Blankety-blank platform. Makes me growl and spit. NM

• Question about DQS - Ollie Woo
  • As long as you are cutting and pasting inside DQS, its okay. Just don't try to paste from a Word - nm
  • Cut and Paste in DQS - Michele
    • Thank you, Michele! I appreciate your help a lot. nm - Ollie Woo
  • Single spaces when cutting and pasting. - Ex-MQ'r
    • Thanks for your reply. This has bothered me, along with a lot of other stuff about this blankety bl - Ollie Woo
      • Blankety-blank platform. Makes me growl and spit. NM - Ollie Woo

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Hi Jay,  I took the survey just now, but one caveat I have that I was hoping to be able to comment on in the survey but it was not asked (and I believe is a key component to the way people will respond favorably or not to VR) is what VR platform they are using.  They are definitely not all created equal.  I work on eScription, which is MS Word-based, and have made more money doing eScription VR than straight typing (previously also in an MS Word-based platform).  I have seen another person's experience in a non-MS Word-based platform, and they have not had the same experience as I have had with tremendous gains in productivity.  It is a platform that basically resides in a Web browser window and prohibits use of all the built-in MS Word productivity tools (autocorrect, autotext, spell check).  Some people seem to think that the need/use of these tools vanishes in VR, but it does not.  So, robbed of such tools in a non-MS Word-based system such as some VR platforms, there will probably be disappointing gains in productivity compared to MS Word-based VR platforms.  I can attest to this personally.  This goes for platforms that will not work with Expanders such as InstantText (which I use) or any of the other Expander programs.  So, what I am saying in summary is that not all VR platforms/programs are created equal, and I think it is very important to distinguish which platform people use that are responding to your survey, because I feel that greatly influences their experience with VR and, hence, response to your questions on the survey.  Good luck with your speaking....

My company has just changed to a new software, and I don't think I'm ever going to be able to make any money.  The reason is because there are a lot of steps involved just to get to the typing part.  If you get a string of short reports, you'd be extremely lucky to get the minimum required for the day.  Are there other things that make a platform bad?  I'm trying to decide whether to stick it out or not.  Don't want to jump out of the frying pan, so to speak.  Thanks

If a MTSO advertises that the MT works in MS Word and sends dictation by FTP, does this usually mean there will be no demographic/doctor database and the demographics will not be autopopulated?

I got into a mess with a small company (got out real quickly too).  I was required to print out daily email copies of the doctors' office patient schedules (which were barely legible) and type in all information.  I spent more time hunting for the correct patient through pages and pages of these schedules.  Then I had about 25 pages worth of doctor's names that I would have to go through to find the attending, referring, etc.  A total waste of time as I didn’t get paid for that. 

I wish MTSO would give more information as to what platform they use (if any).  Proprietary software is such a generic, totally useless description.  Would they buy a new car that listed, "Car has gasoline operated motor?" 

And for Pete's sakes, why so secretive about the pay?  Give a ballpark figure.  Just say, pay is between 7-12 cpl depending on skill, testing, etc. Tell me if you pay for spaces, headers, etc.  It would save them time because I wouldn’t even apply for a 7 cpl job. 

Before I spend an hour or two testing, I need more information from a company to be sure it is compatible for my needs.  If the MTSO would spend a little time on their website detailing their platform, how they send/receive files, pay rates,  how line rate is determined (spaces/no spaces) employee/IC/SE status, minimal line count, whether work pools consist of 100s of doctors, or smaller pools with 25-50 doctors etc.   Having all this information on their website would save them time and the MTs time.   Phoenix Medcom has a really good layout describing pretty much everything an MT would want to know before testing with them.  I am just tired of testing with a company and then finding out the job wasn’t exactly suited to my needs. 

I've been working for MTSOs for years now, using their templates which sometimes cause productivity problems (macro issues, etc). I'm wondering if productivity is increased when working on a structured platform, such as one that a national company provides for its transcriptionists?  I've never used a platform, but it would seem that all one needs to do is straight type onto the screen and the platform program takes care of margins, page breaks, etc?

Any thoughts (as well as companies who are hiring who use platforms) would be appreciated.  Thanks

 I have always used Spybot and Adware SE, but read they sometimes miss things, so I just bought NoAdWare. Was I surprized at the stuff it found compared to the other ones (including Norton AntiVirus, and my server software)!  I had 4 "dangerous" and 92 "severe" the very first day...that have been on my system for quite a while.

Since then, I have also been receiving blank emails. I'm now up to 5 every time I receive my mail. I've been getting a lot of junk mail all of a sudden and have no idea why. My favorites are winning the lotteries. If I believed them, I would have a bankroll of well over $100,000,000,000. The other ones where I am named in someone's will. Love it. Dream on.

Don't know what to say or what else to do about it without changing my email addess again, and I sure don't feel like doing that. I just did change it 3 months ago.

It doesn't happen to often with my line of work as I only do clinic notes.  I do know which drugs are used for what and  the differences between similar sounding drugs. I have reference materials to help if I don't quite understand the pronounciation, as long as I have been given a particular diagnosis for which the drug is used.

If I am completely unsure (i.e. med list for PMH with no given symptoms or diagnosis) I ask or leave a QA note.  That is much safer than putting the wrong med in the patient's record and that is the extent of what MT's should be expected to do.

As far as the doctor dictating the wrong side of the body for any reason whatsoever, there is no way an MT could possibly determine in a case of it being left rather than right.  In the event of a dictator switching between left and right, that is a red flag to leave a note that simply says, "dicatator is indicating left and then right but does not clarify by end of note."

When my son had his mastoidectomy a year ago, the surgeon came in and drew a big blue circle around his left ear and looked at me and said, "This is the ear that I am operating on. This is his left ear.  Are you in agreement with me that I have the correct ear that needs surgery?"  Well, I kind of chuckled a little bit as my son looked rather strange at the moment and the doc said,  very nicely:  "In all seriousness, we are human and we do make mistakes, but I don't wish to make a mistake with your little boy."

I heard about this but it sounds kinda strange.  Anyone ever run into this kind of account?  How do you not leave blanks if you don't know what they are saying?

I always do much better filling in the blanks if I don't stress too much over it, finish the report, and go back and listen again after the report is finished.  So often the blank can be figured out with the context of the rest of the report available. 

I always do much better filling in the blanks if I don't stress too much over it, finish the report, and go back and listen again after the report is finished.  So often the blank can be figured out with the context of the rest of the report available. 

I always do much better filling in the blanks if I don't stress too much over it, finish the report, and go back and listen again after the report is finished.  So often the blank can be figured out with the context of the rest of the report available. 

1.  For me, when a person I used to babysit from infancy until school age has completed his internal medicine residency and is in a private medical practice.

2.  When I get up in the morning my knees and back crack so much that you can hear them at times in the next room (daughter asks "what's that cracking noise" will confirm this!)

If the MT cannot understand the dictator, they always have the option of sending it upward for clarification.  They are doctors, not English language specialists.  I know you would like them to be, but that is not the way it is.  We listen, we transcribe, and if we don't get it, we send it upward for clarification. 

It isn't easy, no one said it was.  But I hate to see people complaining about foreign doctors all the time.  They give excellent care, and a lot of us can understand them.  It is a knack.  If you don't have it, then send it to your QA.