More Dumb Editing

Don't get me wrong. I never claimed to be the best MT in the world. I never even pretended to be one of the best. I know my limitations. I may hear certain words that you can't seem to decipher, but you may easily figure out what took me a number of Google searches to do. What I can't seem to accept is the fact that there are people who, instead of improving your transcript, only make it worse, sometimes even making it the worst of all you've ever done in your lifetime.

What really is frustrating for many is the fact that some editors don't they're doing. Here's a true-to-life example. An MT has forgotten to expand a certain medical acronym, so Wannabe Editor expands it. The problem is, Wannabe Editor takes the acronym in the wrong context and ends up making the wrong expansion.

One MT at AM-Accuscripts, an experienced one at that, would get ticked off whenever he reviewed the previous day's edited files. Well, with the quality of the editing, it would be a surprise if you wouldn't yourself. He would often remark in a bitter tone, "BOBO!"

The problem with wannabe editors is they usually accept the position simply because they hate typing and/or the pay is a little higher. They don't ask themselves if they're really fit for the job. They think their English is good enough for them to be able to edit transcripts. They think that they know all the medical terms out there. They think that whatever they hear will always be what the doctor said or meant without ever thinking that the MT who transcribed the document could be right after all. Consequently, they end up putting in mistakes, thereby negating what the MT transcribed correctly. They think they're fixing what's broken, but they're actually breaking what's fixed.

Here's a pair of glaring mistakes that have been carried over in the two months that I worked in hell.

Take a look at this:
A 6'0", 185 pounds.

Huh? Sure, I know that the first number's the patient's height, and the second number's the patient's weight. But when you read the sentence, does it look good, or does it make you want to weep for the sorry state Philippine education has become since those local education geniuses took control?

Now here's the second:
Blood pressure 120/80 mm

Yes, you're seeing it right. I transcribed a dictation by this doctor, who kept on saying "millimeters" instead of "millimeters of mercury". Of course, if you are a real MT, which I'm sure many of you are, you will make the correction and type in mmHg.

Well, I cannot accept situations like this where I am forced to type in the wrong unit simply because that's the way it was dictated and every editor would change my mmHg to mm -- I'd rather resign instead -- or try some form of suicide: slash my wrists, shoot myself in the temple, or have someone put me in a straitjacket and fit me with a pair of headphones attached to a portable radio that's tuned to the crappiest radio station in the metropolis.

In fact, even if I knew the editor would make that change, I would still stick to mmHg. I have a high regard for myself and the profession; I would not want to degrade myself simply because the stupid doctor said so or the even-more-stupid editor would make the change.

You want to meet Dumb and Dumber? Go work at AM-Accuscripts. I assure you, after working there for a couple of years, you won't be able to pass the qualifying exams given by other MT companies. Hahaha. I was just kidding. Or was I?