Style & Grammar
Style Guide
A few simple conventions that keep every Accuro document consistent, wherever it comes from. The rules below are the ones we ask everyone to follow. They take a few minutes to learn and quickly become second nature.
1. Numbers
Write 1–9 in words, and 10 and above in figures.
She has had three episodes in the last 12 months.
This applies throughout the document, including where both forms appear in the same sentence.
2. Hyphens
Use a hyphen to join two or more words that together describe the word following them.
| Example | Why |
|---|---|
| I would appreciate your review of this 25-year-old lady | '25', not 'twenty-five' |
| I saw this nine-month-old little boy in clinic | 'nine', not '9' |
| This child is nine months old | No hyphen, the words aren't describing a following noun |
| The above-named gentleman is registered at our practice | |
| This lady suffers from left-sided varicose veins | |
| She has a two-week history of tinnitus | |
| He has recommended three-monthly injections | One injection every three months, not three each month |
Worth noting: the hyphen changes meaning as well as appearance. “Three-monthly injections” and “three monthly injections” describe two very different treatment plans, so it’s worth pausing on these.
3. Capital Letters
Please always capitalise the following:
- Medications: Omeprazole, Gabapentin, Sertraline. Drug names are often ambiguous in dictation, and capitalising them makes them immediately identifiable.
- Department names: He was seen in the Neurology Department / They have suggested a referral to Dermatology.
- Medical professionals: She has been seen by the Cardiologists.
- Conditions named after people: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Graves’ disease, Dupuytren’s contracture, Tinel’s sign. The person’s name takes a capital; the descriptive word that follows (‘syndrome’, ‘disease’, ‘contracture’, ‘sign’) does not.
- Everything within the addressee line.
4. At a Glance
- 1–9 in words, 10+ in figures
- Hyphenate compound descriptions before a noun, not after
- Capitalise medications, departments, professions, eponymous conditions, and the addressee line
- Where a hyphen changes the clinical meaning, read the sentence back before moving on
Working with Accuro
The questions we're asked most often by transcribers joining our panel; from kit and workload to invoicing and payment dates.
Where can I buy a digital transcription kit?
Digital transcription kits are widely available and we'd encourage you to shop around before buying. For specialist advice, Speechwrite are well established in this market and can be reached on 0121 236 2626, though plenty of other suppliers stock the same equipment.
We use the Olympus transcription kit and find it straightforward to work with. There's also free software available to download called Express Scribe, though you'd need to buy a compatible foot pedal to use alongside it.
Most voice files we send out are in DSS, WAV or WMA format, so do check that anything you buy handles all three.
What sort of work will I be sent?
You'll be sent work suited to your experience. Our workload includes medico-legal reports, GP and specialist clinic letters, occupational health reports, and legal documents; mainly letters, file notes and telephone notes.
Transcriptions range from a couple of minutes to over half an hour, depending on the expert and specialism. A template and a sample document are available on our website for each document type you transcribe.
How do I ask for work?
Submit a work request through our website. Work is defined by the number of minutes of dictation you'd like to transcribe each day, and you can enter your availability for up to the next seven calendar days.
If we don't receive a request, we'll assume you're not working that day.
How will I receive my work?
Work is sent through our website, and occasionally by email. Where it comes by email, you'll receive one message per document with the claimant or patient name in the subject line.
Attached to each email you'll find a Word template, the voice file, and an example report if you haven't worked for that expert before.
What does Accuro expect from me?
Once a transcription is assigned to you, you're agreeing to return the completed document by the agreed deadline - 9am the following morning unless we've specified otherwise. Work allocated on a Friday morning is due back by 9am the following Monday.
If anything is likely to affect that deadline, please tell us as soon as you can. Where we aren't given notice, we may not be able to pay for a late transcription.
How do I get paid?
Keep a record of every transcription you type for us. Using the invoice template we supply, submit one invoice per month covering the first to the last day of that month.
Email your invoice to invoices@accuro.co.uk. Please use only that address, invoices sent elsewhere can be missed.
When do I get paid?
We pay contractors by BACS during the second week of each month, though exact dates can vary slightly.
Invoices must reach us by the end of the first day of the following month, so an invoice for June's typing needs to arrive by the end of 1st July. Anything received after the cut-off is added to the following month's payment.
How much work will you send me?
You can request as much or as little as you can manage each day. There's no obligation to request work daily, and you'll stay on our list of contractors even if we don't hear from you for a while.
As you're self-employed, you're free to take as much holiday as you like. Where you can, please email pre-planned dates to holidays@accuro.co.uk so we can plan workloads around them.
Accuro is under no obligation to meet requests for work, and work is allocated entirely at our discretion.