited by Ada (edited 25 June 1999).]

Hello to all of you here on this site. This is an awesome site. I am studying to be a MT through ICS learning systems. I'm finding it a bit mind boggling though. We have five children and I'm holding a part time job at Taco Bell. I'm having a hard time finding the time I would want to study my books. I am about halfway through my course, but I feel like I don't know very much. It's a little discouraging when I think maybe I won't make a good MT. Is there anyone that I could correspond with about these matters? Please e-mail me, for I'm not real familiar with how this site works. I get lost sometimes. My e-mail is chasg@top.monad.net thanks, Linda

Hehehehe. Oh, I love this place! Pet Peeves! Gotta love em!

1. The doctor who eats candy, chips, or whatever while they are dictating, crunching and munching all the while, swallowing loudly, but speaking softly because his mouth is so FULL!

2. The doctor who is tired/sleepy and yawns through the whole thing, but continues to speak while yawning and expects you to interpret the yawned words too.

3. The doctor who belches, hiccups, and worse while dictating and never once bothers to say "excuse me".

4. The doctors who tap their pencil on the machine while they ruffle through the chart or repeat a phrase over and over because they mistakenly believe that, if there is no noise, the dictation machine will shut down or you will think the report is at an end.

5. Doctors who "make up" their own medical terms.

6. Doctors who speak very fast or very softly, or both, apparently worrying that someone else will hear them??

7. Doctors who dictate from mobile phones or car phones. There is nothing like the noise of traffic jams in the background, or the noise of the golf course, the grocery store, the newborn nursery, even, yes, parties... Yes, Virginia, there are doctors who do this.

8. Doctors who expect you to pay THEIR bill when it is due, but who do not want to pay YOUR bill when it is due (without countless reminders or threats to call a lawyer or a collection agency).

9. Doctors who make mistakes in their dictation blame you for their mistakes.

10. Yes, there really are doctors also who never, never read their dictation once it is typed before they sign it. I knew a doctor who actually signed an op note which stated that the patient was "prepped and raped on the operating table". hehehehe

11. Doctors who never let you know you are making a mistake. We had a doctor once who sent us a letter regarding the term "Scarpa's fascia" (which was not in our books at the time). He made fun of the many different ways that the transcriptionists had spelled it and how stupid we all were. Our supervisor sent him back a very polite letter stating that, had he bothered to correct us the first time he had seen it misspelled, we would have written it in all our reference books and spelled it correctly from then on; therefore, which was more stupid? She was very offended at this letter. You know, that guy never complained again?

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SgrmtnHoneybee

Oooo, ooooo, ask me! I could write a novel. I love those doctors who are the first to get their panties in a wad when something isn't right, but like to make up words when they aren't sure what to say. For instance, I had an ENT doc dictate that the patient was seizurating in his office. What the heck is that?

And it makes nuts to transcribe for the ones who are SOOOOO busy, they have to eat their lunch and take a poo while dictating (I have even heard a neurologist straining on the toilet before!).

I am also totally on board with the resident/PA complaint. I think they are so new, they don't want to leave anything out and they hardly ever do! Whenever I pull up an extremely long dictation, I can almost always bet it's a resident before I even look at the dictator name. They go on and on and on and on......

I love these pet peeves. I have the same peeves. Once one of my teachers at trans. school jokingly said if a doctor spelled a word while dictating it was our signal to stop and look it up. You all know the doctor's spellings are usually wrong.

I've had docs dictate on airplanes with that roaring in the background, at tennis matches, in traffic with the convertible top down and radio on, in the hospital cafeteria, the bathroom...I love it though when they leave the recorder on unintentionally in their pocket and I hear the whole office visits and conversations with other doctors.

On name spellings, it seems all my docs have been taught just to spell last names - as is, the patient's name is "Zonquavia Jones, that's J-O-N-E-S."

The lady I had my externship with said to me over a decade ago that all doctors should have to go through transcription school to learn how to dictate. So true!

my neighbor thinks i am a doctor. she is a hypochondriac and she bounces every ailment off me. i tell her, i type words, i don't diagnose. one day she showed me blue veins on her arms. asked to see mine, see you have them too. yah, we all have them. yah but yours aren't as dark as mine. she was worried she had a blood disorder. i said check with your doctor. every day she asked me. i googled it. something about a lot of oxygen in your blood. told her that. she seemed satisfied. she came back two days later. i know you told me blue veins mean a lot of oxygen in the blood, but what about blue-green veins. omg

she had a rash. what do u think it is. i said, it looks like leprosy. you better call doc right away. lol

oh how bout people, when they find out u work at home. they say, i could do that. i worked at dunkin donuts and i was really quick on the keypad...really? yah this job is that easy.

After reading everything that you girls came up with that I can so relate to, I have to add one more.

What about the dictator who says throughout his report, "Now go back up to the past medical history and add. . ." "Now back down to the physical exam. . ." Go back to where I said "The patient was drowsy and add. . ." "Now back down to wherever I left off. . ." "If I didn't already say. . . then add. . ." and on and on ad naseum.

Okay I am new to this site, and I had posted my favorite peeve, but don't see it so here goes. . .

The doc who says "Please go back up to the history of present illness and where I said the patient had sniffles, change to the patient had a cold." "Now back down to the review of systems, if I said this, then insert that. . ." Now go back to the social history and delete that whole section and put this." And of course best for last. . . (drumroll please), Oh sorry, delete this dictation, I had the wrong patient!!!!!

I get that all the time! I tell people, come on over and try it out, those that do, usually run out of the house screaming!