Q: Having had lots of experience in writing, I become nervous when I review the preferred formats page on the Med Workshops site and in the first line, see this: “SUBJECTIVE: The patient is a 35-year-old female who complain of a cough for one week.”
Clearly, the word should be complains. Also, “one week” should be “1 week” per the MT Workbook. What should I do when dictation is grammatically incorrect?
A: Good catch. We change the medical transcription samples often. The doctor may dictate “complain” instead of “complains”. We use real-life sample reports. During your training you must transcribe verbatim. The “one week” is correct in this instance. I know I know! There can be two or more correct ways and this is the preferred way—- that’s life in Medical Transcription. We can’t change it. If you went through our program and didn’t experience these inconsistencies, we wouldn’t be introducing you to the real world; the work world. As the mother of Medical Transcription, Vera Pyle said, “there are often several acceptable ways to transcribe the same report”.