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Agree---and work on those expansions..it stinks at first

Posted By: mt on 2008-04-09
In Reply to: Just be patient and give yourself time, you will get - there (nm)

but it WILL pay off in the long run. Especially once you're familiar with the doctors and you can *almost* type what they're going to say before they say it. When you're that familiar, it makes for a fabulous line count:-)


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That stinks. Must be the office you work for because

I had nothing but STAT reports for 5 hours straight this a.m. and then reports went back to last Friday's dictation.  I wish there were some way I could send some out to you.


Weird thing is that in the last couple of weeks I have logged on to find no work, but within an hour, I have plenty of work.  Uh oh.  Is it my turn?


It depends entirely on the company you work for. If their tech support stinks, then
the program will not do well, but if they have good tech support, they can tweak it to work just fine.
There's a tutorial in the program and yes you do create expansions while you work. Love it! nm
s
And we all think our pay stinks -- nm
nm
That really stinks...sm
That supervisor doesn't have a clue about her job! You didn't do anything wrong, and you definitely don't deserve to be removed from the account. But, I've been right in your spot, which is against a brick wall, and my experience has been that you can try to make them see the facts, and they may even agree, but you still will not win.

I'm sorry you have to experience such unfairness, but MTs are often used as scapegoats, most times without their even knowing about it!

Really though, a team leader removing someone without having all the details? ?Without even asking questions of you, and then tell you to "hold tight." It's not worth it to even wait for her to find the facts because they won't be about you anyway. There are MT companies that value their MTs. Find another job ASAP. Kindergardeners need to "hold tight," but where does that fit in at all here? Maybe the supervisor can "hold tight" while you find a better company to work for!!!!

Good luck to you!
One job yes! The other no, and it stinks!
And it takes a very long time for that check to arrive by mail! Why don't all do DD? Just wondering...
Well that just stinks :(

I'm so sorry that happened to you.  At least you tried to communicate with them to find out what went wrong...seems like they are the ones being rude and inconsiderate with not even responding.  Even though I'd say just try to forget it and move on, I can understand how it would be very hard to let something like that just roll off your shoulders, you know?   I'd want to know if it was personal or if they over hired or what...just tell me so I can start to heal!  I hope you either get an answer or are able to come away from this unscathed.  Best wishes and hang in there!    



 


That stinks!

Something similar happened to me.  I started work at the end of March and didn't see a paycheck until mid-May - AFTER I had quit.  Got in a HUGE fight with my boss.  It's such a risk when you go with a small mom-n-pop company.


I do hope it all resolves for you.


Hi, EL. That stinks! SM
I'd strongly suggest taking advice only from those doing quite well overall with MTSOs. There are reasons why they are, and you want to be in that group.

Seriously, whatever you do, don't avoid VR. Go specifically for it, perhaps looking for accounts that are going to it but still mostly transcription. It's here now and will be the future, and you're already behind the curve. It requires a somewhat different skill set than transcribing, but plenty of people love it and make more at it. Like me. Mine that old can-do spirit and continue developing the skills to continue in this field until retirement if you wish.

Doing well with editing, as well as transcribing, is highly dependent on extensive Expander use.

Regarding MTSOs, lots of people have all the work they can handle, with no bottoming out, but getting that steadiness and having it continue can't be depended on. Just in case, expect to occasionally have to flex somewhat with the work flow just in case.

Webmedx is a good company that specializes in medium-sized regional medical centers/hospitals. Lots of ESL, but higher pay rates balance it out. Expander provided, and classes in its use and other productivity-raising techniques. Good health insurance. Very good incentive pay scale.

Best wishes.
Yep, that stinks, I have one like that - sm
she will do a 17 min consult, I will be lucky if it is 80 lines....stinks, I also have an "ummer"....he will ummmmmmmm for a minute or two, on a 12 minute report, though he redeems himself when he has me "send it in letter format" as well as the report, sometimes to 3 or 4 different doctors, no cc notes for him, so that is quite nice, I can make $25 in 5-10 minutes that way sometimes. He doesn't do it all the time, but still it is a nice perk.
VR pay stinks
I just don't get it and never will. You still have to listen to a whole file to edit, and usually at regular or slower pace to VR which is just another job description for traditional VR which also sucks pay wise. Either way, you still listen to the whole file, and usually the docs put on VR are the better dictators, so you could type them as fast as you listen. The crap docs are the ones that don't make it onto VR, but if you can type as fast as the good ones are speaking in VR, which I have happened upon more than once, then with a good expander, etc., I could be making twice as much just typing their butts. Sorry, this whole VR crap situation is just that, CRAP, and another reason to pay us less than we are worth.

I REFUSE to do this crap work for 3 cpl, and I was shocked as a student at what my mentor made editing my work and giving me invaluable feedback.
Editors in general should be paid hourly and that's a fact. We need to really consider the crap rates we are offered while the middle/man/woman makes the other half of our pay and say enough is enough. Rates are simply pathetic knowing what the middle person is ACTUALLY making!! PLZ............
Hardly get to use my expansions any more
Most of the doctors whose jobs I used to not lift my foot for the pedal for from start to finish, are now on ASR and I cannot say that about them anymore. Those definitely take longer because not only do you have to change, delete and add here and there, you have to scrutinize every letter or mistakes the listening device may have made. Obvious what is saved to expansion was checked to perfection already.
Unless, of course, the MTs use only expansions

expansions
Put in a lot of the common things most physicians say for every report like:  the patient, increased pain, complains of, tells me that, MRI results, x-ray of the, come back in, return to see me in, was seen in the emergency room, I told her to, I told him to, see me back as needed == things like that.  If you analyze a report, you'll see that most of it is plain English and those things are said over and over.  Once I switched from concentrating the majority of my entries from medical words to plain English, my speed really picked up.  I still add in the medical things, of course, but with my glossary I can work on many accounts with a lot more ease and productivity.  It's taken quite a time but well worth it.   
expansions
I don't worry about whether I already tried an expansion, because if it's there and I don't hit it right away, it isn't easy enough, so I try again. Usually I stick to a few standard forms, but that can vary from first letters of a phrase plus x on the end to e on then end, to some 2-word phrases that I use the first 3 letters of each word together. I might delete one that is rarely used if I want to reuse the abbreviation for a more useful phrase. I've deleted a lot of the first ones I tried, because they really weren't very helpful. I like to keep the phrases short, rather than try for long ones, maybe 3-5 words, because doctors tend not to be entirely consistent in how they say things, and I have verbatim accounts...less need to reword things that way.

I think that about 40% of what I type is an expansion of some sort on my normal doctors. If I'm doing someone new or someone who isn't consistent in what they say it may be quite a lot less, but that isn't really counting the individual word expansions, just the phrases. Many of the words over 3-4 letters I get with 1, 2, or 3 Keystrokes at most. You just have to keep your eyes on the expander, and sometimes even slow down enough to see words not at the top of the list. I use Smartype, so they come up in order of most used, which I can change at any point if needed.
If no spaces, it is more like 5.75 which stinks! - nm
x
yeah that stinks

Its not like with a car where you have a choice whether to drive or not. 


They should make an affordable plan scaled to income available to anyone who cannot get coverage otherwise and set criteria like - if you have to pay more than 10% (or whatever is fair) of your income for insurance, you are eligible for the plan.  Cutting it off at 4X poverty level screws the middle class family, again.  Just like for financial aid for school. 


JMO.  TG we have good insurance. (military)


that really stinks, BIG TIME !!
here is the other web site that goes into more detail,
http://www.programmersguild.org/RIR/
Comcast really stinks.........
I used to have their cable internet here in Cresson, PA, but I have switched to Verizon high-speed DSL, and I absolutely love it.  They do have special sign ups, which you can you lock in at that rate, I did!  Sure hope you get rid of Comcast! 
No pay for spaces, which stinks. Your

I have heard low work volumes if full time. Not getting paid for spaces was a deal breaker for me.


The new BOS perpetuates this and it stinks. It is
bn
My expansions on MQ's server
Conditions at my local MQ ofc have deteriorated to the point where I am ready to throw in the towel and look elsewhere.  My question:  I am using my own computer.  Is it possible to retrieve/print out my Expanders and shortcuts that I made up myself before I leave.  I've only worked for MQ, and imagine I've accumulated over 2000 of these shortcuts.   I know they are on my hard drive, but I have no program that will enable me to access them.  Does anyone know of any such animal?  Secondarily, has anyone ever left one MQ ofc for another, or just plain asked to be switched to other accounts.  TIA
According to their web site they pay for expansions (sm)
I personally think we aren't paid for blanks and headers and that makes a difference. I have been working on DQS for a couple of weeks now and have gotten up to a whopping 200 plus per hour so I feel like I am making headway.
I have a question about DQS expansions.

I have 6000 phrases in my PRD which I am about to transfer to the DQS expansion program (I won't start for a couple of weeks).  The tech says anything more than a few hundred might cause expansions to be sluggish while I'm transcribing :(.  Has anyone been having this problem?


Also, is it better to use my own Window-based glossary program instead of the one DQS provides?  The tech says he can't advise me on that and the techs won't provide assistance on it. 


 


Watch those expansions for BM
She had a large, foul-smelling black male overnight with massive bleeding.
Need HELP to transfer expansions

I want to transfer my shortcuts (expansions) from DocQScribe to Microsoft office word.  Is it possible to do this?  Can anyone tell me where to go for instructions/guidelines on doing this?  Please help!


drug expansions
How you set up your expansions for drugs?
I use the first three letters and the last letter. For example, for Plavix, I would set it up as plax. Also, for drugs that I type frequently, I sometimes shorten it more - Lasix is lx.
I want to add dosages also, but I'm undecided how I want to do it. I would love to hear how others do it. Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas and suggestions.
Did they ever say they wouldn't pay for expansions? More likely,
s
Adding Expansions

I was wondering how you build your expansion list, meaning, about how many words do you put in day?  A few, 20, 50?  And do you review them daily so you know what you have?  I tend to create them and then forget I have them and then do not use them.  What are you tips?  Thanks in advance!


IMO, it will. I, too, used the same expansions for many years...sm
and found IT to be a pain in the tush. I did, however, find ShortHand or ShortCut to be much better choices. Not sure if they are still around as I use ESP and AutoCorrect (you can use both if you allow it in the preferences). I learned the expansions one way and found too many choices to be a hindrance. Good luck with your search!
How many expansions have you put into your autocorrect over...sm
the last 14 years. I started with a blank autocorrect 10 years ago and now have many thousand expansions from individual words, to phrases, paragraphs, and even full reports. I still add new ones almost every day. The way I have it set up I save more than 50% of my keystrokes.
Oh that stinks-LOL!! Sounds like my luck.
nm
RIU or RUI let's you type in a raw document, but their pay stinks! nm
s
Word expansions ... that is the MAIN
help for me. I do have good accounts but they have ESLs and some non-ESLs who are even worse. I have to slow down for them but then try to make up my speed with the next good dictation.

I put EVERYTHING into word expanders...words, phrases, etc. EVERYTHING. I couldn't do half my line counts probably if I didn't use my expanders so well.

Don't answer the phone. Don't check email or forums until I take a break. Don't eat or drink while working.
How does one temporarily disable expansions
x
How do I transfer DQS expansions to MS Word
I already know how to access and copy the user.aco files from DQS, but I can't figure out how to copy them into another copy of MS Word Auto Correct to use for another platform.
Not sure what you mean by "work together." Do you mean can your list of expansions for one be

imported for use in the other or do you mean can both programs be running simultaneously?


yes, need to disable your expansions in Word and...

you also need to open ShortCut BEFORE you open your platform (Word or whatever you are using).


Good luck.


How do I copy a list of my expansions?
nm
Expansions for numbers/lab values

Do you all use Expanders for numbers and lab values?  - Ex.: 0-10 red cells, 10-20 white cells ... things of that nature.  I have a few, but it seems there are so many different combinations of number items that I can't come up with a good system.


Any ideas appreciated. 


 


Instant Text expansions
can be 16,000 characters long.
Did you use IT with Meditech? You may have experienced the limitations of Meditech not being able to handle more than a paragraph at once.
That really stinks! Guess I should feel lucky.

Now I feel foolish for complaining without thinking there were others worse off.  Sorry.


Well that stinks, my vet just built an addition onto the "house" she was using - sm
It is now basically 2 houses connected with a wide hallway. She has 1 partner, who she has had for the last few years, and has not changed her services/prices at all. She now does have a $25 visit fee but you only have to pay it once a year, if you are regular customer she won't charge you for it everytime you come in. She does not charge for putting an pet to sleep either, as long as you are a regular (She knows us pretty well, I was there a lot with my old dog). She is very helpful to me, recently boarded our 16-y/o schipperke though she has not had her shots this year (my normal kennel would not take her since she was not current on her shots -- was due in 9/05) but as she is on her last legs I see no point in getting her vaccines. The dog is deaf and blind, having kidney failure very slowly but seems happy and my DH can't bring himself to put her to sleep yet. Our vet agrees with us on this point too.
Yeah and it pretty much stinks so far this season.
x
How is the health insurance? Mine stinks.
nm
Thanks for your replies. I like my account alot but I don't like the pay so that stinks!!
nm
My trick for stopping expansions from expanding....SM
This might not work for you but I find it quicker to add it in my shortcuts. I simply add the last letter on it again when I don't want it to expand. For example, BP = blood pressure but BPP = blood pressure. COPD = chronic.... but COPDD = COPD. That's a lot faster for me than to do all those other steps. Just thought I would throw that out there in case it might work for someone else too.
Need expansions for both mitral valve repair
nm
Is selecting expansions from a list a hassle?
With Instant Text how do you choose the expansion you want from the list at the bottom of the screen? Do you use the mouse to click on it? Do you use the arrow keys on the keyboard?


How do I add expansions/abbreviations in Word 2007?

It stinks. You can type it faster, it's tedious, it's tiring, and it's
s