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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

MD in Touch

Posted By: Marie on 2009-06-15
In Reply to:

Anyone familiar with this platform who would care to share pros and cons of it.  Are you able to produce a good line count, is it easy to learn, can you use PC ShortHand Expander with it?  Thanks for your input.


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How soft is the touch, is it a muffled sound (microsoft used to make a very soft touch keyboard.
You can't buy it anymore and I hate the clacky ones. I think a really soft one sounds muffled when you hit the key. Thanks
How does one get in touch with you?nm

It's the only thing I will touch. :) nm
x
If other have "dull" touch, do you mean this has a ...sm
soft, easy touch?  Old lexmark keyboards were extremely soft to the touch which I loved.  Just can't find that anymore.  Is that how this one is?
touch screens
Yes, they do exist. I bought an HP Touchsmart (computer/touch screen monitor in one) for the same reason you are interested in touch screens, and my pain then moved from my wrist/hand to my shoulder, so I don't really recommend this myself.

What has helped me is the input device I purchased at about the same time. It is called an AlphaGrip (link below), and what drew me to it is the fact that the mouse is right at the tip of your thumbs while you're typing. It took a little getting used to, but has been well worth it and fairly easy to transition. I now transcribe from my easychair, reclined the entire time.

Check it out!

http://www.alphagrips.com/


Proof of how out of touch they are with the average MT

If ever there was proof of how out of touch AAMT is with the everyday life of the average MT, the annual meeting in Honolulu is it.  First of all, the economy is pretty much in the toilet and airfare has gone up, as has everything else.  Well, every has gone up except our wages.  My employer, a hospital, has very little money in the budget to share with everyone in medical records for educational activities.  The hospital sure wouldn't pay the $3000 bucks, or whatever the total cost is, to send any of us to Honolulu.  If I were to pay out of pocket to go, why go to the tropics in September and spend the time in windowless hotel ballrooms, attending educational sessions?


How much farther out of the way for the average MT could the meeting be?  Bangalore or Bombay?


If keyboard is old, a new one might not be as stiff to touch. nm
s
There are keyboards that have a touch pad incorporated
in them.  I think I've seen them with a tracker ball too.  
Yes-- I have an Adesso with a built-in touch pad
It works very well for me-- you don't have to move your hand that far to use it. It is strange at first, but once you get used to it, you will love it.
My feet don't touch the ground so I
When I sit in my chair, my feet don't even touch the ground, because I need my chair height to be such that I am not looking up at the screen.

I have big platform sandals that I use. They are great. One on each foot. You can move your feet around, but they are nice and high from the ground, like a movable foot stool.

GOODCO could you tell me how to get in touch with GTN and keystrokes. sm
I also am looking for a good company to go with for IC status. Thank you I would really appreciate it. Have a good day.
Not ONE of my 3 kids would touch that stuff.
 x
Gold touch keyboards
I have had mine for about a year now and I will never use any other kind.  The touch on these keyboards are wonderful!  You can't go wrong with a Gold touch.
Yes, good luck getting in touch with
anyone at MQ. I never got my W2 from them. The IRS sent them a notice to respond in 10 days and a possible fine but still nothing.
My Yorkie would not touch Iams
I bought my 5.5 lb yorkie Iams and he would not eat it. At one year old he got hemorhagic gastritis a few weeks ago and almost died so now he eats Purina vet formula for GI problems.
oh you guys are so far out of touch with nature...

you think the whole world is Disneyized. You think the male buck stands over the baby deer and protects it, on his wife's behalf. You think Simba's daddy looks for him when lost. Nature is nasty and completely insensitive to feelings. The law is survival of the fittest. Even daddy seals come in and slaughter babies when they find out a rival fathered them. But go on...dream on your pretty little dreams. I notice the only babies ever really championed for are the cute fuzzy ones...go cuddle a rattlesnake, why doncha!


oh and ps I was not original poster who put this controversy on the board, now was I?


 


I'm 48. I use to blog, to stay in touch with
others with similar interests, to share pictures, to keep an eye on what my older teens and their friends are doing (yes, they know and comment me all the time). Try it. You might just discover that you might gain an appreciation for something new.
The Best, Soft, Air-touch Keyboard Around
http://www.opamerica.com/product_info.php/products_id/782
is there a super-light touch
keyboard that is also split and (hope upon hope) with a rise in the middle like the MS ones?
than trying to use laptop keyboard and touch pad.
o
Kinesis has a good touch.
x
How to get in touch with social security?
Went by the office this morning, unbelievable, just wanted to set up an appt but too many waiting. I tried to find the web site but had no luck therel. I have heard you can set up an appt that way, just need to know where to look. TIA.
light touch keyboard
I have a logitech DiNovo.l  It is pretty expensive but it is small, flat and makes hardly any noise.  The only draw back is that it comes with a separate number key pad.  The key pad is not connected to the keyboard.  I love this keyboard with my laptap. It is the same size as my laptop and fits flat in my laptop case so I can take it with me anywhere. 
You can buy USB touch pads on E-Bay, usually cheap.
x
And, speaking of the personal touch,
since I was a legal secretary, I type his business and personal letters and get paid the same line count. There is a chair in the doctor's office where we make the exchange everyday - I pick up the tapes and patient list from that chair and he picks up the transcribed reports from that same chair. We have been doing it this way since the beginning and it works very well. We are just comfortable with each other. And, yes, I count my blessings everyday.
I'm with you, Peg. I hated EMDAT. I will never touch
Demographics weren't filled in and had to look up every doctor name/address, and sorry, but the spellcheck was horrid. Even with the "setup" the company gave me that was supposed to correct it, it was the worst I've ever seen. Please, Rosey, do not make such broad statements and expect everyone to love something merely because you do. A lot depends on how the company maintains their platform. Have you ever worked on any other platforms? EMDAT is one of the most cumbersome programs out there so I doubt you've had much experience with more sophisticated platforms.
We don't touch bodily fluids

Hair dressers go for further education to keep up with the trends.  The trends for us are in the dictation.  It's do or die.  We don't have to wait and see what's new, it's right there every day in each dictation, i.e., new meds, new studies, new information. 


If we require credentialing, then every one in the medical field including receptionists and file clerks in the medical records department should require credentialing since we all handle confidential medical information.


advil doesnt touch mine
I used to get this all the time it drove me crazy.  It felt like a constant burning band.  I was hold my arms up by my neck and shoulder.  Is there anyway you can find something to support your arms while you type?  I bought a chair with arms, and i put a 2 x 4 board across the arms and rest my elbows on that and let my fingers do the work, not my neck.  I also have a split keyboard.  When the pain was severe, like yours, I would get up and put a warm wash cloth and sort of massage it into my neck every couple of hours while stretching, and then apply some icy hot so it really penetrated into it.  As a poster stated, xanax works and anything that relaxes the muscles, Soma, or Flexeril, ativan,  buspar (antianxiety), on top of the massage, heat n stretches.  I also cut out the coffee and sugar because i'm an anxious person and I clench constantly.  That should get you through until you find away to rest the arms while working.  I know with this job, one part of our body will suffer, either arms, wrists or hand joints, even neck and shoulder.  I wish they'd invent something to take the strain off of every muscle for us gals who have to sit here day after day!  Anyways, I feel your pain, hang in there.
Or completely immature and out of touch with reality
.
Didn't touch my appetite. None of those things do. nm
s
I need a very soft touch keyboard. Any suggestions?
I bought an expensive (over $200) 3 piece comfort keyboard that you can position the sections anywhere you want.  That feature is nice, but to me the pressure you need on the keys is too muHIS IS A for this particular model.  This is the cause of most of my pain.  Anyone know of a very light touch keyboard?  TIA
Something else about the Gold Touch.(Should I be getting a kick back from them?)
Something else about the Gold Touch.  I have my chair positioned so hands do not point up or down. I try to keep them as neutral as possible.  I also make sure my arms are resting on the armrests, so I am not using any strain/tension to keep them in place and even. I rest one arm on a little pillow wedged at my side since my short little arms don't rest on the arm rests in a comfortable position for me.  Then I fly.  I hardly have to move my hands at all, the fingers do the typing, so to speak. lol. 
the lightest touch i've every found
was the Kinesis -- they are not cheap but man, i wish i would have found them years ago. Some have said before that the Goldtouch keyboards have a good touch too.
Keyboard with an extra soft touch?
I am dealing with repetitive stress injury and can only type about 1 hour a day. Does anyone have a brand name keyboard that has a particularly soft touch to it? I am hoping changing to a very gentle keyboard might get me another few hours per week.
The lighter touch the keyboard the faster
you're likely to type.   A stiff keyboard tires your wrists and takes more energy, but it is you that need to learn to type faster/smarter.  Set your dictation speed up a little and try to keep up.  I have mine on 105 99.9% of the time, except when I get those dictators who are so fast that you hoping slowing down the speed will help.  You also need to use macros and get a word Expander and use it as much as possible.   As the saying goes you need to work smarter not harder. 
Deborah's Touch, please email the Administrator regarding
/
But it clicks? Usually this means not a light touch? Thanks
Could you expound?
Help, has anyone heard of or dealt with Deborah's Touch

Has anyone heard of Deborah's Touch in Arizona? I bought her course and finished it but cannot get her to okay my homework so I can test, and get a completion certificate. Has anyone been able to get results from this agency? Very frustrating and not what I was told when I paid for the course! Any ideas or guidance?


touch screen - trackball mouse
I transcribe for an orthopaedic MD/surgeon, and he always suggests to patients with carpal tunnel problems to use a trackball mouse instead of the standard.  Just a thought if the other good ideas don't work out.
I have always had my 'blues' spells, touch of dysthymia
usually around season changes as you seem to...

what used to help me through them was to remember, don't let the highs get too high or the lows too low. Know what I mean?

when I used to get like this I would tell myself okay, go with it for a couple of days but then I would snap out of it every time.

when I was single, it was a time to pamper myself, take care of myself.

of course, once menopause hit all the rules changed, and that is another long story...

extra doses vitamin D have SAVED me because where I live there tends to be a lack of sunshine the larger part of the year.

this is just from my own experience having had this my entire life...
Personally, I wouldn't touch an hourly rate of under 18.00.

Didn't take long at all, maybe a day or two. I love my Gold Touch.
:+
I would never let a bone cruncher touch me. I used to work for chiropractors
and have seen the damage they can do.  Personally, my choice is going to my wonderful acupuncturist.  She is a chinese physician who performs a combination of acupuncture, magnetic heat, massage, and herbal application.  Folks, acupuncture WORKS wonderfully for the treatment of sciatica and acupuncture has been performed in China for thousands of years successfully, so they must have been doing something right.  One suggestion, make sure you find a GOOD acupuncturist.  Believe me, you will know when you've found a good one.  Good luck!
The Kinesis Classic Keyboard is the softest touch I have used. (nm)
:)
I love the Kinesis Classic-softest touch! (nm)

Post not EXCELLENT, but completely out of touch with reality

like you think the MT's control the pay in the MT world? Either you need the job and you take it for the pay or you have another option. MT's without another option will take the job at 6 cpl, or 4 cpl or whatever. When working at McDonald's becomes an option that is equivalent to MT work, then MT's will choose McDonald's. 


The Transcriptionist is just ONE cog in the wheel of the whole industry. If people continue to look at only the MT's part, they miss the big picture. If all it took were people saying Let's all stand up together and demand better wages, then why couldn't the cashiers at the grocery stores across the US do the same thing? They can't. Because it they don't cashier for $8 an hour, there's somebody else who will. Same thing has happened with transcription. If you don't take the job at 6 cpl, somebody else will. It might be somebody from India (which you so quickly discounted) but I'll let you in on a little secret. The people from India who are doing MT typically have 2 master's degrees. They are hungry for work. They are intelligent, competent individuals, willing to work hard. They might have a little bit of a quality issue right now because of the language barrier, but it won't be long before you have lots and lots of Indian MT's with 2 years experience, who have learned from their mistakes, who have learned American idioms... and then you are really going to see the bottom drop of out the market.


Keyboard recommendations, soundless & light touch?
can anyone recommend a keyboard like that?  I have tried so many.  Has anyone tried the Kinesis?  Is it silent and light touch?  Help!
Being out of touch is a hazard of our job, but one reason you touched a nerve SM
that you should be aware of so you won't be surprised in future is that "ESL" is also code for bigotry, with in some sad cases the fussing over the genuine problems with achieving an accurate transcription just windowdressing for the real complaint.

Personally, I find the world and its people a fascinating place and love the way the Web has brought it to me in my little rural Georgia office, including the very wide range of attitudes here.
I believe you may touch Frank on a personal level if you e-mail him. He is after all encouraging us
to ask him questions and to call him by his first name as did our beloved ex-CEO Gregg.  Try this link.  If Frank is truly our kind of guy, he will answer your personal questions and problems. 
Softer touch, clicky, yet larger size keyboard.
Don't know if you'll see this, but you may want to try the "cloned" IBM keyboard by the company I mentioned previously. It is the same size & layout as the IBM, "clicky", and yet there was a subtle difference in the "touch". I felt it "was" a "softer" touch compared to the original IBM. Wish I could offer a better explanation, but it's such an "individual" thing that it's hard to describe. What is comfortable for me may not be for you. I have the one I bought from them years ago boxed up for repair, so I'm just recalling this from memory. Haven't used it in quite a while, but do remember I did get comfortable with it in the interim without my IBM keyboard.

Oh - the memories - I'll never forget the "mag card" & how the part-time worker at night never failed to wipe out the "negatives" I had stored on "certain labeled" cards everytime she worked at my desk :o)

Well - if I do run across another keyboard I think you might be interested in, I'll address it to you as "me" & hope you'll see it.
Check also the Kinesis Maxim - supposed to have a really soft touch sm
Pc Magazine has a reivew on their wedsite about it. Just heard the touch was really soft.