Wow that was incredible nm

You don't know what an incredible relief if it is [2008-09-21]
to read this and know I have a part-time job elsewhere. Yes I'm still part-time with MQ but at least I know if I get canned, my kids still won't go completely hungry. Don't trust 'em.

Wow that was incredible - nm [2008-05-12]

I find it incredible that with all the software [2007-10-03]
Seems like they could have figured some other way other than assigning critical error to benign blanks. Even if no point value is assessed, it is a little demeaning and not pleasant to see the red there... I wonder if they realize our hearts do beat...

Go to QNet - MT/ME - MT Week and register for incredible giveaways!! [2006-05-15]
!!!

I agree. Some MTs and QA have incredible ears [2006-03-30]
for different dialects and/or accents. Its a gift, and one that has usually been developed thru years and years of sweat and listening over and over and over to perfect the skill. Also, many in QA spend the $$ on expensive head phones. Sometimes the difference in audio quality is amazing. I love it when I can QA a report full of blanks from a hard ESL doc, and put the finishing touches, so to speak on the document. I feel that I am doing it FOR the MT - we are a team, and that's the way it should be. Yet, sadly, not many MTs look at us that way - QA is the enemy. We do this for hundreds of reports a day, and generally the only emails we get are nasty. I doubt any of us are looking for gratitude or recognition from the MTs, butI for one never ever expected the nasty comments when I can hear something that the MTs could not. I have received hate mail at times, and it really hurts. Most of us in QA have received such stuff, and then the other nice MTs wonder why they don't hear from us often. So, yes, ESLs and hearing them starts off as a gift or talent, which then we develop further over years of work, and a great set of head phones doesn't hurt!

not going to help the incredible lazy-so there....SM [2006-03-04]

The incredible shrinking bonuses... [2005-11-17]
Here's an interesting (and depressing) development: We used to get $3 extra per report (radiology) transcribed outside our normal shift when out of TAT - today we were informed of a whopping 25 CENT bonus...yes, 25 cents. Wow! Talk about inflation! What in the world is MQ thinking??? I feel like a little kid being punished or something. grrrrrrr...

Well, this is incredible! I truly admire your work ethic.. please see my message [2005-11-01]
And I applaud you for your integrity regarding MTing. I can only hope to one day be as great as you are in this area. Wow! Good job! I personally have 3 boys and my house is pretty chaotic 99% of the time, so I do not foresee obtaining many of the habits you currently have, but maybe one day I will be able to do that! Congratulations!!

I am just not sure how productive your [2008-11-30]
line of thinking is, and I don't follow it, frankly. You wish and hope for what goes around to come around. I guess that means you wish ill fortune for the suits. Well, to wish them bad karma is basically doing yourselves in as well. If they go down, so will the company. There is also this incredible persisting naivety amongst MQ MTs that somehow management has no clue of how their policy changes or pay scales or whatever negatively impacts the MTs. The MQ MTs just keep persisting with this line of thought, thus thinking that somehow they just have to communicate the negative impact with management, via this forum or email or MT questions, and mgmt will see the error of their ways and fix things. This is just such a waste of what little time anyone has - management does everything for a reason and after much deliberation and an opinion vote. They are doing these things on purpose to all MQ MTs and, yes, they do have their plans. To think that they are just blindly making these decisions, as they have for years now, is just beyond denial at this point. As for how I have no idea what individuals reasons are for staying, or their situations, well, my posts are to the legion MQ MTs on this forum who are claiming absolute disaster at this point = no work, minimum wage, losing bennies, etc. How much longer are those in these dire straits going to hang on here? If their financial lives are in jeopardy, then they have no time. That is what I wish to stress. MQ management knows full well what they are doing - their plans might be counter to your wishes, but they know and are 100% in charge and control. Please don't fool yourselves into thinking they just need to hear your plights. They know your plights and created them and will continue to do so.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Find out what it means to me! [2008-11-19]
Okay, I've been thinking about this for a few years. When you tell your doctor that you do medical transcription, he looks at you with scorn and tells you how he's doing his own transcription in an attempt to save money - like your profession is taking bread off his table. When you tell an employment agency that you do transcription, they smirk at you, that's a dead profession, no one does it anymore, and we can't place you anywhere - you actually found a job doing that? When you tell your friends and family that you do transcription they look right through you, as if you are home stuffing envelopes for a living. I have always been proud of my profession, made pretty good money, worked my own hours, etc. But now even my employer is demeaning my work - my pay has been cut in so many ways from ASR training with no pay to doing administrative stuff (time cards, health insurance, email, talking to my supervisor, etc) on my own time. I also pay my high speed internet, electricity, and provide a space in my home for all my equipment. I put up with being called at all hours to work and also with being flexed, working weekends and evenings because there is no work on my regular shift. I beg like a puppy for holidays and summer vacation. I haven't gotten a raise in forever, was cut to doing editing - not really given a choice - and now my pay has been cut another 10% with little to no notice and certainly no discussion. Hey, isn't this a great profession to be in!! I feel sorry for all those newbies who actually paid an incredible amount of money for school and now have been thrown into this with promises of making a decent living. This is no way to live.

Does anyone else ever feel paranoid about ASR [2008-11-05]
I honestly feel like some days there is somebody sitting up there messing with the controls and laughing their head off at my distress. I just don't understand it. Why would something be working right one day (like yesterday for example was an awesomely incredible day) and thentoday, every single ASR report I got was messed up to high Heaven...and I'm talking about the smoothestspeaking, like silk, dictator there is. I had to make so many corrections on each report, I finally ended up turning on the overtype key and typing. I know its our job as an Editor to ensure a good quality report and the little things like leaving out a word such as an, a, the, is no big deal. The other stuff though is absolutely ridiculous. An all-caps NO KNOWN DRUG ALLERGIES when its not supposed to be for my account; first letter capping a service like Oncology-Hematology when its not supposed to be for my account. I won't even get into the medication list. The list goes on and on and on. Half of what I had today either missed something altogether or put in entire sentences and in one case an entire paragraph that was not even dictated and made no sense in the context of what was said. I was planning to work extra tonight because my account has a high backlog, but I just couldn't take any more. I was so frazzled. Its almost like, since I had such day yesterday, somebody somewhere said, okay, she's having too much fun and actually making a little money, let's mess with her.

Does anyone else ever feel paranoid about ASR [2008-11-05]
I honestly feel like some days there is somebody sitting up there messing with the controls and laughing their head off at my distress. I just don't understand it. Why would something be working right one day (like yesterday for example was an awesomely incredible day) and thentoday, every single ASR report I got was messed up to high Heaven...and I'm talking about the smoothestspeaking, like silk, dictator there is. I had to make so many corrections on each report, I finally ended up turning on the overtype key and typing. I know its our job as an Editor to ensure a good quality report and the little things like leaving out a word such as an, a, the, is no big deal. The other stuff though is absolutely ridiculous. An all-caps NO KNOWN DRUG ALLERGIES when its not supposed to be for my account; first letter capping a service like Oncology-Hematology when its not supposed to be for my account. I won't even get into the medication list. The list goes on and on and on. Half of what I had today either missed something altogether or put in entire sentences and in one case an entire paragraph that was not even dictated and made no sense in the context of what was said. I was planning to work extra tonight because my account has a high backlog, but I just couldn't take any more. I was so frazzled. Its almost like, since I had such day yesterday, somebody somewhere said, okay, she's having too much fun and actually making a little money, let's mess with her. Anybody else ever feel this way?

tired of it all, too sm [2008-10-17]
Agree with your post whole heartedly. Been with the Q nearly 10 years and my patience is worn way past thin, especially with this latest B.S. they've pulled. It's incredible the way they treat their employees and get away with it. The first 7 years with them were good, then ASR came along and it's pretty much been downhill from there. I've really, really hung in there hoping things would improve (like to be optimistic), but I clearly see the writing on the wall and it isn't good. Time to move on to a company that will treat you like a person and not a number or a machine.

What? [2008-09-24]
1. Who says Indians cannot hear any better than Americans? 2. ASR is just a machine; it is the Editor's responsibility to ensure it is accurate. The accountability lies with us! 3. This is no different than any other mistakes made by MTs...whether American or Indian or otherwise! You really sound racist and discriminatory, judging all Indians based on their race. Fact is there are pitiful MTs, so-so MTs, good MTs, great MTs and incredible super-MTs and being American or Indian or any other race has nothing to do with it. Fact is there are mistakes made in transcription and just because it is made by a machine doesn't make it any different than one made by a human being.

e-time [2008-08-13]
I've always done it the way MQ requires. I actually never thought of doing it any other way (I guess I'm either too lazy or too stupid to be a crook!). A friend of mine who works for another MTSO does this and with their blessing. That co. doesn't care as long as they get their work, etc. She used to work for the Q, got fired for abandoning a job (which she truly never did), returned to this MTSO, and has never looked back. They never call her on her off hours or bother her, period. But they've been incredible to her over a few other unexpected things.

I agree with this post.. [2008-08-04]
That is an incredible story of mistranscription with nothing being done about it. Perhaps when the lawsuits start taking some of the savings they are getting on outsourced work, the hospitals/clinics will see the light and bring it back home where it belongs. It is very sad to see the state of affairs across the board in this country due to outsourcing of everything, it seems. A modicum of CEOs and MBAs have systematically destroyed this county from sheer greed. I am sure they will have enough money to take care of their extended families but the rest of us will have to be inventive in our own survival.

I'm going to go against the grain (sm) [2008-06-28]
When I get a report like that and it's all crap, I just go through once, type the English I hear real fast and blank everything else real fast through the whole report. Now if I understand the ESL person better at the end of the report, I go back once real fast and fill in. However, if I don't, I send it off to QA. I do not mess around. QA gets paid hourly. I get paid production. I am entirely not interested in working for free. Stressing over the blanks and attempting to fill them in may make me feel better as a good employee, but it isn't paying any money and in the end I am happier over a higher paycheck than I am about feeling I really did an incredible job. Feelings don't pay the bills.

Our English problem ... [2008-05-25]
Unfortunately, our educational system most likely does not compete when compared to India when it comes to English, grammar and the like. Our primary language is no longer *English* here in the US .. it's American. I see errors all over the place in the media. We should initiate Latin back into our schools. I think the one year I had was what helped me more than anything else. It was the reason I was given my first transcription position back when we did it on a typewriter. I have read many blogs from friends and just browsing which have been written by Indians and they have an incredible gift for the English language. I did look over an outsourcing company (don't remember who) a year or so ago and noticed a difference in the training. They even teach American slang! Bottom line is ~ why didn't these companies develop things other than a bunch of schools to develop a slave pool .. like happy, productive, confident transcriptionists .. they could have improved their business reputations quite well? Last year I was with Spheris for 3 months doing VRE. I realized right away we were training their program for them. The reports could have been typed much faster first go for the most part. Then there was the hierarchy of people checking reports and supervising .. rather overwhelming. I didn't really know about outsourcing before that. I'm wondering with the low rate an MT is mostly offered, what exactly is paid for this service .. what does the hospital bill look like?

UCSF [2008-05-24]
This is the case that involved UCSF in San Francisco and caused an incredible scandal.

gave notice yesterday - MQ got their wish [2008-05-02]
I kind of think they wanted me gone. Well they got what they wanted. My new opportunity isn't all I had hoped it would be but I just can't allow myself to keep getting jerked around the way I have been for the last few years, the incredible shrinking paycheck and all that. I'll be around for a couple more weeks and then I'll be gone. And I know I could try to wade through QNET but it's probably just quicker to ask here, how long will my insurance remain in effect? Thank you.

read this! [2008-04-28]
Jobvent site was mentioned here the other day. Nothing was on there about MQ until today, mmm... here it is: 04/28/2008: Medquist consistently pays much higher than any other MT company for ASR work. All other companies pay 50% of the MT base rate or a set rate lower than that while MQ pays 70% of the MT base rate. There are monthly bonuses, special incentives, shift differentials and overtime to earn more money. Discount purchase program for discounts on books/resources and then pay it out from your paycheck at a low payment. PTO is paid at what you actually averaged the previous 6 months in total pay - if you earned $25/hour average, you get paid $25/hour for PTO. Generous PTO for full-timers. Has 2 different part-time positions. Offers 24/7 technical support and equipment at no charge to the MT. Classes for ASR can be taken as often as you need. Policies are readily available and HR contacts are available. Each MT is assigned to a Supervisor and a Quality Knowledge Leader who mentors the MT and answers all client questions. There is an e-mail support box for MTs, specifically. MT Week is a huge celebration each year with incredible prizes daily. I would definitely say that if you're experienced and interested in high production pay on your check, try it. If you're not good at MT work or new, I'd say skip it and learn inhouse first.

To the author of the Open Letter to MQ (SM) [2008-03-06]
I would like to have your permission to put this letter to paper and actually mail it to the head honchos. You've done an incredible job expressing how so many of us feel and I want to make sure they actually see it and read it. Several have already contacted me and want to put their John Hancock on a group letter .. we would like to use yours, if you don't mind, and we want to invite you to sign it as well. I've been here for 8 years and know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I tried to email you but it seems to be disabled right now. My email address is sherrie.sawyer@sbcglobal.net. Thanks, Sherrie

I've heard that listening to classic music increases production [2008-01-29]
Well, I tried it today and I cannot believe my line counts. It is incredible! Try it. Maybe it is keeping my mind from wondering too much, etc., but something is magical about it. I am up, way up!

another option to improve TAT [2008-01-28]
What if MQ took the money they paid on late penalties for accounts and paid it instead (Gasp!!) to the MTs/MEs who work to keep it in TAT? Wouldn't you work harder to keep your accounts in TAT if you felt like your extra hours helped the team? If you had the Impact Center calling because your accounts were close to turn around, wouldn't you be more inclined to help out? I know MQ pays out an incredible sum of money on late penalities, wouldn't it be nice if some of that could find its way back into our paychecks? Just a thought!

it figures! [2008-01-22]
I waste an incredible amt of time trying to decipher the doc's first name or if it's his last name even it gets spelled out for me. That's how bad their English is for about of my accts. My lines would be doulbed if I didn't have to deal with this mess. I know...preaching to the choir, right? And then it's the low-takers and the hospitals not providing a decent place for them to dictate, so it's all the backgound noise and distractions. Again, I hate to throw spitballs here, but 99.9% of the time is the ESLs. I have my own personal label for ESL, but can't post it here. Two initials...that's a hint if anyone's bored enough to figure it out. Thanks for the vent!

only at $12 [2008-01-14]
I checked in July with this whole cesspool nonsence. Only 1% raise per year and the health insurance (believe it or not) is more than MQ. Still making more money with MQ especially with OT. I agree with you about the wall, I am there and at the top of my tier so until MQ raises tier rates I am stuck. In my small town there are no real jobs (only gas station and grocery store and at about $8 so MQ money looks incredible compared to that. There are days I feel stagnant, but I wouldn't want my supervisor's job for anything so for now I choose to stay.

So, they shared with one being let go the list of others? [2007-12-09]
Now either that is an incredible mistake on their part - sharing such confidential info with you ... or ... you are rather exaggerating, wouldn't you say? I find it difficult to believe the company would say, We're letting you go and, by the way, here's the list of all the others we are letting go, too!

see message [2007-11-10]
In DQM go to statistics. At the 'Select a Report type' choose Detail. Then put in the date(s) of the reports you want to review in 'select a date range...' Click on the internal job number you want to review. At the bottom under 'Job Views' there is a drop down with 2 choices, DocQScribe User Output and Count Log File (Payroll). The User Output will give you the final report after QA has filled in the blanks. The Count Log File will give you what you typed. You can see your blanks there and compare it to User Output. It is much more cumbersome than QASAR which is an incredible learning tool, but hopefully it will help you with what you need for now. Hope this helps.

accounts [2007-10-31]
Hi, I'm in a similar boat -I have been asking and asking for several months to be taken off what has become my main account, horrible, horrible account and I have incredible difficulty with it and cannot understand what is being said (95% ESL who are not extremely proficient in English). I sent response to The Email, listed it first as the most difficult account, all in red letters with several exclamation points afterwards. What have they just done in this latest adjustment on pooling, that is my primary group - don't know how 1 hospital can be a group but this one is which means apparently I will get nothing else at all! at least when I was getting some of the other accounts in the BOB I was getting some decent work and able to make a few lines. Like you, my count is just not making the grade. Can't wait much longer; probably waited too long now while hearing give me a couple of weeks, then at 2 weeks give it about 4 weeks at least, can;t take you off that account until I get somebody else to put on that account sooooooo discouraging.

I'm afraid [2007-10-25]
I really am afraid now that they have divided up all the money among those they thought should receive bonuses, and there won't be any left for the rest of us. $2200 is incredible.

supervisors and email [2007-10-11]
I am in the West region. My supervisor specifically asked that MT's DO create a subject line stating URGENT or specific key words. She gets an incredible amount of email daily and tries her best to respond either by phone or email to the urgent ones first. Of course, I think I do have one of the best supervisors available. In fact, I begged and pleaded to be allowed to go with her when she was moved. (Have had 3 since January) Have never had a supervisor I did not like. (knock on wood)If so, I'm sure I would turn into a madwoman and either get moved or look for another job! Life is definitely too short to put up with a supervisor you can't work with.

And then [2007-10-06]
you woke up? Ha, wow, that's incredible.

What's happening with Medquist [2007-10-03]
Automated Speech Recognition is a failure with poor speech recognition accuracy and is inefficient, often requiring the Transcriptionist longer to fix the errors than typing the report straight would take. However, ASR continues to be used because it has created a pay cut across the board, which management erroneously believes is a good thing for the company. The number of experienced transcriptionists at Medquist is getting less every single day. The number of inexperienced transcriptionists is increasing every day. The number of Quality Control personnel is increasing every day as a result of the incredible number of errors by inexperienced transcriptionists (see above). The company is becoming top heavy, and worse yet it is being managed by people who have no concept of what transcriptionists do and how they do it. The size of competing transcription companies is slowly increasing. Medquist Quality Control standard operating procedures are flawed, creating a logistics and paperwork nightmare. Time card approval procedures are laughably inefficient. Management behaves like they believe newsletters, important memos and fancy web sites can erase these problems.