How to crack a blank faster?

In medical transcription, a blank is a part of an audio, which an MT is not able to make out due to some of the following problems:

1.         Bad audio.

2.         Difficult English or medical word, which you are not aware of.

3.         Poor concentration.

4.         No specific reason.

If you follow a systematic approach to crack a blank, in a few days, you will find it very easy to find a blank and wonder why I had spent so much time previously.

Now, suppose you are listening to a file and you thing you are not able to make it out.

1.         Listen to that part 2-3 times.  Most of the time, you will get it.

2.         If you do not get it, put an underscore there with audio timing.  E.g.  ____1:23_____.  Go ahead, most probably you will find the same word again in the file and this time you will get it.

3.         Even if after listening to the whole file you do not get it, come to that audio part of the blank.  See in the old file of the same patient whether it is a standard phrase.

4.         If it is not, copy some part before as well as after the blank and Google it with an asterik (*) in place of the blank or just the preceding or exceeding part with an asterik in place of the blank.  E.g. Coronary * disease, * catheter,

5.         If you still do not get it, the phrase between quotes and Google it.  E.g. “Coronary * disease”

6.         If you still do not get it, decrease the audio speed and listen to the audio again.

7.         Save and close the file for some time and listen to it again.  Lots of time you get the blank by this method.

8.         If you do not get it at all after trying so much, take help of your colleague who does the client regularly or who you thing has the listening ability to crack a blank.

The way we have provided here to crack a blank is just a guideline, and we do not claim it is the best way because everybody has his/her own way to find a word.  This is just a general idea.

Proper hardware maintenance

If you observe, a lot of time is consumed of a medical transcriptionist by system problems. This results in decrease in productivity and hence efficiency. So maintaining your system in a good condition certainly saves the time and can earn you extra money.

• 1. As far as possible, use authentic softwares for your computer system including your operating system and softwares needed for medical transcription. You will find it a little bit costlier at start but you will get the returns within one year because of the performance, support, and updates the authentic softwares give.
• 2. Always use the best quality hardware for your computer system. Please do not settle for cheaper ones. It will cost you more in long run. Your computer RAM, hard disk, CPU speed affect the speed of your computer and hence your line count.
• 3. Use good quality keyboard for smooth and hassle free typing. Poor quality keyboard can cause harm to your hands including carpal tunnel syndrome and can make you handicapped for whole of your life. TVS Gold is a good quality keyboard we recommend.
• 4. Always use a good quality headphone such as Phillips, which will cover external parts of your ear and you will get minimum noise disturbance.
• 5. Delete your temporary files everyday.
• 6. Delete all unnecessary data from your hard disk.
• 7. Do not save unnecessary data onto your desktop.
• 8. Install a good quality antivirus and antispyware.
• 9. Uninstall all unnecessary programs from your computer.
• 10. Keep you computer system and its surroundings clean and neat.
• 11. Get your computer system checked by a professional hardware engineer periodically.
• 12. Make sure your PC has a proper power backup such as an UPS or an inverter, so that power failure will not damage your PC.

History of Medical Transcription

Healthcare documentation existed at early age in ancient cave writings. The medium of writing changed from metal plates to clay tablets, temple walls, paper, and now to electronic files.

Until the 20th century, physicians had to play roles of both providers of medical care and scribes.  When standardization of medical data became critical to research, medical stenographers replaced physicians as scribes who used to take their dictations in shorthand.  With the advent of dictation equipment, physicians and scribe need not work face-to-face and the career of medical transcription was born.

Now in the 21st century, lots of hospitals, transcription companies, and some medical transcriptionists use speech recognition technology to transcribe the files.  In the coming future, speech recognition will be very common and everybody will be using it but still the need of medical transcriptionists will be there because a machine can never give you 100% accuracy in medical transcription.