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You need to know the program your company is using to count so you can compare.

Posted By: nm on 2007-12-09
In Reply to: Line counting - Tracey

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Just FYI, you should compare line count with another program (sm)
FlashCount gave me a much lower line count when I compared it to Abacus. I notified them about this and they never responded.
Anybody work with a company bue do your own billling to them, count like 65 cpl and use a program ho
nm
Compare line count results

Hi,


[disclaimer: We are the publishers of MPTools.]


One neat function in our new MPTools is Compare Line Count results. It asks you to specify a document, and shows you the results of its multiple line counting methods, including headers/footers and formatting codes. MPTools is available as a no obligation trial, so you can download it, install it, and check things out.


vJoe


Pull up some documents and count them out each way to compare. nm
s
There is really no way to compare number of reports to a line count. The more experience you obtain
faster it will go and the lines will increase so don't give up. All of oldies have been there. Most companies require 1000 to 1200 a day, so you are not far off from that. Just keep plugging along, you will get there. Use Expanders for your most common phrases, words you find you have to look up constantly, etc. for starters to help build your speed.
It will count everything if you go in the settings and program it to. Good program!
Sylcount is an awesome and accurate counting program also. That will count everything if you "tell it to".
Right. Can't compare the two. Just like you can't compare clinic and doc office work to acute
.
Those of you who have gone from DQS to another program, how has your line count been
on the new program?  Thanks.
Looking for line count program
I am looking for a line counting utility that can remove a certain number of lines per report based on a template. Is there any such thing on the market?

Thanks.
Word count program
I have an older model puter that is slowly going up and have word 97 count program on it.  I am looking for something that is compatible with that - that also does all headers and footers - not just the header and footer on the first page that I can put on my new puter.  I have checked in to SPellex and that is really slow counting.  I also checked in to Abacus, which was fast and pretty accurate; it actually gave me a little more on a few of my reports as a trial run.  ANyone have any ideas on this.  Thanks for any help.
mt stars line count program
I downloaded it--I don't see an option for lines with spaces...just characters?????
Line count software/program

I am in need of a new line count program.  Mine is on a floppy disk (yes, it's that old) and I no longer have access to a floppy drive.


What is a good/reliable program to use?



Does Quick Books/Quicken count the lines or do you use a separate program for that?
nm
what program is the other company using?
So many of them work like DQS.
It is a proprietary program developed by the company. No, very few sm
people do over 300 lph.  Most top out at a little over 200, if that, a lot at around 150 lph.  It is not the platform's fault.  It is decent.  It is up to the transcriptionist.  ASR is a huge part of this platform now, and will become more as days go by.
What line counting program did the company

You may want to check with them first before posting who they are and what platform to people asking on this board.  If it is an MT platform the company uses, their tech people may be able to help you figure that out. 


both are mine but the 1 w/lower count is the one company set up, i really baffled.
I decided to try it it seemed with long reports the line count seemed so low, but may be it is me. Duh, it just seemed with 5 full pages of dictation 178 lines was low.
Company requested not downloading Vista as it will not work with our program.
.
As an IC you invoice the company, count your own lines, and receive a paycheck.
First Choice, JLG, QT Medical, Metro in Atlanta, just to name a few.

Most use SylCount or something similar. I used Abacus - free line counting software.
I know of a company who is restarting up their mentoring program for newly-graduated MTs. A GREAT
company to work for - I think they are independent contractor status, though not sure about their mentoring program status. At any rate, they are willing to take new grads and help them transition into actually working! The women who owns the company is truly wonderful.  I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to work with her, though I don't at the moment.  The company is Accu-Stat in Wisconsin! Keep that name somewhere on a sticky or something! Really great people, and she did mention that she really wants to restart this program she used to have for newbies!  Blessings to you and good luck! Have fun! Cause it sure can be fun, while having to work, which, of course, is not fun in and of itself, huh?? Oh, to be independently wealthy.  Congrats on your new baby, by the way!!  And that's SO great that your Mom is there for you! You have a good example to follow!
I have never found a program shorthand does not work with, it works outside the program (I think tha
nm
Take the character count divded by 65 and that will give you your line count.
x
The best way to compare the two is...sm
open a document you have type and count it in a 65-cpl versus a gross line count....any counting program can be set to count in gross lines.  Personally, I count my lines in Word Perfect.  It has a line counting feature where you can tell it not to count blank lines and then you just multiply by what you are getting paid by the line.  You come out much better on the gross line count.
PRD is a DOS program. I don't think it work with Word, a Window's program.
x
I don't think you want to compare yourself to Yente
Busybody supreme! 
You must compare your documents..
with MS-Word Word Count, which is the standard. MS-Word count tool is used by FlashCount.

In case of any problem, feel free to ask.

Webmaster@MTStars.com
Compare it to a 'regular' job . . .
I tried one of those plans that swore up and down that it wasn't a multi-level marketing program, it was just "direct marketing" to your circle of influence.  It cost me money to join (does a regular job?) and while I didn't stockpile stuff in my garage, I did have a quota that I needed to personally purchase every month in order to stay an "active member".  Part of my $60/month that I spent actually went into the pockets of the 7 people above me.  If I achieved the next level (certain number of individuals below me) my quota for the month would double.  I would go to your state's Attorney General's website and search for pyramid scheme/ponzi/etc . . .  Having to spend $120 a month to make money, especially when you can alienate a bunch of your friends in the process seems a little too much to pay . . . just my 2 cents . . . best of luck whatever your decision.
Compare old documents

Look at some of your old documents and see what your gross line is and then see what they would have been paid if you had been using a 65 cpl.   In word you can do that.  Now some software will count double character for capitalization, bold, underline, tabs are counted, indent and count spaces.   So that will also make a difference.  When one of my accounts was using Sylcount we always counted that way.  I do not think that there is a simple chart to use and since your documents could be very personalized with formatting, i.e. indenting lines which makes a gross line smaller, to me it would be best to compare your specific documents rather than a generic table.    There are a lot of variables (how long is your gross line) and I don't think a comparison table could take that all into account.   But I would think I think an estimation has always been 30% less lines for cpl versus gross. 


how does 11/cpl IC compare to 8/cpl employee
are there pros and cons to both, and is it fair to say that it all weighs out about the same, considering what the IC has to pay in taxes, do they travel for their accounts, do they have any benefits, etc.?
Oh, I know. I wasn't trying to compare myself to anyone.
I was trying to figure out if this is even possible. I know when I did acute care I could never get 200 lph. Now I am on a clinic account and doing close to 300 lph. I just assumed I was at the max, so to see this post, it just made me wonder if it is possible to do more, not that I am going to strive to do more at this point. Right now if I go above 300, I am afraid my accuracy would suffer. I was just curious if there are others out there doing 400-500 consistently as these MTs are said to be doing. If there are, I would love to know some secrets! :D
You can't compare apples with
oranges as he had lost his job and who knows the real truth. Tragic loss of lives.

Suffice it to say, it's pretty scary out there these days with so much misery over job loss, home loss and no hope in sight. It's like the domino effect. It's all happened so fast and there is no stopping it. Certain people will act out. No doubt immigrants are much harder pressed in times such as these. Even doctors are suffering from this economy. Hard to believe but it is true.

There is no way you can compare security
x
Just some things to compare...
Example: If you type 1000 lines a day at 8 cents a line ($80 a day), minus 25% for taxes, you would have $300.00 a week clear. Assuming you do 200 lines an hour, 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, your pay would translate to $12.00 an hour.

IF you can maintain $12.00 an hour after taxes in an office job (sales job, at that), I don't know that the benefits offset the cost of keeping a wardrobe up, gas, meals out or items to take for your lunch, and child care, plus the hassle of being back out in the public.

To answer your question on how much income it would take for me to leave this field - Considering all the pros and cons, I personally could not afford to change careers. It would take an offer of double what I make now to make me even consider it, and there are NO jobs that pay that around here.

I wish you the best of luck with the decision.
it does not count gross lines...I count 37 and it counts 67.
x
Perhaps OP is not new at all. How could you declare MQ the greatest with nothing to compare.

I suspect MQ has a lot of people positioned for damage control on the boards these days.  It was a stupid post that would be meaniningless to anyone but MQ damage control.  Watch and see what is coming down the road in the next six weeks with MQ and MTs.  That's why there is damage control in place and there will be for the next six months or until MQ is bought out.


Hard to compare lines from different
companies and different accounts.
Are you paid for spaces?
Headers/footers?
65 character lines?
What is percentage of ESL?
How large is the account?. Hard to get lines if you do not get the same dictator more than once a week.
Is the platform easy to work on?
Can you use an expander?
Do you have to enter demographics?
Is the account verbatim?



Can anyone compare Spellex to Stedman's and
tell me which they think is better and why.   I've always used Stedman's but DOS-based.  Changing jobs and now need something Windows-based. 
Can't compare autocorrect to an expander (sm)....
After 20 years as MT I found a word expander, and still mad that I went so long without one! I would not consider being without one today, it adds so much to my productivity. And an Expander does much more than autocorrect does, so I personally don't think they are even comparable. For example, you can make entries bold or italicized; you have no limit on how much text you put into each entry; and most importantly, your possible choices show up on the screen as you type letters, so you can be very specific in your use. Autocorrect does just that, it makes an automatic correction, and so quickly that you might not even realize something was changed/expanded. Expanders are not cheap, but to me they are as essential as a medical dictionary!
Does anybody use ShortKeys? How does it compare with ShortHand?

I tried ShortHand but I never could get it to work like AutoCorrect, which is what I prefer. I don't like to take my fingers off the home keys to hit "Alt" or "Ctrl" or whatever.


ShortKeys is okay, but it has some limitations. I just wondered if anyone had tried both and how they compare.


TIA. 


Would like to compare Meditech speed (see msg)
We home MTs have a much slower download/upload time than those working on site, and I'm trying to determine if there is something our IT department can do to speed it up for us. Since Meditech is so big with so many clients, I just can believe the rest of the country would work like we do.

What I would like to compare is:
After entering your patient information on the data entry page, how long after you hit the right arrow key to open your document for typing does it take before you are ready to type that document?

For me on the very best day it takes 20 seconds of staring at my screen before I can type, some times as much as 60 seconds.

Looking forward to comparing. TIA
Are you in a position to compare your progress SM
with others on your accounts? (If you work at home maybe invite them to email you through this site to discuss?) That's the only way to get a true picture of how you're doing so you can figure out how to fix this situation. Have a nice Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I'm done trying to compare apples to oranges. sm
You are free to go on beating the dead horse, however. Best wishes.
seriously, do not compare an hourly wage job with
nm
Store chicken doesn't even compare (nm)
x
Fun topic: How do you compare with TV sitcom marriages???

Are you and your spouse more like.....................


A) Tim and Jill (Home Improvement)


B) Roseanne and Dan (Roseanne)


C) Howard and Marion (Happy Days)


D) AL and Peg (Married with Children)


E) Raymond and Debra (Everybody loves Raymond)


F) Steven and Elyse (Family Ties)


G) Other ____________


We are probably most like Tim and Jill but a little bit of Raymond and Debra thrown in. LOL.


I use the Compare feature on the tools menu.
x
OMG- especially when they compare it to some kind of edible substance! *gag* nm
n
I dont think you can compare the 2. Talking about 2 totally different things.
:
Long distance site to compare prices. sm
http://ld.net/?6040


Only if you're using the track changes or compare feature. Once somebody else has the document
x
It just goes to show that there is really nothing that can compare to real live transcriptionists -
nm