I once knew a physician who was a good dictator, but tended to make corrections in his narratives. As he began on the plan section of his H&P, he would recall something that needed to be changed in the history section. Of course, there's nothing too unusual about that. (Luckily we were no longer on Selectrics.) What was memorable about this author was that he announced the changes with, "Oh, typist, please go back." He was very polite.

Are we typists? 

More recently, two MTs I know applied for jobs at large hospitals. Each transcriptionist had about 15 years of acute care experience. After they filled out the application form, the very next step in the process was a type-from-copy test, in which a paragraph was propped up next to the monitor on a document holder. They were asked to type it, and timed for speed. Neither of the paragraphs had anything to do with medicine. Neither of the MTs did very well on the typing test.

Both of these transcriptionists had worked on a production basis for transcription services. One of these MTs produced 1,600 lines per 8-hour day on a regular basis, the other came in at about 1,400 lines per day (lpd). But it turns out they weren't really great "typists." 

Let's do some math. Let's assume that a line of 65 characters contains about 10 words. We'll use 7.5 hours (450 minutes) as a day, allowing 30 minutes for breaks. MT #1 at 1,600 lpd produces 16,000 words per day (1600 x 10). Divide that by 450 minutes and we get about 36 words per minute. MT #2 at 1,400 lpd and 14,000 words per day has a speed of just over 31 words per minute. Pretty unimpressive. (Even a hypothetical MT who transcribes at what I consider a blinding speed of 2,200 lpd racks up less than 49 words per minute.)

These two experienced MTs would hardly pass muster as professional "typists." Why? Because the MT does not practice, does not work for, simple typing speed. In that 7.5-hour day, the MT spends a great deal of time listening, analyzing, researching and waiting. In addition, the type-from-copy test requires continual gazing at a printed document, while the MTs' work requires close attention to the text being typed. To do well on the latter, we have to fight a working habit of years' duration.

What did the typing test tell their prospective employers about their skills?  

Almost nothing. If hospitals are eliminating MTs from consideration for positions on the basis of such tests, they are probably missing a lot of qualified hires. They are also wasting the time (and money) required to administer the tests, which seems a shame in these days of aggressive cost-cutting.

MTs are not "typists." And asking an MT to take a speed-typing test is as irrelevant as it would have been to test Shakespeare to see how fast he could write!

Next month: Mommy, where do new words come from?

Rebecca A. McSwain is currently working as a production MT for a national service. She has worked as an MT supervisor, business owner, instructor and QA manager. She's a member of AAMT and the American Medical Writers Association. She has a PhD in anthropology and continues to work on anthro-related writing projects in her spare time.