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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

A fair share of ESL dictators.sm

Posted By: MDI-er on 2006-04-10
In Reply to: MDI-MD - Wooden Nickel

Platform easy to learn, I think it is a good place to work.


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Fair share? If there is an hourly cut-off it is
because the company does not want to pay overtime.
"Fair share" has nothing to do with it.

I don't think any company has a LIMIT on the amount of production you are allowed, whether hours or not come into play. They have minimums.

There is nothing wrong with those who have the energy, time, means, fortitude to do more to be allowed to. MTs who want to do this, however, have to find situations where hours are not applicable...and there are many of such situations.

A single mother can work for private accounts just as well as nationals. Your analogy is poorly constructed. Goodness, it doesn't even apply to the issue the original poster was questioning.
I don't mind my share of bad dictators, but I hate getting only short
nm
Dictators
Actually, yes. The dictators are very good and the variety was also a good mix.
How many dictators a day do you do who
speak clearly, enunciate each word, isn't eating, chewing gum, or flipping through the chart while they are trying to dictate, who does umm, umm, umm every third word?   I don't think VR will be a threat any time soon, if ever. 
dictators
The majority are good. After a few times of transcribing them and with sample reports, not a problem
You must be getting my **not so bad** ones, then ! Let me have some of those dictators ! n/m
b
Hispanic Dictators
Hopefully its not De Tar Navarro. That's an awful account.  They have quite a few of "mush mouth" RN's who dictate for the doctors.  You don't get samples, so you pretty much wing it.  At least you don't get the defy's (QA markers at MQ) counted against you!!  De Tar is all progress notes and a few discharge summaries.  You're lucky if you can get 3/4 of your required line count!! Other than that account, the others were pretty easy (with the exception of those bad quality sound files that is).
They are in a folder as are they for a ton of dictators.
Unfortunately, there are TONS of them that I have to scroll through. Even though they are alphabetized by dictators last name, it is very time consuming.
Difficult dictators?
So MDI-FL and WebMedx both have decent health insurance for a decent price? And what do we have to do to get that? Are they all ESL? Or do they truly have decent dictators where you can make some money.  I have done very few ESL. What typing speed are they looking for?
Been there . . . this is actually a step up on dictators for me!!! NM
NM
Depends on who the dictators will be.
At Spheris, I got paid 0.09 for acute care but only 0.075 for ER work.

I could do nearly twice the lines of ER work, though, because of better dictators.

So, I pushed to do as much ER work as possible and made considerably more money.


Yep REALLY low job #'s from dictators from hell

slow dictators
but can't you speed them up with ExText so they sound like chipmunks, hahaha....
Some of these cesspool dictators would not...........sm
actually be so bad if there wasn't so much background noise and you could hear what they were actually saying!
Awful dictators

Awful dictators.  They cannot keep people on this ortho account.  The sound is so muffled, you cannot understand even an otherwise very clear dictator.  They do not have a website.


We could say the same thing about their ESL dictators...sm
who are making a 6-figure fortune off of our backs...while they pay us pennies.  Learn the language, at least!
definitely horrid dictators...
and the account specifics would make you nuts. specifically, they wanted tables edited that would take about 15 mins/per @ 4 cpl. also we kept running out of work, so yea, at $7/hour I quit and am doing just fine now back on clinic work.
Stuttering dictators

Just wondering what you all think about this:  Should a doctor who obviously has a terrible problem with ssssstuttering be dictating?  Seems like it might be an invitation for errors on the poor patient's medical record.  What do you think?


 


but if the company has dictators sm

who dictate like this then YES it is fair to test you on those.  It does no good to give you a good dictator (whatever you deem to be good) and then most of the dictators of of the caliber you had on the test.  It is very fair and honest to the potential employee.  What happens if you test on a dictator that is good and then your account has the really bad ones?  Is that fair to you or the company?


It use to be that folks in the MT profession accepted this as part of the profession and none of this was ever a point.  Seems now MT has come down to lines, spaces, cpl and all the rest and forget the real reason behind this profession, THE PATIENTS!


Dictators getting worse all over.
More and more ESLs. Many younger doctors not as 'literary' as older (retiring) doctors, may have opted out of language and literature courses in school in favor of science courses. In some cases good dictators requiring less proficiency to transcribe may be sent offshore or routed to VR. Seems to me that some younger doctors don't care much about documenting their work and don't spend any time preparing a dictation in advance, then fly through it just to get it over with.
Not fair!
I have been working with them for 7 years now and have NEVER been offered a shift differential! I too, often work in the evenings. I find it a tad unfair how they offer such good incentives for one office and not the other. I have been extremely happy for all this time until I started reading these posts where the truth comes out! I now realize how I have been neglected as a transcriber for them.

To be fair.....sm
....I was on an account with this company. And it was the hospital itself that was trying to cut their own costs, and jimmied the lines counts to a way where the MT and the MT company got less. Taking spaces out of the header, cutting some spaces out of the doc's signature line, etc. I know, because I was told right away, and I know the email went out to others on the account. So in that particular instance (last year), Focus did inform the MTs, and it was all the customer, trying to cut their own costs, not Focus.

Just my 2 cents on that account at that time.
Yes its more fair
but not many companies pay by the minute (that I know of). If the rate is fair, then its a fair method - but then that goes for all the computations... by the character, line, report, etc.



How do you even know? Maybe it's all bad. I think they are very fair. I get both
nm
Yes, it is fair.
They are being charged fair rates for their economic environment, just as we are.

Do you think every tax payer in the US should pay the exact same tax? Probably not, eh?! Think of it: If everyone in the US had to just pay $5000 in taxes every year, we will have a huge number of people unable to do so while the wealthy get off paying just $5K from their hundreds of millions. It is rated against their income.

Same thing with India. India's economic environment is no where near the wealth of the United States. So, to be fair the AAMT has rated their testing rates compatible with their economy.

It is fair.

Now, if you just don't like other countries doing work for the US, that's a little different topic.

Then again, considering that we sure as heck want to do business in their countries, maybe it really takes on a little different perspective.

It is fair ......sm
So, do you think the MT with 25 years experience and excellent work ethic who is reliable should make the same cpl as the MT with 2 years experience with the same work ethic. I think not. We should be paid for experience.

I can tell you that it really ticks me off when I hear of the MT with 2 years experience making cpl for clinic work and do all acute care with the 25 years experience. That really pisses me off.

I have learned to become quite the negotiator when it comes to line rates and pay.
Fair Enough...
You make a good point, since you're up against those very obtacles. I always find myself tending to try to sway to the side of the MT.

Maybe the OP will check back in at some point and offer more info to clarify things.

Have a great day!!!
Fair enough...
You can come back to this board in 1 year.  I will be here.  I have been posting here for years.  I have also been an MT for many years.  I do not need a union contract.  I make a great living without one.  As for working for the Q, I did many, many years ago.  I used them to get my foot in the MT door.  Once I had enough experience to find something better suited for me, I gave my notice and moved on.  It was really quite easy, actually.
That happens to me too. But not fair !!
They see I can cover all areas, (made a point to learn all areas) but it is just as difficult for me on some of the crappy dictators and just cuz was pretty much able, does not mean you made much hour-wise, while others with less experience prob. get about same pay and get it easier. Really does get to me. It is all about what is fair to another human, don't dump the junk.
fair?
It's fair to keep a good line rate if your production and work is excellent. Sometimes, pay is based on how long you're in the field and how good you are at what you do. The great line rates at D's place just show that she has paid her people based on their skills. That's hard to argue with. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks. They told me it was mainly Hispanic dictators..??
I'm curious if it is mainly acute care (OPs, HPs, Dis, Con, etc.) or clinic...??

I didn't think they paid overtime..? If I'm an IC, and they don't keep up with hours, should I have to put up a schedule? THanks.
If you like getting docked pay for lousy dictators, go for it. nm
adf
Was the test really difficult? How bad are their ESL dictators?
x
Your dictators are clear, and there's *no guessing at all*??

So if you get one that isn't so clear, does that mean you *guess*?? 


FutureNet ... Very very difficult dictators

The people at FutureNet are nice and for the most part easy to work with.  Their platform is easy to use.  The accounts are the bottom of the barrel as far as dictators with thick accents, fast talkers, slurred speech.  QA is nice but can't help you get used to these awful dictators.  The quality of dictation just stopped me in my tracks, it was so terrible.  Again, the staff are pleasant, but they aren't the ones who have to try to decipher the dictation to make a decent line count. 


If you have the experience, the pay is higher than most nationals, and if you have an extremely good ear for accents, you can do very well.  The dictation is internet based so you don't have to scratch around for your own unlimited long distance.  The pay comes on time in my experience, but there's no Direct Deposit.  The line counter is always accurate, I have checked against my own, and never any discrepancies. 


The editors always seem able to fill in the blanks, so it is proof that some people can understand these dictators, but even though the folks at FutureNet were some of the nicest I have worked with, I could never get a handle on the accents, so regretfully I had to move on.  Don't be fooled by the test reports, the actual dictation is much worse. 


Lower rate/better dictators
Again I agree with you!   The MTSO, hospitals should go to dictators that are bad or hard to understand and ask them politely to clean it up.  How are we supposed to do our jobs 100%  when we get crap to deal with? You give clean dictation you get clean reports.  Any fool can figure that out . . . . well maybe not.
I see no problem with yawning dictators. I'm sure if I
worked a 16-hour day, I'd be yawning too.
Dictators who don't know what a Chief Complaint is. (sm)
Here are some chief complaints: Chest pain. Shortness of breath. Back pain. Type that and now you have some context and you're ready for the history of present illness. But so many dictators want to include all sorts of patient information, like age and details of what happened. That is not a chief complaint guys. Comprehend the headings and let them help you save time! Grrrr.
Everything about SS is atrocious. Worst dictators
I've ever had and sound quality to match. 
I liked Transform as far as the dictators, supervisor
but I couldn't make any lines for my account typing in Word. I have been working as a Transcriptionist for years and know what it feels like to type a 50+ report, but when I would check on the line count it was be less, way less.  I don't know what the other Transform accounts type in.That is my experience with them.
If you have a good range of dictators...sm
I do radiology and acute care for a facility.  There are some doctors I am glad I get paid by minute and there are some that I wish I was not so it all equals out.  I read an article some time back about being paid by the minute of dictation is really the more fair way for Transcriptionist to be paid.  I have 3-4 docs that I speed up so I do their lines in half the time but still get paid for the whole time.  It works for me. 
My most hated dictators are not the ESLs, sm

they are sloppy dictators who talk at the speed of light and mumble but still expect an accurate report.


You're right that there is a lot of work.  I just wish we had a definite payday. It would be nice to know if I'm getting paid on the 4th, the 8th, the 10th or whenever.  That would be my only complaint with the place.  Otherwise, it is easy work with great people. 


More offshoring of the easy dictators
nm
Switched to an IC job at 8 cpl, great dictators, no ESL
x
Wondered where my better dictators were when I got on at 3 a.m. this morning.
It is really irritating when pets are put the good/best dictators in their pool and I am put the worst.  Glad you GOT your lines, because I took the beating doing what we should have been sharing, report-wise, rather than leads filling pools of their pets with the good stuff!
Horrible company. Bad dictators,

platform has got to be the worst thing out there.  They are run by a bunch of people who don't know what they are doing.  They all tell you to do something different when it comes to the account specs.  Impossible to make any money there. 


Dictaphone with the worst dictators
NM
It's going to depend on the dictators/accounts you
have, so there's really no reason to worry in the meantime. You just have to wait and see how your pay will be affected. Everyone's is different. VR paid lower for me. If it's too much of a cut in pay, you can always find a company that either doesn't force you to do VR or has better pay for it or better accounts, etc. Free will, baby! :)
All easy dictators are offshored

I was part of a package that Transcend purchased. We were all assured there would be no changes, which was initially true for several months........then the massive offshoring became more and more noticable. One account would have hundreds of jobs in the evening; at 5 AM there was nothing left and if there were any jobs available they were  very difficult dictators. 


It got to a point where any audible dictator was offshored and there were no decent dictators left. You also had to be flexible waiting for work. Sometimes you would have to wait 4-5 hours for jobs to be available. Then your health insurance was revoked for not meeting your quota.


My advice is  that you have no choice, give them a try. Maybe your luck will be better. If you do have job currently, I would not consider changing.


Good luck!


All easy dictators are offshored

I was part of a package that Transcend purchased. We were all assured there would be no changes, which was initially true for several months........then the massive offshoring became more and more noticable. One account would have hundreds of jobs in the evening; at 5 AM there was nothing left and if there were any jobs available they were  very difficult dictators. 


It got to a point where any audible dictator was offshored and there were no decent dictators left. You also had to be flexible waiting for work. Sometimes you would have to wait 4-5 hours for jobs to be available. Then your health insurance was revoked for not meeting your quota.


My advice is  that you have no choice, give them a try. Maybe your luck will be better. If you do have job currently, I would not consider changing.


Good luck!


How many of these VR lines for heavy ESL dictators?
Thanks.