I need a clue, please.

I am currently working as a medical transcriptionist out of my home - have been for seven months doing operative reports. I got the job with no experience, just out of school. It has been my habit to just leave a blank or type in what I think the word sounded like when I come across something I don't know. My boss has just told me she is sick of filling in my blanks and correcting all of my work every day and I have one month to improve or she's firing me. My question is, how do you guys do the job? I have Stedman's spell check on my computer which helps, I have a Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, I am now using Google, Dictionary.com and Stedman's Online Medical Dictionary to try to find the words I don't know, or even doctor's names that they mention and I have to look up the spelling on Google and I also just ordered a Surgical Word Book which I hope will help. My question is, how do you all do this job? Do you all spend a lot of time looking things up all day? What resources do you use? Do you leave many blanks? Basically, I just need someone to tell me what is expected of me as a medical transcriptionist because my boss is no help with training and I REALLY don't want to lose this job. Please help me.

Hi. I work as a transcription coordinator for a surgery department. I do a lot of filling in blanks for my MTs, too. For one, that's what our job is. If you knew everything about what you were typing, we wouldn't have a job!! Anyway, we use Stedman's SpellCheck here, but I have found several terms that weren't in there. I use Google almost all the time. It gives you options from lots of different sources, some may not apply, but I think its good to look them over anyway. Also, for doctor names, I use healthgrades.com. It asks for the docs last name and state and then you can choose specialty and city and go from there. The addresses aren't always reliable because docs move so much, but at least you could find a spelling of a name. I also have tons of specialty books here in the office, but honestly, I have never cracked them. I use Google mostly and medilexicon.com. I don't always get good terms help there, but its really good for expanding abbreviations. Also, my MTs have an updated list of doctors that my doctors most often take referrals from. It's pretty extensive, but I update mine and reprint it every 4 months or so and it's really really handy. In my office, if the MT leaves a blank, I google it and if I can't find it after looking for a while and using different search terms, I highlight it and send it to my docs. They can usually fill it in no problem. Or if the doc is not in, sometimes the nurses can help. I would ask your boss if there are any references she likes to use for terms and if she could get you a copy of the address list. Keep in mind, that just because you're new at this (I graduated in May '06 myself) doesn't mean you have to take that abuse. You shouldn't have to know everything. It's called Quality Assurance. If things don't get better in the next few weeks, though, I would look for something else - even if you don't quit. Good luck. BTW, feel free to email me if you need help again. I can help you look. :) [email protected]