Electrodesiccation: An electric current is used to destroy cancerous lesions/tissues and also to seal off blood vessels.
This procedure is used to minimize spider veins and to remove basal cell carcinomas.
Medical Transcription Word of the Week
July 28th, 2010Learning Medical Transcription
July 22nd, 2010A common frustruation with students learning medical transcription is the sometimes conflicting information received. Students learn from their assigned books, the Internet, and other resources. Sometimes this information can be different but yet still correct.
Quite often there can be more than one right answer but usually just one preferred way. At Med Workshops we teach using various materials but also geared towards making sure the students are learning the preferred way for internship and the employers we will be placing them with.
Bottom line–flexibility is key!
Transcription Tips
July 19th, 2010However. Just a quickie lesson on the punctuation that goes along with this word.
The word itself is never alone. It either has a semicolon or comma. If it is the first word in a sentence, there will be a comma after it. If in the middle of a sentence then either with a semicolon or comma before and then a comma afterwards.
Transcription Formatting
July 13th, 2010How do I know when to use italics?
Most often when working as a medical transcriptionist, the only time you would italicize anything would be if it was a bacteria such as Chlamydia or Enteroccocus.
Only use italics for the singular form of the word, not for the plural form.
Medical Transcription Terms
July 13th, 2010Schatzki Ring. This is a narrowing of the lower part of the esophagus. It can cause difficulty swallowing. This narrowing condition is caused by a ring of mucosal tissue or muscular tissue.
This is named after the German-American physician, Richard Schatzke.
Transcription Word of the Week
July 8th, 2010Sjögren syndrome. Pronounced shor’gren. This has been a stumper for both newbie and seasoned medical transcriptionists to verify spelling on.
This is an autoimmune disorder in which immune cells attack and destroy the exocrine glands that produce saliva and tears.
It was named after Henrik Sjögren (1899-1986), a Swedish opthalmologist who first described it.
It is estimated to touch as many as 4 million people in the United States, which makes it the second most common autoimmune rheumatic disease.
Medical Transcription Wages
July 7th, 2010How much will I make being a Medical Transcriptionist? This is a question that is repeated many times over daily. Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer.
There are a few different reasons why it is hard to pinpoint an exact amount you will earn. You can be paid by the line, which is usually how it works when you work at home. You can also be paid hourly, and that generally is how it is when you work “in-house” meaning in a medical clinic or hospital.
When you are paid by the line that will not be an exact amount due to MANY different variables. You will have different line counts for each day; you may have a provider you do not normally type and are not used to their way of dictating or they have an accent or they are a specialist and you are unfamiliar with their specialty and spend a lot of time looking words up to make sure you are spelling them correctly; and there will be days that for whatever reason your fingers just do not want to hit the right keys!
All in all, you can make a nice living as a medical transcriptionist.
Medical Transcription Terms
July 1st, 2010Disc or disk?
Disc refers to the eye. The optic disc is where ganglion cell axons exit the eye to form the optic nerve.
Disk pertains to the back. Intervertebral disks lie in the spine adjacent to the vertebrae. Each disk forms a joint to allow for slight movement of the vertebrae.
Transcription Formatting
June 29th, 2010A lot of newbie medical transcriptionists have problems deciding where to insert certain items in the chart note.
Usually the provider dictates the note specifically as he/she wants it typed out. However, there are the occasional providers who bounce around or don’t say exactly where to type things.
One confusing aspect for the newbie is history of present illness (or HPI) and review of systems (or ROS). The HPI is where things are listed that pertain only to what the chief complaint is. The ROS would be anything that pertains to the actual systems of the body such as fever, chills, nausea, etc.
These two headings can seem one and the same to the unexperienced MT but indeed they are not.
Transcription Definition
June 28th, 2010Isn’t Latin, the core of the English language, supposed to make it easier to understand words? Maybe not.
Scler or sclero. This prefix means either hardness or the sclera of the eye. Two totally different meanings. Yet another item in the long list of medical words that make you wonder who really is responsible for our confusion!