ABOUT NOTE TAKING SKILLS

Note taking helps you to concentrate on what the caller is saying and provides you with a summary.
Taking your own notes will promote a deeper understanding of the content of the conversation and
will allow you deliver a complete and accurate message. Note taking is very important, DO NOT
trust your memory, YOU NEED TO TAKE NOTES, specially with factual information. We are
providing our interpretation services in REAL TIME, so, neither the Provider or Lep, are going
to waint until you take notes of the whole message, get the key words, CREATE, your own
shorthand or speed writing.

Note taking skills, reduces the amount of language by shortening words and sentences. Some ways
of abbreviating are: leaving out most articles and conjunctions (the, a, and, but), shorten words by
leaving out vowels or other letters (also known as word truncation) ,using abbreviations and
symbols for commonly used words and phrases.

It is important to remember that you will need to know what the abbreviations and symbols stand
for when you review your notes later. : Use only abbreviations and symbols that fit your needs and
that you will remember easily .

Examples of Abbreviation you can use when taking notes:

ppl people b/c because

res research & abd
natl national ? question
eqn equation > greater than
ed education < less than
gov government = equal
dep department X not
esp especially etc. etcetera
ustand understand e.g./ ex example
w/o with out @ at
am morning pm afternoon
imp important info information
tst test lab laboratory
bld wk blood work asap as soon as possible
FYI for your information mgmt management
info information eval evaluation
mkt market dvpt development
minus aprox aproximately
# number not equal to, is not
$ dollar, money A answer
% percent Q question
/ per ch chapter
? Question dept department
diff different esp especially
b/f before
ht height lbs pounds
 max maximum min minimum
p page pp pages
re regarding ref reference
vs versus w/ with
w/in within w/o with out
wgt weight % percent
$ money/dollars + more/plus/and
# umber yr year
x times(veces) meds medication

Ways to abbreviate words

Almost any word can be shortened during note-taking. Below are some
ideas about how to do this.

Use the beginnings of words

One way to shorten a word is to use just the beginning of the word, for
example:
pol politics Dr. doctor
gov government C/w case worker
subj subject s/w socialworker
info information N prtr Nurse practitioner
intro introduction DOB/DB Date of Birth
f/l first and last name ss social security
MRN- Medical Record Number ID identification
Mon Monday Tue Tuesday
Wed Wednesday Thu Thursday
Fri Friday
Jan Jan Ene Enero
Feb February Mar March
Apr April May May
Nov November Oct October
Dec December
Psyc Psycology Schd Schedule

Use the beginnings of words with the final letter

Sometimes it can be useful to add the final letter of the word. Some people
prefer to also add an apostrophe ('), others don't. For example:
govt government mbr member
gov't government ptnt patient
interl international Wi Wisconsin
inter'l international PA Pennsylvania
CA California GA Georgia
Omit vowels
Sometimes you might need to write out the whole word, but even so, you
can probably leave out the vowels and still understand the word, for
example:
prblm - problem
schl - school
bkgd - background

Abbreviate -ing
The ending -ing is very common, so find a way to abbreviate it, for
example:
ckg - checking
ckng - checking

Abbreviate specific words from the lecture

If there are words which are commonly used in a particular lecture you are
listening to, you should try to abbreviate them. For example, in a lecture
about acid rain, the speaker might frequently talk about sulphur, nitrogen,
pollution, factories. The following abbreviations could be used:
AR - acid rain
S - sulphur
N - nitrogen
pol - pollution
facs - factories

Common symbols & abbreviations

There are many common abbreviations and symbols which you can use
for note-taking. You probably already know many of these (especially the
mathematical symbols), but perhaps had not thought about using them
before. Try to learn some of these and start using them when you take
notes.

You have to remember, that added to your Listening Skill and Note taking skill, comes the
Retention skill, your ability to retain information in your head, these are three very
important skills that will definetely help you to provide and accurate interpretation service.

Always give the best in you to provide an excellent service.

Example:
Provider: You are calling Texas Children Hospital, Pediatrics dept, what can I do for you?
Notetaking : Tx Child H., Pediat dept.
Lep: Necesito hacer una cita para mi hijo Jason Martinez,
sched appt 4 son Jason Martinez

Provider: I will need the patient`s name, Medical Record Number, Date of Birth and
Address:

N/, MRN, DOB/ Add

Example 2

Provider: Mr. Martinez, you have been diagnosed with stomach cancer and we suspect
it may have spread to your abdomen

Mr. Martnz u h/been diagn w/ stomach cncr / we suspect sprd 2 u abd

Example 3
Provider: The Hospital`s address is:
1714 Barbeque Way 1714 BBQ wy,2 f,s 200, Dllsl, Tx
2n floor, Suite 200
Dallas, Texas 78654

Example 4

Provider: You need to take Metformin 850mg, 3 times a day for 3 months.

U need tk Metformin 850mg, 3x/d /3mo Ud nec tomar Metformin 850mg 3x/d x 3 mes