A Transcriptionist Again

I went back to work this morning. I needed a refresher on a few software features and there are some new drug names to add to the text expander, but overall, it’s a lot like riding a bicycle. The keystrokes and mnemonics came back to me pretty quickly. Part of being a transcriptionist is having a large collection of keyboard shortcuts, like astp for “autologous stem cell transplant” and hepe for “hemoglobin electrophoresis.” You can see how the shortcuts save time, but I have to remember hundreds of them.

I checked with my supervisor about what was expected from me in terms of output. The woman I am replacing did 60-80 audio minutes a day, which is the perfect amount. That number of audio minutes works out to—depending on which doctor(s) I get—three to four hours of transcribing. If I start around 6 or 7 a.m., I can be done before lunchtime. That leaves the whole rest of the day for other activities. I’m not going to get rich doing this, but it is nice to have the mental challenge and also to feel like I am contributing financially again.

Part of me misses the old way of doing things; we are in an electronic medical records system now rather than transcribing individual reports. I don’t spend as much time on each patient because I am only transcribing narrative portions instead of an entire report. The lab data, medications, and other short pieces of information are pulled in from other places. I am still unhappy about the spelling and grammar errors and how sloppy most records look, but there is nothing I can do about it except to make sure that the portions I am responsible for are done as professionally as possible in the way I was trained to do them.

It is what it is.

I can already tell that I am going to be less likely to fritter away moments of time here and there as I have been doing over the past year. That makes me happy. I like to be busy and I like to be productive. I am, however, a bit mentally wiped out right now.

*****************************************************

The insulation guys showed up at 9 a.m. to do the walls:

The plywood should be delivered soon and then the husband can sheath the walls. Those two concrete piers sticking out from the wall are for the lift, when he finally gets to the point where that will be installed. Having a lift is going to be a game changer for working on vehicles.

*****************************************************

I’ve got my music together for the Christmas Eve service.

I like to print out the order of worship in such a way that I can put my music in where it needs to be. That way, I can follow along and have the music ready instead of fumbling through a bunch of books (we use several hymnals).

The husband and I are negotiating where he is going to sit during the service tomorrow night. Christmas Eve is the only church service he attends. He typically sits with the girls and my mother and sister or his mother and my FIL, depending on who is visiting. We are by ourselves this year and DD#2 is particularly concerned about who he is going to sit with. I half-jokingly told him he could come sit up at the front, because no one likes to sit in the first couple of pews. He thought that was a great idea. However, I do not like to have people—especially people I know who might make faces at me—watching me while I play. We will have to see where he ends up.