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I truly think that if every doctor or dictator had to spend

Posted By: tired fingers on 2007-11-01
In Reply to: I Empathize With You Completely - Totally Stressed

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!!!


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Quick! SPEND it! SPEND it !!!!!
.
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.


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.
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 agree that the dictator on the 1st test file...
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.
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 agree they should spend
some time trying to correct the problem, but the main problem was the line count situation on the Vianetta platform. When I started with them, it was lovely. Work was flowing, no major problems. Then they changed platforms. That's when the problems came. Mgmt there kept telling us they were working on the problems with the line count, but nothing ever changed. Every payday same thing - we are working on it.. yada yada yada. So the moment you question the higher-ups about the line count they want to get ugly with you. Like we weren't supposed to ask about our line count. And you know, in the end, if they would have been just a little bit more understanding and more willing to explain to us what was really going on, things might have been different.
and I agree with you. I spend
so much time making sure sometimes I've done it as right as can be done that I, don't have the volume others might produce, but I believe I have the quality. If I was the boss, I'd sure eliminate the lazy ones.
Apparently nowhere - they spend all the time on here....sm
It sounds a few of them need psychiatry help.
Exactly! I spend more time waiting for
work than I do actually typing! Such a joke!
I do not want to spend my UNPAID time...

on the phone dealing with computer problems almost every day and then make less per hour while doing it. 


I was thinking that maybe they would up the pay after a period of time and then it could be a decent place to work as far as editing compensation goes.  Like I said before, I think MQ has the right idea.  They are paying 80%, which would equal 6 cpl if Transcend went with 80% instead of the current 55%, which equals around 4 cpl.  I wouldn't be on here fussing if that were the case.  Hopefully, management will come to understand that the cut was just too much for a lot of us, especially the higher producers.  And you are right, there are a lot of people making the same amount or more editing than they did typing, but these are the people who were slower to begin with.  THAT IS A PROVEN FACT!!  I believe they will love the new editing and compensation.  I do, however, feel that it is not a fit for the higher producers, plain and simple.  So what more do I want, I want to paid a fair wage for my experience and the work that I produce.  That is what I want, and I don't think that is too much to ask.  I am not trying to break the company, just make a decent living.  I want the company to profit along with the employees.  That is what I would want if it were a perfect world. 


Server down more than it is up. You have to spend a ton of time with the
It sucks totally!
To spend more time with my kids
I knew that I could get a job doing this anywhere in the country and make an okay living doing it. It would also enable me to work around my life, not live around my work.
I have 3 accts and spend 85% of my time on 1 of those; sm
I almost never run out of work. Good for you that you found some place else that is a better fit for you. However, some of us are happy and do well there.
That's so true. Sometimes I spend a lot of time (sm)
looking up old reports, more than I would like; but I want to put out a good report, not a piece of crap.  I want to be proud of my work which I am.
If docs would spend 5 seconds...sm
spelling another doctor's name, which they believe we're automatically supposed to know how to spell, it would save a lot of grief.  But MTSOs are quiescent about this, even though they know it's a hardship on us...what the heck, it's not THEIR time.  Don't want to spell a doc's name... their 5 seconds is worth more than 10 minutes of my time looking it up.  Tough!!  Blanks are in.  Let THEM fill it in.
They sure didn't spend $ on raises for us NM
xx
No. That's a company who won't spend the time it
takes for you to get these talkers down. The test then pretty much says nothing about your actual transcription skills.

In my opinion.


transcribing....you spend your time.
nm
Maybe you should spend your time working instead
of wasting time on stuff that doesn't matter.  Don't you have anything better to do with your time?   You actually wasted time thinking this clever little thing up?   Go find another job and quit trying to be an MT advocate.  This is getting really old.   Yawn!   Not every company has cut wages in half, so quit using the company board to get back at the your sad company.  Yawn again! 
If you go to the same store every day and spend a lot of money and your neighbor
and the storeowner gives your neighbor a $50 discount for being a new shopper, would you feel entitled to a discount because you gave the shopper so much of your business? Better yet, big insurance companies send a lot of business to doctors and hospitals and they get discounts on the medical bills that individual patients with no insurance can't get.  Are the big insurance companies entitled to this because they give more business than the individual patients?
Why pay that for a field that is drying up? Spend money going to
kdkdkd
What does that have to do with MT? I don't care how the owners spend their money. sm

You obviously need professional help.  My paycheck is always correct and on time and I am pleased with my pay.  Even IF the owner is a big gambler and spends her money on slots (which I don't believe), WHO CARES?


You really should find something healthier to obsess about.


Wow, I spend my time typing and waiting...
I pay not one bit of attention to my queue. I had not noted this AT ALL, but thanks for the heads up. Why is TT so shooting themselves in the foot? I left a shady company to come to TT just for that reason, because they had a great reputation and did not pull stuff like this. I certainly hope they realize what they are doing and nip it in the bud NOW. If they can salvage their reputation at this point, they may be able to pull out being one of the 3 to 5 left standing with all the work when this shakes out. Otherwise, they will be laughed at like MQ.
If you spend a little time reading the archives you'll see
lots of posts about how many are  unhappy at Focus and are looking or left.  
Please name the company and save us the time we might spend applying. nm
nm
Ok, thanks, also how do I look up a doctor
while already in a report on Meditech??

I know, I'm just starting today and am CLUELESS!

Sorry!
Is it possible to have the same doctor
20 times or more in a row?  I feel like I am purposely assigned reports and continue to get the same doctor.  This morning, I have typed 20 reports one after another on the same doctor. This cannot be an accident, right?  The company software is a nightmare and I only hope people on this board will not go to this company.  I will not mention the name, but the software starts with a D and it is very problematic, always break down, and flickers on your screen.   Thank goodness I had the good sense to accept two positions.  I will hold on until next week and bolt so fast, they will not even remember who I am.
The "lead" probably quit if she had to spend her time begging for workers...sm
Doubt she was demoted - leads are too hard to come by.  She probably quit management so she could get lines herself, or quit completely because she got tired of having to constantly recruit for accounts that were understaffed.
Also doctor lists
They can be a nightmare
You are so right about going to the doctor direct!

You can do that and make great money, the only problem is, what to do when you need time off.  I've actually been the one to cover all these years (17 years experience) than be the one to ask for coverage.  Also, you must make yourself, I think, a little more available for phone calls, STAT requests, doctor getting a bug in his you know what!  Sometimes, it is easier to let a company do that for you.  No contact, means less headaches!  Like I said, I have done all of it, and I'm still providing for my children.  I would at home full-time now with a nice mix as an IC.  My husband is full-time, and the kids think it is great to have Mom at home.  Pros and cons with everything I guess.  It may be the region you live in as well.  There is a posting regarding gas prices, which is varying in all of the states, it seems.  Have a great day!


Maybe WL should see a doctor and have her records
s
I think it is nice to have your own doctor

That would work as an IC.  No set hours.  Pretty much know what you are dealing with.


That's the doctor's rules
They do the account the way the doctors want them done; I guess that's why they don't have a turn over of accounts so that we are constantly losing accounts and having to start over. They follow BOS unless it is stated in the instructions otherwise at the doctor's request.
depends on the doctor sm
Most are good, but you still have the inconsiderate ones who refuse to use the pause button. 4:30 report for 13 lines is a waste of your time. Can you have someone speak to the doctor? Or can you? If not, find another job. (I know, easier said than done.)
It might be that the hospital or the doctor who
buys the VR system does not pay the whole amount in 1 payment, but makes installments, namely by giving a percentage of the line rate, until they VR system is paid off.

Does this make sense?
LOL-I saw one of those at the eye doctor earlier
this week. The gal taking my information just turn 62 on the 12th. She said she still uses the electric and the docs would probably retire it with her. She said it was a great conversation piece. My MIL has an old carriage return. It has 2 keys that rise above the others. Haven't seen that in forever.
And to top that off Laurie and I spend more time sending files, training, and doing other managerial
x
I'd have to agree with the testing of 6 voice files. Turned me off. Who has time to spend doing a
of those tests... I need a job not a day of testing.