Review of Journal
of the American Association for
Medical Transcription

May-June 1997, Vol. 16, No. 3
by Mary Morken

Six feature articles talk about using the Internet for teaching MT courses, the effort to establish standards of computer medical records interchange (HL7), the process of developing electronic patient records (EPR), an MT bio of Peggy Hughes who worked in Saudi Arabia, the basics of working from home, and an article by Diane Heath on how to create documents with errors for use as tests on proofreading.

There are 14 regular columns:

Claudia Tessier, Executive Director, claims that AAMT's "Quality and Quantity" press release of 1994 has been "ignored, misstated, misinterpreted, and misused." She clarifies that MT is more than keyboarding and quality is more important than quantity. AAMT prefers measuring by character when pay is based on production, including letters, numbers, symbols, spaces, function keys, returns, underlines, and bold, and all macros, headers and footers. They do not consider their preferred 65-character-equivalent line measurement an established standard. They suggest software be accommodated to these definitions and MTs ask their employers to document how lines are counted.

Susan Pierce, 1997 President, talks about the cost of quality in AAMT's ongoing mission.

One letter from a reader expresses appreciation for word help over the phone.

Two articles on ethics are reprinted; one is by George Dudley of Behavioral Sciences Research Press, the other by Betty Honkonen from the Miami local AAMT newsletter. Mr. Dudley talks about learning to promote one's own interests without dropping names, covering up dishonest dealings with relativizing, overusing the words "integrity" and "trust" and "honesty," talking about long-term plans but acting only for short-term ends, relying too much on charm and wit, having only superficial relationships, staying cool all the time, claiming false achievements, considering others' motives to be unethical, and using threats and intimidation. Betty Honkonen lists MT temptations:

1. Not joining AAMT which has a Code of Ethics!
2. Taking clients away from other MTs.
3. MT services underpaying and not developing quality.
4. Cheating on taxes.
5. Volunteering for a job in a local AAMT group and not following through.
6. Using bootlegged copies of computer software.
7. Not volunteering to help other MTs.

Claudia Tessier answers a few style questions including correct forms: Dukes B1, Veress needle, "in the a.m.," and "a 3 x 4 x 10- to 12-cm mass."

Dr. John Dirckx answers some terminology questions including the improper word "aborta" which should be abortus. The terms "status post," "postpartum," and "post partum" are discussed.

Book reviews of Human Diseases by Dr Dirckx, and Sick Notes by Fritz Spiegl, a humorous medical dictionary.

Eight new medical terms are defined by Peggy Hughes, including Acinetobacter baumannii and wale. Fifteen new drugs are listed, including Orgaran and GenTeal.

Diane Heath writes about new procedures with less blood loss, the physical changes from stress hormones, and Columbia Presbyterian's new experimental inclusion of "alternative medicine" in their comprehensive care.

Scott Faulkner, VP of Healthcare Marketing for Dictaphone, writes about the importance of wisely using new technologies for better "analysis, access, and treatment" of patients.

Kathleen Kropko talks about how she benefited from an AAMT convention. There is a spelling game of 54 phrases and a test on 15 terms.

Organization articles include news of local groups, membership update, new members list, calendar, certification news, annual meeting information, and an auditor's report.

There are advertisements for Products from Stedman's, March & Green, MedPen, Instant Text, Sylvan, PC-Dart, Smartype, Narratek, GMSI, HPI, Pat Systems, PHCS, Martel, Saunders, MT Monthly, Taber's, Explode It, the SUM Program, Appleton and Lange, and AAMT. MT companies advertising include Sharp Health Care, Edix, Diskriter, Your Office Genie, Medware, Medtrans, Arco, ddi, and several hospitals.