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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

I left due to the poor sound quality. I don't know if it was just my

Posted By: me on 2008-09-23
In Reply to: First Choice Medical - recent? - Jen1

account or what, but I couldn't make lines and was stressed out.  I was told that they were going to upgrade their system within the year.  I don't know if that has happened and if it made a difference if it did. 


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Horrendous dictators, poor sound quality, system
not user friendly, management issues, pay not on time, many complaints over line counting.  MTs who have asked for and no heeded advice have come back to apologize because everything that has been said repeatedly was true. 
They offshore, sound quality not great, quality
of work coming back from India is bad and they don't pay enough for editing it. 
Are you sure the sound quality was the platform and not your sound card? Also, I don't know of ma

services that pay "down time" if the platform is inoperational.  ALL software has its share of problems.  It's the nature of the business.  When you were hired, did you sign a contract accepting the terms regarding PTO?  If so, what could you possibly complain about since you did, afterall, sign the agreement?  Did you have a good relationship with your QA Editor/Team Leader that you could ask questions about account specifics?


My understanding of the VR is that it has been in development for a number of years not to be released until the fine tuning was complete.  It would seem to me, and I am in no way affiliated with Transcend, that provided that VR is good then earning a line rate as an Editor would be beneficial, if that's how Transcend is planning to compensate.


All in all, I would say that if anyone is interested in working for Transcend or any service for that matter, make sure to ask the services Recruiter specific questions.  If what you're hearing sounds good and makes sense, go for it.  If what your'e hearing is not all that you thought it would be, move on.  However, you MUST take what you read on forums boards with a grain of salt.  While some posts regarding various services may be legitimate, others may not be.


Good Luck!


MT Manners


It is usually the ones with poor quality most likely.
x
If I had been fired for poor quality...sm
I certainly would have never gotten on the board and blamed the MTSO.   I'm not sure what this person expected.  We all make mistakes, but when we are called down for them (again and again) we should own them and fix them.  Until an MT can do that, she will never reach her  full potential. And... while we ALL go through some awful times in our lives, we must remember that the medical records we are typing also represent others who are experiencing misfortunes as well.   
Whose fault is poor quality?

And, why do we keep hearing that the welfare of the patient is a top priority?


I took the time to point out some errors in reports.  It seemed to me that the facility did not care about the body of the report.  The only part they seemed to care about was the demographic information, usually in the header, and the carbon copy designations, usually in the footer.  This was because their automated filing system did not work properly if the header was not correct.  Otherwise, they never even required the physicians to review and sign the reports.  So, how can it be said that they cared about the patient?  I truly believe that the patient's welfare was far down on their lists of priorities.  What really seemed to matter was getting the billing process correct and getting the reports on the chart in order to comply with privacy and JCAHO requirements.


I also continue to believe that, if facilities cared about the welfare of the patients, bad dictators would be required to improve or not allowed to dictate at all.


 


The quality of the Indian work is so poor, sm
that the company will eventually lose the accounts, thereby the US MTs lose even more work!!

As soon as a company offshores, it creates its own doom. (A chink in the armor, so to speak.) It will eventually come back and bite the company where it hurts--unfortunately, it's the US MTs who get hurt the most.

Offshoring is putting US MTs out of work, plain and simple.

When you've been around this business a little longer, you'll understand.

As to your generalizations about American MTs and poor quality, sm
Do NOT include ME.  I do ALL work types, work ANY shift, work ANY day and EVERY day, I transcribe whatever I get.  I am not a radiology or ops-only snob.  I bet I can transcribe circles around you and all your silly little QA friends and I can transcribe circles around the Indians.  There is NEVER a place for anyone but Americans to have American jobs and never will be. 
Sick and tired of poor audio quality (sm)

that seems to get worse and worse as the days go by?  Remember when we were told that switching from tapes to digital would make all the difference in the world with regard to clarity and our production?   Remember when we were paid more and had plenty of work?  Remember when there was no working on Sundays or holidays? 


Why is EVERYTHING MT going to the dumpster?


Why do these MTSOs accept reports dictated on cell phones?  Can't they write in their contracts that cell phone dictation is not clear and it can also be intercepted by others and therefore unacceptable?  Why don't the QA personnel who read our flagged comments about awful audio pass this information on to the client so that it can be fixed?  It's getting worse and worse.


Back in the days when I had my own accounts, one of my dictators asked me to please tell him as soon as his equipment malfunctioned (in those days, it was batteries running low or a tape that needed to be tossed and replaced).  He said there was no need for the MT to suffer with poor audio reports when there is a simple fix.  So, what's the difference here when the idiots dictate on cell phones?  Or there is a hospital phone with a short in it?  Why can't these things be fixed?   


My plea:  If you are a QA person or MTSO getting repeated complaints about specific dictators' dictations being garbled or unclear, won't you please notify, and keep notifying the client until they are brought up to par.  How about sticking up for the MTs for a change rather than protecting the client all the time!?  In the end you are protecting everyone, including the poor patients whose reports are being dictated and transcribed. 


I'm tired of MTs taking all the blame for this industry's downfall.  If MTSOs and clients demand 2-hour turn-around time, how about improving the technology to make your unending demands more attainable?  It's 2006.  There is no excuse for the garbage I have to listen to day after day.  No excuse at all. 


 


You would be surprised how many MTs with 10, 15, 20 years of experience put out poor quality. sm
Unfortunately, based on this, testing saves everyone a lot of headache down the road. The company I used to work for did not test and they would go through the hassle of getting IDs, training the person, etc just find that they did not know the difference between an elbow and a knee :)
They don't give a hoot - they'll take the poor quality for less money.
It is clear nobody is held responsible for poor quality medical transcription - do you often hear of lawsuits for errors on dictated reports? How about JCAHO failing a facility for errors on reports? Rare. And as an auditor I have seen what gets through. Either nobody checks or nobody cares. Part of the problem with MT rates. Very unfortunate.
Anyone presently working for DSG that can tell me do you have work and is the sound still so poor
or is that in DSG 2.  Would appreciate hearing from current people working there.
Sound quality
The sound is great. That has been resolved and it was not the system but the phone lines from the facilities. No need for technical support, but I have never had any problems reaching someone and had an immediate response.
Sound quality
I was wondering about the sound quality.  Have you found it to be pretty good?  TIA!
Sound quality
Never had a problem either. Everybody perceives things differently. Best thing to do is check them out for yourself.
DSG sound quality
Is anyone else getting tired of the horrible sound quality with this company???  If it's not some nightmare ESL dictator, then it's a doc with the microphone pushed up to his lips so hard that it's nothing but static or slurring his words so badly that it sounds like he's half drunk!!!  Aggghhh!!!  Just had to vent. 
sound quality
I'll bet you are using Transcriptionist headphones. Lousy sound quality always. Got myself some cheap stero headphones from Big Lots and only have to change to my Aiwa sound cancelling headphones on rare occasions. The worst cheap stereo headphones are better quality than anything that goes in your ears, stethoscope headphones are the very worst.
DSG sound quality . . .
I always thought the same thing when I worked there years back, but management made me feel like it was all me . . . that it was impossible to have a difference from account to account or day to day. Sounds like same thing, different day.
P.S. - Sound Quality Sucks!!
I, too, found that the quality of their sound files were awful!! and that's being nice!!  They all sound like they are talking with the phone down their shirt, in their mouth, etc., and that's every account!!  I don't know what kind of filters, if they use any, that they use, but they need better sound quality to get quality reports!!
Yes, the sound quality is definitely the platform.

Over the past few months they have had post after post on their own company board regarding the bad sound quality and all the problems the VR software has been having.  They rolled out this platform WAY before it was ready and expect the MLSs to just deal with the problems while they "work" on them.  These same problems have been going on for months.  So yes, while we agreed to terms on PTO, we only earn so much PTO per pay period, which is not even close to the amount of time lost due to the technical problems.  It is one thing to accept employment and realize that the company doesn't pay for downtime, but any reasonable person would assume that the downtime would be short-lived.  Not months and months as this has been.


The sound quality issue...

There is one account that the voice is uploaded from another system and it's only the voice files dictated on 2 specific ports there, not all of their dictation.  The company is working to get the problem resolved with the client presently.  I'm holding out because overall I don't think the company is bad. 


Transcendite MT


some of the sound quality is horrific -
However, I truly believe that is due to the way the dictators are using their handhelds since many feel the need to scream into the receiver and distort the sound or speak just above a whisper, so that you cannot type and hear them at the same time (beware of the ones who alternately scream and whisper!) I have been on this platform for years, so I know it is not a platform issue - it is a dictator issue that they refuse to address. Other than that the company seems okay.
The sound quality is terrible with FC. nm
x
yes, sound quality is excellent. nm
;
How is the sound quality at WebMedX? nm
 
Wonderful sound quality
:)
Obviously, others have passed so it must have just been me, sound quality, I am not sure.
I went over and over it but I just did not hear what they docked me for. Maybe, I am going deaf. Please give it a try and let me know how it turns out. It really could be that I just stunk. I was schocked though. I thought I did well.
horrible sound quality.....
and they tried to blame it on my equipment!  Also agree with lack of communication and horrible ESLs.  I'd look elsewhere if I were you.
Transcend sound quality
Do any of you who work at Transcend feel that the audio quality of their dictations sucks?  I work for another company who uses Editscript and their dictation is soooo much clearer that I have no problems hearing the docs.  With Transcend, their audio is so grainy and muffled.  I am having the hardest time hearing what the dictators are saying. 
The sound quality wasn't so bad
I wasn't able to use my foot pedal, but it does allow you to pause, back up and restart, but with the mouse.

There were a couple of dictations where the dictator mumbled, and I just put a blank, figuring they were checking to see if I would flag or guess.

I have always plugged my headset into speakers with volume adjustment. I can never get decent sound quality with just plugging into the computer, no matter what the software is. That has been my experience.

sound quality with lanier?
I've only done internet accounts with mdi but have been told by a couple of other MDI-MTs that their experience with Lanier accounts wasn't so great, mostly because their sound quality was very poor with the machines, some of which are rather old. Do you ever have that problem?
Sound quality and now, no work
I just love it when I get up early to work my required sch'd hours and see 0 reports on all my accounts. The DQS system had horrible sound quality even when I worked at MedQuist, so I don't believe it's much to do with any given company but more due to the platform of choice.
Ok, what I see are the same IP ranges for some of these posts where sound quality is
concerned.  The same poster claimed that the services VR was released too soon, yet another poster says they are making good money.  Someone isn't being fair and it's the person posting the same thing more than once. 
Gotta butt in here! Yes, the sound quality
is poor and it is the platform. I too left Transcend with the sound one issue.

I work as an IC also and the sound was excellent on my other accounts. So, it was not the sound card.

You have no affiliation with this company, so why would you even comment. The experiences of these MTs is real. I know, I've been there.

Also, what you are recruited for is not always what you get - been down that road with them also.

Very bad experience with that company and will never go back, ever!
I believe First Choice and JLG, but Voicewave sound quality is not so hot.
x
Your/re lucky. I have 100% ESL, the worst sound quality I have ever
heard in my life, and the BeyondTxt is horrible. Hope the programmers never put that they worked on it on their resume or they will never get another job. I am quitting without notice because I only get about 50 lines an hour on a good day.
Anyone currently with MDI-Fla. that can comment on the sound quality using ExText? nm
s
I didn't. Sound quality problems. nm
s
Sound quality depends on card too sm
Dictaphone Extext usually comes across with very good sound quality, but if you're using your own PC and have the basic sound card that comes in most PCs (unless you opted for the bells and whistles when buying) then that could be the problem.  We spend more for lots of memory and disk space but high-end sound cards need to be included, too. 
I agree! Have been saying for years the sound quality is bad.
p
Me too. Miss C-phone. Sound quality MUCH better. nm
x
I very RARELY have any sound quality issues
x
Years ago, sound quality was HORRIBLE...sm
still in contact with a few MT friends there and nothing has changed.  I wonder why they always had such poor, muffled sound quality? 
Testing sound quality has nothing to do with the actual sm
sound quality you get when you work there.  Trust me, the sound quality is absolutely horrible.  You struggle to hear every single report.
I work for DSG now and the sound quality is just fine sm
now that they are not doing MQ subcontracting.

However, I'm wondering why they are hiring. Of course all companies want their reports back in the right TAT but why do they always have to over hire? I am sure they want weekend and night coverage. That's a problem I think with any company. Even at MQ we are being asked to change our working hours to afternoon, evenings and weekends.
Can anyone comment on the sound quality and JLG and work availability? nm
,
FWIT, QT Medical sound quality is excellent.
x
It was archaic before it was even written. Sound quality is horrible,
all static and scratches.  Full of glitches.  System is alway broken down.  It is definitely not streamlined and was probably written for 1990 era transcription.  Line counts are bad, you do not get paid for anything in templates.  It is typical of what Transcend will shove down your throat and try to convince you is wonderful, just like they think 4 cpl for editing that garbage is a big deal. 
Why don't these companies realize that good sound quality is

essential for transcribing.  If the big bosses had to listen to the scratches and static for hours on end, day after day, maybe this wouldn't happen, but most of them don't even know what a foot pedal and headset are.  I find that the sound quality from the internet files are far worse than anything I ever encountered on DVI, C-phone, or Lanier systems telephone systems. 


Only good thing I have heard lately is that a friend of mine, also an MT recently filed for disability based on hearing loss and/or inability to hear the files that she was required to do and won the case for total disability.  She does have some hearing loss, but when she took her computer to the hearing and dialed in and had the adjudicator listen, there was no question that she would never be able to continue in this line of work.  Maybe a few more workman comp cases would wake them up. 


 


I like ChartMatrix. Sound quality is fine. Not sure what problems they used to have...sm
but things are working fine for me.
Post from 2 yrs ago said very bad sound quality, low pay, & very difficult dictators. nm
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