What's That? Say Again?

For those of you who don't know, I'm a transcriptionist by profession. A medical transcriptionist to be exact, although I've been known to transcribe documents for attorneys, teachers, and Indian chiefs from time to time. It's a pretty good gig, for the most part. It keeps me sharp because I have to make sure that not only is the grammar correct but that "left foot" doesn't turn into "right foot" somewhere in the report, someone's not being given 325 mg of Norvasc, and a lot of other really important stuff like that. While double-checking what's actually being dictated, I also have to double-check what I'm transcribing. It's pretty intense concentration we're talking about here (that's why John Cusack could walk in here and I'd completely miss him, then have to be pissed because I did - yes, I just looooooooooove John). It's a job I take very seriously and I treat every report as if it were my own. After all, a report could affect how someone receives medical care and I'm helping the doctor hold that patient's life in their hands.

There's a fun side to transcription, too, like when the doctor says something that just doesn't quite come out right, like "The patient smells bad," stops and thinks about it and then corrects himself to "The patient's sense of smell is bad." It's also pretty amusing when doctors address us directly (bless their hearts, I love being acknowledged as a person) but don't know exactly who is transcribing since we work in herds, calling us "transcriber" (that's the machine the tape goes in to work from), "stenographer" (that's an entirely different field), "dictator" (that's the doctor), "dictationist" (I don't think that's even a word), or my personal favorite: "hey, YOU."

"What's your point?" you ask. I guess I really don't have one. I'm stuck in ramble mode.

Oh, wait. I know what it is. This profession has long been a sort of gemstone in the non-clinical aspect of health care. It's perfect for someone like me doesn't have the stomach for phlebotomy, the oomph to be a nurse, or the money to become a doctor. Over the years it's evolved from using Selectric typewriters (you know, the ones with the little ball inside?) to electronic typewriters to using a PC and typing in a word processing program. This evolution has saved a lot of hair on my head: Whenever a doctor says "correction" and wants to correct/add to a statement he made 8 paragraphs up, I don't need to pull my hair out. Those were nightmare days in the early years, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt like shoving that Selectric up his ass when he did that since the whole document had to be re-typed.

The downside of this evolution into the computer age has meant the introduction of voice recognition software. The developers of these programs are putting people like me out of a job or, worse, turning us from the exalted transcriptionist into an editor. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being a document editor if that's where you start out in the field, but for those of us who have been doing transcription for almost 20 years, it's painful. Along with this new job description comes a new pay scale - generally about half of what we made before. This really makes little sense to me, since we still have to review WORD FOR WORD what the doctor has dictated and make sure it's what the software thinks he's saying (and quite often isn't so we end up re-transcribing it anyhow, only now at half the pay), make sure the grammar is correct, and make sure lefts and rights match up and that medications aren't being administered in a glaringly inappropriate manner. I can understand it's not worth the same pay as before, but HALF? I think 85% would be more appropriate.

The saddest part, though, is the blow to the ego, when the doctor knows he's dictating for a machine but doesn't realize there's still a person editing, and he no longer addresses us personally since that's just extra words for the software to process and stick in the report where they shouldn't be, words we then have to take out AT HALF THE PAY.

I love technology. I actually love editing (shhhhh, don't tell, it's a secret). I just don't love feeling undervalued while the technology is still in it's infancy and still learning. It's almost as bad as having to retype those frigging reports over after the "correction" in the Selectric days.