"We're still not where we're going, but we're not where we were." ~Natasha Jasefowitz
The course on Increasing Productivity Through Technology wrapped up last week; how quickly the 5 weeks went by! In a nutshell, I highly recommend this class and encourage you to take it if increasing productivity is your goal. I feel this course was exactly what I needed to empower me with the knowledge to make a change in my overall productivity.
Oftentimes, when thinking of productivity, I was very limited in my focus of areas to increase (text expanders, templates). Realizing that productivity starts from the minute you fire up the PC (utilzing your start/quick view menus/toolbars), how you conduct research (books vs electronic), where you conduct research (unreliable vs reliable sites), are equally important to how proficient you are with your keyboarding techniques (Shortcut keys, explorer windows, dialog boxes).
The course structure was outlined very well, user friendly and when coupled with the course text, a large range of topics were certainly covered in great detail. The course text is one of the best I have seen. Each chapter is broken down into sections: basic information and then separate sections for XP and Vista, and incorporated critical thinking questions as well. It was helpful have XP and Vista separate in the text, as for me, having side by side examples in the webinar was confusing at times.
It was also a plus to have the author of the book, Laura Bryan, also moderate the class. She was professional, pleasant and made a point to interact via the forum/taking live questions during the class, which certainly made the hour and a half go by very quickly. You may find out additional information about Laura and the course here: Medical Transcription Education Center, Inc. - Learn And Work From Home - Online Training Continuing Ed, Increasing Productivity Through Technology. Feel free to check out MTWERKS on facebook as well, Facebook | MTWerks
My contacts at M-TEC were always helpful, professional and responded if not the same day, within 24 hours to emails and calls. Their forum for the class contained the course syllabus, which was posted weekly, a recording of each week's webinar so that you could view again, as well as an area for questions for the instructor. You may find more information about M-TEC and course selections here: Medical Transcription Education Center, Inc. - Learn And Work From Home - Online Training
If the course is not available, then the text is definitely worth the investment to add to your tools in being a proficient medical language specialist. You may find more information regarding the text here: Technology for the Medical Transcriptionist
I have already noticed that I am utilizing my keyboard more and my mouse much less. I still have daily struggles, but I feel now that I understand how best to utilize the short cut keys and text expanders, it is not as overwhelming and most importantly I now have the tools to help me overcome these hurdles.
What a "hidden gem" we have on our intranet with our MT Links page--this tool certainly is a time saver for me and I access it daily. The only other change I made to my daily research was adding in use of the website OneLook Dictionary Search Awesome results and definite time saver.
My focus now that class is over is to become more proficient with using all of the great techniques covered in class and know that by putting this information into practice every day, positive results will occur.
I want to thank you for being a part of this journey with me. Please feel free to email me at ginamedmond@aol.com with any questions you might have regarding any of the topics covered in the prior postings or any other productivity question that comes to mind.
"You are the most influential person in your life. There is nobody more effective at supporting your success--and nobody more effective at undermining it."~ Jeff Olson from the book, The Slight Edge.
Wishing you all continued success!
Gina
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Increasing Productivity Through Technology-Week 5 Research
“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” Zora Neale Hurston
I have to admit, I never really thought about how doing research can impact one's productivity. The instructor commented that sometimes the information you come across while researching is very interesting, sometimes entertaining, and very easily time can slip by. Research was the topic of the final class in this 5-week course--and it did not disappoint!
Our class covered Search Engines-their function and uses; Search results-evaluation, reliability, URL, sites to avoid, sites to use, and guidelines for reliability; Customizing a search- multiword, phrases or Boolean characters (*, and, or); Google- results page, sample searches, and image search; OneLook-definitions and reverse search; Find (CTRL + F) and finally Safe Searching. These topics were so helpful and took the knowledge I had and kicked it up a notch!
The sites to avoid and use were great and I will list them for you below:
Sites to avoid as they are unreliable: Message boards, forums, bulletin boards, Patient advocacy sites and consumer organizations, Physician's personal website, Online pharmacies. These sites are deemed unreliable due to the fact that the "lay person" is often creating or updating these sites. The only exception is for Online pharmacies. If the online pharmacy (ex Walgreens) posts a picture of the bottle of the medication/supplement that is only acceptable time to utilize this option.
Sites to use: Major Medical Centers (ex: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic), NIH, NLM and MedLINE and Merck Manual, Professional edition (FREE and great to verify pathophysiology).
How do you know the site you are using is reliable? We were provided with the following guidelines: Check the author, is it by a medical professional; who is the publisher, is the information objective, is the information current and accurate, who is the intended audience and does the site have integrity (are terms spelled correctly).
A great hot tip I came away with was being introduced to the OneLook Dictionary Search www.onelook.com. This site is great for definitions and allows you to do a reverse search. There are 3 ways to utilize the reverse search feature. The first, :keyword, for example :bleeding (no space between the colon and keyword)--using this option returns a list of words and phrases that pertain to bleeding. The second way, you can here the beginning of the word, but not the end is, x*:keyword, for example enter hem*:bleeding in the OneLook Dictionary and a list of words relating to bleeding beginning with hem are listed for you. The third way to use reverse search is if you can here the end of a word search by *xxx:keyword, for example, *ile:bleeding and this will return words pertaining to bleeding ending in -ile. I loved this information because oftentimes I do here either the very beginning of a word or the end. This takes a wildcard search onestep further adding the area (bleeding, surgery, et cetera) to the key term and providing a very detailed list to scan through.
Safe searching on the internet is vital to keeping your computer running in tip-top shape: DO NOT EVER click on banners, flashing ads, or games; AVOID most "Free" software; NEVER download emoticons or coupons; NEVER download file sharing software (ex Limewire),do not share your computer with ANYONE (including children) and finally, AVOID software products with questionable claims (check your hard drive, prevent crashes). The instructor made it clear that these programs can most certainly invade your computer and compromise HIPAA/patient information we are transcribing. She suggested to get a separate computer if you are into playing on-line games et cetera because if that systemm crashes and you have to start all over again, your transcription data will not be compromised.
The final topic covered was Electronic References. Electronic dictionary (English and Medical). There is a built-in dictionary in Microsoft Word and you can access by moving the cursor in the word you typed and hitting CTRL + SHIFT + O and the dictionary opens. Electronic medical dictionaries like Dorlands and Stedmans are also great references and very easily accessible if downloaded on your computer.
Electronic word lists (Rainbow word book series Stedmans) and Electronic Drug Lists (Quick Look, Suanders) are must-haves as well. The question of cost regarding these tools was discussed. The initial investment in the tools that are going to enhance your research and accuracy is worth it, as it will pay for itself in the long run. I have on LWW that often times items are on sale, or when purchasing come with updates (oftentimes 2 updates) that will bring your information current for the year. Great advice and I am going to transition my rainbow books to digital form.
I am really excited to be able to share the above information with you this week. It really helped expand on the information I already knew and hope it works the same for you too. I am going to put these practices into play this week and see how much quicker my research speed is improved.
Next week, I will offer a wrap-up of the course as well as information on the improvements/changes I have made and areas I still need to work on towards my goal of increasing productivity.
Have a productive week!
I have to admit, I never really thought about how doing research can impact one's productivity. The instructor commented that sometimes the information you come across while researching is very interesting, sometimes entertaining, and very easily time can slip by. Research was the topic of the final class in this 5-week course--and it did not disappoint!
Our class covered Search Engines-their function and uses; Search results-evaluation, reliability, URL, sites to avoid, sites to use, and guidelines for reliability; Customizing a search- multiword, phrases or Boolean characters (*, and, or); Google- results page, sample searches, and image search; OneLook-definitions and reverse search; Find (CTRL + F) and finally Safe Searching. These topics were so helpful and took the knowledge I had and kicked it up a notch!
The sites to avoid and use were great and I will list them for you below:
Sites to avoid as they are unreliable: Message boards, forums, bulletin boards, Patient advocacy sites and consumer organizations, Physician's personal website, Online pharmacies. These sites are deemed unreliable due to the fact that the "lay person" is often creating or updating these sites. The only exception is for Online pharmacies. If the online pharmacy (ex Walgreens) posts a picture of the bottle of the medication/supplement that is only acceptable time to utilize this option.
Sites to use: Major Medical Centers (ex: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic), NIH, NLM and MedLINE and Merck Manual, Professional edition (FREE and great to verify pathophysiology).
How do you know the site you are using is reliable? We were provided with the following guidelines: Check the author, is it by a medical professional; who is the publisher, is the information objective, is the information current and accurate, who is the intended audience and does the site have integrity (are terms spelled correctly).
A great hot tip I came away with was being introduced to the OneLook Dictionary Search www.onelook.com. This site is great for definitions and allows you to do a reverse search. There are 3 ways to utilize the reverse search feature. The first, :keyword, for example :bleeding (no space between the colon and keyword)--using this option returns a list of words and phrases that pertain to bleeding. The second way, you can here the beginning of the word, but not the end is, x*:keyword, for example enter hem*:bleeding in the OneLook Dictionary and a list of words relating to bleeding beginning with hem are listed for you. The third way to use reverse search is if you can here the end of a word search by *xxx:keyword, for example, *ile:bleeding and this will return words pertaining to bleeding ending in -ile. I loved this information because oftentimes I do here either the very beginning of a word or the end. This takes a wildcard search onestep further adding the area (bleeding, surgery, et cetera) to the key term and providing a very detailed list to scan through.
Safe searching on the internet is vital to keeping your computer running in tip-top shape: DO NOT EVER click on banners, flashing ads, or games; AVOID most "Free" software; NEVER download emoticons or coupons; NEVER download file sharing software (ex Limewire),do not share your computer with ANYONE (including children) and finally, AVOID software products with questionable claims (check your hard drive, prevent crashes). The instructor made it clear that these programs can most certainly invade your computer and compromise HIPAA/patient information we are transcribing. She suggested to get a separate computer if you are into playing on-line games et cetera because if that systemm crashes and you have to start all over again, your transcription data will not be compromised.
The final topic covered was Electronic References. Electronic dictionary (English and Medical). There is a built-in dictionary in Microsoft Word and you can access by moving the cursor in the word you typed and hitting CTRL + SHIFT + O and the dictionary opens. Electronic medical dictionaries like Dorlands and Stedmans are also great references and very easily accessible if downloaded on your computer.
Electronic word lists (Rainbow word book series Stedmans) and Electronic Drug Lists (Quick Look, Suanders) are must-haves as well. The question of cost regarding these tools was discussed. The initial investment in the tools that are going to enhance your research and accuracy is worth it, as it will pay for itself in the long run. I have on LWW that often times items are on sale, or when purchasing come with updates (oftentimes 2 updates) that will bring your information current for the year. Great advice and I am going to transition my rainbow books to digital form.
I am really excited to be able to share the above information with you this week. It really helped expand on the information I already knew and hope it works the same for you too. I am going to put these practices into play this week and see how much quicker my research speed is improved.
Next week, I will offer a wrap-up of the course as well as information on the improvements/changes I have made and areas I still need to work on towards my goal of increasing productivity.
Have a productive week!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Increasing Productivity-Week 4 Text Expanders and Macros
"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves." ~Dale Carnegie
I am so happy to report that I finally received the course book, "Technology for the Medical Transcriptionist" on Monday--yippee--truly worth the wait and very thankful since this week's course objectives covered AutoText, AutoCorrect, Macros, Spelling and Grammar features and finally text expansion. While these may seem like small jobs in and of themselves, the time they have proven to save is what certainly what peaked my interest in tonight's lesson.
Tonight's class centered in Microsoft Word and brought everything down to the basics beginning with definitions of AutoCorrect, AutoText and macros, samples of each, how to create new entries and finally implementation of these built-in features to Microsoft.
Did you know that AutoCorrect is a Microsoft Office feature and will work across all Office programs (excel, Outlook, et cetera) while AutoText is a Word feature only? The key differences, other than the one previously mentioned is by utilizing the Spacebar and any punctuation, AutoCorrect expands (this change will always occurr when Replace text is typed, making changes universal); however, to implement AutoText (allows storage of words, phrases, paragraphs and boiler templates) pressing F3 will make the insertion into the document; AutoCorrect will always insert a space while AutoText can insert text without a trailing space. I found it very helpful learning the basics between AutoCorrect and AutoText.
The purpose of macros is to store a series of commands as a single command. Macros can be used in Editing using a single step, Opening documents based on templates, and Turning repetitive tasks into single-step productions; however, macros are not ideal for storing text. I had used macros on my very first transcription job around 6 years ago and this was not only a great refresher, but now I truly understand how to use a macro correctly.
We next briefly covered electronic spell check, how the reference files are used , spell check setting and finally performing spell check. Spell check can be accessed by either F7 to use the dialog box; ALT + F7 to jump to the next misspelling (review document word by word) or Right-click, press Application key and use the right click menu. A little job we use every day but it has 3 ways to access this feature.
Our final area covered tonight were text expanders. The bottom line, the results of utilizing a third party text expander is definitely worth the initial investment. In comparing text expanders to AutoCorrect and AutoText, the text expanders are more stable, more flexible, more portable, holds a larger database, can have multiple glossaries/lists as well as may offer choice of expansion key. The downside to text expanders, duplicates can be created, incorrect insertions, inadvertent insertions and short form collision with real words can occur. Basically, if you are not using a text expander, find out what works with you platform and utilize this option.
My ah-ha moment tonight was in learning some additional shortcuts. For example my shortcut use for aspirin is asp; if we utilized numbers, our shortcut can read asp8 = aspirin 81 mg or asp3, aspirin 325 mg. I never thought of adding a basic dosage to my expander; this is something I have already changed and look forward to using!
HOT TIP: Use letters to represent numbers in short forms:
ttn--two thousand nine
tttn-- two thousand ten.
risw--return in 6 weeks.
lfso--L5-S1.
I am pleased that I am able to now utilize my keyboard primarily when switching between the two platforms I work in. I am saving time now and know this will be a great habit to have developed. It is a great feeling to see some of what I have already learned becoming part of my daily routine. With the final lesson just around the corner, if you are serious about changing your productivity, my recommendation is to take the course the next time it becomes available--it covers everything for the novice to the experienced and you will not be disappointed.
Make it a great week!
I am so happy to report that I finally received the course book, "Technology for the Medical Transcriptionist" on Monday--yippee--truly worth the wait and very thankful since this week's course objectives covered AutoText, AutoCorrect, Macros, Spelling and Grammar features and finally text expansion. While these may seem like small jobs in and of themselves, the time they have proven to save is what certainly what peaked my interest in tonight's lesson.
Tonight's class centered in Microsoft Word and brought everything down to the basics beginning with definitions of AutoCorrect, AutoText and macros, samples of each, how to create new entries and finally implementation of these built-in features to Microsoft.
Did you know that AutoCorrect is a Microsoft Office feature and will work across all Office programs (excel, Outlook, et cetera) while AutoText is a Word feature only? The key differences, other than the one previously mentioned is by utilizing the Spacebar and any punctuation, AutoCorrect expands (this change will always occurr when Replace text is typed, making changes universal); however, to implement AutoText (allows storage of words, phrases, paragraphs and boiler templates) pressing F3 will make the insertion into the document; AutoCorrect will always insert a space while AutoText can insert text without a trailing space. I found it very helpful learning the basics between AutoCorrect and AutoText.
The purpose of macros is to store a series of commands as a single command. Macros can be used in Editing using a single step, Opening documents based on templates, and Turning repetitive tasks into single-step productions; however, macros are not ideal for storing text. I had used macros on my very first transcription job around 6 years ago and this was not only a great refresher, but now I truly understand how to use a macro correctly.
We next briefly covered electronic spell check, how the reference files are used , spell check setting and finally performing spell check. Spell check can be accessed by either F7 to use the dialog box; ALT + F7 to jump to the next misspelling (review document word by word) or Right-click, press Application key and use the right click menu. A little job we use every day but it has 3 ways to access this feature.
Our final area covered tonight were text expanders. The bottom line, the results of utilizing a third party text expander is definitely worth the initial investment. In comparing text expanders to AutoCorrect and AutoText, the text expanders are more stable, more flexible, more portable, holds a larger database, can have multiple glossaries/lists as well as may offer choice of expansion key. The downside to text expanders, duplicates can be created, incorrect insertions, inadvertent insertions and short form collision with real words can occur. Basically, if you are not using a text expander, find out what works with you platform and utilize this option.
My ah-ha moment tonight was in learning some additional shortcuts. For example my shortcut use for aspirin is asp; if we utilized numbers, our shortcut can read asp8 = aspirin 81 mg or asp3, aspirin 325 mg. I never thought of adding a basic dosage to my expander; this is something I have already changed and look forward to using!
HOT TIP: Use letters to represent numbers in short forms:
ttn--two thousand nine
tttn-- two thousand ten.
risw--return in 6 weeks.
lfso--L5-S1.
I am pleased that I am able to now utilize my keyboard primarily when switching between the two platforms I work in. I am saving time now and know this will be a great habit to have developed. It is a great feeling to see some of what I have already learned becoming part of my daily routine. With the final lesson just around the corner, if you are serious about changing your productivity, my recommendation is to take the course the next time it becomes available--it covers everything for the novice to the experienced and you will not be disappointed.
Make it a great week!
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