Basic math

Exactly. It needs to be hyphenated, basic punctuation rules. [2008-09-09]
x

It's basic grammar punctuation. [2008-09-09]

Anyone good at math problems??? [2008-09-03]
I happened to get a 520-second ASR report followed by a 520-second regular straight transcription report. Both dictators were clear, so didn't have to slow down for either one and didn't have to stopto look anything up for either one. I decided to time myself to see exactly how much ASR increased my production.I see it did; however, the % is what I'm interested in.BTW, this was a way better than average ASR job, whichis a rarity really. Here are the specs: ASR report took 9 minutes Regular report took12 minutes What PERCENTAGE increase in productiondid the ASR report allow? There will be extra credit for this one!!!

but you can't do the math.... [2008-09-03]
....

It's still English; if I wanted to be rich, I'd use my BA in math [2008-09-03]
I enjoy transcription and don't want to be around distractions. I strive to do my best at is, as I would at any job. People with the attitude of just slopping through these reports have no business in this profession and give competent transcriptionists a bad reputation. No wonder we cannot get any respect with illiterates doing the job. If you want more money, do something else. If you can't work outside the home, quit complaining until you can. If you want to be a good medical transcriptionist, learn the English language. I'm tired of people complaining about how bad reports done by our Indian counterparts are when they don't have good grammar, spelling, or punctuation skills themselves.

use her BA in math -- nooooo - wrong answer [2008-09-03]
x

she should not be teaching math - she can't do it [2008-09-03]
x

i wouldn't want her to teach my kids math [2008-09-03]
x

Math [2008-09-03]
If something costs $12 and is reduced by 3 it is a 25% reduction. If something costs $9 and is increased by 3 it is a 33% increase.

math [2008-09-02]
Pride goes before the fall. Good luck.

math [2008-09-01]
Do the math. I average between 320 to 340 lines an hour at 9 cents a line. My PTO rate is $31.29. Lucky to work 99% of the time on one very busy account with no ASR for the last 6 years. I know my day is coming where ASR may hit--until then I have been stashing money away and hoping for the best.

I did the math - MQ lost 564 employees in last few [2008-08-05]
nm

Go to MQCentral, click on executive portal and it gives basic info on transactions. SM [2008-07-14]
Supposed to be finalized sometime in the 3rd quarter after regulatory approvals and certain conditions (legal jargon). However, somewhere it was reported that there was a suit filed to stop the sale. So, who really knows when things will really happen.

I did the math on this and if you worked...sm [2008-07-03]
your scheduled hours for full time that would put you at an average of less than 65 lines per hour. Are you sure you are working all your hours?

It actually kinda looks like you got overpaid if you do the math! nm [2008-06-26]
nm

My message to Dobbs was a basic overview...SM [2008-05-23]
of the fact that U.S. patient medical records are being outsourced overseas, and the need for medical professionals, as well as the general public, to be made aware of this. Quite honestly, I do not believe a large majority of doctors or the general public even know this is happening, particularly when it is so easy for a company to have a contact person, email addy, etc. that leads the client to believe they are U.S. based, when in fact all or most of the work is being sent overseas where the same laws do not exist.

More basic math [2008-05-14]
Are you not able to do a line count on your own? I don't have MQ TELLING me my production is higher - my line count per hour IS higher. No conspiracy required.

Basic math [2008-05-11]
Sometimes you guys just kill me. The company is providing a product that is based on a line per HOUR rate. If the company, through technology - NOT through less staff - can double the production in that hour why the heck wouldn't they offer a savings to their clients in a competitive market!? And before you whine about declining paychecks because of ASR, get a grip and learn how to proofread. The same MTs who struggle with audit issues and line count issues are the same MTs who never learned that it is not about the transcription - it is about your ability to proof your own work, and now to proof others. AND, before you complain about why you should have to proof other's work (i.e. ASR) please try and remember that medical transcription is a language art not well-performed by semi-trained monkeys with large vocabularies. You have to be able to grasp it, interpret it and set it down on paper using proper English, and you have to be able to proofread effectively. And yes, I am just a plain MT working for the Q, who treats me just fine as an employee.

How about basic reading comprehension? [2008-05-11]
I'm talking about MQ talking about both sides of their bottoms. They reduce YOUR pay (no, I'm not an MT) by claiming that your production is up some contrived percentage. They claim everything is then even steven - they pay you less but you produce more, so payroll essentially remains the same. Obviously, this is in direct contradiction to their claims of millions of dollars saved in 1 quarter on payroll due to ASR. My post was not claiming any of the whines you stated, so maybe you had best study up on your reading comprehension.

I do radiology and basic 4, but..... [2008-03-27]
with the way things are set up with MQ, you have to do one or the other. Radiology is a whole separate entity from the basic 4 and specialty clinics. I had a choice to make when the Rewards Plan (ha ha) began.

basic 4 [2008-03-27]
If you are including operative reports in the basic 4 then I disagree with you that radiology has a lot more anatomy and physiology. I have done acute care and radiology and in my experience ops have as much if not more A&P than radiology. Discharges, H&P's, etc., not so much, but ops are definitely more detailed like radiology, which is probably why most companies are making separate radiology teams and separate operative teams and leaving the rest of the acute care to everyone else.

basic dictating AND BASIC GRAMMAR...GIGO [2008-03-25]
x

I did the math. IF I was able to do [2008-03-21]
6000 lines this weekend (aint' gonna happen), it's a $30 bonus. I know it's better than nothing, but I'm not even gonna try to do more than usual. I'm plum tired out after this week!

Strange..I guess I would just check for standards and then verbatim with basic headings? [2008-01-28]
Would seem safe. Stacked vs paragraph etc. is not all that critical and Dr. sdgdvontadubablah who has 10 exceptions to everybody else's format can just well you know lol

If I'm doing the math right that is 5.25 an hour.. [2007-12-12]
Im just going by 1200 lines a day/8 hours.. I'm honestly not sure what min wage is now, but $5.25 an hour? I was making more than that 12 years ago, and right out of school!

Anyone els check out their MQ 401K yet? [2008-10-06]
I just did. As of last Friday, it dropped (let me do the math).....about 40%. And of course, the market did even worse today. This just stinks.

I remember those days! [2008-10-03]
The incentive bonuses were great and well worth working for, but also the regular monthly bonuses were fantastic too and you didn't need to have a degree in math to figure out. Just reaching a certain amount of lines per pay period was an automatic $30, plus $10 for every 1000 lines produced thereafter. It could really add up into a decent salary. Those bonuses were called quarterly bonuses I believe, paid every 3 months...and they always seemed to come in right on time. Those days are long gone to never return I'm sure, but it was wonderful while it lasted. Sad to say, my line rate was considerably lower then than it is now and my paycheck was still a lot higher back then.

I also do upwards of 1800 lines [2008-09-20]
Per day, which now is taking me 8 hours because I got 2 new accounts that it will probably take me weeks or months to get back to where I was, making $200 a day, now making about 30-40 a day less, big hit in my pocket especially at this time. In order to make any money on that bonus, my target is 6217!!!!!!, you do the math, divide that by 4, 2 of which are my days off, probably wouldn't make more than a couple cents. Yes, I think these people have way too much time on their hands making this s--t up! FYI, before I got these new accounts, I was doing well over 2000 lines a day in those 8 hours, no problemo.

It's an insult really [2008-09-19]
I hope they don't think we're dumb enough to get excited about their poor excuse for a bonus. I know they think they can kick us around, but do they honestly think we can't look at those numbers and do the math?

I found a bit more [2008-09-15]
I have a close family member who is a C.P.A. PhD and I wanted to check with her. I saved all the news articles, the lawsuit from the minority stockholders, everything I had. She also wants to see my last 401K statement. She has not had time to go over everything yet but she called me early this morning to give me her first thoughts on the subject. She said the same thing as you about the depression. She was not real happy with the bailout (in her opinion it was almost like telling a company go ahead, get as big as you like, make bad management decisions and the country will bail you out and tax the people), but she said if we didn't do it we would be in a depression today. Lehman filed 2 kinds of bankruptcy if I am recalling that correctly, they can continue to operate and have protection from the their creditors, on the other hand they can demand payment in full in ashort amount of time from those they have financed (Cbay Holdings). Those who owe Lehman money and can't make the deadline means we may be sold again. Like the bank/creditunionforeclosing your house or taking your car if you can't pay it off by the first of the month. This allows the lending institution liquid cash flow they very much need. This was just basic stuff she was telling me, off the top of her head from what I told her verbally. She will check into if further and let me know more. She didmy 401K for me (told me what to pick, etc.), at that time we talked about MQ Stock and I told her I wanted to buy the least amount possible (as they buy it for you whether you want it or not). She said the same thing as you also with the stocks. I will let you know when I find out more. I do recall reading in one of those news articles about the bankruptcy they were going to liquidate some of their holdings. I really do not know a great deal about the world of corporate finance you have much more knowledge in that than I do, but my own sense tells me this company is huge, and worth a lot of money I don't see them dissolving us into nothing, I think if Cbay Holdings would sell us off. Perhaps worst case would be to divide us in sections and sell us that way, MT division, technical division, research and development division, just a thought.

then quit whining and complaining... [2008-09-11]
That's not the voice of managment, but of simply reasoning. If you don't like your job and have a skill, then find a new one. Go to the job seekers board and apply, apply, apply. If the skill is there, the offers will come. Age is not a factor when home-based and shouldn't even be brought up as an excuse to stay doing the MT/QA work somewhere you hate it. When I decided to take on an additional MT job as an employee to suplement my IC income, I had multiple offers to pick and choose from in less than 2 weeks. All it takes is the experience and passing of the basic tests to move on to another job somewhere you'll like it. It's very easy to pick apart any job and rant and rave about the things you don't like. At least it's a job and that's a definite plus nowadays. All negativity does is breed more negativity. It doesn't change policies or procedures.

then quit whining and complaining... [2008-09-11]
That's not the voice of managment, but of simply reasoning. If you don't like your job and have a skill, then find a new one. Go to the job seekers board and apply, apply, apply. If the skill is there, the offers will come. Age is not a factor when home-based and shouldn't even be brought up as an excuse to stay doing the MT/QA work somewhere you hate it. When I decided to take on an additional MT job as an employee to suplement my IC income, I had multiple offers to pick and choose from in less than 2 weeks. All it takes is the experience and passing of the basic tests to move on to another job somewhere you'll like it. It's very easy to pick apart any job and rant and rave about the things you don't like. At least it's a job and that's a definite plus nowadays. All negativity does is breed more negativity. It doesn't change policies or procedures.

I agree about the AAMT....sm [2008-09-09]
This IS what they've done for us. They could not just leave something as simple as following the basic rules of English style and grammar we all learned in grade school and middle school alone and had to start making minor changes to when and where commas, apostrophes, etc., could be used that we all now question EVERYTHING, even the things that haven't changed one iota over the years. Some of it is preference and doesn't matter, but what does matter is that in some companies, these changes, based on QA's interpretation or the audit team's interpretation, can cost an MT a raise or, in some companies, even cost her penalties and loss in wages, not to mention the time spent verifying what method is preferred or fighting a QA feedback to avoid going below 98% accuracy. The other problem has been putting people in QA who have no clue about grammar or punctuation... and I personally believe that has been the biggest problem as they are basically giving feedback to new MTs who believe what they say to be the gospel truth! The blind leading the blind. I have had QA tell me nauseous is not a word and should be replaced with nauseated.... tell that to Mr. Webster. Another QA changed illicit to elicit and when I challenged it, I was told to chill out, that actually, ''they meant the same thing and were interchangable.'' HOLD ON! I went straight to the owner of the company at that point and told her that she needed to QA that QA person and sure enough, that QA was canned pronto. Both the owner and I wondered how many MTs had she given incorrect information to over the years she worked there, but they believed her and never questioned her because, after all, she was QA and was supposedly qualified and supposedly knew the correct way to do things... scary thought! BTW, this was not an MQ QA person. This was with the company I was with before MQ bought us and she was gone before MQ bought us, so it's no slam to any of you current QA gals/guys. In any case, yes, I do blame the AAMT for making minor changes over the years in whether or not to use commas, apostrophes, etc. I don't think they've ever changed any hyphen rules (for the sake of this thread), but regardless of that, the things they have changed over the years have raised huge questions for those of us old school transcriptionsts who have transcribed per basic English grammar and punctuation skills... and now everyone questions everything, even if it wasn't something that was changed in the first place. Shame on you AAMT or whatever your name is now. Like someone said earlier.... it wasn't broke, you didn't need to fix it. JMHO

Passing thru is correct, check Gregg Reference Manual...sm [2008-09-08]
My older Gregg's is Fifth Edition from 1951-1977 and says the same thing as BOS-2. Where did you train 10 years ago? Not to be mean, and not picking on you in particular, but I QA'd and mentored a lot of Career Step graduates 10-12 years ago and was not impressed by their English and grammar skills. I spent more time correcting basic 8th-grade English and grammar mistakes than difficult medical terminology with the CS grads. Again, I'm not flaming you, and I do believe that you were probably taught that in your training 10 years ago... I'm just saying that you were taught incorrectly. Not your fault, but the fault of the institution you attended.

bandersnatch [2008-09-03]
We have good skills. IT is when someone decides on preference rather than what is right or wrong that is the issue. You obviously have a lot of anger issues BanderSNATCH, maybe you should use your BA in math somewhere else. Medical terminology is the important issue here and there do not seem to be many issues with that, just petty commas, etc.

bandersnatch [2008-09-03]
School teachers do not impress you??? Where would you be now without them? You definitely have problems and the first is called ego. That said, if you are so perfect, you should be writing or teaching math. Why are you here with us?

math [2008-09-01]
Do the math. I average between 320 to 340 lines an hour at 9 cents a line. My PTO rate is $31.29. Lucky to work 99% of the time on one very busy account with no ASR for the last 6 years. I know my day is coming where ASR may hit--until then I have been stashing money away and hoping for the best.

It's your job [2008-08-27]
They are not telling youNOT to use canned text - they are reminding you that your job is totranscribed what you actually hear, not what you have in an expansion, so if you useexpansions to ensure that you edit it if necessary! Sometimes I think folks forget the basic job description, which is to accurately transcribedictation - from the horse's mouth, not your convenient short-cuts. (I DO NOT mean type what you hear, I mean use your critical thinking skills and client preferences to ensure the document is as accurate as possible.) As for ASR, having been a Transcriptionist for 30+ years and watched the evolution of speech recognition (which physicians are obsessed with) and the fact that it has not really developed or improved all that much in almost 20 years, it is not likely to change much. It is what it is - so, may I recommend a book to those of you who can't get over it and move on? It's called Who Moved my Cheese.

where do you get your information? [2008-08-25]
You can't collect unemployment when you're fired. You can only collect unemployment if you're given a lay-off or the company goes belly-up. There are also specifics to those situations as well, i.e. number of hours worked per week, length of time at the job. Each state has its own laws. Don't give out general information when you don't know enough about each individual's situation to comment. I hope you get caught soon doing your basic format and written up for it. Your suggestion is ridiculous.

That's actually incorrect....you have it backwards [2008-08-25]
I'm a paralegal for a labor lawyer, and you actually have it backwards. First of all, unemployment can be filed for by anyone, fired, quit, lay-off, etc. However, the employer can fight it if you quit and usually wins, meaning no unemployment, unless you can prove your reason for quitting was something pretty bad that your employer was subjecting you to. If you are fired, it's almost automatic that you collect unemployment, even, say, if you were stealing from the company or whatnot, because they basically look at firing as a through no fault of your own even if you did do something bad or wrong that got you fired. And, yes, every state is different, but these are basic rules set up by the DoL which are followed by every state and then adapted in their own manner. So, speaking ofgeneral information being given out, which are you, the kettle or the pot?

importing our own standards into C+E [2008-08-25]
I saved the post that addressed saving our Expanders (tp = the patient, etc.), but I mistook it for our own sample reports. The facility I type for has tons of standard reports but not one given to us, so I'd like to make my own, or at least basic shell reports. Did I miss how to do that somewhere? I already know MQ says not to do it. They aren't paying me to look up the same stuff over and over for chronic mumblers, and do nothing about bad soundfiles, etc. If and until they do, I'd appreciate some help if someone knows why I have been unable to do this. It goes without saying that I'm (well, all of us) smart enough to make sure each one is original. Thanks in advance!

This is what I do... [2008-08-25]
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for as far as answers go, but what I do is take a completed report, remove all the patient-specific information and keep the things that would be considered normals in there, and add stop codes under the headings so I can move quicker through it. Then I highlight the entire report, Ctrl. E and put it under that doctor's name. That way, when I get that doctor again I have a basic standard for them and can go from there. I also have a basic expansion for ER reports since they are almost always the same format as far as headings so, and that way I can add/remove headings and jump between them easily. Just out of curiosity, why would MQ frown upon us doing something like that (if that is what you meant they do not like)..it's the same as using an expansion and as long as you are still making sure you are typing what the doctor says, I don't see any reason why we can't do that.

Waaaay back when I started [2008-08-22]
I did use to write down the words I had to look up and would study them. I still write down oddball stuff I come across on a tablet and when I hear it again, I know I have it written down somewhere. Learning the meanings of the words does help you to use the correct one and learning the basic uses for the drugs is also helpful. I use Google a LOT, even putting in phonetic spellings with a string of key words and it will often come up with the right thing. Like if it sounds like an anti-rejection drug for heart transplant, I will Google the medication phonetically followed by the words medication heart transplant. For the ASR part, the best thing is to be a fast reader. I'm often reading ahead and fixing things while the dictator is stumbling around. I have to listen when they get to that portion to make sure I have it right, but it goes a LOT faster. Good luck to you.

what we are worth [2008-08-21]
Can we elect a Democrat now please? This is just all basic economics 101 and globalization. This has nothing to do with what we are worth. We are fine. We speak English as our first language. We out produce the outsourcers who are working in another language. Could you work in another language? No. Neither can they. Not as fast anyway. We are going to be okay.

how just had my eyes opened [2008-08-21]
I know exactly how you feel. A long time ago I worked for Kelly Services in the secretarial capacity and they put me in a job as an MT. I told them I had no medical experience, but they said they needed someone so bad they would take me. Well, I lasted 1 day. I was so frustrated. The MT I was working for said she did not mind all my questions (and there were tons), but I just did not feel right about it. I have been to school since then and boy did I have to study like mad to learn everything. I had lunch with a couple of old friends a few years ago and they were interested in my profession (now as an MT). One of them said she would like to do it when she retires part time, maybe take summers off. She had no MT experience and gosh, maybe she can learn on the job and just work when she wants to. I consider myself a professional. I transcribe for a doctor that when he wants something changed or added he says secretary go back to where I said ... I want to reach through my headset and rip his face off. We are not secretaries. We are highly skilled. I only do radiology, but I have the highest respect for those of you who can type the basic 4. I really do not know how you do it! Any of you with a few years under your belt should be making top dollar. I have a friend I call once in a while when I am stumped and she does not hesitate, she knows the word or drug I need right now.

Slowly edging toward the door [2008-08-21]
Craig's List is where I found a computer. Dell. Older model. 30 gigs memory. Got it for $125. Have to upgrade the RAM, that's another $50 (E-Bay). Probably will have to end up getting a word expander. I took the test for another job on the new computer the other day.I got the call I'm hired today. Start in a couple of weeks. I haven't given my notice yet, but will soon.Gonna plug this new 1 gigibit ofRAM into the machine so I know it's going to work, and then happy day. I don'texpectMedquist to react or ask why. I think they're so out of touch, reactionfrom the clueless isnot to be expected. Since my pay has been cut by the ASR (which is a joke), it's a lateral move. But with Medquist's management style, it's a no brainer. The fact is, Medquist just is not competitive any more. And I represent significant company assets. I'm trained across the board, Basic 4, radiology, every single specialty, and I know what the doctors are trying to say even when they mispronounce it or spell it wrong. I change their left back to right when that's what it supposed to be. I'ma one MT microcosm of their whole work force, and I will tell you Medquist, you are heading down the tubes, and you don't have a clue. You're more interested in enforcing time clock rules and guard dogging your computer which is in my home and uses my internet at my expense, and I'm going to be so glad to be rid of you. So, if it's a financial problem, check Craig's List. There are good computers there for next to nothing. And there are a lot of fine companies that will treat you better, less like a number, who know you have knowledge, and just because part of your job involves typing, they know you're more than a typist. I pity the poor Medquist investors. But on the other hand, they could have read the posts here and seen the writing on the wall.

Please tell me you're kidding, right? [2008-08-19]
Do you even know what QA is or means? Its Quality Assurance specialist. All we do are find and fix errors, and fill in blanks. Please get a grasp or understanding of basic jobs in the MT field. There are MTs, who transcribe or edit VR, there are QA specialists who proofread MT work and ASSURE quality, i.e. find errors, and supervisors, who oversee either MTs, QA, or both. Yes, QA gets paid to find errors - your errors, my errors, anybody's errors. Honestly.

My pay was much better on MTShell - sm [2008-08-15]
Even with having to toggle back and forth between DOS and Windows and having to manually input all of the ADT info, I worked much faster. I had a bunch of accounts in smaller areas of the country, where the docs actually seemed to have the time to dictate, and they were great. Unfortunately, when MQ went to DQS none of these acconts had the want or the bucks to change their systems. I suppose I've been luckier than most because I've pretty much settled into 3 accounts, but I'll be honest and tell y'all that my primary is a cesspool account that ASR just butchers worse than the who are attempting to speak English do! And what is this crap about needing an AA degree? I never even got a certificate from the rinky-dink school I went to. Other than basic anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology, everything I've learned has been in the trenches over the past 15 years, for which I get paid $0.05 a line more than I did when I started - when I'm doing straight transcription that is. Grrrrrrrrr

I have been with MQ for years...sm [2008-08-14]
and have no trouble saving expansions. The basic concept is really about the same with most of these programs, save a phrase with characters you can easily remember so that when you type these characters, your phrase will be inserted. From what I have seen, some of the programs can get expensive and take quite a bit of time to set up. The DQS expansion program is really not too bad if used correctly, and it is free! As far as losing your expansions, maybe you are not completely saving them. I learned this the hard way after losing several expansions myself! 1. Highlight entire phrase, whether it is two words ora whole page. 2. Hit control E. 3. Type in the replace box what you want to call your phrase, ex: bid for b.i.d., tpwaf for the patient was admitted for, etc. 4. Hit Alt A for add. 5. VERY IMPORTANT: Hit Alt C to close or click on close. Do not hit esc orthe red x on the expansion box.If you do not close the expansion box like this, sometimes it will not save the expansion. Try this, and then if you still want topurchase an expansion program, go to the websites of the different ones andcheck them out. I decided to stick with DQS as it works for me and I have thousands of expansions. I have never had a problem withit getting too full, and I have a lot of repetitive expansions such as tpwa, tpwaf, tpwat, tpwao, all for the patient wasadmitted for, to, on, etc. and even whole report expansions for dictators who say the same thing over and over. The thing about using these expansions is you must really pay attention to what the dictator is saying. You can't leave in paragraphs if they don't say them, that was the problem with MTs using these. I am not telling anybody to use these or not use these, just letting you know why it was suggested not to use them. Hope this helps!

Another thing... [2008-08-12]
Not sure if you already have a laptop or not but if you don't there is no need to buy one brand new. I bought a used one for $300 - just took in the requirements page from the Docuscribe handbook and told them what I needed. It's pretty much basic computer requirements and nothing special other than XP which is easier to find on a used PC than a new one. I could not find one new PC with XP and I can't stand Vista so I went with the used.