Culbro, LLC., a U.S. based, family controlled private equity firm, announced today its investment in OSi LLC, a mid-sized medical transcription service organization ("MTSO"), headquartered in Jupiter, Florida. During its six year history, OSi has grown to become one of the top ten MTSOs in the US with 2007 sales of approximately $18 million. OSi clients include a number of prestigious acute care hospitals and clinics, including, among others, the Mayo Clinic, IASIS Healthcare, Ochsner Health System and the Mount Kisco Medical Group.
OSi was founded in 2001 by Andy Renfroe, Rowland Milam, Teresa Shadrix, and Peggy Doyle, all of whom are veterans of the medical transcription industry. The founders will continue in their present executive roles with Culbro representatives joining in a board capacity.
"As we got to know the OSi team," said Edgar Cullman, Sr., managing member of Culbro, "we saw the tremendous value they bring to their customers and we became enthusiastic to provide the capital and strategic advice to help them grow. We are also delighted to be working with a management team that brings integrity to everything they do."
Culbro, LLC is presently managed by members of three generations of the Cullman family and its partners have over 100 years of combined experience. Culbro provides advice and growth capital to its partner companies and invests in both the US and India. Culbro has previously invested in Goodlife Integrated Fitness Solutions, an India-based healthy prepared food delivery company doing business as Calorie Care. Culbro Corporation, which was managed by the Culbro members, had interests in a range of consumer and industrial companies. See http://www.culbro.com/.
Culbro's investment in OSi will result in what the managing partners foresee as a strong future for OSi. According to Andy Renfroe, CEO and managing partner of OSi, "Although Culbro will not be involved in our daily operations, having Culbro on our team will open the doors to new opportunities that would have otherwise not been available to us. It's definitely an exciting time for OSi and our entire team."
Teresa Shadrix, COO and managing partner of OSi added, "We are thrilled about Culbro's investment in OSi. Organic growth will continue to be our primary focus, but our partnership with Culbro allows for new strategic acquisitions and tremendous growth."
Website: http://www.culbro.com/Connie Limon. Visit http://www.aboutmedicaltranscription.info to learn more about the unique and wonderful profession of Medical Transcription. Sign up for our FREE newsletters about this career choice. Visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com for a variety of FREE reprint content for your websites, newsletters or blogs.
MxSecure, Inc., the leading provider of medical transcription services and software to health care clinics, names Evelyn Abat as the company's Country Manager for Philippine Operations.
Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) July 10, 2007 -- MxSecure, Inc. the nation's leading provider of medical transcription services to health care clinics, today announced the addition of a Country Manager to its Operations team. Evelyn Abat joins MxSecure in this newly created position and will be responsible for managing the company's offshore operations in the Philippines. Ms. Abat reports to Arlene Dicks, who oversees MxSecure's US-based medical transcription workforce as Director of Operations.
"Evelyn Abat is a well-known and respected leader in the Philippine Transcription Industry," said Colin Christie, MxSecure President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are very fortunate to have someone with Evelyn's extensive experience in managing medical transcription operations joining MxSecure. Evelyn will oversee the company's Philippine operations to ensure MxSecure's commitment to accuracy, on-time delivery and quality to its clients."
Abat has post-graduate studies in Chemistry, Chemical Education and Business Management. Her experience extends from teaching as a university-level professor to management of multinational companies engaged in real estate, financial, retailing ventures and business processing activities.
About MxSECURE, INC.
MxSECURE, INC. is the nation's leading provider of medical transcription services in the healthcare clinic market - serving over 500 medical facilities nationwide in family medicine and all major specialties. The company's digital medical transcription and electronic document management system - MxTranscribe EHR™ - includes Internet-based access to files 24/7; online review and editing; single and dual electronic signature; key word search capabilities; distribution options - routing to network printers, faxing or secure e-mail; and detailed management reporting tools. MxTranscribe EHR™ is fully scalable to multiple clinic locations with no capital outlay required. MxSecure clients include individual and group practices, community health centers and multi-state clinics. The company also provides total transcription outsourcing solutions or overflow capacity to clinics. For more information see www.mxsecure.com.
source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/07/prweb537335.htm
The correct attitude for a Medical Transcriptionist should be one of independence and responsibility for his or her work. Medical Transcriptionists function with a minimum of direct supervision. The majority do have an immediate supervisor somewhere responsible for quality control. Working as a professional Medical Transcriptionist means to take pride in the accuracy and completeness of your work. A professional gains satisfaction from a job well done.
Excellent proofreading skills are critical for a Medical Transcriptionist. Proofreading is looking for mistakes of all types in a transcribed document and correcting them. The most common errors a Medical Transcriptionist will be looking for include:
Omission of important dictated words
Selecting the wrong English or medical word
Misspelling words
Typographical errors
Grammatical errors
Punctuation errors
Proofreading skills will improve with practice. You will know what your areas of weaknesses are as you proofread and find your errors. If you find that you miss few medical words, but misspell many English words, you can improve by paying particular interest in English words as you transcribe and proofread dictation.
Consider the following four-step method to help you achieve the best results from your proofreading:
1. Look words up in reference books as you encounter them. Dont wait until the end of the report. You will have forgotten how some of the words sounded. Search until you find and dont go any further in your medical transcribing until you find the words you get stumped on. Leave a blank if you exhaust all resources and still cannot find your word.
2. Briefly proofread what you transcribe as it appears on the screen of your word processor or the paper you are typing on. This will help you catch missed words and typographical errors as they occur. Print out your reports on paper if you are using a word processor. It is easier to proofread the printed report on paper than it is on the screen.
3. If you just cannot find a word, leave a blank of an appropriate length, according to how long or short the word sounds. Attach a flag (a flag is a sheet of paper clipped to the report or a sticky note placed on the report which identifies all blanks, which lines of the report they are located on, and what the dictated word sounded like to you.
4. Use a medical or English spellchecker as the final step in proofreading. Spellcheckers will not catch errors such as transcribing no instead of not or transcribing ilium instead of ileum.
Excellent proofreading skills come only after continual practice to perfect. Consider the following tips:
To avoid omitting important dictated words adjust the speed control on the transcriber unit and transcribe slowly to assure no dictated words are overlooked. Slowly increase your speed of the tape, which will increase transcription speed as you learn to keep up with the dictator.
The tape recording (if you are transcribing from a tape) does not perfectly reproduce the human voice. Sometimes the words and phrases sound garbled or something quite different from what they really are. A Medical Transcriptionist should never transcribe what he or she thinks they hear. You should transcribe only what makes sense in the context of the report. Careful word searching and careful attention to word definitions help the Medical Transcriptionist to avoid selecting the wrong English or medical word. The wrong medical word can convey a wrong diagnosis for a patient. The error can be carried in the patients permanent medical record and cause extreme havoc and chaos. The professional Medical Transcriptionist NEVER transcribes anything that does not make sense and/or cannot be verified in a reference book. In other words, dont just make up a word either just to fill in all the blanks. It is better to leave a blank.
Misspelling of medical and English words can be avoided by careful proofreading and using a spellchecker.
Typographical errors are usually the result of carelessness or attempts to type too fast rather than focusing on accuracy. Careful proofreading will eliminate typographical errors.
Grammatical errors are hard to catch while transcribing and must be identified through careful proofreading.
Punctuation errors can actually change the medical meaning of a sentence. Keep your punctuation references within easy reach.
This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.
2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved
Source: http://www.careeradviceblog.com/2007/07/24/medical-transcription-proofreading-tips/
Medical Transcription is acquiring a new skill. This new skill requires the coordination of your eyes, ears, fingers, and foot (if you use a foot pedal). If you are already an accomplished typist you start medical transcription with an advantage. You should have a copy type speed of at least 45 words per minute before attempting to transcribe medical dictation. You should expect to start out slow in the beginning of medical transcription. Do not try to type fast at first. Strive first for accuracy of medical words, grammar, punctuation, and format.
Accurately transcribing medical words, a good grasp of grammar, punctuation and format create another group of skills you must continually consider, evaluate and take time to master. Diligence and patience are key components when you first start medical transcription. It may seem a bit overwhelming at first. However, as the days pass on, your diligence will be rewarded later with added speed and accuracy.
As you transcribe each medical dictation, transcribe carefully, stop as often as necessary to word search. Word searching time is never time wasted. It strengthens and builds one of the most important skills for medical transcription.
Start slowly, take advantage of every opportunity to learn, memorize, and understand this new language of medical materials. Speed comes naturally as you acquire knowledge and experience. The fruit of all your labor will be a Medical Transcriptionist able to transcribe new reports accurately, quickly and with confidence.
There are six common categories of errors which include:
1.Omitted dictated word;
2.Wrong word;
3.Misspelled word;
4.Typographical error;
5.Grammatical error; and
6.Punctuation error.
Omitted dictated word: If you find yourself repeatedly omitting dictated words, do the following:
•Listen carefully to the dictation
•Slow your pace
•Do not increase your speed until these errors are minimized
Wrong word: If you repeatedly type the wrong word, do the following:
•Take more care in checking word definitions. The definition must match the context of the report.
Misspelled word: If you repeatedly misspell words, do the following:
•Mentally spell the corrected word several times
•Highlight the word in your dictionary
•Write the word in your personal notebook
Typographical error: If you have repeated typographical errors, do the following:
•Proofread carefully
•Allow time to elapse between the time you transcribe the report and the time you proofread it.
Grammatical error: If you have repeated grammatical errors, do the following:
•When physicians make grammatical errors in their dictation, the Medical Transcriptionist is expected to correct them.
•If your transcription contains a significant number of grammatical errors, a basic review of English is in order for the Medical Transcriptionist, and unfortunately, not the physician
Punctuation error: If you have repeated punctuation errors, do the following:
•The most serious punctuation errors are those that alter medical meaning.
•A significant number of punctuation errors require a basic review of punctuation.
This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.
© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights
Medical transcription has existed since the beginning of medical care and research. Ancient cave writings attest to the earliest forms of healthcare documentation. While the medium changed from metal plates to clay tablets, from hieroglyphs on temple walls, to papyrus, to parchment, to paper, and most recently to electronic files, the reasons for maintaining records have always been the same: to record an individual's health care and the achievements of medical science.
Until the twentieth century, physicians served both as providers of medical care and scribes for the medical community. After 1900, when standardization of medical data became critical to research, medical stenographers replaced physicians as scribes, taking their dictation in shorthand.
The advent of dictation equipment made it unnecessary for physician and scribe to work face-to-face, and the career of medical transcription was born. As physicians came to rely on the judgment and deductive reasoning of experienced medical transcriptionists to safeguard the accuracy and integrity of medical dictation, medical transcription evolved into a medical language specialty.
In the twenty-first century, some medical transcriptionists are using speech recognition technology to help them create even more documents in a shorter time. Medical transcription is one of the most sophisticated of the allied health professions, creating an important partnership between healthcare providers and those who document patient care.
Since 1978, medical transcriptionists (MTs) have been represented by a professional organization, the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), which has developed a competency profile (COMPRO®) and a model curriculum for transcription educators, as well as model job descriptions for transcriptionists and transcription-related positions. AAMT emphasizes continuing education for its members, holding an annual conference for medical transcriptionists, educators, supervisors/managers, and business owners. There are over 135 component associations of AAMT, each of which holds regular meetings and symposia.
Through the efforts of AAMT, medical transcriptionists have become recognized as healthcare professionals and experts in the medical language.
In the broadest sense, medical transcription is the act of translating from oral to written form (on paper or electronically) the record of a person's medical history, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and outcome.
The industry is moving toward electronic health records, allowing storage of an individual's health history so that it can be accessed by physicians and other healthcare providers anywhere.
Physicians and other healthcare providers employ state-of-the-art electronic technology to dictate and transmit highly technical and confidential information about their patients. These medical professionals rely on skilled medical transcriptionists to transform spoken words into comprehensive records that accurately communicate medical information. Speech recognition systems also may be used as an intermediary to translate the medical professional's dictation into rough draft. The medical transcriptionist further refines the draft into a finished document.
Keyboarding and transcription should not be confused. The primary skills necessary for performance of quality medical transcription are extensive medical knowledge and understanding, sound judgment, deductive reasoning, and the ability to detect medical inconsistencies in dictation. For example, a diagnosis inconsistent with the patient's history and symptoms may be mistakenly dictated. The medical transcriptionist questions, seeks clarification, verifies the information, and enters the correct information into the report.
Medical understanding is critical for the professional medical transcriptionist. The complex terms used in medicine are unlike the language used in any other profession.
Medical transcription requires a practical knowledge of medical language relating to anatomy, physiology, disease processes, pharmacology, laboratory medicine, and the internal organization of medical reports. A medical transcriptionist is truly a medical language specialist who must be aware of standards and requirements that apply to the health record, as well as the legal significance of medical transcripts.
Reports of patient care take many forms, including histories and physical examinations, progress reports, emergency room notes, consultations, operative reports, discharge summaries, clinic notes, referral letters, radiology reports, pathology reports, and an array of documentation spanning more than 60 medical specialties and frequently dictated by healthcare providers for whom English is a second language. Thus, the medical transcriptionist, or medical language specialist, must be well versed in the language of medicine.
While medical transcription is among the most fascinating of the allied health professions, the general public knows little about those who practice this skill. It was not until 1999 that the U.S. Department of Labor assigned a separate job classification (Standard Occupational Classification #31-9094) so that statistics could be gathered on medical transcriptionists. Prior to that, transcriptionists were misclassified as typists, word processors, medical secretaries, and dictating machine operators.
Through the efforts of AAMT, visibility and recognition for the profession have increased, and the terms medical transcriptionist and medical language specialist have gained widespread acceptance.
Medical transcriptionists work in settings that are usually far removed from the examining rooms, clinics, and hospital floors where health care is provided. Patients rarely have the opportunity to hear about those who transcribe their medical reports, and medical transcriptionists rarely meet the subjects of their work.
All healthcare providers rely to some extent on the skills of the medical transcriptionist to provide written documentation of health care. The reports produced by medical transcriptionists are the repository of information concerning medical practice. These reports function as legal documentation and fulfill requirements for insurance reimbursement. They also serve as reference for scientific research.
Medical transcriptionists use their talents in a variety of healthcare settings, including doctors' offices, public and private hospitals, teaching hospitals, medical schools, medical transcription businesses, clinics, laboratories, pathology and radiology departments, insurance companies, medical libraries, government medical facilities, rehabilitation centers, legal offices, research centers, veterinary medical facilities, and associations representing the healthcare industry.
Medical transcriptionists work with physicians and surgeons in multiple specialties. They work with pharmacists, therapists, technicians, nurses, dietitians, social workers, psychologists, and other medical personnel. All of these healthcare providers rely on information that is received, documented, and disseminated by the medical transcriptionist.
Qualified medical transcriptionists who wish to expand their professional responsibilities may become quality assurance specialists, editors, supervisors, managers, department heads, or owners of medical transcription businesses.
Experienced medical transcriptionists may become teachers, working in schools and colleges to educate future medical transcription professionals.
The CMT (certified medical transcriptionist) credential is earned through passing the certification examination administered by Prometric for AAMT. The credential is maintained through continuing education. Becoming a CMT may lead to increased pay but requires a commitment to and an investment in one's own professionalism.
Medical transcription practitioners wishing to sit for the certification examination must have at least 2 years of acute-care transcription experience.
Finally, it should be understood that all medical transcriptionists share a common trait--enthusiasm for their profession. As one medical transcriptionist puts it, "I love what I do. I work next to a registered nurse turned transcriptionist, a science teacher working part-time in the field, and a biologist. I learn new terms every day, and I am never bored. My fellow medical transcriptionists are intelligent and interesting." Medical transcriptionists work together, partnering to build their medical language skills.
Medical transcription is not the career path for everyone but it's quickly becoming an ever growing aspect of the healthcare industry and if it's a profession that interests you it, it offers a great opportunity for those that have the talent and desire to pursue it.
One of the most appealing aspects of medical transcription is that it offers multiple career options. Once trained and certified you can pursue the traditional job route and work for an established company or you can go the entrepreneurial route and set up a home office. Even the home office requirements are pretty basic which makes it a fairly simple and straightforward process to set up and get started.
Like all fields, technology is becoming an ever increasing aspect of medical transcription but an internet connection and computer remain the cornerstones of any medical transcriptionist. However, more and more, products are becoming available that will assist you in increasing your productivity and your accuracy.
For those of you relatively new to the field of medical transcription, you make still have the idea that a medical transcriptionist simply writes down or transcribes whatever a doctor has dictated onto a tape recorder. To a degree, that's still true today but digital recordings have made a big difference in the sound quality and overall poor quality, scratchy tapes are becoming less and less common.
Technology associated with medical transcription is also making it much easier for health care professionals to provide their dictated messages to you - the medical transcriptionist. No longer do you have to have the recorded message in your hand. It's now possible to receive your recordings via the telephone. You simply have to set up a recording device specifically designed for medical transcription on your home phone and then have your clients' phone in their dictations.
Once your client has dictated their message onto your phone system, you now have the option of either transcribing it directory from the recorder or it can be routed to your computer's dictation software and you can transcribe it from there. Another nice aspect of these systems is that they are flexible and easy to use for both you and your clients. For example: Many recorders come with easy to use controls that allow you to pause, stop and start, even fast forward or replay segments of the recordings using your feet and some even have voice activated controls. These are great features because they keep your hands free which allows you to transcribe and control the recordings at the same time.
Although medical transcription is an emerging career field with great potential it's also a demanding profession with tight deadlines and little or no room for error. However, with the vast array of currently available training and technology if you have what it takes, it does offer unlimited potential. It's also one of the few professions today that offers real job security because if you can handle the deadlines and produce accurate transcriptions on time, you should never have to worry about losing your job.
On the other hand, if you are simply looking for a part-time income while raising your children, by working a few hours a day, it may simply be an effort in futility because of the deadlines and the demands required from a medical transcriptionist। You'll have to be the judge of that.DAVAO CITY -- Nine medical transcription firms under this city's Transcription Alliance of Davao, Inc. (TADI) are holding a job fair here on June 16 to promote medical transcription as a career and industry.
TADI will hold the First Medical Transcription Career and Job Fair at the MTC Academy along Quirino Avenue, according to the Department of Trade and Industry regional office.
The DTI said in a report this week that medical transcription is now a promising industry in the city citing the growing number of medical transcription service organizations and training providers.
The Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda), the DTI said, has accredited more than 10 MTSOs with a total of 200 seats in Davao City.
The report quoted Wit Holganza, TADI president, as saying the conduct of the job fair is intended to provide employment opportunities for Dabawenyos.
Holganza added it will also promote medical transcription as a priority investment.
The event covers seminars on career orientation and entrepreneurship, a presentation on Davao City as Best BPO Location, testimonials, and job interview and placement.
The nine firms include MTC Academy - Davao, SSP Transcription Inc., Davao First Transcription Center Corp., Synergy Active Transcription Services Inc., Brokenshire Learning Systems Inc., Scribemasters Transcription Services, A-Plus Global Transcription Services, Kidapawan Technical Learning Center, Inc. and Transkripsyo Inc.
The report also quoted Michael Chua, CEO of Transkripsyo, as saying that their firm, considered among the big players in Manila, is planning to expand here and in Iloilo.
The report said Transkripsyo will “definitely locate here” if they recruit quality people in the city into their team.
Among the areas considered by the firm as potential locations are the proposed IT building at the NCCC Mall, Brokenshire Learning Systems, Inc., MTC Academy Davao and DAMOSA IT Park, the first Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)-registered local IT park.
Local ICT stakeholders have eyed the city as the ICT hub for Mindanao and the BIMP- East ASEAN Growth Area.ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
Two years of experience in acute care, i.e., the candidate should be exposed TO multiple reports types, many formats, and all major specialities.
TESTING PROCESS:
The test is conducted by Prometric Systems through their testing centers. Candidates should register with AAMT through their website (http://www.aamt.org/scriptconte
AAMT CMT EXAM:
The CMT exam consists of two parts, medical transcription related knowledge and transcription skills. The test runs for five and half hours. No study material of reference will be allowed during the test, and no foot pedals will be given for transcription test, but this would not pose a problem as the dictation snippets are very short. The entire processes of test as well as sample questions are available in CMT Candidate Guide, which can be downloaded from the AAMT website (http://www.aamt.org/scriptconte
RESULTS:
The result of the test will be knows as soon as the exam is finished. Candidates will be notified of the successful completion and will be sent the CMT certificate within one to two weeks.
CMT FAQs
What is the cost of the automated CMT exam?
The price is $195 for AAMT members, $275 for the nonmember.
Where is the exam given?
The exam is given at Thomson Prometric testing centers, now available in many cities in
When can I take the exam?
The exam is given on an ongoing basis. Availability of the CMT exam depends on the individual site where you wish to test.
What are the requirements to take the exam?
Two years of transcription experience in the acute care (or equivalent) setting is required to take the CMT certification examination. Acute care is defined as incorporating medical center dictation to include many dictators including multiple ESL dictators, many formats and report types, and all the major specialties, including and especially surgery dictation of all types, and some minor specialties.
How do I apply?
In the Certification area of the AAMT website you will find a link to Application for Exam. You may submit your application online or mail or fax it to AAMT. After processing your information, AAMT will send an "Authorization to Test" letter with information on how to proceed.
Note: Please read the complete CMT Candidate Guide available on AAMT website before submitting the application.
May I bring my own reference materials?
Reference materials are not allowed in the testing center, and none will be provided. Electronic aids such as spellcheckers and abbreviation expanders will not be permitted. One of the consequences of using secure testing centers is the elimination of reference materials. However, the exam has been designed so that a level 2 medical transcriptionist (as defined in AAMT’s "MT Job Descriptions") can pass using their critical thinking and problem solving skills and without using any reference materials.
Is it true that there will be no foot pedal?
True. You will play the dictation using a mouse. This should not prove to be a problem because the dictation snippets are very short (one or two sentences).
How long is the exam?
The exam is 5 hours in length. However, you should plan to spend approximately 5-1/2 hours at the testing center. This allows time for check-in, a short tutorial, a 15-minute break between the two sections of the exam, and a short survey.
When will I receive my score?
The score will be available immediately upon completion of the exam. If the exam is not passed, the candidate will receive a score report indicating areas where improvement is needed.
What if I pass only part of the exam?
You must pass the entire exam in order to become certified. If you do not pass the exam in its entirety, you will need to retake the entire exam.
How soon may I retake the exam?
If you do not pass the exam, there is a 6-month waiting period before you are eligible to take it again.
Will I be able to pass the exam based on my experience?
Two years of transcription experience are required in acute care (or equivalent). A broad range of experience will be necessary for you to pass this exam, but it is only one of the two key elements. The exam will test not only your performance ability but also your knowledge of the various content areas outlined in the CMT Candidate Guide. You should plan to study in preparation for the exam. The Candidate Guide recommends study materials, and you may also consider joining a CMT study group or taking the online CMT Prep Course.
I passed Part I of the old exam but have not taken Part II. Will I have to take the entire exam?
Yes. If you did not pass both parts of the old exam, you will need to take the entire exam in its new form in order to become a certified medical transcriptionist.
Are new self-assessment materials available for the new exam?
AAMT has developed a CMT Review Guide published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and available on Stedman’s website. An online CMT Prep Course through Oak Horizons is available here. The old self-assessment products developed by AAMT are still useful as long as you transcribe the tapes using no aids whatsoever (no references, no spellcheckers, no macro expanders, etc.). Please check the Candidate Guide for other suggested study materials. You may also wish to join a CMT study group provided by your employer, local chapter, or the online chapter of AAMT.
If I become certified by the new exam, do I still have to recertify?
Yes. Recertification requirements remain the same. When you receive your CMT certificate, you will be given your date for recertification, which will be approximately three years after the date you passed your exam.
SAMPLE MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION-RELATED KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
1. Which of the following drugs is a cardiac medication?
(A) nifedipine
(B) Flexeril
(C) lithium
(D) Proventil
2. A patient who is perspiring heavily is described by a physician
as sweating _____.
(A) perfusely
(B) purposely
(C) precipitously
(D) profusely
3. Exophthalmos a symptom of _____.
(A) exotropia
(B) hyperthyroidism
(C) Addison disease
(D) glaucoma
4. The glomerulus is part of what organ?
(A) liver
(B) gallbladder
(C) kidney
(D) pancreas
5. The primary purpose of a medical record is _____.
(A) research and statistics
(B) billing and reimbursement
(C) continuity of care
(D) risk management
6. Orchitis is inflammation of the _____.
(A) urethra
(B) testis
(C) epididymis
(D) prostate
7. What is the act of swallowing called?
(A) mastication
(B) deglutition
(C) dentition
(D) eructation
8. Which one is a symptom of COPD?
(A) indigestion
(B) coryza
(C) diarrhea
(D) dyspnea
9. Which term refers to an anatomical plane?
(A) axial
(B) rotational
(C) proximal
(D) inferolateral
Answers: 1. A 2. D 3. B 4. C 5. C 6. B 7. B 8. D 9. A
Instructions for transcribing test dictations
You will encounter dictation excerpts, or snippets, similar to those that you will be asked to transcribe on the CMT Exam.
To eliminate unnecessary errors related to variability in formatting, it is important to outline some basic “rules” when transcribing these excerpts. While a variability of formats may be acceptable on the CMT exam, again, the limitations make it necessary to designate a required format for these exercises so that you will not encounter errors of that nature when your transcription is scored.
With some exceptions, most of the excerpts you will transcribe will be a simple set of related sentences. Some, however, will have dictated headings or subheadings. Regardless, simply transcribe from start to finish keeping the following formatting in mind:
1. Utilize only one space after all punctuation.
2. Do not use tabs or indents.
3. Do not use bold, italics, or any other formatting keys.
4. Use hard returns only after headings and to break paragraphs, not at the end of a line or sentence. (In other words, allow your text to wrap as you normally would.)
5. Do not add any headings or subheadings that are not specifically dictated.
6. Do not add any initials or identifying marks at the end of any excerpt.
7. All major dictated headings should be in ALL CAPS and on a line by themselves. Text for each new section should begin flush to the left margin directly beneath its heading. (Do not double-space between a heading and the text below.)
Example #1
HISTORY
The patient is a 34-year-old female who presented to the emergency room complaining of chest pain.
Example #2
PREOPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS
Cholelithiasis.
POSTOPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS
Cholelithiasis.
Note: Remember that per the AAMT Book of Style, there are no colons after a heading that stands on a line by itself.
8. All dictated subheadings (primarily in the physical examination sections) should be transcribed in ALL CAPS followed by a colon and one space, with text following immediately on the same line.
Example:
HEART: Regular rate and rhythm.
ABDOMEN: Soft and nontender.
9. Do not number items in any section unless specifically dictated. When numbering, use an arabic numeral followed by a period and one space. Do not worry about indents, tabs, or text wrapping on these excerpts.
Example:
TITLE OF OPERATION
1. Open reduction and internal fixation, right radius and ulna.
2. Irrigation and debridement.
10. Do not use dashes or parentheses to set off information unless specifically dictated.
Keep these basic format instructions in mind as you work through these excerpts, and you should find that whatever errors you do make are related to medical content and internal style and not to basic formatting.
