Oh to amend that, the way they were counting lines changed and they told me they could no longer
Posted By: anon on 2005-09-23
In Reply to: I just quit Medquist, hired by Etrans and quit them after one afternoon during the last two weeks!sm - anon
count gross lines. I was asking for 0.12 a character count line, whatever and however they come to that.
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It's longer than the "standard" 65-char. line so will take you longer to make those lines!
m
Counting lines
Don't forget to mention that they altered the WAY they count lines, no headers/footers. It seems more like they way MQ counts their lines. My overall production dropped about 20%, which is why they lowered their requirement from 12,500 per pay period down to 11,000. The incentive is pretty low, and only draws in the fast fast fast MTs. I'm not a lightening ball of speed, so I never qualify.
A pay cut is a pay cut, is a pay cut, is a pay cut!
Counting lines
I am not sure how to either than to go up to tools and then scroll down to line count. I think a lot of other things factor in when it comes to line counts dropping or even increasing. When I am extremely focused and don't get interrupted I do a great deal of lines. When Im in a snail mood I just can't seem to get it together, take lots of pantry and potty breaks. It is definitely hard to work on production because every minute counts. Soooo. to rack up those lines, I know I definitely need to glue myself to the chair:)
Method of counting lines with ETrans Plus
I'm noticing something kind of fishy with the line counting method used by ETrans Plus out of Nashville after several weeks of working. What is strange is that I can load a template for a particular dictator with several lines of routine text and the line count doesn't adjust if I go from the top to the bottom but continues to count at the point of entry regardless of how many lines of text are between the top of the report and where I jumped to in order to add new text. Has anybody with previous ETP employment experienced this? Just curious and would like to be informed.
That's why I quit MQ. I couldn't figure out how they were counting the lines. I took a big p
nm
I was told that was no longer an option last week.
nm
I was just told on yesterday that they no longer do hourly for QA.
This was from a male (M.L.) who responded to my email. Did you get this information from a male? I wonder why they are telling some people that they pay hourly and telling others that it is by the line only?
She has been told this for years now. Hasn't changed.
You would be shocked at how many MTs have left them. Amazingly they keep finding others to hire. Sad, sad, sad.
The longer MQ MT is on DQS, the less lines
we get. There is no "getting used" to the program that is taking our line counts. Very familiar with DQS, have all normals/short cuts in place, very fast typist, and DQS "eats up lines". MedRite did not do that to us. Why do you think MQ changed to DQS ? -- so that the MT's would get more lines per hour ? NOT !
I can get my lines, but it takes a lot longer than it should. nm
nm
I must amend this see message
I'm not a doctor and I don't know you, so before you take the Benadryl read the box and talk to the pharmacist, as I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you. I know I have used Benadryl and it is prescribed often as a mild sedative and it does work. I have had really good dreams after taking Benadryl. If you are taking some antidepressants they may not mix with Benadryl so you will want to not take it in that case. By the way, I am going to ask on this board about CyMed. They seem like a company that may care about their employees. They even offer time and a half during the first month to help you out as you get up to speed. I am awaiting their call to me. This week has just been so frustrating. I have been so angry and bitter today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for both of us. Take care.
IC cannot be told I need you to work between 1 and 5 but they can say I need these lines by
:+
Where I work we were told we HAD to get our lines in - sm
So right now many of us have been camping out at the computers fighting for every line we can get. Not sure I am going to last much longer at this pace. 
She told me "average" of about 45 lines per page.
nm
I was also told I had to complete 8 hours even if I got my lines before that. nm
x
I amend the contract or refuse to sign
I've been presented with a no-compete 2 times. Both times when I questioned the employers for more specifics, the info I received from them went contrary to what the clause actually stated. (I think they had just copied it from somewhere.) I told them if they had a presence on the Internet, then their market was the entire world and that if I signed that contract as stated, it would mean I could not work for anyone in the world as a Transcriptionist for a year and there was no way I was going to sign that. Both times the employers they said they did not realize this. They just didn't want anyone stealing their clients.
I refused to sign each one until I personally rewrote that clause stating specifically that I would not pursue any of their current clients, especially the accounts I was on, for a year after leaving their employ and that if I pursued someone but did not realize that entity was their client, I would not be held responsible (since I was not privy to their client base). That was it. Nothing more. They were more than glad to comply and said they were glad I told them this and would amend that contract for future employees, as neither one of them wanted to prevent anyone from working.
I'd consider possible court costs if you take the severance and pursue work. They might not win if it went that far but you'd still be at chance for possible hefty fees just to get the case dismissed and end up with less money and more hassle. Your lawyer should be able to give you a figure on this.
I was told 6000 lines for 2 weeks when I hired
in as an SE 6 weeks ago.
We are told to flex our schedules to get lines/hours in. (sm)
No one is trying to steal work from other shifts, we are just trying to do our jobs. Obviously it is not our preference to work outside our hours but we all do what we have to do to make this work for right now.
Hopefully new accounts are in place now and things will level out.
Have a better day.
Told minimum PT was 3500 lines a week; requires 2 weekend days a month nm
xx
The owners haven't changed, MT supe hasn't changed
I've been in their office. I know the people. It is a sweat shop and you will never be paid a decent amount or get respect. You won't know which is a good or a bad day for the person you report to until you literally get yelled at.
They have to offer bonuses because their reputation is that bad and nothing has changed. You may get work that has been recorded 3 times from some of the worst accounts you could ever imagine. They take accounts no one else will touch. That hasn't changed.
They changed buildings so maybe the phone number also changed...
They are still going strong...
I don't hesitate to ask. Have been told "yes", and have been told "no." Never been to
:+
450, not 100. Not counting MDI.
nm
counting me blessin's
I was feeling all abused and unappreciated. I work for a hsp system from home and work on productivity -- making in the 50k + range. Great, inexpensive insurance and double time for holidays. All the OT I want or none at all if I want. Anywho, I was unhappy with a few minor details and thought about quitting in a huff. After reading about life in the world of national co.'s I have regained my appreciation for my employer. I spent over 9 years out there frantically searching for a decent line rate, less than 95% ESLs, and affordable insurance. That's all I wanted 'cept maybe for QA not on a power trip and enough work to complete 40 hours a week.
From what I am reading, things are still the same out there. It looks like line rates are stagnant or decreased from before. Companies are still overhiring. Insurance is ghastly. I wish you all well and once again,
thanks for the cold water in the face! 
Line counting
Just wondering, was this company TransTech. I have recently left them. The management is great, but as far as i was concerned the work was awful, every account they put me on, and I had to really struggle to get my lines in. I asked them to unblock the control I function so that I could see my lines and they won't do it. They more or less said that they count the lines the way they want and we have to use the website to find the correct lines. THIS IS BS!
Just wondering. You don't have to respond if you don't want to, but just curious.
line counting
I work for TT and we had a problem with the ichart which counts our lines but I would just wait a couple of hours or until the next morning to get my count and then mark it. It was always available in time for the end of the pay period. Transtech is a great company to work for and yes management is great. They also let us know whenever there were issues with the system and we knew that we would need to wait. I've been there long enough now to kind of get a feel for the number of lines I have for what I've typed. I'm typing on the TransNet platform now. I was on PowerScribe when I started but like this system much better. So far, there's been no real problem with availability of work. Can't complain! 
line counting
It really depends on the length of report. It usally takesme about 70 reports. You get a better line count of you get some lengthy normals and that helps. My account doesn't have a lot long reports. We have nuc med and occasionally there are normals and you get a decent count then.
Some do pay more because of not counting spaces. (nm)
x
8 days and counting....
and I'm outta there! 
Something said before about it not counting spaces, but maybe that's
s
Oh, not even counting the emails sent, on and on
and just an IM for a stat dictation. That is really laughable as so many were actually hounded about their work, not an occasional but looking over your shoulder constantly, the emails were endless as were the other notes. Milner flipflopped back and forth on the same formats, 1 day like this, the next day like this, the third day oh back to where it was in the first place. The work I did was for a huge client- did that make any difference as like you say to not being bothered, that the work needs to be done? Nah. They needed the work then but instead made everyone that worked there miserable. I know for a fact as I talked with others (the ones originally hired on and the ones who all quit- quite a lot of them also.) Another thing, don’t even think about asking for any kind of raise- impossible and no one there wants to hear that. There was a meeting called at Milners and the other MTers and I laughed about the fact 1 of the head guys came in to let us know how he was especially picked to come back there, called out of retirement in fact and how much he was offered. Oh that really made others feel good! I along with the others could write books on this.
TT Line Counting
You know, sometimes I find these posts comical and sometimes they just really tick me off. Maybe because I have been doing this nearly a half century, I don't need a line counter to tell me if I'm being paid accurately. I don't go wasting my time looking to see how many lines I've typed during the day or running my work through another line count program. I KNOW approximately how many lines I have typed at any given time...I just KNOW and I am seldom off more than a few lines just with my head count. There is no way I'm going to waste my valuable time worrying if I'm being cheated out of a line here or a line there. Checking line counts takes time..........so does posting on these MT forums.
Let me say that if my in head count was off, I would know it and I would not work for a company where I had to constantly worry if I was being cheated. Maybe there is something to the old saying, it takes a thief to catch a thief.
As for line counts varying, mine is varying at the moment also. My primary account often runs out of work and I know exactly WHY it runs out of work although no one has actually told me. Okay, I have a backup account (or several) and I can either jump on those and make the line count I want or I can sit around whining about not getting my primary account, which by now is a piece of cake for me. The backup accounts have 50,000 physicians on their list, maybe not quite that many actually, but bunches. It takes awhile to get familiar with all of them as it does to build my normals and expanders.
Sometimes I have to laugh when I read these petty comments. I think to myself, if they would get off this forum and actually WORK, they probably wouldn't have so much whining to do.
As I've said before, those who have nothing better to do than bash TT should just move along and leave the rest of us in our blissful ignorance. I'm chuckling to myself right now because there are posts on this forum at this moment about 2 companies for whom I have worked. I don't feel it necessary to post derogatory comments but sometimes I do hope that some of the people who love to beat up on Transtech actually go to work for them and learn what it's like to work for a bad (at least in my opinion) company. Some people deserve it.
Now I'm off my soap box and going to type where I will actually make some money....yes, for TransTech. They treat me fairly. If they didn't, well, I was looking for a job when I found this one.
Five jobs and counting!!!
I am glad I started this thread and I keep racking up the jobs and I will see who is on the up and up.
3 Jobs and Counting...
Yep, yep...One full-time job transcribing Radiology from home for a local hospital from 4 p.m.-12 a.m., five days per week; four hours transcribing pediatric clinic notes from 12 a.m.-4 a.m.; and four hours doing acute care transcription for a hospital in Texas.
I look at the positive side of this...I never get bored, and I'm far too busy to get into too much trouble (and my boyfriend is very understanding and supportive, which always makes things easier).
Now if only I could find a way to get Starbucks delivered to my front door, I'd never have to leave the house....
OSI line counting
OSI question?
Have recently talked to an MT who just started at OSi within the past 3 months. Line counting does not seem to jive with Word. A great difference. Word counting lists 100 lines, OSI counting of the same report lists 40 lines. They claim they do not count spaces, which I find rather surprising, because the last time I checked, a space is a keystroke.
Any input? Thanks.
Line counting changes
In my method of calculation, used to be 11% subtracted for headers/footers (and whatever else). Now it comes out to 15%!!!! Gosh, I forgot, the headers and footers have steadily gotten larger - BS. Oh yes, we the transcriptionists must tithe to work on this particular software, if you know what I mean.
7 years, 10 months and counting at -
:)
How many MTs?? Not even close to 400 unless you are counting your offshore MTs.
Tell everyone how many MTs and QA Specialists you lost in one months' time.
documed line counting
Is there anyone out there who works for Documed? Do you know how they count lines? I would appreciate any information anyone has. Thanks very much.
I question their line counting
If their version of Word is provided by Dictaphone, who also provides the line counting website, why aren't the two compatible? We had some discrepancy between the two and instead of fixing it we got locked out of the lines typed this session feature of MS Word (which was helpful and is not available on the website. Rather than fix it they disable it. They're a little heavy handed. Love it or leave it.
line counting programs
I know abacus is free to download, but I have found that it is inconsistent with its counting abilities in my own experiences. I believe this site, MTStars has a line counting program available too, but I do not know if it is free. I don't know anything about wtd. lines. best of luck.
line counting program
Does anybody know of a free line counting program I could download? Also, is anybody familiar with wtd. lines vs. lines in a line counting program? I assume wtd. means weighted, and what does it mean? Thanks.
Line counting messes
I have a positive post but I am not revealing the company - yet... Don't want to jump out there and say what a great company this is like I had done in the past only to find out I was so dead wrong. I am working on the Dictaphone Extext platform. The session statistics ARE enabled within the program. I was told right up front that headers and footers were not counted ---so this is not a good excuse for any company to disable this feature. I find my line counts so far to be fair and accurate and what I would expect. I am glad to finally find a company that is on the up and up and does not give me the run around or the just trust me answer when it comes to verifying line counts. I have been pleasantly surprised. Just hope it continues and I will be happy to post their name here, just don't want to do it too prematurely.
Queston about I-chart and counting (sm)
The company I work for recently enabled the Control-I function which I have read a lot about on here. Can someone please tell me what the advantage of this is? We don't count headers or footers, and the Cont.I function does, so what is the point? I would just as soon use the I-Chart and wait for it to update. I haven't been cheated yet! I don't get what all the uproar was about.
Extext counting has been working for me ...
... as of a couple weeks ago. I expected a whole new system to learn and do, but for me I've noticed that my line count is correct when I go to the site for it, even immediately, and that's been consistent for a couple weeks, more or less. So, maybe it's fixed but behind the scenes ... ? If so, I appreciate that I DON'T have to learn anything new!
line counting programs
If the line count in a particular platform, for example ExText, is compared to MS Word count where the total word count is divided by 65, shouldn't the count be about the same?
line counting programs
In this case, the count in ExText is way below that of MS Word for the same reports. I don't have another line counting program to go by but wouldn't you think from this that something isn't quite right?
Line Counting Change
I know where you're at and agree with you 100%. Have noticed the same thing myself, only this was not the first time. This has been happening over a period of time in stages. It first became apparent to me awhile ago.
You sound like you're counting down the days
nm
Line counting methods do vary
from account to account on this platform so ask lots of questions and try and talk with MTs actually working for a company using it before jumping in. I worked for a company that had session statistics disabled and I was very disappointed with the way lines were counted. I couldn't make it. The company I am currently employed with has this enabled and my counts are great. It may have nothing to do with the ability to view the stats but may have all to do with the way lines are counted.
Let us know when the line counting issue is resolved...sm
as in being able to view line counts live as you type, and then I would like to apply to the company. Seriously, I think it sounds like a great place to work, but no one should ever work for a company where you cannot view your production in live time. But, if they get that all straightened around, I will be sending in my resume. Keep us updated. TIA
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