Experience does not equal skill. As an ex-recruiter for a large sm
Posted By: MO MT on 2006-10-25
In Reply to: The exact same thing happened to me - 10+ years experience also - NM
national, I found that the length of time that someone has been a Transcriptionist does not always indicate their ability to transcribe well. I also found that some, not all, transcriptionists with a lot of experience had egos that were inflated to the point that they thought they were perfect. They would fail our test and call screaming at me, when the truth was that they just weren't that good.
Perhaps you should look into brushing up on your skills prior to taking tests or find out exactly what a company is looking for. Maybe your experience is not in the area that they need.
I don't want to start a war here but it is time for transcriptionists to realize that they are not always going to get every job they apply for. It is time for companies to crack down on quality. Quality is the only thing that we have over offshore.
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Yes, experience does not always equal quality work!
nm
A lot? You've got to be kidding. Name them. "Big schools" still don't equal experience.
x
I have 18 years experience with very large, well-known teaching hospitals. (sm)
and I went to TT in October with the big hiring push. Yep, there are lots of ESLs on my account, but no more than I've ever had on any previous account I've worked on. Most of the ESLs I'm getting are quite good, in my opinion. I can handle them. The one doc that gives me the most grief is actually EFL. He's just lazy and mush-mouthed. As for the sound quality, I haven't had a single problem with sound quality.
What I like about my current account(s) is that there are rarely any residents dictating! Oh! What a joy that is! Nothing like residents, whether ESL or EFL. Ugh!
Some people can deal with the ESLs, some can't. All you can do is try. We don't all fit into the same work situations.
I had the same experience with the JLG recruiter.
The recruiter was rude and condensending. I have 22 years experience, and she sm
made me feel like a newbie with her comments and war stories. To hear her talk, all applicants are idiots. If that is the first impression, what is the rest of the company like? I refused to take the test after that.
Time & skill is what MT has to offer. Not nitpicking
x
mediocre tying skill, that means 60-70 wpm is more
than sufficient to be a good MT. Knowledge is much more important than superfast typing. The high line count one achieves through Expanders and templates.
When will employers 'get' this?
not to me, same skill req. look at the paycut.& increased lines
Need to get out your calculator. Ask what is their production minimum and time to accomplish before being let go.
2000 lines a day, 250 lines an hour --listening/editing/fixing
at 4.5/ln
$90 a day
divide 8 hours is= $11.25hr.
10,000 lines a week=$450.
1 month's training sounds like no real skill
involved to me. Sure, at that wage, I might consider it still, but I do take pride in the fact you cannot bring someone off the street and train them to do what I do in one month's time. A high wage at low skill doesn't sound realistic. I'd sure be skeptical of same.
Let's see...lousy sound quality, dictators with no skill, unavailable QA, running out of work.nm
s
They are about equal.
x
Most does not equal all and doesn't mean all MTs
I work for 2 very professionally run MTSOs who refuse to outsource. If I am ever in a position to have to work as an MT for a service who outsources or changing careers, I will no longer be an MT. There will always be a need for US transcriptionists for US service providers who have clients who do not want it any other way.
Equal opportunity
I recently applied at a company and was told that my transcription test did not meet the minimum requirements for any of their accounts. Yet, a friend of mine took the same test and showed it to me in which she had several blanks. It looked very similar to mine other than the fact she had blanks and I did not. Has anybody ever had this problem? 
which would equal $99 for 100 min @0.11/line...nm
x
Not all are created equal..
It is not accurate to lump all VR programs in the same category. While I'm sure there are horrible programs out there with companies that don't really care about whether the VR program works for the MTs that is not true in all cases. Like the other poster, I love VR and would never want to do anything else. There is no way that you can do 350 to 400 lines per hour on straight text; it is something that is not hard to achieve with a good VR program combined with a company that doesn't allow just any dictator onto speech. Of course you have to proof the document 100% - I don't think VR will ever be able to recognize everything exact but there are very minimal corrections to make. Maybe that is currently the exception and not the rule.
How many boxes to equal 9 cpl?
q
Does verbatim equal garbage?
Do they say they want verbatim so they can blame the "dumb typer" when the patient record is incorrect? The doctor says over and over that the patient is a male, yet "he" has had a hysterectomy, C-sections, etc. Now, this is in a report where I also heard nothing about transgender. That is a minor example, but you get the point, right? We are told to type what we hear. When we hear garbage, we have to type garbage. Apparently the hospital thinks the docs are flawless. I want to give good patient care and provide accurate reports, but I can only do so much.
How much would 45 minutes of dictation equal....sm
speaking in terms of lph or transcription time? I know transcription time would depend on speed, but round figures are good.
by my calculations, 10/78 character is equal to 8.33/65 characters - nm
nm
60 min doesn't equal 600 lines imnsho..sm
I've done a whooollleee lot of research on this on my own transcription and I have never had 60 minutes equal less than at least 750 lines. Every time. So whoever first said that their 130 minutes is around 1800 to 1900 lines is a lot closer than the 60 minutes equals 600 lines, in my not so humble opinion.
And I don't even do MT, which I know has faster dictators than what I do. Think about how fast those docs go through their dictation trying to hurry and get it done. They are not speaking in a normal speaking voice, so heck it's possible 140 minutes could equal 2000 lines easy given that consideration.
But the one who said it is going to differ day to day is correct too unless you're typing the same dictator every day, then it's pretty standard. If you're using a platform where you can't count your own lines, is there a way to copy and paste into Word to get an idea for your normal daily dictation? Even DoquScribe has a way to copy into Word, so maybe you could do that.
Someone on this thread talked about 10 second dictations. If you could get your line count from something like that, then just multiply it times 360, then you have your line count for an hour's worth.
Anyway, just my two cents' worth. You're going to get different answers from everyone because everyone has different dictators. But I would still say at least 1700 lines for 140 minutes.
And did those lines equal the same? Once the file is released sm
from QA, it will show in Scribe and there are several ways you can search to find that specific job. I have checked lines on multiple occasions the same way you did to make sure what I was getting was close to what Scribe was getting and it always was. In fact, it was usually a tad bit higher than the Word line count was.
lol - hair equal hire - need my abbreviation to type
l
I had an MTSO once offer me 7 cpl per gross line and said it was equal to 10 cpl sm
for a 65 ccl, so would 6 cpl gross equal 9? It is so hard to tell with these things anymore.
Yeah, so? I am equal opportunity anony poster.
nm
80,000 characters a day is equal to half a ton of weight on finger muscles. . .
So, why no spaces paid? The left thumb takes a major beating, and your spine, eyes, hearing, circulation. We were not even made to type all day!
Not necessarily true. That is not a true test of skill.
Do you know how many people get others to take tests for them? It happens and it happens more often than you might think. The only skill that shows anyway is that you can do it.
We are actually more than a transcriptionist. We are specialists in our field and we are supposed to know some things regarding anatomy and physiology as a working base. That's how we can judge if a physician dictates something in accurately and many do because they can't pronounce or just are not thinking. That's why our skills of basic knowledge come into play and that means basic knowledge of body parts. If our job was just to sit there and type without thinking about what we are transcribing, then all patients are in trouble and this is just based on what I see as a QA person.
It's more than just knowing how to transcribe and some of the companies have discovered how to know what your basic knowledge is based on what you have picked up with your experience by utilizing your references etc. Hopefully that utilization of your references has taught you something that does stick in your head.
Beliefs like yours are just so far off base. You have to know what you are doing. It's not just about being able to listen and type. Base knowledge is a very important thing and the services have to find a way to know that knowledge base that is there in your head.
I can't tell you, sorry, but it is a LARGE one.
,
large comp
I agree.
They have taken on several new large accounts over
the past several months.
been with 2 large nationals; will never do that again.
Much better with the smaller companies.
I have 22 employees, which is not large, but had to do the same. sm
Our state unemployment division did an audit on me and determined that the ICs are actually employees. I had to pay unemployment on everyone who works for me or who did work for me back 5 years to present and make them all employees. I had to pay fines and penalties too.
The IRS has their list of 20 checklist items but the states can have a few of their own and they have the right to enforce them.
One from our state (Missouri) states that if you perform the same type of duties as employees at the company, even if you fit the 20 items from the IRS, you are an employee.
I appealed the decision and lost. It cost me $5000 for a lawyer but still have to pay the $218,000 to them (the total with the fees, penalties, interest and payments that should have been made). It is going to force me to close our doors.
If it is a large account
your email may be one of nearly 20+ she gets per day. When you are a lead you are getting many calls and emails daily. Address the issue with the head and go over his/her head if things don't improve.
these were supposedly large sm
companies that have been around awhile. I am hearing a lot of MTs going through the same thing. Its getting ridiculous!
It is hard to get a large
group of doctors at a hospital to ALL do VR and their own editing. Smaller clinics are more likely to completely do away with MTs, as they are more inclined to do their own editing; plus doctors in clinics do not go into as much detail as hospital dictators. Clinics usually stick to a fairly standard normal template, whereas doctors in hospitals dictate all kinds of ways...That is what I have seen..
I have found that large places
like hospitals, banks, insurance companies offer the best benefit packages to part-timers. In fact I once worked 10 hours a week at a bank just for the benefits package. PT MT at home with benefits, however, I don't think you will find. It's hard enough finding FT with benefits and the premium isn't $800 a month.
Yes, 2 large hospitals. Both accounts out. nm
nm
When I worked for a large national, they
had a gal from New York using a steno machine. She consistently turned out over 20,000 lines every 2 weeks/pay period. So if you know the steno machine, you can make megabucks in transcription. She always won awards at this biggest national.
The accounts are so large you get them some days
and other days none. I too have had days when that seems like all I get. Sometimes I will go 3 months before I get the same doctor. She should have asked them to route her a variety that day or try another account. There really is a break in period with any new account but Transtech really is the best company out there and they are willing to work with their MTs.
Um, not exactly - some of the VERY LARGE companies do the same thing!
Trust me. lol
I do a large number of ESLs and usually
don't have issues, but when I worked at SS their ESL dictators on at least 1 account were horrendous. They were bad dictators on top of the sound quality being the worst I've encountered in my 20 years of MTing. Management was a joke and you couldn't believe a word the CEO told you. I worked in QA and the quality of the transcription was very bad. Someone asked me if the work was done in India and I said it may very well be because it was so bad that it pretty much had to be done over. I had some suggestions on how to better run things and was offered a management position to implement them, but I declined.
The reason there is a lot of work is because they can't keep MTs. I agree not all companies, not matter how good they are, are a good fit for all MTs, but if a company has constant turnover there has to be a reason for it. I work because I need the money and I don't see any reason to waste my time going with a company that has the reputation that SS does. There have been a handful of MTs who despite all the negatives about SS decided to accept positions. A couple of MTs have come back about a month layer apologizing for not believing us and said everything we said was true.
I would not refer my worst enemy to this company.
Would anyone work for a large national co, with a
I use the company provided computer. They had a change in computers and I was sent a new one. Since that time, the foot pedal provided has not worked. I can hear reports, but I cannot backup or move ahead using the pedal. To hear something again, I have to bang my foot on the pedal. To move ahead forward or go backward for any length, I must go to playback page and manually move the cursor to where I need to be.
I have put up with this for five years. Yes, that is right, FIVE YEARS!!!! I have called our so-called Help Desk numerous times and I have been sent two more pedals, neither of which work, or, rather, work the same as the original pedal. I have asked for help from countless people. The Help Desk states I am the only one having the problem. The supervisor says I am the only one having the problem. I know one other person on my team who is also having having the problem, but we are too ashamed to really raise heck. I am disgusted.
By the way, it is the most commonly used foot pedal. Even their ad states it works with any computer. I just had to vent.
Large nationals don't like radiology because of TAT
xx
I was offered a very large rate of pay, so you
z
I know they just got a large hospital account near me.
xx
They have recently gotten a very large account. Probably
xx
Large deductible and everything out of pocket.
xx
A REALLY large system with several hospitals. nm
Is this a large hospital with MANY Hispanic
dictators, probably over 75%? I heard they only had 1 account on DQS, a new one they picked up in August. I am working on that account and would love to switch.
It's a large company, Passing, SM
offering a variety of opportunities and mixed experiences. Different platforms, different managers, and different accounts all over the country. Transcend kept me happy with lots of good work for a long time before my account went offshore without notice. I was then switched to another very good and interesting account, where the way the lines were counted was adjusted down again without notice (by the same account manager). If that hadn't happened, I'd be there still, and I have no doubt that the many people who say it's a great company are honestly reflecting their own experiences.
Knowing what I do, if I were you I'd go ahead with the training but, as with any company, be firm up front that as a pro you expect to be assigned to good accounts with lots of work. Then call on them immediately (first 2 days) to correct the situation if they are not, and mean it. I've never been in MT personnel, but I imagine they hire a lot of people who don't pan out, engendering an attitude that adversely affects the way many others are treated before they have a chance to prove themselves. If they allow it. Best wishes.
Usually MANY battles, both large and small,
Food for thought.
All the large companies do the same thing.
I don't work for WMX. I'm amazed this is the first anyone has heard. I suppose Webber Inc. keeps things quiet.
Really, don't get upset. Just business as usual.
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