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I agree that the dictator on the 1st test file...

Posted By: luvtotype on 2009-01-31
In Reply to: Responses? - Gracie

is difficult to hear in places.  I'm going to try and re-record it in WavePad to see if I can't boost up the audio a bit.  I could hear the 2nd and 3rd files much better.  I've still got to proof my files and then will send them in.


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test file.....
You need to save it to your desktop or somewhere and then open it using YOUR file player, whatever that might be, Express Scribe or whatever. Right click on the saved file and look for open with
no more voice file test
just a written from what I understand, lots of complaints about the quality of their test files so they 'shelved' it. I'm happy there, takes 2 weeks to get started, I don't think they make you take a physical any more, but still the background check which is almost standard now due to identify theft - - but the supervisor is good, flexibility when you need it. I'm happy, they work for me.
Transcribing Test File
I have a test file sent to me on IBackup. When I go to open the file it wants to go to Windows Media Player. Does anyone know how I get it to open in Express Scribe? Thanks in advance! Shelly
Help! How do I play this test file?
I'm taking a test for a job.  I was sent a file that opens in Creative MediaSource.  How am I supposed to transcribe this when it's going so fast?  I need to use my foot pedal but there is no option.  Please someone help me!  I want this job!
No, I applied, but cannot get the test file to work.
I tried calling but I cant get through to anybody.  The instructions say to leave a message, but I dont even get voicemail.  Too bad.  Sounded like a really nice job.
Anyone else have problems taking USA Type test? Cant get my comp to play the sound file.
Any suggestions? I really want to take the test but their sound file keeps loading onto my music program, and when I try to load it on Windows Medial Player it tells me I need codecs, so how would I find that to load?
totally agree.. one short file...that's it
x
May be set on incorrect file setting? type of file??
If you are using, for instance, Express Scribe to listen/transcribe, there are about 10 or so types of setting for the file you use, wav, mp3 etc.  If so, go to the top of screen, look for setting. I just click all of them. 
It was a good comprehensive test, but I agree their
nm
Wholeheartedly agree - wouldn't bother with test (sm)
You would have felt really good after you left.
I agree in part, if the test is difficult only due to the terminology, sm

but if it is difficult due to the quality of the sound or the fact that the dictator talks at the speed of light and/or has some ESL accent so thick and hard to decipher that no one can understand him/her, then I would pass as I would think that represents the type of dictation I would be transcribing on a daily basis.  Ironically, it is usually a company with that type of work that offers you 7 cpl and asks for MTs with tons of experience.   I have over 30 years of experience, and I just say no thanks.


Just my opinion ...... I feel lucky to have found what I consider to be a great full-time job as well as a great part-time job, but I have sure seen lots of crummy dictation while testing as well as laughable pay scales.



The file to save is the SPF file.
 
I agree; I studied for and passed the test. I can't do Ops to save my life. sm
Meanwhile, my supervisor who is an oustanding MT and encyclopedia of knowledge couldn't pass part I of the test. It's not a sufficient test in that it doesn't test what we truly need to know to be excellent MTs.
I had a dictator like that once. (sm)

At first, I found it to be very irritating, but then I started to feel sorry for the guy.


Then, a couple months ago, I had a ministroke and now have intermittent difficulty with, not so much stuttering, but stammering/stuttering sometimes when I speak, as if the connection has broken somewhere between my brain and my mouth.


It happened to me recently when I was on the phone with someone from my doctor's office, and I started crying because I was so embarrassed and frustrated.


In something as important as dictating a patient's medical record, I think someone should gently bring this to the doc's attention, though maybe it embarrasses him as much as it embarrasses me.


On the other hand, with some USA companies outsourcing American work to foreign countries, obviously somewhere along the line, somebody stopped caring about accuracy (and confidentiality and HIPAA laws, etc.), IMHO.


Usually a spelling test, a punctuation test, and maybe 3-6 test files to do. Sometimes done using
s
ESL - SPANISH DICTATOR
AND UNFORTUNATELY NOT AN 800 NUMBER FOR DIAL IN TO GET THE DICTATIONS. Hospital will not invest the money to make the wave files available either. I just read this posting. I didn't see the others that were posting bad things about me until tonight. Some people just don't accept that you need excellent skills to make top money. Nothing comes easy. Thus my offer to pay more just to get this guy done. Thank you for all of your help. Karen
Not necessarily-if you get a bad dictator -- sm

your production is hurt whether you are experienced or not.  Fast production not only depends on the MT's ability but the quality of the dictator and how fast or slow they speak or how clear the speak.


A person with more experience will leave far less blanks but will still be limited on how fast she/he is.  Thus they deserve to be paid more than 7 cpl.


SR is not the problem, the dictator is
The problem is not with the product (SR) but with the person using it. You can't just install the program, start dictating, and see perfection appear on the screen. There's a lot involved with the training process, which never ends. It's really no different than building up an expansion program. The more time and effort you put into make entries, the better your line count will ultimately be.

I also work with SR every day, but I use the product instead of the keyboard. Previously, with the use of an expansion program, I had to kill myself to hit 1800 lines in a 9-hour day. Now, I can whip out at least 3000 lines in an 8-hour day (6-1/2 to 7 hours of dictating and about an hour of proofing). Any mistakes which I do have are my fault ... I did not articulate/enunciate correctly.

SR was once a product I wanted to use, 'cause I thought it would make this work more enjoyable. Now, it's a necessity. More than 30 years of MT has led to repetitive stress injuries (bilateral CTS and right cubital tunnel syndrome).

Sometimes I wish there were MTs who lived close to me, 'cause I would invite them over so they could see how well SR works, when it's been trained correctly.
But if that is the type of dictator that you will be doing, isn't it best for both of you sm

to know how you will do?  If you can't do whatever kind of awful dictation they have, then they need to know.  AND, most importantly, if that's the kind of dictation you would be facing every day, then YOU need to know so you can say no, thank you.   I know if I tested and had Mr Dream Doc for the test and then started working for the company and had Mr Devil Dictator every day, I'd feel like they did a bait and switch.


Just my opinion.  Good luck! 


Yes, very serious; however, 700 lph is not the norm every day. It just depends on the dictator. Th
Sometimes the reports are 98% accurate and sometimes, depending on the dictator, they are 90% accurate. As you know in this field, it depends on the day and dictator. The daily average, after all is said and done, is about 600 lph, 700 is on the very high end and not a consistent average every day.
Will the dictator change? Could end up being a foreigner (sm)
talking over that incessant sound of running water I always hear in path reports.  I wouldn't do it.
I truly think that if every doctor or dictator had to spend
was forced to listen to themselves for a period of time...say an hour or two, I would almost bet the farm that a lot of mumblemouths, yawners, eaters, and people who dictate in the bathroom while they are flushing would change their habits radically. Or sending their dictation EXACTLY the way they say it...um...uh...uh...ummmm........hmmmm.........dead air....You know the ones.

No one will ever convince me differently. LOL. IN a perfect world maybe. in the MT world??? Not!!!
Thanks for that info! No way am I muddling through a dictator like that
xx
As I said, it is going to depend on the dictator's style.
My doctors dictate a lot of lines like:

MEDICATIONS: None.

ALLERGIES: No known drug allergies.

That is why I was saying it would be good if you have a lot of short lines. It also would depend on the page format. With the page format we use, each line is approximately 65 characters, so if the doctor dictated a lot in paragraph form versus the short lines, then it would indeed be a paycut. All I was suggesting was that you really can't judge the pay rate as there are so many variables that go into it. It ould be decent pay with the right conditions. As I said, with just the one report, I would have made $3 more. Times that by the 20 reports I do a day and that is a huge difference.

I agree though about the software. Not going to take the chance of buying expensive software only to find out that the job isn't going to work out in the end a month or two down the road.
Everytime I start this dictator she has a mouthful
of gum, candy, ?? swishing around in her mouth. How rude can you get? Even if she is not sucking, chewing or whatever she is rolling that crap around in her mouth and then there is this physician who cannot pronounce her medical terms and yet she seems like she needs to snort something back every sentence. Just gross!!
YES! I will get numerous reports from the same ugly dictator

8 times in one night -- these H&P's being 6 plus hours old, and each dictated with plenty of time in between, my knowing that there were other dictators dictating in between his -- so know that they have been holding them for me after the day shift gets off. They don't delay H&P's getting out for this many hours, so it is so very obvious what is taking place. I don't like companies manipulating the system for their favorites.


I absolutely despise this practice by a company.


You're assuming this is a sweetheart dictator ... sm

With a good dictator that knows what he/she wants to say and says it, without all the ...uh....ah....mmmm.....ah.....ugh, ad nauseum... rudely shuffles papers while you're waiting for the next sound ... without the courtesy of shutting the machine off while they steal even more of your time....yes, without all this inconsiderate behavior on the part of dictators...the above equation would probably be correct.


I find it varies widely by dictator
Caveat up front: I've only been on VR less than 6 months. More experienced MT editors might have a completely different VR experience.

That said, I notice the big factors in how many LPH I can do with it are (1) how long the dictating provider has been using the VR system and how many times s/he's been through readaptation, (2) whether the dictator is ESL. The software so far seems to favor native speakers over ESL's; it 'gets' the native speaker's speech pattern faster.

I am looking for quality, myself. The temptation to 'skim' is there with this kind of work, but I'm too afraid I'll make critical errors that way.

If I have a good dictator who's been readapted a few times, I can get by with little editing and average 400 lph. Most of the editing I do in that capacity is formatting, and a few good ShortHand entries can make a world of difference in speeding that up. I'd say definitely visit the Community page Training tab if you haven't already.

With a new and/or ESL dictator, though, I admit it: It's faster for me to straight-type it. So I do, because I can get between 300 and 350 lph that way. Editing might easily drop me down to that 200 lph ceiling you're struggling with. I don't know if that will always be so, or if, as I get more used to the rhythm of editing, it will become second nature and go faster. But right now, if the report's bad enough I simply transcribe it.

Again, just my experience so far.
We worked out of a pool, and when a report came up from a cruddy dictator (sm)
they would hit "1" and send it back to the pool so the next Transcriptionist would get it.  It was so obvious, as soon as you went on in the morning the first few reports you got would be from the most God-awful ESLs and you can see that they were dictated the previous day, but then all of a sudden you start getting jobs that were dictated just an hour before.   
Yes, if gross line count and easy dictator
to start with.
6 cents a line for surgical reports for an ESL dictator? Are you NUTS??

I'm just absolutely appalled and disgusted...


I took a test for a company and my foot pedal would work with the test and I had keep going back
over the dictation time and again to get all the words because I couldnt stop and start it by the foot pedal.  What can I do about this.
Just took the test myself. No actual dictation to transcribe. Just a written test.
For 13 cpl, I might do it if the dictators aren't a total horror.
I just took the test today - thought it was a great test of MT skills.
x
There is no written test. Must have been a different company. I took their ortho test sm
and it was easy. You had to know your terminology but it was easy to understand AND I used my foot pedal.
Is the test through mttest.com a timed test? Thanks. nm


A .wma file is sm
Windows media player and so far as I know, you can't play it with anything other than that. I know that ExpresScribe doesn't play those either.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. I know you would not be testing unless you needed a job and it would be really nice if companies understood that we don't have time to futz endlessly with these things!
you can't file unless sm
you've been officially laid off by your employer... if you are employee status that is
The BBB has a file on them
as thick as the Manhattan telephone directory.
Here is the file I saw on the FTP..

Did anyone else get this file when they logged on to the FTP?  Titled Really..


Hon', you really need to get your issues straightened out with respect to giving out the correct usernames/passwords (I've seen two different sets so far), then making sure the promised files are actually there (I'm seeing nothing but empty directory(ies) here).


Sounds like a headache from the get-go for any potential MTs to take on.  (...and, please, get something more professional that toocuteembroidery)


 


WC is for employees. An IC cannot file
a work comp claim.
You can file a complaint with the
distrinct attorney in the city in which they are located and this should put an end to this nonsense.  Rubber checks are illegal all over the country.  Then file a case in small claim court and include ALL expenses you incurred from late charges, etc., as a result of this check 
I don't keep resumes on file, so...
I often get people who send their resume in multiple times in response to different job postings. That being said, if the applicant doesn't have the qualifications listed in the ad, their resume goes straight to the recycle bin without a response.
need a Schedule C to file that on....sm

If they didn't take out taxes and you earned more than $600, you would fill out a Schedule C.  If they took out taxes or if you worked for others who did take out taxes, they'd give you a W2-W4 and you'd fill out a 1040 or 1040A.


HTH (hope that helps)


How do you file a complaint in CA?
Who would you file a complaint with if the company who is not paying is in California? The California Labor Board, Attorney General's office, and Better Business Bureau?
file a complaint with the
Better Business Bureau in your area as well as the area the owner of the MT company lives.  This does not take but a few minutes of your time.  Consider calling the police to ask what can do?  It is illegal to bounce checks........ Good luck!
Save the file...
To say they belonged to MQ would be like saying you can't take your phone numbers out of your cell phone if you decide to change services - or save your bookmarks in IE and use them in Firefox.
When do you file for unemployment?

My job has not had any work for 2 weeks now.  If there is no work, can you file unemployment?  Or do I wait until they let me go and then file?


 


Thanks


Wav file problems
I would first try rebooting your computer to see if that solves the problem. Sometimes it is a simple reboot to fix things. I would then try to play them again and if they still don't work then see if they work in another sound program like Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. What wav player are you using?
I have the file names...
... on my computer. Your mileage may vary. Here are mine:

C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataDocQscribeMQ1CacheUser Profiles994888324013user.aco

and

C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataDocQscribeMQ1CacheUser Profiles994888324013userdic.tlx

If I'm not mistaken, user.aco is your expansion file, and userdic.tlx includes any entries you may have added to the dictionary during spell-check.

So if you search your entire hard drive for files named user.aco and userdic.tlx, you should be able to see where they are hiding in both installations of DQS, and you can copy the larger files (the one with all your expansions and dictionary entries in them) to the locations where the smaller files reside.

Clear as mud?
If you file a form with the IRS
as an IC and think you should be classified as an employee, and they determine you have been an employee, are there tax/penalty obligations for the IC?