TRANSCRIPTION TIPS AND HELPFUL HINTS

[Lori786]

Happened to come across this rather useful website for medical transcriptionists. I've glanced through some of the pages in there and it looks quite useful. Basically, there are sample reports of different specialties/work types that medical transcriptionists come across. Those who find operative reports particularly difficult may find this site useful. Here's the link.

Home ?(Medical Transcription Samples)?

[Dblhappiness]

Originally Posted by Momtoangel

uhhhh...who says you have to have a masters degree in grammar and punctuation to do MT? i have a diploma in MT, did very well on the course but the school i went to is not accredited, therefore i wasnt able to find a job, but u dont need a masters degree of any sorts, just the drive and determination to learn and study and do your best to graduate...HTH

I think she was just being facetious.

[Sadie1Lady1]

I read this whole thread and realized that I have lots of tips to add.

To en dash or to double dash? Some companies want the en dash while others want the double dash. The easy way to take care of that is this: Format, AutoFormat, Options and then on the AutoFormat tab you tic the box "Hyphens (--) with (–)"

Now for it to work as you type, you also need to go to the AutoFormat As You Type tab also and tic the same box.

Boxes tic'd means en dash (–), boxes not tic'd means double dash (--). Also when you do en dashes this way, they don't change, as you're typing, from double dash to en dash until after you type the next word and then hit the space bar, then it changes.

To single space or double space after the period? Some companies want 2 and some want 1. To ensure you do it right. Go into Tools, Options, hit the Spelling & Grammar tab, then click on Settings and there under Require is "Spaces required between sentences:", your choices are 1, 2 or don't check. The only reason I mention this is because it took me forever to figure out and find out where this was. I knew it was in there somewhere, but it took me a while to find it.

I found an autotext program that is awesome. And I know you can do a lot of this in the AutoCorrect of Word, however this program goes beyond the capabilities of just substitution. The program is Phrase Express and you can get it at Autotext - Clipboard Utility - Snippets Organizer. It is free for personal use. If you use it a lot, like I do, you will get a pop up box asking you to buy it for commercial use. If you ignore the box, you can still type and it won't pop up again, as long as you leave it open. If you plan on sticking with using it, I would recommend purchasing it, as I will be doing. I would also recommend turning off automatic updates until you purchase it.

I find this program so invaluable. I have, probably, over 300 phrases set up in it. One of the nice things is the ability to set up phrases on the fly. You type it, highlight it, hit ALT+CTRL+C and the new phrase box pops up. You just click on what keys or characters you want, whether you want it as rich formatted text or plain text and hit enter. Then every time you hit those keys or characters your phrase will automatically pop up.

For example, I type for QT and since they're all voicemail messages, there are a lot of predictable phrases. Like "call me later" or "how are you?" or "give me a call when you get a chance". For all these phrases and a lot more, I set up the first letter of each word as the trigger: cml = call me later, hru = How are you?, and gmacwygac = give me a call when you get a chance. You just type your trigger letters and when you hit the space your phrase appears.

Another very handy feature is the ability to configure macros (sort of). A good example is timestamps for Express Scribe. Another poster said she's configured "CTRL+T, CTRL+V, CTRL+X" to post and format the time. That is 3 different steps/keystrokes. With Phrase Express, I have set it up so I just type SHFT+CTRL+V and it pastes the timecode formatted to how I need it. In this case it's 00:00:00 format. One of the things Express Scribe won't do is put the extra 0 in the front, so you either have to put it in manually or configure it with a program.

You can turn PE off & on at will by holding CTRL & clicking the PE icon in the task bar.

You can also view all your phrases by clicking on the PE icon and then clicking on Settings. You can view, modify, add or delete any phrase from here.

Another trick I use for Express Scribe is for when I'm using the F-keys to play/stop, etc. I've cut little square stickers in half and colored them. Green goes on the F9 to play, red goes on the F10 to stop and I'm going to put a sticker on the dash button too because I keep hitting the 0 or = instead of the -. These are visual "at a glance" aids which have helped me immensely.

I use Word 2002 on a laptop with Windows XP. Hope this will help someone.

[RashmiP]

Very useful tips. We as transcript must learn and use them properly. Thanks.

[BarbaraDT]

Nice information - thank you!

[tampaprincess]

I love PhraseExpress. I make different folders for different jobs and their clients, and that allows me to enable or disable phrases that I don't want to use at that time. It's great for speakers and time stamps. You can also use it to make em dashes only for the clients that want it. I've even used the macros on it to create mouse clicks at certain coordinates on my screen that allow me to use my foot pedal for Quicktate. I program all kinds of keystrokes and not just phrases. They also have MT phrases available for download.

[lisarulzzfox]

Hello everyone !
You can visit the following URL to get help and some tips related to transcription.

Transcription Vendors Blogging Zone |

[studyguides123]

Thanks for tips.

[Lori786]

This link is especially useful for medical transcriptionists,

Google Custom Search - Medical Transcription Word Seeker

It is a customized version of Google that searches just medical and MT websites.

[Jennie01]

Nice posts. Transcription industry is changing rapidly with new software. The tips are really helpful while transcribing.