nephropathy (neh FROP ah thee): Disease of the kidneys, a general term that does not specify a disorder.
adjustment disorder: Disorder that tends to manifest during periods of stressful life changes, moving to a different home or city, divorce, etc. Symptoms can occur when one has a hard time coping and the reaction is stronger than what would be expected of the event.
neuropathy (noo RAH puh thee): Disease or malfunction of the nerves, typically causing numbness and weakness.
This week, May 18th-May 24th, is the celebration of MT (Medical Transcriptionist) week. Well….. it’s not like it’s July 4th or Christmas or something where there’s a lot of fanfare or millions of people around the world are celebrating. In fact, we’re just a minority group of people who sit behind a computer with headphones, a foot pedal and hands on the keyboard all used simultaneously in listening and interpreting what a physician dictates on 
his/her device – though making a profound difference in establishing, completing and perfecting every patient medical record documentation – whether for a hospital location or a rural clinic.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation making this week National Medical Transcriptionist Week. The proclamation was established to ensure accurate and concise permanent medical records and the importance of quality patient care. (Here’s the link to President Reagan’s official proclamation): http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38668
Here are just a few things I feel would not exist if it weren’t for us MTs:
From the days of word perfect, MS DOS to the current Microsoft Word to speech recognition applications and on and on, medical transcriptionists ARE still in existence! We ALL still add value to each and every person that enters a healthcare facility because we make the difference as it pertains to patient quality care and their permanent health record by ensuring a precise medical record documentation.
We still correct the clinicians when they’ve dictated all night long after seeing so many patients and they can’t distinguish if the patient is a he or she, a black or white female, or mistakenly given a wrong medication – for instance – potassium 20 mEq when they’ve dictated 20 mg!! Yes, WE do all that as medical transcriptionists because we have skills and the knowledge in anatomy and physiology, medical terms and have that pristine “listening ear” to accurately record patient’s medical record……whereas machines definitely get it wrong! We ‘listen” for the correct words/terms when the background noise of babies crying, clinicians chewing gum or whether playing their music is louder than the physician dictating.
So………from me to ALL my fellow MTs out there – though you know there will be no fireworks, no barbecues, no bells or whistles-type celebration for us, I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Medical Transcriptionist Week – KNOW THAT WE DO MATTER!
Here to wish ALL mother’s a Happy Mother’s Day! Whether you’re a mom yourself or not, we obviously ALL have had a mother and no matter what the nature of that relationship with your mom, she deserves to be honored, loved and thought of!
As of this Mother’s Day in 2014, I know I am blessed beyond measure to still have my precious mom, Mrs. Mary Hughes, still alive and doing well at 92 years of age. Although I am unable to spend time with her this year, it’s still even just an honor and a joy to hear her ever so young-sounding voice on that phone and to still have her wits about her.
I especially want to send shout outs to all those that have lost their mother and especially the mother’s that have lost a child. I hear all the time from mother’s who have lost a child that there is no other pain equal to that of losing a child, but this Mother’s Day, take those thoughts and remember all the beautiful things about that child (whether a child or an adult) that put a smile on your face. They may not be here in the physical, but you are STILL, and always will be their mother.
A mother’s work is never done – whether a newborn or whether an adult, a mother is always thinking, wondering, worrying and praying for their child. No matter if you’re the mother of one child or the mother of 19 or more, there’s nothing like the love of a mother whose taken the time to groom, teach, heal, feed, laugh, cry and discipline their ‘youngins’ as I like to say.
So this Mother’s Day, spend some time, call and speak or find some way to honor your mother – she spent many hours bringing you into this world giving you life – keeping you alive and nurturing you – at least love on her while she’s here!
80-90% of the time when I solely transcribed ER reports in the past and a doctor dictates “patient with right lower quadrant abdominal pain”, etc., I pretty much knew (in my mind) that the patient had an appendicitis. Sure enough, when the doctor came to the end of the report and with a description of the diagnosis, he (or she) would dictate: “DIAGNOSIS: Appendicitis.” This is the joy I still get from transcribing all types of reports now – putting my medical terminology knowledge, A&P knowledge together and figuring out what a particular patient may have before the doctor gives a final diagnoses.
Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix. The appendix is a small pouch attached to the cecum, the beginning of the large intestine. It is commonly found in children and young adults, but obviously is not discriminatory to anyone of any age, gender, race, culture, etc.
The pain is predominantly on the right lower part of the abdomen, but some may suffer pain in different areas: some on the left side, some on or underneath the belly button, but normally there are other symptoms that may occur. Fever, chills, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, constipation and/or diarrhea, pain when coughing or sneezing and pain in the abdomen while riding over bumps are many other symptoms that can occur with appendicitis.
The cause of appendicitis is not fully understood and could be from various reasons such as the appendix may become blocked by stool or foreign body, or obstruction causing bacteria to invade the appendix, causing it to fill with pus and swell. Bacteria invading your body is NOT cool and can cause a whole host of other problems.
Appendicitis is not to be taken likely as it can rupture and can cause potential life-threatening infections if not treated. Never let that type of pain go on for days! Medical professionals suggest that if you’re having especially severe abdominal pain and/or fever, nausea, vomiting and the symptoms continue to occur and/or worsen, please seek medical attention immediately.
Defining words for the week –
subcutaneous: (sub- meaning under); (cutaneous – meaning skin). Underneath the skin.
necrosis: (necr/o – meaning dead, death); (-osis – meaning abnormal condition). Abnormal condition of death.
liposuction (LYE-poh-suk-shun): Technique for removing adipose (fat present in cells) tissue with a suction pump device.
carcinoma (car-sih-NO-muh): cancer of epithelial tissue of the skin or lining of internal organs.
I know……I’ve been ‘MIA’ for quite a while. Busy trying to figure out where I ‘fit’ in life right 
now. There’s been a love/hate relationship going on with the life of being a medical transcriptionist – and is affecting a LOT of us across the board…..including myself. I have two remote transcription jobs – have had these two for over 2 years; one as an independent contractor status and one as an employee status and barely can pay the bills. Oh, did I mention that one of the 2 jobs I have has gone to EMR/point and click – whatever new technological term you wanna call it? Yep, that means working as an independent contractor medical transcriptionist and the above scenario happens, there is no more work to be transcribed for that company. BAM! It’s gone with no warning. Over the past 7-8 years, this is the third time I’ve been transcribing for a company where they have lost an account for one reason or another. We may be left with the option to transcribe clinic notes – which, on a good day you may make minimum wage or up. WOW!! What a difference over the last approximately 10 years or so from making $25/hour downwards to making a bit over minimum wage!!
Don’t get me wrong. The overall United States patient medical record policy/standards do need an overhaul and I do feel we need to get away from the antiquated paper charting of patients medical records. The US population is ever increasing, so privacy policies and technological advances do need to be put in place, but in my opinion, it’s costing more money by having software that now technicians are finding out are not compatible or do not work in these facilities, than keeping transcriptionists who get the job done the first time around!
Many people say to me (as well as to other remote transcriptionists) “oh, it must be nice being able to work from home. I envy you.” But yet earlier this week, I went on a job interview to work outside of the home and while interviewing with the 3-panel interviewers, they stated that they are “concerned because I’ve been working at home so long – will I be able to handle working in-house”? REALLY? This same question was asked to another fellow transcriptionist in an interview at a totally different facility. Folks – we are not people who’ve been incarcerated! We’re not in a bubble! We do not live in primitive times just because we work at home! If anything, we should be considered very, VERY reliable candidates to be working for your company because we ARE at home producing quality patient medical record reports with very little supervision, but we DO have supervision. We DO have someone we have to answer to. Some of us DO clock in and out like a standard 8-5 job as an employee status. We DO communicate with the outside world!
Another trend I’m seeing, in particular with IC medical transcriptionists is that a lot of these companies are requiring you to have a business license. Yep, I said it – a business license (which is not cheap) to work in your own little space in your own home, but yet they will offer slave pay – and act as though you’re getting a great deal!
I LOVE what I do. To me, it’s a never-ending learning arena – with new diseases, new drugs, deciphering the medical terms, etc, but I HATE what it has become. Both IC and employee status transcription companies try and lure you in, but once you’ve started working with them, either there’s suddenly ‘no more work’ or the work load is low (that was just a ploy to get you in and clean up their backlog!) Other companies saturate you with work but want to pay you slave labor pay or have so many unnecessary rules for account specifics that it ultimately reduces your productivity to where it’s nearly impossible to make a decent living by being paid on production.
At 55 years of age, I find it very insulting, very degrading and downright mean that myself and ALL my fellow transcriptionists who’ve worked so hard over the many years, learned a valuable skill that not any Joe blow can walk off the street and go in and accomplish, can offer quality patient care when it comes to the patient’s medical record and for us to be tossed out like dirty trash is unacceptable. Every time I have a doctors visit somewhere and they ask what I do, even THEY say themselves, “I commend you for what you do in your job because I couldn’t do it.” Now THAT right there really is saying something!
I’ve never been a quitter and am not about to give up now. There are some out here that are trying to fight this battle to help regain the respect we deserve and set some type of standards for our quiet, unspoken-word ‘world’ of medical transcription, so I say thank you to those trailblazing for the many transcriptionists still out there! Though I may have some things going on personally in trying to figure out what’s next in my life at this point, I will continue to work and I will continue blogging – not as often as I would like – but I will continue to share with you words and other things I’ve shared here to help someone empower their health because you guys are what keep me going!
Here’s another topic that, for years I’ve always questioned as it relates to health. Again, over the number of years of transcribing medically, this has always baffled me.
You state you’re a Jehovah’s Witness but yet you refuse blood transfusions. You profess you’re a Jehovah’s Witness, but you have a history of alcoholism? So, the refusal of blood in your system is more harmful than the constant intake of alcohol?? Sounds to me to be quite hypocritical and you’re playing Russian roulette with your life! Here again (in MY opinion) is where we go wrong and remain in denial with our health. This also applies to emergency situations too – how is it when blood is all you need to survive and you refuse it? How is it that you’re really not a ‘practicing’ or devout Jehovah’s Witness but you participate in all sorts of other things in your life, but adamantly refuse blood?
Once again, we’re putting the professional medical staff in a real predicament and are giving them permission to make decisions on your behalf to somehow maintain some type of quality of life for you.
Heavy, long-term use of alcohol can really damage your body in many ways. it causes liver problems, pancreatic problems, cirrhosis, esophageal cancer and other cancers and a host of other diseases which, if these problems are left untreated over time, it can cause anemia (marked deficiency in red blood cells and hemoglobin).
Don’t know the statistics of people bringing about an early demise for themselves on this particular religious belief as it relates to health, but I’m sure it’s enormous.
Obviously I have more questions than answers on this one – but I do invite a constructive, intelligent conversation on this subject!
tachypnea (tack IP nee ah) – Fast breathing.
epistaxis (ep ih STAK sis) – Nosebleed.
rhinorrhea (rye noh REE ah) – Nose discharge.
arrhythmia (ah RHITH mee ah) – Abnormal variation from the normal heartbeat rhythm. (Also called dysrhythmia)
gastrectomy (gass TRECK tuh mee) – Surgical removal of all or part of the stomach.
Final week in black history:
Matthew Walker, Sr. was a real trailblazer in establishing Matthew Center Comprehensive Health Center – the first qualified health center in the state of Tennessee. The center was also the first accreditation by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Hospitals in 1984.
President Barack Hussein Obama as we all know made history by becoming the first African American President of the United States. Along with many other firsts for him, He is also the first President to pass a universal health insurance – the Affordable Healthcare Act. Whether you’re for it or against, it was officially signed into law in 2010.
Bessie Blount Griffin – Her work as a physical therapist during World War II inspired her to patent a device that allows amputees to feed themselves. The American Veterans Administration did not accept her invention, so she eventually donated her rights to the device to the French who were interested in the device. She later become a forensic scientist after furthering her career in law enforcement in 1969. She moved up quickly in the ranks and was sent to train and work at the Scotland Yard in England where she again was the first African American there. Later, being turned down to work for the FBI, she operated her own business as a forensic scientist consultant where she operated the business until 83 years of age.
Mental illness…….I never thought I’d touch on this subject but it seems as though I can’t escape it.
There’s an increasing amount of people suffering from mental illness – whether it’s bipolar, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress or some other type of mental illness that people are suffering from. Health-wise, it is very apparent that the mental health department is 
very broken in this country…..federal, state and local mental health departments are under-funded, under-staffed and just do not have the resources to try and help those suffering. Everyone keeps ‘passing the buck’ and continues to sit with the elephant in the room in not talking about it, not trying to find a solution – so when that happens, many suffering from mental illness are either unnecessarily incarcerated, alone or homeless.
I know of a few parents who are trying to deal with this problem on their own and it is NOT working. These parents are slowly creating a quick and early demise for themselves as they have nowhere to turn and are adding undo stress into their lives. Yet, these parents are torn because that IS their loved one, and they think they can help.
I definitely have no easy answers, especially since I’m not a medical professional. All I know is that some of these many federal, state and local agencies – especially in the African American community – need to join forces with the mental health system and help! Stop having so many high-dollar fundraising ‘dinners’ and unnecessary meetings and wasting tax-payer dollars and put those dollars into the mental health department where there are more available group homes or some where for these individuals to go to. Building more prisons is not a solution, it’s creating more of a problem. Again, those dollars meant to build prisons should be at least considered to go towards helping and creating solutions for our broken mental health system. Those suffering shouldn’t have to feel alone. They do not need to continue to be a danger to themselves as well as others. They too deserve the help they so desperately need even, if it means having 24/7 medical staff (when needed) where they can eventually learn to lead a better, more normal life!
You Empower Your Health! 