Welcome to MR270!

Welcome! Please take note of my information while waiting for class to start…

Tracy M. Smith, PhD (ABD)TSmith9@kaplan.eduAIM: profmazionsmith

Course Description…

This course builds on your mastery of intermediate healthcare dictation.  You will increase your knowledge of proper formatting, grammar, and punctuation, as well as refine your proofreading and editing skills. 

You will transcribe a variety of advanced-difficulty

specialty reports by healthcare providers with and without accents. You will be expected to show realistic productivity and accuracy standards.

Late Work – very important!

Late work will not be accepted unless there are clear and compelling extenuating circumstances. Contact me immediately—prior to the assignment/exam/quiz due-date unless prevented from doing so by severe emergency circumstances!

Examples of extenuating circumstances are: serious personal and/or family illness/hospitalization, death in the family, weather-related evacuation/emergencies, work commitments, and issues related to active military assignment.

Personal computer/software/internet connectivity issues and course blocks are not considered extenuating circumstances. Granting of late-work submission due to extenuating circumstances is at the discretion of the instructor and will require documentation for verification of extenuating circumstances.

MT Client

Hopefully, everyone knows how to save their work when using in MT Client. However, if you need a refresher, please review the steps in the user manual!

I only had one person email me about an issue with logging into MT Client. Is everyone else able to get into the system and access the files?

Remember that MT Client updates every day between 2 and 3 a.m. Central Time. If you work on anything during this time, it will NOT be saved in the system!

Expectations…

You will have a set of transcriptions from MTClient due every week by Tuesday at midnight (the end of the unit). I normally do not check files until Friday morning, so there is some leeway, but do not take advantage of it constantly!

Be sure to proofread and spell check ALL of your documents before returning them to me.

RESEARCH. Use all your resources – textbooks, reference books, web sites provided in the course or from your personal use, online sites, etc.

Blanks

If you still find that you have some blank spaces, flag them by using this <________> symbol. That lets me know that you heard something, but it was not in your reference books and you do not want to guess at it. MT Client will take off points, but it is good to at least use the proper method of flagging.

Seminars

I encourage you to attend the live seminars, but if you can’t, please be sure to complete Option #2 by the end of each unit.

In Week 5, we will have our seminar as scheduled, but there will be no audio.

Discussions

Make sure to read your classmates' postings and post any comments you might have.

You must respond to a minimum of two classmates. However, responding to more than two classmates would create a more interesting discussion board.

Respectively challenge your classmates, bring new

ideas to the discussion, add a new point of view, etc. Keep the discussion moving!

E-bookE-book BOSBOS

Review pp. 3-21 in Stedman’s Advanced Medical Transcription Skill Builders

Read pp. 317-326 in the Book of Style for Medical Transcription

Unit 1 Reading!

Cardiology

Keep in mind that there are great resources right within our course! For example, for Week 1, there is a video to help you with common heart conditions. This includes visual and printed info! (This is located within the « Reading » icon.)

There is also a vocabulary section that helps you learn terminology for this week’s reports. Review that, too!

Helpful websites http://

medicaltranscriptionwordhelp.synthasite.com/cardiovascular-terms-for-mts.php

(This site is a list of common cardiology terms)

http://www.davismedical.com/category.aspx?uid=1

(This site gives info of different equipment used during cardiac procedures/surgeries)

http://www.cardiologynetwork.com/video

(This site has a large number of short video clips for various cardiac conditions)

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/PreventionTreatmentofHeartAttack/Cardiac-Procedures-and-Surgeries_UCM_303939_Article.jsp

(List of procedures)

Check spelling!Check spelling! Check spelling!Check spelling!

• angina pectoris • angiocarditis • arteriosclerosis • cardiovalvulitis • endarterectomy • femoropopliteal bypass • impedance plethysmography

mitral commissurotomypericardiocentesispericarditisphlebitisthallium testvasoconstrictorvenae cavaevisceral pericardium

Difficult terms to pick up from dictation…

What about tired eyes and hands?!

Exercises for your eyes

Take brief (30-second to 2-minute) and frequent pauses throughout the time you are working on transcription. The ‘recovery pause’ gives your eyes a chance to recover from fatigue. During your recovery pause, try some of the following exercises to help you feel refreshed. Note: Don't do any exercise that feels uncomfortable or causes

straining.

These exercises may help your eyes feel refreshed:

Yawning and blinking can help to keep your eyes lubricated.

Changing focus can help to relax the muscles of your eyes. To try this, look at your fingertip with your arm stretched in front of you, then to a point far away from you, then back to your fingertip.

‘Palming’ can help to relieve eyestrain. To try this, close your eyes, cover them with your hands, and breathe deeply.

Exercises for your body

Try these exercises during breaks:

Deep breathing can help relieve tension in all muscles!

Hand and finger massages can help to keep your hands warm and reduce cramping and stiffness.

The ‘executive stretch’ is a good exercise for the entire upper body! Clasp your hands behind your head and gently stretch your elbows back while taking in a deep breath.

Shoulder shrugs can help to reduce tension or stiffness in the upper back and neck. Gently pull your shoulders up toward your ears and then relax your shoulders downward.

Contact me…

As always, please contact me with any and all questions.

If you don’t hear back from me in 48 hours, please resend your note, as there are known issues with email at Kaplan! Always try to use your KU-issued email address.

Go forth and conquer!

Have a great week!

Happy transcribing! (No, really!)

Please email me right away if you have questions, problems with MT Client, or any other concerns.