I agree that these docs need to slow down sm
Posted By: 30 year MTr on 2006-03-20
In Reply to: While I agree that it is part of the job, it - wannie
but the reality of it is, they never will! They dictate how they dictate and we are not going to change that.
I can remember when I first started. This particular hospital took folks and taught them MT. Folks who had absolutely no experience. I was 22 years old and anxious to learn this profession that I knew absolutely nothing about. I remember after about the second week telling the person who was training me that we should have a "seminar" and teach these docs how to dictate! Looking back on that it cracks me up. That was youth and inexperience speaking.
Again, it does bother me that these folks speak so fast sometimes and the accents sometimes are horrible. The accents can be a problem in other areas of medicine too. If a person cannot be understood that is a dangerous mix.
Bottom line is, we cannot change them, so we have to learn all that we can. It is unfortunate that we don't get the recognition or the pay that we all deserve. Most folks think we are just "typists" and that anyone can do this. Every MT has to come to grips with the fact that folks do not understand what we do and we don't get the recognition that we deserve. My satisfaction comes in turning out a quality report and always remembering that there is a "patient" behind all of this and a quality report contributes to quality care! It is not just a matter of production and how many lines typed. Many MTs have fallen into that trap and have forgotten the real reason we do this.
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Agree about the docs. sm
The first hospital I worked at we had this cardiology resident who just knew he was perfect. He came into the department one day and I told him I was perfect too and how hard it was for us perfect people, that nobody understood us. He said, "Really I didn't know anyone else felt that way." Still don't know if he was joking. Of course I was! That was 30 years ago. He was good and is probably living the good life now. Unlike me. 
I would go up to the docs and asked them about things and I think they appreciated my dedication. I had many docs compliment me on my work.
I used the belts and also the little disks and of course the Selectrics. I got really good at correcting the carbons! 
I agree; I love MDI-FL. I am a slow right now too, but
this is a really slow week. I am happy because I worked a ton of hours all year. My only problem with them was "too much work!!"
I would agree they are slow and frustrating
but once you have them down you can make great line counts on them.
As a side note, I have been doing ops daily for 10 years and I still use my Stedman Medical and Surgical Equipment word book often. If you are going to dive into ops you must, must, must get this book before starting. It will help you a lot.
It may die a slow death. Agree with having more than one
nm
I agree - slow death
I don't think it's on its way out just yet, but the type of work is changing and with VR and EMR, who knows how long we will be typing. I do agree, also, ongoing for coding. I think the more diverse you make yourself, the better off you will be. Never put all your eggs in one basket. Good luck!
Agree... Lost my docs
to EMR. I was offered to work inhouse doing data entry and scanning old records into the system. They have had to hire three or four people to work on that, instead of paying for transcription, so I don't really see the savings in $$$, not to mention it takes more of the doctors/assistants time doing data entry. It's a dead-end position doing data entry/scanning and the money is not even half of what I can make transcribing, so I just went with a national to stay at home. There will still be the need for transcriptionists but EMR will definitely cut into the available job base in the future, in my humble opinion.
I agree. Not all docs are digital.
pursue - the ones that still use tapes. How nice it is to throw that tape in, transcribe, print, and return it to the office where you are visible and can stay in touch with people and smiling faces! You get to the see the docs you transcribe for as well who usually say "How are you?" What a wonderful feeling! Not everyone is digital and "cpl-minded". Landing these types of accounts is like catching the biggest fish in the sea!!!! Thank you for all that you share Patti! You obviously have a passion for this field and a passion to help others! 
I agree demographic info and extras slow you down
I work on an account where there is no interface and every Phy. name has to be looked up in an excel spreadsheet and inserted, name and ID# for cc phys. ect. Not to mention all the pt. information. This takes up a lot of time and most of the reports are 2 or 3 minutes, some even a little over a minute...makes for a long day
Slow day for me. Typed two reports in two hours. Anyone else having unusually slow day?
dd
Agree, agree, agree! Just listen to Benny Hinn..
he speaks perfect English, especially when asking for money! Also, in my opinion, blanks should be left in the doc's dictation if not able to be transcribed, maybe then they will know that are NOT understood. With QA fixing them, what need is there for them to care if we understand them or not?
To slow down....
#4 with decrease speed. When you are ready to go back to "normal" speed just press #5 or to reset speed do a ** Good luck with that report!!!
too slow
I wish I was fast enough to be able to meet my line count and relax a little. Maybe in another year or so.
Slow for me too!
Both compaines I work for have no work--- no work = no money!
Slow day?
Wish it was - I'm swamped with residents! ARGH
Slow day - I wish!
I keep getting work from other offices dumped on me, but how am I supposed to do my regular work and work for another office when the computer guy can't even keep our computers working??? Today the problem was with the cable - HELLO - OUR SYSTEM WON'T LET US WORK OFF-LINE!
very, very slow? ... nm
x
Never had a slow day, but sure could use one.
Yes, it seems to slow me down (sm)
Except, of course, when I'm having a bad day with really diffult dictators. For the most part though, I can be rushing like a crazy person and then sit down to transcribe and it just eases me into a different frame of mind. My mind goes all sorts of places thinking of everything else I need to do, etc. Not in a stressful way though. It is more like when I am transcribing my brain is in a different "realm" and able to work out other stuff and come up with sometimes the onliest things. Seem to do much of my brainstorming while transcribing, whether I intend to or not. Seems easier to plan dinner, etc. Weird.
Is it slow or is it just me?
I have not had a full day of transcribing in weeks! I'm getting a bit worried. I know it's probably slow because of vacations, etc. but enough already! Anyone else out of work?
Slow with this doc
I have had this doc for a while now, but I am so slow with him. I noticed that I have to stop the dictation at least once every sentence, sometimes more, and it just took me ten minutes to do a 2:50 dictation.
He talkes very fast and quiet but other than that he is great. Although he talks fast, he is pretty clear and I rarely have to look things up with him, other than to CC at the end of the dictation which is almost every report.
I do not have this problem with any of my other docs, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? I have his favorite sayings in my expander, but just cannot seem to get faster at his reports. Thanks!
PT I do 500-800 a day; I am slow though - sm
avg. 140-165 lines an hour; sometimes less, depends on the degree of difficulty and if ESL, but make a min. of $12 an hour up to $16 so I am happy enough.
How slow is slow.
What's your connection speed now?
I am not slow and ive done everything
from MT to Quality Assurance to supervisor. I have seen many a platform in my time. There are some really crappy ones out there that steal from the MTs, in particular Dictaphones managed Ichart service. Heres what they say --- As part of our ichart service, Dictaphone can help you assess the "true" cost of your current transcription infrastructure - Inadequate Billing Detail.
No true MT line counting standards for billing.
Challenging Audit Trail and Process.
"Special Characters" Can Inflate Line Counts By 15%.
"Invisible Characters" Can Inflate Line Counts Up To 20-40%!
Poorly Designed Templates can lead to Excessive Line Counts.
Multi-page Reports can Drive Excessive Characters and/or hidden words. If thats not trying to control line counts I don't know what is.
seriously, is that what causes everything to go slow?
I have often figured that I was getting the rejects of others - my account has mostly pretty good dictators but some weeks I never get the good ones, repeatedly get horrible dictators, long reports with huge spaces - yesterday it was moving so slow I thought it was going to crash.
It's #4 for me to slow it down (nm)
nm
Slow IT
Try going into the tools area. There is a button somewhere that is called some sort of optimizer. See if that works. Also, uncheck the continuations box. Good luck.
too slow
from what it shows on the website you posted, it would be too slow --- the processor is less than 3.0 and the hard drive is only 5400, you need a 7200 rpm --
And there is no mention of a serial port -- which you will quite often need for you foot pedal.
My opinion -- Too much money for too little return -- keep looking
WAY SLOW.
Nothing slow here, they just want sm
you to think that, and I have no idea why. We are swamped, in over time for the last three weeks.
Slow???
Is anyone else finding it to be really slow lately? I have had very little work since shortly after Thanksgiving. 
Slow going sm
Rhode Island, the smallest state, was bumper to bumper, took 4+ hours for a normal 30 minute commute Some ran out of gas and had to abandon their vehicles. Tempers flared and school kids didn't get home on buses for hours, no snacks, bathroom breaks, etc., it was very poorly prepared for, although there was plenty of warning. If I had young children in the house (as I did when younger) I would always make sure they had some kind of energy bar with them if they left for school on a day a storm was forecast (or not send them at all). Girl Scout motto: Be prepared! A clue for me is always the birds. Sounds silly, but if you see the birds flocking, noisier than usual, etc., they are getting ready for a big storm. In the blizzard of '78, I was more prepared than anyone else and I have the birds to thank for that. I saw their frenzy, prepared for a big one and had all my work done in a timely fashion and enough food for a week (which it took to get back to normal.) (Showing my age.) Birds are great predictors of a storm if you watch and listen.
Do you consider 250-270 lph slow?
I don't. I get faster every year. I can also edit fast enough to make it worth my time. I'm on a much better VR system than you though. That makes a hugh difference.
re: slow
They had told me that I would have a back up account but they are having issues with sending me the information that I need to get on that account. I just dont understand what the hold up with this company is.
I got a job through them but they are very slow
p
still slow...
Had 2 reports all day and it's almost 1 p.m. Today has been a total waste.
Slow pay?
I recently worked as an IC for a few weeks for a company, but it did not work out because I could not make any money with their platform, ADT, etc. Sent in an invoice 2 weeks ago, and when I emailed the owner to ask when paycheck would be sent, she replied that she has not billed client yet and when she got paid, I would get paid.
Anybody ever hear of this type of arrangement before? It is not a lot of money so it makes even less sense that I have to wait for her to get paid. I did not know this beforehand. I was just told to invoice twice a month. Stupidly I assumed I would get paid twice a month! I am just glad I quit when I did before I was owed too much money.
Slow down
No point in making yourself obese over the whole thing. Now Marie Osmond went on Nutrisystem and she looks fabulous now. Love her anyway. She is a doll! As MTs we need to take care of ourselves. Slowing down and getting a grip is really important. Don't worry about what have no control over. Many companies are finding that off-shoring is not cost effective as they have to pay to get the job done twice, once over there and then back here to correct all the mistakes. The only thing certain in life is change so it will happen and they will see the light.
How do you slow down?
Sounds strange, but I have tried and can't seem to get the hang of slowing down and listening ahead. Do you have any methods for actually putting this into practice? Thanks. I really need to increase my speed.
New Job = Slow
Not sure where to post this or if anyone can/will answer, but...I just started a new part-time job and I am finding my line counts so extremely low I don't know if it is worth continuing or if I should just stay with my full time job and try and get extra hours. Has anyone had similar experience when starting a "new" job? I am so frustrated, but don't want to just quit, but I also can't keep working 12 hours when 3-4 of them are below minimum wage. Any advice/similar experiences/anything?
slow down
You sound like you are in a panic. This is difficult work. Attention is required. Are you distracted by kids or any of the other million things that can distract you working from home? Get rid of the distractions, pay closer attention, proofread every report - more than once to start. The MT companies do not want to pay to have your work edited so you can't rely on that. Companies are getting rid of editors. If you were doing this before, you can do it again. My guess is you have not structured your environment to get some real, accurate work done. Good luck.
Being slow with VR will not help you
The pay is less and you have to edit more lines in order to make a reasonable salary so the answer would be no, not helpful if you are slow at all. Say you need to make about $130.00 per day, that means if you make 4 cents a line at VR you have to edit 3250 lines per day.
RE: Slow down
Mine is **
ESL Docs
That is SO true!!!! There is definitely a problem with dictating the appropriate gender when it comes to ESL docs. They tend to go back and forth umpteen times during one dictation, so you really have to pay attention.  Verb tense can also get very confusing.
I agree that sometimes slowing down and concentrating can actually increase productivity. Even though I feel like I'm transcribing like a tortoise, I'm really getting more done than I think when I slow down and allow myself to think. 
Just hang in there with QA. They are just doing their job and you need to take a good look at what they are telling you and concentrate on that issue. It's really hard not to take it personally, that's for sure, but it's gonna make you a better Transcriptionist in the long run. On the other hand, if you feel they are truly wrong about an important issue, then challenge them!! But you'd better have major references to back up your challenge. 
Ellen S.
ESL docs
are you on VR yet? you can choose to have a 20% cut on your baseline rate and get the "better" dictators ?? or you can choose to keep your MT 100% baseline rate and probably get all of the ESL docs -- what a choice - not fair, huh??
This is almost as bad as the docs
I got three of them yesterday...three different docs. I think this is soooo rude! I'm almost to the point where I'm going to refuse to attempt to do them. Surprisingly, it's always a female doc who is dictating either a GYN or breast cancer related report.
I can picture a couple of these ladies hopping on a Harley Davidson riding home from work.
I think they should ask all ER docs
if they even know the English language to begin with, 'cause if they do, they don't practice it.
I know everyone knows that a lot of docs don't
read the reports after we have transcribed them, but I just had a doc on my account dictate that he wanted the line "Dictated but not read" added to ALL of his reports from now on. He was mad because he said he requested this to be done a few weeks ago and has been "keeping track" and it hasn't been getting done.
Amazing.
All of my PAs were better than the docs before
I switched companies and along with my new account came all new PAs (and might I add, quite a few of them) who all make me miserable. They botch the dictations beyond belief and I am left to fix the sentences which look like riddles and are actually confusing after they get done with it.
Change thoughts in the middle of a sentence...start talking and forget where they left off so I am sitting there for another 2 minutes waiting through the ummms and ahhhs and the start of sentences "the patient umm.... ahhh" and I'm waiting for them to say something and they just hang up.
Mine are good for this too... they will dictate an incomplete report and then a few dictations after they will start finishing incomplete dictations, adding in something they forgot to say, or they will say CC a copy to: Dr. ____ on a 4 second report and not say whose report it goes on. This would be easy to figure out if they didnt have 40 dictations and at least 5 hang-ups with about 8 of those 40 dictations being something they want added on to some nameless patient's report.
Had I not switched jobs, I would have had a hard time believing any PA was hard to transcribe...just because I had a good bit of them on my other account and they were all PERFECT speakers.
Now when I see that I have to transcribe a PA-- 
ESL docs
Hey there,
Hang with it a little while longer. You'll probably find that it gets easier. Those ESL doctors do say the same thing over and over again and it takes practice to get it. Try listening a few seconds longer than the phrase you aren't getting because sometimes that helps. I agree that samples help an awful lot so be sure to request as many as you can. Good luck! You can do it!
I would always rather have my ESL docs over the sm
English as first language docs, who speed talk, slur words, and don't seem to care about the patients. I am usually very impressed with the patient care given, and the understanding of the human issues, by the ESL docs. I think the problem with the original poster is she needs to learn to transcribe these docs, with all the suggestions, especially getting samples, mentioned above. She doesn't really seem that concerned with patient care, but her inability to transcribe difficult dictators. It is, quite simply, the nature of the business. The easy docs go on voice recognition, and the transcriptionists transcribe the difficult dictators.
I tell ALL my docs that I'm an MT...
...and I transcribe and read my own reports (I work for a large healthcare co). Hubby signed a HIPAA form for me to transcribe and read his reports, too. Now the docs are more careful
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