Should spelling count?

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2009

A couple or more years ago, on another site I used to frequent, there was this poster that - well, the account may have been made by a human, but the content of the posts was determined by some weird program that would put the most amazing, incoherent crap into each post. It derailed nearly every thread that it graced with its presence. This post here, reminds me of that experience. Either that, or the poster is actually drinking too much of that wine. Seriously, I can't understand this post.

It's called "trolling."

linda535 · Jan 14, 2009

Truely, mispelt words and tyopos can change the curse of a pts visit. (sic)

At our facility, a multi-specialty clinic, our EMR has a spell-check built in and we are REQUIRED to use it. My feelings - if a professional (RN, LPN, CMA) is documenting medical records, they should be proficient in the written language of the domentation. If they aren't, they shud be cent back to scool. (And then, if it doesn't "stick", the employer should consider either remedial training or hiring someone who is capable of intelligent and accurate written communication.)

Linda in a WA State urgent care clinic.

longbow.shelly · Jan 15, 2009

So Funny! Would go better with a margarita! :yeah: :yeah: :lol2: :cheers:

longbow.shelly · Jan 15, 2009

The occasional teh for the or other mistyping errors happen, and are easy to catch when we take the time to read over what was typed. But, I think that anyone working or taking courses at college levels should be able to spell and write correctly. My pet peeves are errors in their/there, our/hour, and those who have no idea about tenses. A fellow English 112 student was fuming over the D the Professor gave her on an essay. She asked me to read it and tell her what I thought. The first sentence read: My favorite childhood vacation was when my parents take us to the beech, The sunny skies and steemey sand always bring my memory back to happy thinking of summers ago. :grn:

So Funny! Would go better with a margarita! :yeah: :yeah: :lol2: :cheers:

JoJo445 · Jan 15, 2009

spelling can be very important, but like a co-worker of mine pointed out..if i wanted to spell evrything right i would have been an english major not a nurse. :yeah:

rngolfer53 · Jan 15, 2009

My pet peeves are the words that people often mistype/misuse in place of the ones that are really correct. They are not caught by the spell checker, but still look terrible. For example:
its -- it's
your -- you're
than -- then
accept -- except
affect -- effect
And please don't get me started on ect. and 's used for plurals.
The meaning comes through, but the writing doesn't shine. It's like a nice table with a big scratch on it. It works, but would you want to pay top dollar for it? We should always read what we write before we send it.
And another thing, misspellings in electronic records can make searching very difficult. Try finding Dr. Barnes if it's spelled Branes.

Schools don't seem to teach, or at least hold students accountable for grammar and usage. It looks very unprofessional to make the sort of errors one sees regularly............................though I suppose the good news is that other professions are seeing the same thing. Nursing probably doesn't look too bad by comparison.

Oh, well, I just read a biography of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark, and his spelling was inventive and chaotic to say the least. I guess our society is now going backwards to the frontier days when it comes to standardized language. I think it will be to the detriment of accurate communication.

rn/writer, RN · Jan 15, 2009

Schools don't seem to teach, or at least hold students accountable for grammar and usage. It looks very unprofessional to make the sort of errors one sees regularly............................though I suppose the good news is that other professions are seeing the same thing. Nursing probably doesn't look too bad by comparison.
Oh, well, I just read a biography of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark, and his spelling was inventive and chaotic to say the least. I guess our society is now going backwards to the frontier days when it comes to standardized language. I think it will be to the detriment of accurate communication.

Part of the difficulty is that the teachers are often little better than the students. I blame this, in part, on the touchy-feely kumbayah philosophy of education that doesn't want anyone to suffer the crushing blow of any kind of criticism.

I don't disagree with the practice of placing more importance on content than form in the early grades. This idea encourages kids to get their thoughts on paper phonetically without worrying too much about form--spelling, punctuation, etc. (NOT ect.!). Years ago there was overmuch emphasis on correct form to the point where some kids were so afraid of the harsh criticism their mistakes invoked that they avoided writing whenever possible. I understand the new approach had the goal of getting kids to fall in love with writing and waiting to shape their work until after that bond had been established.

Unfortunately, the second part of the plan didn't get anywhere near as much attention as the first. Criticism-free or -reduced writing met the kids where they were, but didn't take them any place beyond. The reasons for this are many--increased subject matter to cover, social issues, a general relaxation of rules and regulations--but the result has been an educational breakdown where far too many teachers are ill-equipped to express themselves well via the written word. They can't teach what they don't know (or value) themselves, and this results in crop after crop of college freshmen who need remedial help to achieve even the basics. And, believe me, text-message "English" has not helped!

It's human nature to try to diminish the importance of something you don't do well. If you can convince others that writing correctly doesn't matter all that much, then you take yourself off the hook. Except that there will always be those for whom such skills do matter, and no amount of dissing good usage will persuade them otherwise.

Language is dynamic and alive. Change is constant. We use words today that folks even twenty years ago wouldn't have understood. And usage adapts, as well. If that were not the case, we'd all still be speaking King James English and sound like Shakespeare. Forsooth! But change is better when it comes from creativity and not ignorance, from adaptation and not mere laziness.

On the positive side, cultural events like the Harry Potter phenomenon at least have kids reading again. Graphic novels (souped-up comics) appeal to a group not known for picking up books. And the tighter economy may motivate people to beef up their skills to develop an edge in a competetive market.

Your communication skills are a lot like the way you dress. The nice thing is that, unlike your wardrobe, it's inexpensive to improve your linguistic abilities. With a few minutes of work every day, someone with only T-shirt and jeans proficiency can lift themselves up to business suit flair and even tux or formal dazzle in a semester.

No matter what career a person chooses, the ability to speak and write well enhances the chances for success.

subee, MSN, CRNA · Jan 15, 2009

spelling can be very important, but like a co-worker of mine pointed out..if i wanted to spell evrything right i would have been an english major not a nurse.

when you have to communicate to other humans, sloppy spelling = sloppy person. because you didn't want to be an english major,

you should shouldn't have to learn to spell? a person who can't spell can't compete in an ever more competitive world. i'm sure i know wonderful people who are sloppy spellers, but i don't want to have to read their reports. its really bad when meds are missplelled. can't spell it? don't give it.

ambil · Jan 16, 2009

I think that spelling is very important. The problem sometimes is that I just don't have the time to check on all my mistakes. I have a double problem. I work in Germany and have to write in german:smackingf. I know as I'm writing that I'm making errors, but what can I do? I get the main point across, but I know that my grammer and word order and word usage are just miserable when I'm under time pressure. I kind of think that some of my co-workers think that maybe I'm not too smart also because my writing is at times so bad. It bothers me to have this stigma.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jan 16, 2009

I can't tell you how many times I was told by nursing students that they had already passed their English courses and that I should not penalize them for gramatical errors. Their essays "bled" with mechanical errors and most failed the few essay assignments due to lazy errors such as the computer spell check changing CNA to CAN. (C.N.A. doesn't cause this problem) I am not teaching right now but agree that college educated professionals should communicate in both oral and written forms proficiantly. How many times have you heard a nurse say "orientate?" This is not a word in the English language but I hear it all the time. I do believe that most errors in memos and e-mail are typographical in nature.

orientate, is indeed a word in the English language. As much as it may grate on your ears, and mine....lol

and there is a small subset of persons who have a discrete LD that is the inability to spell, has nothing to do with intellect....

JohnR,RN,CMSRN · Jan 17, 2009

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too cna yuo raed tihs? olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht i cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht i was rdanieg. the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at cmabrigde uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. the rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. azanmig huh? yaeh and i awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

AtomicWoman · Jan 17, 2009

truckerratt, that is a hoot. :) I have seen it before and yes, I can read the entire paragraph pretty quickly. That's because my mind (and probably a lot of other people's minds) looks for general patterns of words and can pick the word out even with a bunch of letters in the middle mixed-up. Of course, that doesn't make the writer of such gibberish look smart! LOL And of course, spelling errors could lead to mistakes.