Normals/templates
Posted By: Patti on 2006-04-30
In Reply to: Does your MTSO allow you to use your own - normals/standards? see message
I let my IC's use them especially in my psych accounts. However there was a time that one of the gals forgot to change the name on the header and I was gone and it went to the doctor directly with the incorrect name on the Header and big, big HIPAA violation and the doctor almost pulled the account since he did not catch it either. So I understand where your MTSO is coming from but again, I would not keep the help that made these mistakes rather than make the other MT's pay for the incompetent ones and be unable to use their autorcorrect, ShortHand or whatever normals/expanders that they use. The account stayed with me but we do watch the names closely now. Why make all suffer for the mistakes of a few.
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Here, here, I agree. At one time, I was even accussed of holding MY templates hostage. Templates
L
Normals
I have a lot of normals for my primary account but not as many for my secondary as it is a large teaching hospital with more dictators rotating in and out.
Normals
All accounts are verbatim. What I mean is I have many, many macros set up for PEs, operative reports, etc where the dictators basically say the same thing every time and then I will edit as needed. Both of my accounts do have a few normals set up in BayScribe by administration for some doctors. Those are usually operative reports.
There are normals? Never saw one. nm)
can you still use normals?
thanks for your honest feedback. i appreciate it. More positions open on your side according to email this morning. Guess you guys have a lot more work - I have gotten NSA 5 times already this morning!
are they paying you for the normals?
Expanders/Normals sm
As the poster below states, the way this is possible is by working an account that uses many normals and that you can utilize your Expanders with.
Chances are whatever national MTSO you work for will begin to use VR technology sooner rather than later.
After all, if you can use your normals/expanders to make astronomical line counts due to the repetitous nature of the accounts, it will be much easier for those accounts to go to VR.
I wish Normals had what I needed.
Most the time, what I am looking for can't be found in Normals, Alt G, or even Echart. I have enough experience on my primary that I know the usual sayings, it is just that I struggle with the not normal sayings that a dictator rambles off so fast, while chewing, yawning, etc. These things can't be found in normals (trust me I look every time before I submit a blank) and so far consist of way more than just 7% of my monthly dictations.
Whatever. I should just quit complaining. I do really like it there other than this part. I know you are trying to help, but I just wanted to point out that I use ALL the resources I can and still send over 7% to QA.
One job I worked for did not pay for normals at all.
They had loads and loads of normals and the docs used them consistently. When I would check my line count it was not where I thought it should be. When I asked I was told they did not pay for normals. That was something they did not tell me before I was hired. It was a company in Florida.
Templates
The way I handle it is I try to figure out lines I type per an actual document minus the template part. Then I would adjust my line rate downward to compensate, e.g., if my normal rate is 15 cpl, I would charge them 13-14 cpl OR instead of my usual count including spaces, tabs, etc., I would would try to figure it without counting them. I make clear to the client that there is no way to segregate the pre-printed lines and the lower than usual rate is a way of compensating them for it. Another way to do it is how some hospitals and other MT companies are doing it - if you're using digital, charge by the dictated minute rather than the line.
We DO get paid for expanders & normals
nm
I bet they billed the client for normals
You can make alot of reports nothing but normals if the patient has a normal exam. I bet that company bills for those normals too. That is like asking a waitress to work for low wages, and she can't keep the tip!!!!! What will they think of next?
Yes, their normals, not yours. Not all places are like this apparently. nm
xxx
Spaces or Templates/Pay or No Pay
Interested in learning what companies out there do not pay for spaces and/or what companies charge per report regardless of line length for use/nonuse of their crappy template? For those of you who have worked for a company that charges for templates, was that information disclosed to you by the recruiter and/or contained in your contract? Any info (and opinions) in this regard would be appreciated. Thanks.
Yes, we are paid for templates.
NM
We can make templates
In Meditech you use the F keys for every little other thing, including their canned text which you have to hit, I think, F4, to pull it up. All the F keys have some laborious function but you can get used to it. As for templates, we do indeed create our own templates for the different dictators. The downside is that once you create one and it's there, you can't go back and edit it or change it, like when the doctor changes some wording and you want to edit it.
Mainly what I'm saying is, ask IT about the MT's creating their own canned text entries for templates. Use ShortHand or whatever Expander for everything else.
Our system used to crash a lot, too, but you could do a Recover and get it back. However, they've fixed that. Meditech doesn't have to be a pain, you can work it.
Good Luck...
You get paid for the templates too
NM
With the use of expander and templates sm
basically all the prep work it's definitely possible.
Reports with a lot of templates...
and very fast dictators. Also, the MTSO counts lines in an honest manner, i.e., caps, bold, underline, headers, footers, templates, etc.
Read this about VR, templates, etc.
Ok, our profession has been threatened and outright replaced by voice recognition and/or templates which is fill in the blank type forms. Here's what I have found upon interviewing the people at these various places.
Bottom line is by going with VR, you can get rid of the MTs but they are replaced with approximately 1.5 FTE in IT help. So fire 5 MTs, hire 7 ITs. They need people to babysit the computer generated reports with which they have chose to replace us. Same for templates. So if there is any medical provider out there reading this, just beware. You will spend more money by going with VR or templates than you ever dreamed you could save. I hope this does some good but please don't be fooled by these slick salesmen who sell you this VR or templatesoftware and charge a fortune for it. Not only does it take up more time from your physicians, but you will spend more money babysitting the computers and software than ever before.
Especially if you use a lot of expanders and templates.
Then, VR is definitely NOT WORTH YOUR TIME. If you type 5 lines an hour or something, yeah, I could see it working out for you. However, if you are a good MT, not so much.
How about 0.03 per line for templates?
what templates, ones I make or their's. BS
Do you get enough repetition so that one could create/utilize normals? Nm
nm
All accounts are VERBATIM, so there couldn't be any normals.
x
My MTSO sends us normals for those few doctors
that you them. They are usually a fill in the blank type thing with the doctors only giving the blanks, so there isn't much to mess up. We do have a few normals that need to be modified and there are only a few MTs that get these dictators, because of the same issue your MTSO, that changes are not made, etc. I am allowed to create my own normals and do. If I have a doctor that needs to have the same normal, but occasionally does change things, I only have my normal including what is ALWAYS the same and then I have macros for statements that are frequently dictated that I can use to piece together the rest of the document.
I can't imagine my company forbiding us to use normals. My company wants the MTs to be productive, because if they are producing they are making money and if they are making good money they are happy and the MTSO will have good retention of MTs, which they have had. It also benefits the MTSO to have high producing MTs, so that they can have fewer MTs and less costs/hassle.
I used to be a supervisor and we allowed all MTs to make their own normals, BUT...
it was the responsibility of the MT to listen to the dictation and make sure that the normal reflected exactly what the physician dictated. And any QA issues specifically attributed to an MT's personal normal resulted in a three-phase disciplinary action, i.e. written up for the first offense, written up and forced to come in-house to work for a determined period of time for the second, and finally termination for the third. Also any incentive money the MT may have earned for the day of the infraction was forfeited. It seems extreme, but we had such a problem with QA issues and many complaints from physicians especially with radiology normals that we really had no choice. We needed to make it clear how vital quality was over quantity.
Now that I work as an IC MT, I create and use my own normals, but I listen to every single dictation and if there is even one tiny, seemingly insignificant change such as the physician says the instead of a, I change it in the report.
I think a company forbidding their MTs from using personal normals will end up costing themselves money in the end. The solution is to institute very strict policies regarding the use of personal normals and enforce them. Let the client know that these policies are now being enforced and if they see any mistakes whatsoever, to please let the MTSO know. It's hard being an MTSO, I'm sure. Assuring the client that their concerns are your concerns and making the MT's feel respected and appreciated for their hard work is like walking a tightrope sometimes. The sad fact is that you can't make everyone happy all of the time and in the business world, you have to schmooze the one who writes your paycheck - that goes for MTSO's and MT's alike.
Keystrokes makes you count out for normals.
nm
You do get paid for things in templates...sm
Please e-mail me who told you otherwise. Thank you.
And no pay for headers you type or templates they add
/
Templates and word expanders
Figure out which abbreviations trigger an easy memory response. For instance, I've seen people put pn for pneumonia, but that just seemed to trip up my brain and so I put pne. Do you have doctors that use the same phrase over and over? For instance, nothing to indicate; that's nti. intrinsically and extrinsically is iae. no acute disease noted is nadn. You get more lines by typing (in the above example) 4 letters and getting paid for 22 (with spaces). I organized my templates by first 4 letters of last name and first 2 letters of first name - i.e., John Brown is browjo. (This habit started when I had a large hospital with 2000 doctors and this was the only way to keep them straight.) Then, if it's an H&P, it's browjohp; or discharge is browjods, etc. Seems complicated and you may find an easier way to catogorize, but once it's set in your brain, huge masses of data can easily be sorted through, accessed, appear on your screen, and half your typing is done for you.
companies that have lots of templates
Are there any companies that provide lots of templates and normals and a good rate per line? This is my dream job, to find this company!
Templates are created by the IT people or
The MT usually does not have access to these things. In my day, we had to put in a request and hope to heck they got it right. Plus, we had to wait a while. I think they're called dictionaries (templates) believe it or not. It has been about a year, and I don't miss that system at all. Clunky, slow, and lost many of reports due to it going down in the middle of typing. Grrrr.....
Keystrokes and templates question (sm)
I see Keystrokes has an ad up on the job board. I presently work for a company who fills in every possible heading that the doctor MAY dictate throughout the report and calls it their template for each work type. They do not pay for any of these lines. In some cases we are expected to delete headings if not dictated. These deleted headings are now subtracted from the total line counts because they take the total number of lines in the template and subtract that number off the top of the line count. Any missing lines would actually be subtracted from lines that the MT typed. It would be so much easier for all involved to just let the MT type what the doctor says, headings and all. I'm wondering how Keystrokes handles headings and templates? Do they include them as part of the template or do they just let the MT type as the doctor dictates them? If they are part of the template already, how are they counted or not counted?
Also, what platform do they use and is it MT friendly?
TIA
MT SHOULD be paid for templates. Horrible MDI
x
The built-in templates for the ones you create
nm
lower pay rate for templates
Hi folks, Has anyone heard of getting a lower pay rate for templates? The company I work for is lowering their pay rates for what comes up as templates to 2 cents per line and say they will continue to pay the 8 cents per line for what we actually type? I have not heard of this before and was wondering if this was a common practice? Thanks for any feedback you might have.
Elizabeth MT since 2001
I worked for one company that did not pay for any templates.
The client had many templates. When I started I received pages of templates with the codes. It was after my first paycheck that I was informed that the company did not pay for any templates. You know they were charging the client full price and guess who was pocketing the profit?? 
You probably aren't paid for templates.
Ask your supervisor. And I hope you aren't using your real name. Good luck. I hope you find your answer :)
Why do MTs who are paid by the hour cherrypick the normals off accounts.
Line counts shouldn't be that important to them.
Employee. 0.09 cpl, 100s of normals, and downtime paid.
x
Co I work for, large national, allows normals. Of course, you must listen
zz
I have normals, lots and a huge expander glossary sm
I also have 20 years in this business, which helps. I am not a fast typist really and I can't type at all without the expander, not anymore. I have a photographic memory for terms and how they are spelled...see it once, know it forever.
There are exceptional MTs and there are very good MTs, there are good ones and ones who can just about pass muster. Don't beat yourself up trying to be exceptional. I think exceptional MTs are born, but very good ones can be built from scratch. There are MANY MANY facets to success as an MT. You have to have quite an ear for voices and even the very best of us can't do every accent. You have to either be a great typist and/or Expander user, and you have to know it well (I have used my same one most of my career). You have to know your terminology inside and out. You need to know how to properly organize your normals so that they are consistent and easy to use. You have to have an excellent platform to work on, preferrably a Word client. You also have to have a company who stands behind you and makes sure you have enough work with QA people who can and will take the time to teach you what you don't know. My favorite QA gal is a font of knowledge, a BOS2 expert and she even corrects my emails for grammar. I have learned a lot from her. It helps to have someone on an IM who can answer questions on the fly for you. I have had those in the past and now I am one of those who does the answering.
Most importantly, do your very best at whatever mode of work you are doing. Show up every day, give it your all. Don't worry about what the rest of us are doing, be the best you, you can be. Things fall into place when you do that, I know because this is how I had to approach the early stages of my career. Persistance pays off.
Anyone know of a company that uses a very easy platform with templates...
and lots of fill in the blanks? I am trying to find part-time work that doesn't require a whole lot of typing because I have pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. I still have several months of pregnancy left and I still need to work, so my only option is to find work that requires a lot less typing! I am just happy that this CTS is usually only temporary! I do wear wrist splints and take frequent breaks during my shift but this provides little relief. If you know of companies that use easy platforms with templates, fill in the blanks, cut and paste, etc - please let me know! Thanks in Advance!
Line count involving templates
I need advice!! I am typing in a template that consists of 205 gross lines before any typing is done in it. The client isn't questioning the body of the template where we add the meds, past history, etc., but there is an area of a preprinted form that is added that consists of about 85 lines. The client doesn't want to be charged for this, as this is not part of the typing. How can I bill for this exclulding this preprinted form? I would have to get the total number of characters for the entire document including the form and divide by 65? Help!!
I don't know if this can be asked or not, but how does Keystrokes handle templates? (sm)
Are they prefilled by the platform and if so are they paid to the MT as having been typed by the MT or does the system subtract for the template?
I have no problem not being paid for template characters; however, I have found (with a couple of services that I have worked for) that the platform (or client or maybe even the service) will fill in absolutely every heading that MIGHT possibly be dictated by the doctor. We, as the MT, have then had to bounce up and down the template looking for the heading that is being dictated and in some cases, having to modify the template by extracting words to fit how the doctor is dictating that heading. In both cases, the line counter was set up to deduct the characters from the ORIGINAL template (which we were not paid for). If the doctor dictates a shorter heading than was prefilled by the system, we are essentially losing lines. (I hope that wasn't too confusing.)
It's just so much easier to type as the doctor is dictating and use my expansion program rather than jumping up and down a template. I'm wondering how Keystrokes handles their templates. TIA
Shine templates take too long to load sm
Isn't too bad if you can go straight into it and start typing, but the account I do you have to go in and fill/fix the template after it loads before you can start typing, so it can be time consuming. 
I get paid per gross line. I utilize normals and macros
as much as possible, though I could do more than I do. I also type 100+ wpm. I don' t have demographics to fill in, just patient's name and I type in straight WP5.1, so no cumbersome formats. I download via FTP and I batch my work insteading of having save each individual report. I make 8 cpl per gross line.
Sorry to hear that because that was a good account with great normals. Hope
you find a new home where you will be appreciated and with good line counts!
Disagree with this. Every company I've worked for paid for normals.
x
The majority of places have you use templates and software platforms. Maybe someone can suggest a
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