Check the Productivity web site or ask questions there. sm

• Shorthand - Lori Strickland
  • shorthand bold - michelle
  • Check the Productivity web site or ask questions there. sm - NMT

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are wonderful ideas there for every expander, and a lot of help with other programs like word and WP as well.

Your company cannot tell if you use an expander.  You have already set your mind to the idea that you cannot because that would not be verbatim, so you need to have a litle bit of an attitude adjustment, too.   It makes no difference if Dr. Jones dictates:  "The patient was taken to the operating room", it is still the same phrase and I can type that using 5 characters and it comes out the same.  Or I can use 4  characters and have it say "the patient was brought to the operating room".  I am an extremely high producer, doing approximately 400 lph on a very difficult account, verbatim, with 95% ESLs.  But the phrases, instruments, and anatomy all stay the same.  I just make modifications in my Shorthand to accommodate the differences.  And no, I cannot memorize my shortcuts, but I do utilize about 3 different systems for shortcuts, and have about 22,000 words and phrases in there. 

1.  Is your son in kindergarten or 1st grade?

2.  Did he have problems at his prior school situation for pre-k or kindergarten, nursery school, etc?

3.  What is the nature of the problems, i.e. is it that he's misbehaving, not feeling like the other kids like him or is it that he's having a hard time learning the things he's being presented at his age?

Now that you've thought about these basic questions we need to move it up to another level.  If he's misbehaving you need to try to find out why.  Is it because of peer pressure?  Is he misbehaving because he's trying to draw attention away from the fact that he may not understand an assigned task?  Is he just having a hard time adjusting to school emotionally?  Are there possibly some learning disabilities?

If you believe that he is capable of learning without struggling and the problems are more behavioral then often times those are corrected with setting goals that include rewards for good behaviors and restrictions for bad behaviors.   I  have a 5-year-old bipolar child who understands that when she has a good day at school that she gets a sticker on the sticker chart at home and for every week that she goes 5 days without my getting a phone call or note from the teacher about a behavior problem then she gets to go into the grab bag and get a prize.  For each day I receive a note or phone call she loses TV privileges, and if I get 2 negative communications from the teacher in a week then she also loses privileges to go to the art room at home (her favorite place).   For the grab bag it's a dark heavy duffel bag that I put things in that I pick up at the dollar store, and includes everything from gum to neat pencils to puzzles to games.   She isn't allowed to see what is in the bag, just has to reach in and grab something for her reward. 

If you see that your child is struggling to learn then you need to write the school a letter requesting that an IEP evaluation be done.  This stands for Individualized Educational Plan.  By federal law they will then have to do some screening tests on your child to check for learning disabilities when you request this and will have to assist with whatever needs he may have.  Also if there are known emotional problems then  he would also qualify for an IEP.  

I hope that you're sitting down with your child and teacher and discussing what the problems are. Open communication is the best thing and remember to stay objective.  We always want to think I kids can do no wrong and are angels at school all day.  Also if you don't feel comfortable with the child's teacher then talk to the teacher about that and if you don't feel the issue is being resolved then set up a meeting with the principal.

As far as homeschooling goes, realize that this is a very major step and that you will be required to provide 6 hours of education a day.  If you can do this and work then go for it.  I know a lot of people that home school but most of the ones I know that do this only work part-time or not at all.  

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about anything I've said and I'll try to help you in any way that I can.   I've dealt with the educational system for several years as a foster parent of special needs kids so I know pretty well what the rules and laws say in the states. 

Just kidding.

PS:  It's not like MQ would be dishonest or anything.

I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

How in the world do you accomplish so many lines.

I am genuinely interested in any advice you might have. I struggle to meet minimums when work is available.

Thanks!

I don't see a board for increasing productivity.  I usually just post questions on the main board but think I will get more information if I post questions on the board specifically for productivity.

TIA

I didn't know if that board is frequented a lot, but posted a couple questions there.

Thanks so much for your time.

Chickadee

Our company is currently using Winscribe dictation system, but they did not buy the transcription side of this, which creates a database and templates and saves the work to a file. 

I am looking for productivity program that works the same way that is reasonable.  ADS may be one but I have no feedback on this. 

Any suggestions.

For anyone who uses Bayscribe, do you do real well productivity wise on one account and then accomplish absolutely nothing on others?  The short notes, the in and out, in and out business; it takes up so much time, I have just spent over 2 hours with just under 200 lines.   Is anyone else's experience the same?

The more targeted your glossaries are, the faster you get to your words and phrases. Are you using doctor- or specialty-specific glossaries combined with your own base glossary?

Are you concentrating on phrases rather than on words? The big keystroke savings kick in when you concentrate on the phrases your doctors say all the time.

More about productivity at the link below. I hope it will give you some quick tips.

Marianne

know if I have too many screens opened up and minimized or what. I tried to open a website sent by email and froze up the email screen. Not sure what I am doing.

does anyone have any pointers that can help my productivity with voice files.  Voice recognition board not working and productivity board says go to main board.  Help if you can.

Thanks