How many lines, roughly, in 1 min of dictation?

• How many lines, roughly, in 1 min of dictation? - mommytype
  • lines per minute/hour? - crystal
  • Boy that is tough - Patti
  • It varies but for me it works about 10 lines per minute of dictation. - Does that help?
    • Ok, thats what Im getting. Anyone else? nm - mommytype

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Of course, if someone talks fast, you'd get more lines, and if you get one of those guys who stops and turns pages and/or talks slow, the lines would be less.  Seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb for me.

As for the length taken, when I started doing MT work 30-some years ago (back in the days of the vinyl belts and carbon paper -- eek!), the quota was that you should be able to 15 minutes of dictation in 1 hour.  However, I think anyone with experience would probably do it in much less time. 

Hope this helps.  

Worked for a university medical center years ago when we were paid by the minute, and the average number of 65-character lines per minute was 10 lines.  There were over 2000 dictating physicians, though, who made up the pool, so there were the slow dictators along with the speeders.  I agree with other poster:  Nothing less than $1.00 per minute.  I charge for 800-number service and I would charge $2.00 per minute. 

a day when I switched from clinic (through an MTSO)  to hospital work. Not only was the clinic work easier with more macros (and less providers to learn, 12 vs 300+), but I was typing in straight Word (as opposed to Softmed/Chart Script).  So you see, it really varies depending upon the type of work as well as the platform used. That said, I am so much happier typing the 1800 lines per day (I make over $15 per hour plus an incentive for any lines in excess of 1200 per day) plus a great health package/benefits, AND approximately 5 weeks of paid time off per year.  In my opinion, hospitals really are the best employers WHEN they appreciate the work we do.

My advice for you is not to judge a job by any one criterion but rather the entire picture. The 'extra's can really add up.

Good luck in your job!

I have always charged or been paid by 65 or 60 character lines or per letter or space typed, but have never been paid or charged per gross line.

What is the advantage of this?  If I were to charge 11 cents per 65-character line including spaces, what does this figure out to for an average line rate and how do you do this calculation? 

I'm wondering if it is financially beneficial for me to bill by gross line or to keep it the way I have it.  I do know some accounts will only pay per 65-character line, as this was the deal my first own account I recently acquired.  They were adamant on a 65-character line, but didn't specify with or without spaces and I personally would never not charge for spaces.

Thanks for explaining this.  I appreciate it and hope everyone has a speedy day.

What is considered the average amount of minutes for 7.5 hour day.  I'm thinking 45 to 60 minutes???

How long should it take someone to do about 60 minutes of dictation on average.

Thanks you.

LOVE YA!

Hope that helped. 

No, decent dictators can form complete sentences.  They don't erase every single word interlaced with ah, um, er, then sit there so long that a 15 minute dictation only has 43 lines.  If a person can't complain about having a bad day to her fellow MTs without getting jumped on, what does that say about your personality?  The only B**** I see here is YOU.

Just wondering how many lines within 8 hours do you "speciality" transcriptionists type?  Not acute care, not SOAP notes, just the specialty accounts?

I type for 11 different specialities that just feed into my "pool" of dictation randomly and am lucky to accomplish 1000 to 1200 lines within 8 hours -- any suggestions on how I can increase this number of lines would be greatly appreciated. 

...I'm in QA.  They want the at-home QA team to train new MTs over the phone, call MTs regarding stats or if work is missing, call the clinics to follow up on any issues, conference calls, and call the home office with daily issues that pop up.  We were told their clinic contact people and the front desk staff have too many other duties so feel QA should do this now.  I'm fine with that responcibility, just found it odd that they will not reimburse us. 

Perhaps it's not a big issue but as an employee I was curious if there were laws regarding these issues.  And this is a new protocol they are implementing so it's not like I recently accepted the job knowing this is how it would be.  The at-home QA team never had to do this before.  I do realize there are pros and cons to working at home but there seems to be a fine line where an employer can take advantage of an employee 

If I were an IC I would completely understand this.

My company is currently using the Winscribe Dictation system.  Its quite pricey but overall it is good.  You can set it up to do most anything. 

Job id#, dictator, type of report, etc and you can also put a spot for chart number to find things easier.  I just wish my docs would use the PC dictate part, as its less combersome then punching numbers on the phone, but overall it is a good product.  Just be sure you get it from someone reliable.