I switched from Shorthand after 6 years to IT and wouldn't go back. nm
Posted By: IT fan on 2008-02-25
In Reply to: Anyone switch from Instant Text to sm - mlstoo
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I switched from SH to Instant Text a couple of years ago and would never go back.
I increased my productivity another 30 percent pretty quickly. And you can still use your old shortcuts with IT. Browse through the IT Commands forum on Productivity Talk for tricks you never thought you could do with a text expander.
I switched from Shorthand to Instant Text.. sm
and love my Instant Text! It is much smarter than I am though and I am still learning, but it has features that ShortHand did not. The support staff is great and the Productivity Board is also very helpful. There is a lot of information there and if you have not visited it, I would suggest you check it out as there are Shorthand and IT users there. It is www.productivitytalk.com.
I switched from Shorthand to Instant Text and my experience was...s/m
I'm curious to see what the reactions were from those that went from SH to IT versus IT to SH. I'm getting ready to switch from IT to SH and really need some input from you well seasoned professionals!
I truly appreciate your time and help! 
I switched from Instant Text to Shorthand and my experience was....s/m
I'm curious to see what the reactions were from those that went from IT to SH. Were you glad or did you go back? Please, help. I'm seriously contemplating a switch from IT to SH and really need some input from you well seasoned professionals!
I truly appreciate your time and help!
6 years legal then switched to medical 17+ years ago. sm
I don't mind doing legal and will do it now from time to time, but be prepared to be totally bored out of your mind.
At least that's the way I feel. I love to transcribe, learned legal in college, went on to get my paralegal degree, etc., etc., but I did temp work when the kids were younger, which was about 90% medical and I would never go back to legal except for once in a while.
Booooooring.
I have one. I switched back to regular but still have the old one.
email me if you need it.
I switched 2 years ago.
It was hard going from 6-1/2 hours a day 7/7 plus every holiday to 8 hours a day, but it just meant getting used to the longer days. My start time was the same, though. As I got used to it, it did get better, and now I'm happy because I'm making the same $$ I used to plus have benefits.
You just have to find THE right company.
I used A Fujitsu Life Book the first 4 years, and just switched
And pretty much my whole personal life is set up on my lap top, as well, and sometimes additional software for other services when I've worked part-time elsewhere. And I haven't begun to use nearly all the hard drive space. I have had one minor repair problem years ago, and it was a piece of cake to carry it to Best Buy, who flipped it open and fixed the problem on the spot. Lap tops rule!
I switched from WP51 to Word a couple years ago
I chose InstantText as my Expander because it would import my PRD list and that was important to me to make me feel comfortable out the gate. Several of my co-workers didn't really like IT but at the time, it was the one that had the easiest import function and I *had* to have my PRD to type! IT's not cheap, but I think it's well worth the investment.
Also, I highly recommend Laura Bryan's book on Word. There is another lady who is a Word guru, Cheryl something (I'm sorry I can't remember her name at the moment) who is also very good. Basically these are MTs who know you have to keep your hands off that mouse to make money, so they show you the keyboard ways to do things, in contrast to other Word how-to books for the general user which focus on the mouse.
It's a moderately painful switch, in my opinion, but once made, definitely makes one feel more 21st century. :)
Wouldn't you love to send it back and say
"and it's a good think you use YOUR spellchecker, Ms. Boss Lady!"
I've gotten these kinds of emails numerous times and it steams the heck out of me.
I worked for Cbay for 3 years. I was also part of their lay off back many years ago. sm
Even though I got stuck in a lay off era, I still love the company. They paid well then. The people were nice (exception of 1 person) and if I had the opportunity I would go back again. Fortunately (or unfortunately - depending on how u look at it), I have a great paying job right now, so I am not looking for a change. I do know that at one time, they asked management to accept late paychecks, but never sure of the reason why. My check was never late.
I know it used to be 5-10 years back, but the laws changed within the last 2 years. They can only g
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With 10 years experience, I wouldn't
2-5 years in acute care wouldn't solve this (sm)
I worked in house with a lady who has done acute care as well as clinical transcription, all of it in house for at least 20+ years. She does the same, if not worse, than this person just posted. Her spelling was awful! She's at home working now, and still putting out the same crap as before. So I will disagree that even working in house won't solve the problem.
What SusieQ, and probably some other MTs who think they are doing it correctly, is there are others who read these reports and see these errors. I have had to go over papers for friends who have had correspondence typed from other offices and what I found was awful! I happened to recognize the initials and couldn't believe that this person still worked!
To SusieQ, I will tell you as I tell my kids. When I'm correcting one of my children, I always hear "it's not fair! Why does Jenny get to do this and I don't?" or "Why did I get in trouble for this when you let Jenny do it last week?" I tell them, "I'm talking to you now, not Jenny, and Jenny has nothing to do with you. You are not Jenny and Jenny is not you. You pay attention to what you do, not her."
To SusieQ, pay attention to your own work. If QA corrects you and you question it, then ask QA or the supervisor if QA is correct in their emails. If so, then you need to change your way of transcribing to meet the needs of those for whom you work. If Jane Doe across the street isn't performing up to par, maybe they haven't hit on her just yet; or maybe they have and Jane doesn't want to admit it.
When I trained, back years and years ago
We did not have spell checking nor the internet (Google for instantaneous help). OMG, how did we do it? We used Correcting Selectrics with the lift-off tape to correct errors- you only had dictionaries, both English and medical, to look up things so yes we did have to learn to spell all those big longgggggggggg words.
Ask the ShortHand techs. They've always responded back very promptly to my
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ShortHand gets my vote. I've been using it for years...sm
And you can add canned text into your expander, which really boosts production.
Have used Shorthand for years..am considering switching to Instant Text..need opinions..sm
and advice. I have tried to research the differences but until you get input from people who have used one or the other, or better yet both, you just never know. Instant Text looks like it might be much more difficult to learn than Shorthand. I know all my abbreviations so that is not a problem. I also use large blocks of text at times only changing certain things and am not sure I can do that in Instant Text. On the other hand, IT looks like it has a lot of potential and I might really like it and pick up more speed. I average about 300-325 lph now. I have been doing this for nearly 30 years, using ShortHand for about 10, but always looking for ways to improve! Any input would be very much appreciated! TIA
Shorthand is excellent--had for 5 years, does everything but diaper the baby, NO problems. Great pr
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Also, tech support for Shorthand is unbeatable. I have had it 10 years and I get instant feedback f
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Several years back it was
an 8 or 10 hour shift and your only break is for a meal. Cubicles with no outside world communication. Heaven forbid if you need a potty break.
Hopefully things have changed, but I have my doubts. Huntsville Hospital is more worried about being "the biggest" than employee relations. There was a great letter to the Editor in the newspaper recently about the problems still going on there.
And, I'll state, this is JMO.
Back 25 years ago, the FDA.....sm
Back 25 years ago or so, the FDA refused to allow a cheap drug called Latrielle into this country for the AIDS/HIV patients. So, all the gay people went to Mexico to get the drug. Does anyone remember this?
Our problem is not with *crack-pot* medical systems in other countries. Our problem begins right here with the darned FDA. For those who do not know what the FDA is - it is the Food and Drug Administration....you know those people....much like the USDA (the US Dept of Agriculture) which allows a certain amount of feces and rat hairs into ALL our food. Start reading Consumer Reports!!!
There is better treatment all over the world - so please do not delude yourselves into thinking that the medical care in the USA is THE BEST because it certainly is not....it's merely BIG BUSINESS in the USA as usual.
I was out for 7 years and got back in, so...SM
you seem well within the time frame to do this if you have your heart set on it. I took some time off for raising kids and then worked at a school for 5 years in the meantime, then decided to pursue it again now that all 4 kids are in school (finally!) and I researched what company I thought I wanted to work for and took their test and was amazed to pass. After 7 years, I figured I'd really be out of luck. It worked out just fine. If I can do it after all that time, I don't think you'll have trouble. I only had about 2 years' experience before this, too, where you have much more. Good luck.
I used them some years back and have some feedback...
The service was great, and sitefever.com's FTP servers were very fast. The only thing was that when I got more than one client or if I had a large client I wanted to use FTP for, their free service didn't cut it. But, they have a 300mb plan which is like 45 or 50 dollars for an entire year, and it gave me access for up to 10 different clients and plenty of space for them all.
So, if you're looking at sitefever.com as an FTP provider, you're looking in the right direction. The only thing I would suggest is if you plan on growing, just pay a few bucks for their larger accounts.
P.S.- The free FTP accounts only work when you have the public ID number, which changes monthly. I see whoever started this topic had posted a current ID number.
28 years - OJT. That was the only way to train way back then. nm
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This happened to me a few years back (sm)
when I was working for a national and they had a huge teaching hospital in Southern California. Must have been 500 docs, 500 specialities and 500 subspecialities - never had the same doc more than once......... I was so frustrated!! Sorry - not much help but I do feel your pain!
5 years and still going strong, I have a back up one though- sm
that I use for travel, that is about 4 years old but only gets used about 20 days out of a year if that. That one gets abused a bit and still works fine though.
I just went back to radiology after 12 years
doing another specialty. My biggest problems were the names of MR images complicated by fast talk and different images for different MRs and different language from many different docs. Sometimes 6-8 lines detailing acquisitions, sometimes not. Cardiac MR was the worst for me. I had 8 plus years of rad, but hadn't done it since PET was invented,lol...It helped when I had good dictators.I found a list on line of names of MR images, isn't complete. NM cardiac was another trip. I spent a lot of time going to google,just to make sure I was hearing what I thought I was hearing. I really like the job. You should get sample reports for the different docs for procedures, reading them will help, and you will have them for reference.
I've used it for several years and won't go back.
It's very easy to learn and user friendly. I won't work on anything else.
We did and moved back after 4 years.
For us, we decided the big home and extra spending money wasn't worth it. I was depressed the whole time we were on the mainland. This is our home and this is where we want to raise our child. We are happier here in our little condo than we ever were there.
I have work going back years - sm
others keep it a month or two. I have one doctor who sees patients on a yearly basis, I pull the previous report so I don't have to retype a lot of it, as he basically repeats the old one with a few changes, I'd have a lot more work to do otherwise. I have another account that constantly misplaces their work, I have to retrieve work from months earlier because they cannot find their copy. I can either pull it from my stash, or the MTSO has a FTP where we back up all our work just for this purpose, she keeps it all there going back years. I have no idea how often she cleans it out, but she hasn't in the almost 2 years I have been with her. On another note, I only keep the sound files for a month, then I dump them.
Bless your heart. Back several years ago
I worked FT for a large hospital doing MT and ran an MT business full-time but I had 2 partners in my business. I slept every other night. Hahaha I was younger at that time. Made INCREDIBLE money. Still can't believe today what I made then. It was a killer though. And with running my own business, I was not doing actual transcription the whole time, there was a lot of normal business activity/transactions/planning to do. That is why I think I held up to it as long as I did.
Well, I'm very impressed. Congratulations. I couldn't do that today (two FT transcription positions) if I tried!
I've been back in college for 2 years now.
and wish you the best of luck! You can never have too much education. It opens so many more doors!
Visited Idaho a few years back sm
beautiful, beautiful state. Decided that's where I want to retire.
I've had a bad back for years and nothing works better...sm
for me than heat. I have a chair pad that heats and/or vibrates. I don't use the vibrator much because the noise is distracting, but the heat works wonders. Sometimes if the pain is real high around my shoulders, I just drape a heating pad over the top of my chair.....also keeps me warm and toasty in the winter time.
The REAL credential was the ART a few years back
WE had to have knowledge to get it. Not just show that we could transcribe. We had A&P with the premed students. We HAD to learn the stuff.
I've been fighting back for 30 years.
It hasn't done one bit of good. The AAMT sold us out a long time ago and when the computer came into being, it made it way too easy to ship everything offshore. At least years ago when we used a typewriter, you had to work in house. Now everything is about faster, faster TAT and hiring people as cheap as possible to get the work done. I have always said that if they could get trained monkeys to do this job and pay them in bananas, they would. They don't give a rip about the MTs and they never have. 
have been using Cirque Glidepoint mouse for years-would NEVER go back! nm
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No way - MQ is the pits, left 6 years ago and never looked back.
There is greener grass, believe me.
One of my instructors referred our class to them a few years back.
I used them for FTP on a paid account (I think it was only like 20 bucks or so a year) and it worked great until a company I signed on with provided their own FTP servers.
TA has been bad news here & on other boards for years! A search will back up what is
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looking for people that used to work for small MTSO in Suffield, OH a few years back.
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I'm horrible with math myself but was told several years back by a pretty reliable source
that w/o spaces is about a 17% reduction in pay - and I would say the figures you gave pretty much leads me to believe this may be true.
It wouldn't load with my Office. Somehow it wouldn't "read" my 2003 Basic, although sm
technical couldn't find anything wrong with my software. They really tried hard. I see so many people that like Escription, I'm sorry not to be able to use it. Hopefully I can get Office Pro on my next machine, and maybe use it then. I could upgrade, but I'm still not sure it would work.
Wouldn't that mean that you simply wouldn't have to print out everything?
SpeedType and Shorthand are the exact same program. Shorthand is lots cheaper and also has a trial.
.
She came around as an anti-Britney, anti-Christina bad girl a few years back
http://images.google.com/images?q=avil+lavigne&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest
and I like her music. At least it's really her music rather than some oversynthesized Britney crap. Christina can sing but she's too slutty. Avril is a nice in-between IMO. Hillary Duff is another person of that genre who actually has talent but doesn't act like a scumbag.
{@KEY BkSp}-pack-per-year is for Shorthand. Using the semicolon works with both Shorthand and
;yo = -year-old
;py= -pack-year
etc...
Shorthand and SpeedType are exact same program. Shorthand will cost you lots less.
you can import your autocorrect into Shorthand.
I took shorthand too. But it sure comes in helpful for my expanders. I view words in shorthand for
i did use shorthand once in a job but i was so nervous the "boss" took pity and dictated the report on dictaphone.
that's how I did it, that's why I switched to
employee status (one of the reasons)
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