Hello again! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and some much-deserved time off. Tonight I had the chance to go on SpouseBuzz, their live radio show. It was really cool. When they asked me for a final comment, I couldn't help but think of how awesome TRS/TRSi is as a military spouse community. In a time when it's not so popular to be associated with the military, it's so nice to log on to the computer and know there is a whole community there waiting to be there for you. The hosts of SpouseBuzz responded saying that that was a common theme on their website/radio show as well. It's nice to know that other people out there know what you're going through.

Work was good today. It was really hard to get out of bed at 430 this morning. I took yesterday off for our anniversary. I started on some OB/GYN reports which are always interesting. One of the most difficult doctors on my account is an OB/GYN and I had a bunch of his reports today. From the samples on TRS's T-Drive, it was way easier to get through them. There is actually a compiled list of most of the docs' samples that you can look at to try to get an idea of what they are saying. It's awesome. You can also pull up previous reports from any patient's record. Once you get that HIPAA agreement signed and you're an employee, it gets much easier in regard to this type of thing. It also helps me a lot with the formatting issues I had while I was a student.

Have a wonderful night and New Year. Tomorrow Jack starts "daycare" at his friend's house. I think he's really going to enjoy having someone to play with for a few hours while I work. I'm sure the 2 kids (Hailey is 22 months) will only teach each other wonderful, kind, developmentally-sound things. (YEAH RIGHT!) Good luck to Hailey's mom, and thanks for helping out.

Today was a really good day. At the beginning of my shift, Liz gives me a list of reports to type for the day. For right now, I have to load them all manually into the platform since they are still dead files. There is nothing cooler than finishing up a whole big list of reports! I got my QA review back today from that doctor I was complaining about the other day. I got a 99.1% on it! I totally wasn't expecting that! Just goes to show that if you work really hard, you can do a good job on even the most difficult dictations.

On a more personal note, I like my hours a lot. I always wanted to be a mom/wife that got up really early and had the house going before anyone else woke up. I like getting up early. It gives me a chance to get in a few hours of quiet before the day starts for everyone else. It also allows me to be done for the day by 2 p.m. That's right around the time of Jack's second nap (That's right, you heard me right, he takes 2 naps still!) so when I'm done working he goes down and I can get my chores done. When I'm done with the transition period, I'll go to 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift. That will certainly be more challenging. I have a hard time staying up until 10 p.m. and that was before I started waking up this early! It'll work out.

This is the sunrise off of our lanai this morning.

It's been a while since I had a doctor that made me almost curse at the computer. Today I had one again, and it brought back awful memories! It wasn't that he was so hard to understand. He talked really fast, then he'd stop, take a drink, look at his pager, and then start talking really fast again. I need to get used to my fast forward pedal; I'm not sure I've ever used it before today. I guess that's something you have to take advantage of when you're working on production. No one pays you for listening to dead air. It was so frustrating. Sometimes he'd go so slowly that I hit the "speed" button 4-5 times just to deal with him.

Other than that guy today, work has been going really well. I had a call with HR today, Jennifer was really nice. We talked about benefits and timesheets and some other important stuff. With Tim being in the military, we never had to even think about health care costs, pros and cons, etc. I actually don't really know anything about that stuff! Jennifer was very helpful, just like everyone else I have encountered so far.

Working 8 hours is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Jack only gets restless in the last 2 hours or so. My sister is here visiting us before Christmas and she is following him around all the time and they both love it! Once the holidays are over, he will go to his friend's house for a few hours in the morning for daycare. It's really more so he can play with his friend's while my face is stuck in the computer. That and, he's been home with me for 1-1/2 years with undivided attention. It's time for him to get out and get some social skills! This is us being silly preparing for the cold Connecticut weather.

Well I've been working for 3 full days now. It's so cool! Everyone at TRS is so nice, just welcomed me right into their community. They have a Yahoo group too, like our AHDI chapter. The tech guys are awesome, they've already helped me a few times. I really like working so early in the morning. It's nice to have a quiet house and it's nice to be done by the early afternoon. The platform I've been using is pretty easy to get around. The settings are a bit different than they will be when I'm officially working but I think it's pretty comparable. Overall it's been a really good experience and totally worth all the hard work in the internship. The people at TRSi knew what they were doing when they designed that program. What a great transition to work.

This is Jack making Christmas cookies! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy new year.

Well, the catch phrase for my blog is to watch me go from being a student to the real world of transcription. Today I officially entered the real world! After I got some technical issues worked out with my headset, I was able to logon to the platform and hear my first dictations. The work I'm doing right now is more like QA than anything. The reports are already typed and they have mistakes in them that I have to find and fix. It's really cool.

In my orientation with Liz (the program coordinator) she said that these exercises would be a good tool to get me used to the doctors and some of the terms and phrases they use. The 2 doctors that I had today were completely familiar. I had them for weeks in the internship and the reports I got done today were pretty easy! Gosh, the first day of the internship was WAY harder than this. This is what the internship was designed for. After all those months of crying and being ready to give up (any of you feel the same ever?!?) it's all paying off! Now I am in the real world and I'm getting paid for what I do, and I already DID all the hard work.

I'm sure that Liz picked very easy dictations for my first day, but now I know I can do it. Jack was pretty good...it's been a few weeks in between the internship and now working for me so he has to get used to it all again. My working hours are 5am-2pm Hawaii time so I can get in a good few hours before he even gets up.

The tech support guys were awesome and such a great help getting everything set up. Liz is great, she has such patience already. I'm so happy to finally be here and I feel so confident that I'll be a really good MT some day!

HI! It's been so long! We just got back from San Diego on Tuesday night. The fires were all around us, there was ash in the air and it was really hard to breathe. We had a really good time, though. We stayed with some friends that have little boys and they all played nicely. And, of course, it was great to see Tim. Jack was HORRIBLE on the plane. I was THAT lady with the screaming kid (sorry to all of you that have had to put up with that!). But once we got to the airport and I saw that look on Tim's face it made it worth the trip.

Today I got back to work and it was a WONDERFUL day! I really tried hard to fill in those blanks and I worked a lot slower than I usually do. I got in 7 full hours of work! And it wasn't that bad! I have been worried that an 8 (or 12) hour shift was going to be too much for me to handle. Today I think I can do it! It was a really good day, I woke up at 5:30, had my coffee and shower before Jack got up and got to work by 7:30. I only worked until 3 and then I still had a few hours in the afternoon to clean up. I wish everyday could be like today. I even had a few really difficult reports today and that didn't even get me down!

I must say, this week has certainly been a goof off week for me! I did get some reports in today. I'm still working on getting used to that account that I have been working on. I'm really having trouble with an OB/GYN doc with a Spanish accent. I think his accent gets thicker as the report goes on! I thought that I would really like OB reports, but I don't! The terminology is weird! Like a cul-de-sac at the end of the uterus and a friable cervix...it just is not plain English. But, I will get used to him like I have ALMOST gotten used to the doctors with Indian accents on this account. Once I have a report to compare to, it makes it a lot easier.

We found out today that Tim is going to be in San Diego until October 25th, so Jack and I are going to fly out to meet him for a few days. I could use a vacation! We have some good friends that live there that we'll stay with. I'm wondering if a few days off will make me rusty when I get back or if I'll be nice and refreshed and I'll finally know how to use hyphens properly! Tomorrow we're going to see the Blue Angels out here at Kaneohe Marine Corp base. I'm really excited, Jack has shown a new interest in air planes. He'll either love it or it will scare the beans out of him, not really sure yet!

I have had the opportunity to say a little bit about the TRSi chapter to the incoming classes. It's really cool to see them so eager to get started. I remember that first day. I bet some of you QA people reading this feel that way when you hear me complaining about different accents! Someday this will all be second nature and I can look back at this blog and laugh at what I cry baby I was. Until then--I guess I'll just keep crying!! It was a good week overall, I hope everyone else's week was good as well.

My goodness is it really Thursday again?! I totally forgot to write in here yesterday!

Now I am working on a specific account so I'm paying special attention to names, format, procedures, etc. I think the doctors as a whole are pretty easy to understand. I'm getting used to them anyway. Today was the third full day I've been working on this account. When you have other reports to compare, it makes our job sooooo much easier!

I really like how there is a mixture of different specialties. When I first heard the word "account" I wasn't really sure what to expect. An account, from what I understand, is the specific facility. So, as we work on our acute care experience it will usually be a hospital I think. I am working on a hospital now, I have the website for the hospital and it's really cool to know that these dictations were just done a few days ago and that it's a real person talking! Somehow seeing a picture of the hospital made it really real for me.

More sympathetic too. Sometimes when I hear the doctors burping in my ear I get really mad. Today I was thinking about their job. They work all day in a crazy hospital and then at the end of their long day, they have to pick up a phone or machine and tell it what they did to every patient. That has to be pretty annoying. So--while I still don't really enjoy being burped at, I guess it's acceptable that they're yawning in my ear. (How forgiving of me!!)

I did not work at all yesterday. I figure I should take time off and dilly dally while I still can when I want to. We went to a friend's house to watch the game (I can't stand the Cowboys) and bake Halloween cookies for Tim on the ship instead. Today I rested in bed and read a book for 2 hours while Jack napped. Sometimes that gets lost in my day--being able to just relax. I get so caught up in my lines per hour and my QA score that I forget that it's okay to take a rest. Not today though, I took advantage of that today!

I did actually work a bit. I had some new dictations again, I'm done with the ortho ones that Breena put in there for me. I got a 99.2% QA score and I nearly jumped out of my socks (okay, I haven't worn socks in 4 years, but you get it) when I saw that. Finally, Finally, I know that it IS possible to get a good score!! That was higher than my transcription tests in the course too. I was so so happy to see that my work is paying off.

Most of the doctors that I heard today have already crossed my path. There were a few oncology reports in there, and I think that my online research library is built up enough that I can get most of the terms I need. I ordered the Oncology Word Book but it got sold out from Amazon.com before they got it out to me. I will have to get it eventually but it's nice that I know where to find things now. I think oncology is the hardest specialty by far. It's like they're speaking a different language and it's all so different from anything else you hear everyday that it's really hard to guess what they are saying. But it's getting better. In the past, the first day of new doctors has left me in tears. Not today! It was a good day, and it keeps getting better.

Hello, I know it's Saturday (and no, I'm not working) but I exchanged a series of emails with another student that I thought would be good to put up here. She asked me some really good questions, maybe ones that other people might have as well.

Now it is your turn to tell me how the internship is going. What's the thing that surprised you the most? The least? And what is the one thing you wished you'd done differently during the academic/transcription part of the course that would have prepared you better for the internship?

Briget: The internship is getting better by the day. It's hard. It's hard not to get discouraged and it's really hard to click on the next report on the platform for fear of what you will hear. The SUMs were cleaned up very nicely for us. The doctors burp, talk to other people, eat, even pee while they are talking to us, which I think is very disrespectful and condescending. I'm having an issue with that!

I wish that during the SUM transcriptions I had done more research and relied less on the word key that came with the SUM keys. I hardly ever opened a book the whole time. Now I am paying for that, as it's hard for me to balance between doing enough research to find a blank, and doing TOO much research.

I think that seems to be the theme, finding a balance. It seems either my production is awesome and my quality stinks OR my quality is awesome but my production stinks. I'm working on that now. Also surprising was how easy everything is to get around in the platform. Just some simple clicks and you can get around in it. The expander issue is now worked out so you wont' have to worry about it. Hang in there, don't get discouraged.

Those SBs (Skill Builders) will be a challenge but they are the best resource I have found so far. There are a lot of cardiology reports in the internship. Don't memorize the books word-for-word, rather, use them as a reference would be my advice.

Today was a good day to end a good week and it feels really good to say that!! I got a review back this morning that was a full 2 points higher than last week! I'm almost there! I'm at about 100 lines per hour now also so I'm moving along. Today is one month since I started the internship. Maybe before I started I thought I would be doing better by now, but once I saw what I was into, I never thought I'd get to a 98%.

I have 601 minutes as of this morning.

Thursday is always a good day for me because I know that I have ER to look forward to. No matter how the day goes, I know that Jack will be sleeping, the house will be picked up and I will be able to plop on the couch and watch my favorite show.

I got a new batch of dictations today. Breena gave me a bunch of ortho reports. This is new, I haven't had any at all yet. There were two different docs with a bunch of dictations each and they were both very easy to understand. I remember a lot from my A&P class, it was my favorite class ever. I could visualize a lot of what they were talking about and that made it easier for me to "hear" what they were saying. I always thought I was much more of a listening learner than a visual learner, but maybe I have been way!! In a classroom setting, you're hearing the lecture but you're also seeing something most of the time- a book in front of you, a black or white board, a hand out- so maybe when I thought I was learning from listening, I was actually learning from seeing.

The doctors were very nice to me today, I only had to leave a few blanks, and ER comes on in 1 hour and 40 minutes. It's a good day!

Something funny happened today while I was typing. A doctor sneezed into his machine, and I said, "God bless you" out loud! I had to laugh. Anyway- today was a good day. I got some good, meaty cardiology reports to do. I really like cardiology, the cardiac catheterizations, the echocardiograms- I'll take 'em! Also, I had a few neurology reports, neurology is my favorite subject but the reports are hard sometimes! Since a lot of the terminology is Latin or Greek based, it's hard sometimes to "sound out" what they are saying. In order to look words up I have to be able to sound them out. That poses a bit of a problem for me. But, luckily, I have Scientific American Mind magazine next to my bed right now and an old Stephen Pinker book, so I am familiar with some of it.

I think I'm getting better at some of those blanks. I'm getting better at knowing where to look for things. My favorite Stedman's word book by far is the Orth/Rehab one. That one has a little bit of everything in it, and I think it's a good place to start a lot of searches. Also, the Skill Builder books are really helpful. There are full reports in there and being able to read them puts into perspective what the doctor is rambling about in his dictation.

The other day when I had a lot of colonoscopies to type, I wrote an outline down on paper. On each line I wrote the part of the anatomy, and then a down arrow to the next portion of the intestine that the scope would get to. That made it a lot easier for me to hear what they were saying, because I knew what piece they were talking about in the body and what part they would get to next. Now, I can't do that with a brain or a heart, but it's a start!

Jack learned to jump from the coffee table to the couch today. Let the fun begin!

I only typed one report today! It got crazy really early and I wound up catching up on some housework. It was a nice day off, although, a little more hectic than it usually is with my structured "work" schedule. Wow, that's pretty weird. I haven't had a job since I was a mom, and I never thought I would say things were calmer when I was working!

House is coming on and I'm pretty tired so there will be more tomorrow! Oh, and I'm out of books. Someone, please leave me a suggestion!

One of the first reports I opened today was from a doc that I had in the first batch of dictations. When I heard his voice, I was really happy! He was dictating a colonoscopy and I pretty much remembered what he was saying or where to look to find what I needed. The funny thing is that after I did one of his, the next dictation came up and it was him again...and then again. After the 3rd one, I thought "maybe I should make this a quick normal," but I didn't. Dictation #4 comes up, and it's the guy again. By this point, it's funny to me and I'm SURE that he won't come up again. He did. Instead of just making it a quick normal (you can do this in the report, make it an expander that only stays for the duration of that one report) and saving myself some time, I typed the same thing over and over and over. Moral of the story-- suck it up and make those expanders!!

I had a pretty easy time today. There were blanks certainly, but overall I think it was a good day. Debbie from the QA team wrote a comment to one of my posts in here and in turn I found her blog as well. (Hi Debbie) She had a post in there about how ridiculous it is to leave something in a report that is pure nonsense. She is totally right! I have been doing that. If I find something that might make sense, I have been putting it in there just so I don't have to leave an ugly blank, and it's costing me QA points. Today I vowed to stop that (Sorry, Breena for all those extra blanks!)

My speed is getting better. Now it's time to focus on my accuracy and spend more time filling in those blanks and learning to be a better listener. One step at a time.

p.s.

We did go to the beach and we had a wonderful time. We ate breakfast and chased some birds, two of Jack's favorite things.

This week seems to be ending on a good note! I had a pretty easy time transcribing today, I got a bunch of reports done, even one that was over 12 minutes long. I was so scared to start that one, I allotted a whole bunch of time and it only took a little over an hour to finish.

I remember when I took my first transcription exam in the course I agonized over it for hours. It was before anyone knew that you could get in and out of the exams as many times as you needed to. I just left it up on my screen and stared at it! I don't have any point to this at all, just remembering! haha. I guess every single one of these 75+ reports that I have gotten done so far in the internship are all their own transcription exam. They are all eligible for a QA score.

I'm looking forward to the weekend; again listening to football instead of doctors. I plan on catching up on cleaning that I have been putting off, maybe if I do that more people will come to look at my house! I also should really go to the beach. We used to go every other day and now, since I started the course, I am pasty white and my hair is getting dark. I need to catch up before we get to cold Connecticut. Jack hasn't eaten sand in a while, it'll be good for him! I'll post a picture on Monday. We should start enjoying it while we're still here. There is nothing like spending a good day on the beach for me. Maybe that will clear my head a bit and I can get back to business on Monday. Have a great weekend.

p.s. Since I usually write in my blog right before dinner, I thought this picture was appropriate; it's Jack helping me cook.

I got the updated version of the platform today so I spent a lot of time working on my expanders. I was able to get a few reports in. I had one by a Spanish doc that was over 6 minutes long and I think I did fairly well on it, considering he did have a pretty thick accent. I had to leave a lot of blanks at first but after I listened to it once and realized what he was talking about, I was able to go back and listen to it again and fill in some of those blanks.

My QA score went up 3/4 of a point from last week, I'm getting there!

I guess I don't have much to say today, we skipped out for the afternoon and went to the pool! (Don't tell anyone!) Maybe at this point if I'm not going to bed totally frustrated, it's a good day. In that case, today was a pretty good day! Since I made that post here and in the forum about the chemo drugs, I have not gotten an oncology report. Would this be a good time to mention some reference to 2-D Echocardiograms?!?

When I mentioned to Cheryl today that I was having trouble with the oncology dictations, and specifically the chemotherapy drugs, she mentioned a pretty awesome reference. I checked it out, and it was exactly what I needed yesterday! Of course today I didn't get a single oncology report! The same reference, the Quick Look Drug Reference had some other useful things, some normal lab values (which I used several times today) and a list of recent medications. I'm really glad Cheryl pointed me in that direction. TRS certainly knows how to hire some awesome instructors!

My progress was about average today, I got 11 reports done. I think cardiology seems to be my favorite specialty. Even when I don't know exactly what they are saying, I'm having an easier time findings words or phrases that I need. The Skill Builder Cardiology book really helps, they have sample reports in there for almost everything. I typed a report today about a woman with diabetic ulcers using a hyperbaric chamber for therapy; that was pretty cool.

I got a few 5-minute reports done today. When I was working on the SUMs, I didn't like the long reports, but now I sort of do like them. It takes a long time getting all of the heading set up so it seems like it saves time when I can just type one long one. When I look at my line counts in the mornings, it's always cool to see lots of lines on there! I had a little bit of trouble getting a new version of the platform installed. I apologized to Todd ahead of time for being such a cavewoman when it comes to computers! Once that is installed, I think the expanders will work correctly and that will be a big help. Bye 'till tomorrow!

p.s. Not that this has anything to do with medical transcription-- but Jack came running up to me at my desk today and said, "Mama, ball!" and pointed to the kitchen. He threw his ball up onto the counter and wanted me to get it for him. That was the first time he said 2 words in a row that meant something!

Today was a plain old bad day.

A little trick I learned from a few of the instructors is that if you turn down the volume, it eliminates some static on some of the dictations. Of course, a problem this poses is that I can't hear when everyone is home; even when Jack is being really good he's still talking and singing so it makes it really hard to hear. Sometimes I have to abandon a report and work on it again during nap time and move on to the next report. Today, I had to move on to 3-4 different ones before I could hear anything. It was one report after another, a 2-D echocardiogram, a wound-care report, that lady from the first batch that I couldn't' understand. It felt like the odds were all against me. I had one of those days that the experienced MTs remember so fondly=)

But, I guess I wouldn't really know a good day unless I had days like today to compare it to. Like Scarlett O'Hara said "Afterall, tomorrow is another day."

My day today was a bit like grocery shopping with a toddler. I had a neat little list of things that needed to be done, but was unable to at all follow it! Tim left yesterday for his underway until Thanksgiving. I have been saying all along that our house was going to sell as soon as he left because then I'd have to move with the baby and the dog by myself. Low and behold, the realtor called at noon asking to show the house in the afternoon. I scrambled to get the report done that I was in the middle of. I fed Jack some lunch, did another report. When we're at the grocery store, he thinks it's really funny to throw things that he can reach out of the cart so I have to stop and pick it up. Today he followed me around the house and took his toys out that I had just put away. I was in a good enough mood to laugh at him-- and myself!

So anyway, I'm back. I took a long weekend and it was back to oncology today. I got a report from Breena with some really good news. I have hit my 300 minutes! I'm not sure what that means really but it's a lot of time! I have over 3800 lines transcribed! I don't even care about the requirements of the internship, I'm just really proud that I have gotten that much done! I used my method again today that I tried out on Wednesday. I timed each report and I limited myself to only a bit of research. This has really really helped. I try to generally keep each report to 15 minutes and I get a lot more done that way. Also, the notes I have been taking for myself are starting to work, I can go back and reference things in my own handwriting. I think my brain finds things faster when they are in my own writing.

It's good to be back. I'm going to try not to work too much, although it is tempting since Tim isn't around. Today flew past and I even had time to go to the playground. I'm getting the balancing act down.