LOL, you mean the post about the *shotty* transcripts! LOL!

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They are nit-picking us to death here at work.  Granted the dynamics of the job is changing, but the line count we are supposed to attain does not allow for that.  They cannot have both a high line count and looking EVERYTHING up on the electronic chart to double check for accuracy.  

My question now is....the doctor always says "patent shotty veins".  Now with their QA they are telling me it is "patency of the shotty veins".  Now I do not feel comfortable changing stuff around.  Which is right?

After the court reporter translates his/her steno there are usually mistranslates and untranslates.  Reporters are so swamped, they don't have the time to do it themselves, so they use scopists.  There are good reporters and there are really bad reporters.  I know there are schools out there, but reporters and their scopists are usually pretty 'tight' and a reporter will want an experienced scopist, because the reporter has to certify the finished transcript.  So you HAVE to know what you're doing. Most scopists are ex-reporters and scopists work as ICs.  This work is not as easy as it sounds.  There are times I've had to stay up all night scoping a 200 page transcript that was needed by 8am next day - and I didn't get it until nearly 9pm.  A transcript is a verbatim re-creation of human speech.  Think about the way people talk and try putting that on paper.  Most transcripts have audio attached or sometimes video.  You have to get every stutter, stammer, bad grammer and bad word. There is usually a lot "butting-in" and people talking over each other - you have to get that correct.  The editing software is expensive and can be tough for some people to learn. The reporter you work with may have a different software than you have so you have to know how to convert the files.  You have to know how to help the reporter build her dictionary, plus different reporters may have different formating preferences.  But the normal TAT is days instead of hours, double to triple pay if it's an expedite (next day), the lines are double spaced and no more 65-character lines - a line is a line even if the only word is 'Yes' (you get paid by the page).  And this work will NEVER be offshored. You can work your rear off for two or three weeks and have very little to nothing for the next week or two. Due to a shortage of reporters, some shorter hearings are digitally taped then put to CD and given to a reporter who gives it to the scopist to transcribe (if the reporter had time to do it she'd be in the court room in the first place, right?).  So it HAS to be correct (did he say I-I-I three times or four?) but you get paid triple.  And you think medical reports can be graphic?  You ain't heard nothing, yet.  Try listening to a murder or rape case - especially when a child is involved. 

Fortunately, I had a mentor scopist (35 years experience) that taught me well.  I worked with her for a long time before she felt I was good enough to go out on my own.  Word of mouth has given me more business and I only do MT 1 or 2 days a week now, but that will be ending completely soon. Less stress, more money and more time to myself. The online schools make it sound easy, but it isn't.  Scoping is not for everyone and it can be tough to get your foot in the door.   If you are comfortable with MT, stay with it.