Not all QA people are created equal
Posted By: grasshopper on 2008-02-20
In Reply to: Further Advice - Suzanne
If you absolutely love it, you really must have an aptitude for the job. Many of the QA people were once MTs themselves and could not keep up the pace nor did they have the necessary aptitude it takes so they became QA. So you are dealing with this scenario. Think about it.
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Not all 8 cents a line situations are created equal sm
I am coming off a job using Extext and going into one using ChartNet. I have used Smart Type for over a decade and for Chartnet I have to go to Instant Text. I am able to do over 200 lines an hour after about a week at the new job. I will get to 300 again in a month or so. I say again because I have not done that much in a long time.
Extext...I loved it when I first used it, but after 18 months I can't get above 170 lph and that is with echoes and normals with lots of free lines, and that includes dozens of normals and report shells I have made myself. It won't get better and that is poor pay at the 8.5 cpl base rate, but then again I always have bonuses of a couple of kinds and shift differentials...but I can't do better than 1200 lines a day with any consistency, not in 8 hours a day.
I work a job in MedRite. Like Extext, it is a Word client and rather similar. Top rate for MedRite is close to 300 lines an hour on a horrid account with 80% PLUS ESLs. It is just a faster platform.
Enter ChartNet...never used it. Had to switch to Instant Text...never used it. I have been working about 5 days on it and I can do 200 lph and only one doctor so far who throws me for a loop when I can't do that. She is not an ESL, but a slurring motor mouth who skips around and forgets what she is doing on the phone in the first place.
The Extext work has been 90% OP notes, my specialty. The others are all the basic 4, and I have to say that I went from clinic for many years to OP notes, skipping the rest in between. I have very little experience in DS, CN and H&P notes, VERY little time with those. I'd be faster with them if I had done more of them before.
Part of speed is the expander, part is the platform and part is you. It doesn't matter how great you are as a typist and how perfect your expander, if the platform isn't very good you can't make money at any line rate. If the platform is good, but you are not Expander savvy, you won't you make it either. You can, however, be like me and a poor typist with a great expander and a decent platform...and STILL make money. LOL
In MY experience, the largest problem with making more money is the expander GLOSSARY, not which program you choose. I have heard some of the craziest stories about how to use an expander while on this board...ridiculous, wonky, time wasting, counter intuitive toro pu pu!!!! If you are struggling with an expander FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME. I am happy to spend my time helping anyone who will genuinely give my methods a shot.
IRS created the new SE definition and
then felt it was being abused. They then noticed how large the MT industry was and decided that would be where they would focus their efforts to decide whether to keep the status or do away with it. In order to find out that information, they had to start doing audits if the "SE" box on your W2 was marked. I hired a tax person to help me but his efforts were fruitless. One day after faxing back and forth and writing back and forth, I got on the phone and held for almost 5 hours until I got someone in the department created for consumer complaint resolution. I was amazed to find myself talking to someone who was intelligent! They saw what the problem was, saw that all the documentation was in place and negated all activity by clicking a few keys on his computer. I had owed about $2000 that year but had already paid it as it was a retroactive audit, so I was lucky with how things worked out.
I was just wondering if anyone else had problems. I've chosen to never again have SE status so as not to have lightening strike again!
If this was on a template that you had created--sm
or if it was sent to you, you can open the template, change the view percent, save the document that way, and it should reopen in the new view percent.
this is equal to a very old formula
Back when documents were produced on typewriters, formulas were created to define the average length of a line. It was defined as 10 words with spaces, with the average word being 5 characters - thus 55 printed characters per line.
All the ad your reading is saying is that they will take all the visible characters you produce and divide it by 55 to decide your final production at the end of the day. It does not include bolding, underlining, hard returns, spaces, etc., as had been defined by the old AAMT.
The new AAMT/MTIA whatever it is called monster is redefining a line as only characters you see and this ad is embracing the new definition and defining 55 visible characters as a line. A 55 visible character line is approximately equal to a 65 line that includes spaces - but I bet they are not going to compensate for thespacesyouneedtoinsertintotthelinetomakeitreadable.
Nursing has created their own shortage
by severely restricting the availability of classes for students and refusing to make the class time available in the evenings, weekends, etc.
They also created their own shortage by making so many of the jobs papershuffling jobs rather than hands on care, and many of those jobs could easily be filled by a trained technician rather than an RN.
I do not feel sorry for nurses.
Not all jobs are created equally either.
I won't work for the big nationals. They always wind up sticking me on ESL and difficult specialties that "nobody else can do," bouncing from account to account for coverage, several pools of hundreds of dictators, can't use your Expander much because you never hear the same dictator twice, every work type, look up addresses and patient demos. It's all about what *I* can do for them, not what *I* need to earn to support my family. Forget that! Why should I work harder for a cut in pay?
Is a Celeron M (1.5 GHz) processor equal to a
nm
How many bytes equal a line?
I need to find out how many bytes equals a line. Any advice would be helpful.
One character or key Stroke is equal
... to one byte (including spaces or anyother character, remember one KEY STROKE regardless of the input). If you ever want to calculate your bytes for certain amount of text -> paste it on NotePad and save it as text file. Later you can right click on the file to get it's properties to see it's exact size.
spaces equal 22% of the report. That is a lot! nm
x
Slow speaker does not equal big $$
x
Zipper/MQ Lover created another friend.
MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Great! Created a heading format, now want to
have the cursor start at the beginning of the first heading, can that be done within the autotext?
Wow .. $149!! It says it was created for ipod users -- is the cord sm
long enough to go to your computer, or did you have to get some kind of extension device? They sound great ... just not sure if cheap ol' me is ready for fork out that kinda cash. 
...do an incorrect word or even pull up something already created...nm
s
With shortcuts, the important thing is that they are created with - sm
a system that is consistent, and that you can remember easily. It's generally not a good idea to try to incorporate someone else's shortcuts (though I appreciate the chance to look at them, as sometimes they can give me ideas for one's I've not yet used :-) for that reason, and these don't seem to follow a very consistent method.
I had created a huge dictionary in my expander too...sm
But I was still a butterfingers! Just lack of fine motor skills, I suppose. Couldn't have made it without my word expander.
I remember when we typed on IBM Selectric typewrites and EVERY single word had to be typed out. Geez, what a bore!
how many lines does 90K characters equal out to roughly?
I'm thinking 1300 or so! That would be 90K divided by 65 characters = roughly 1300. Am I correct on this?
Religion is an outdated notion created centuries ago
and has no place in today's society.
Can an expander be created in Shorthand while typing the document?
Or do you have to get out of the document and make up the expansions? When you download it from the website, do you get any instructions along with the program? Any other info would be appreciated.
Not sure if they are equal in power, but the Celeron is inferior to the Pentium.
If you're getting a desktop may be no big deal since desktops are cheaper and you tend to replace then every 2 to 3 years, but if getting a laptop/notebook, definitely get the Pentium or the Centrino and not the Celeron.
If you try caffeinated drinks, make sure to use Equal or Splenda.
nm
It's Maalox and Benadryl, equal parts, swish and swallow. nm
 x
One of my employers told me to just add a 0, i.e. 30 minutes would roughly equal 300 lines. sm
Of course, if someone talks fast, you'd get more lines, and if you get one of those guys who stops and turns pages and/or talks slow, the lines would be less. Seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb for me.
As for the length taken, when I started doing MT work 30-some years ago (back in the days of the vinyl belts and carbon paper -- eek!), the quota was that you should be able to 15 minutes of dictation in 1 hour. However, I think anyone with experience would probably do it in much less time.
Hope this helps. 
Two jobs don't equal one when it comes to making money and not wasting time. sm
Recommend looking for one good job.
All things being equal, do you prefer to work with a C-phone or use WAV files over the internet? sm
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each. I have only ever used a c-phone but think I may bet getting ready to use WAV files and foot pedal for an account and am a little anxious! TIA
Cook in equal parts BBQ and grape jelly. Crock pot if time. Yum! nm
if you live among trashy people, low income people, people w/o goals or direction,
content to just get by, you by default become a part of a group. "people" have decided to group trailer people as trash. that is because there are enough people in that group to earn the title and even if you aren't trash, you are categorized by others. did i think i was trash in lower class neighborhood surrounded by people who drank and fought all weekend? no but i knew i wasn't staying and did not try to pretend that all the fools in the neighborhood were just nice folks who ended up where they were because high horse snobs deemed their neighborhood low class. people for the most part live exactly where they belong because they don't want to educate themselves, they don't mind "trash" around them and they don't want to be bothered trying just a bit hard to extract themselves from that world. they justify everything to themselves i guess saying everyone who doesn't like their lifestyle is a snob and the comedians (Jeff Foxworthy/Chris Rock, etc) who make fun of them are just ill-informed.
As for me, I fought hard to get out and don't even want to look back. It amazes me people stay for generations.
God created Adam & Eve-- not Adam & Steve
nm
so many people was wishy-washy nowadays...love to see people make
a stand for what they believe in...
it is kind of wierd those statements have to be made in the first place but guess we are an ever-transitioning country and are still young. so many different beliefs yet not much tolerance.
I found your post respectful, and right on as to how you feel. it does not seem that difficult to sift through to read and respond to messages someone might not care for...
Just remember that it is not the people on this board who short changed their people and ONLY after
caught did they (after they were suied) make an effort to look good by sending out these checks. Now, think about this--had they done this many years ago when they short changed everyone, that would have been honest. Does it not bother you that only after they know they are under the gun that they are doing this to try and make themselves look good?
I used to work for MQ and I used to like what I did. I never can say I really liked the people that I worked with, but I really think they had some of the best accounts that I have ever come across in the MT industry. I loved working the major teaching hospitals that I did, but that certainly does not mean that I enjoyed being cheated out of pay.
So chill already. People have been cheated, were lied to, and only AFTER they got caught have they tried to return some of the money they robbed us of (as well as cheated their clients).
We all have reasons not to be happy with this company and you go off on us because we are complaining of things like small refund checks of a penny or a few cents or a few hundred dollars and NO WAY to even check to find out if this is correct?
I am sorry you are unhappy all of us thinking that there is still a dead rat in the cellar, but there is still a dead rat in the cellar and nothing will bring the dead rat back.
I would hold no love for a company that I know willingly cheated the very people who helped THEM make money out of their hard-earned money.
Go take a deep breath and think about that.
My people skills are just fine. I just want to hire people who want to work.
I've not been ugly, I've asked questions, legitimate ones. Please tell me what is wrong with that. This site is not just for MTs, it is for QA Editors, Supervisors, Service Owners, there's even sections for Billers, Coders, and Nurses.
rude people? I would take good pay over polite people any day
Besides that they have never been rude to me and I have been here for almost 2 years. What do you consider a bad account?
I know my account is a little tough, but I am used to it. I am tough!
Rude people? I hardly think so. They are some of the nicest people I have ever worked with. sm
Not just management, but QA as well. No one is rude. They are a very understanding staff. There is one account that is hard but all it takes is getting used to it. Once you are used to it, it is no harder than any other ESL account that you would do anyplace else. I have heard all these things about TH from the archives and I have yet to come across rudeness or any kind of thing that I have read about in the archives. I would definitely pursue them if I were you. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
2 people to do that amount of work, is she nuts? More like 20+ people - nm
x
Certain people getting raises, certain people not. Guess who is?
Say what you will about unions, the good and the bad. But, one thing they did ensure is a raise, good benefits and that you would have a job in the morning.
Yeah right, OF COURSE! How could there be other people who don't like QA people?
Could only be one. Hahaha. Dream on.
I agree, some people will never get it but, then again, what does it say about them as people? Not
.
I don't like people
nm
Just so happens there ARE some people who
CAN really produce and NOT cherrypick. GEESH.
Problems come from working with stinky attitudes like yours.
The people....
Did you ever think that what you take as politeness might just be their poor language skills?
Why don't you go over to India and live for awhile - they have half of our MT jobs so you should be able to find work (Healthscribe, Medware). Then, tell us how polite they are.
People are people - just because they live in another culture doesn't make them any better than us or any worse than us. It is the job, working with the public, that wears people down eventually. It is particularly easy to be rude over the phone.
There are people who don't know better, there are people
who need to be at home for whatever reason, a chronic illness, kids, caregiver to sick parents, etc. Any job is better than no job if you need to eat.
If there were enough decent paying jobs with honest companies no one would work for the low paying, dishonest companies. So far I have turned down jobs with MQ because of their actions, quit a job with SS because it is a lowsy company, I have turned down 2 positions with companies that offshore. Fortunately I got on with a company that paid a decent wage and one that doesn't offshore, though it isn't the great company that it used to be either, but it is a living.
try something most people have a
problem with and your worth increases .. neurology and ophthalmology for instance. Most people are afraid of the eye .. wonderful once it becomes second nature. Oncology is another sought after skill, but takes a lot of work. Also you might contact M-Tec to take their class in neuro or OAK Horizons .. they are both very good.
That people such as yourself
would quit airing your dirty laundry and asking for advise - and then get all pissy when people give their opinion. After all, that is what you were after right? This is MT Stars, this is NOT a military advice column or posting board. When you open yourself up on a public forum, then be prepared for what follows.
Personally, I think anyone who signs up to defend the country and then turns his back on his duty is HEARTLESS.
The military makes your obligations and consequences VERY clear.
Sure some people do need help..(sm)
The below is an e-mail that I got from a lady who lives in Houston. These are her observations only, but it sure does make you think about all of the self-righteous out there who really don't understand another person's hesitation in taking many of the people in to our communities. Some of them come from a whole different kind of mentality.
Well...
I feel sorry for these people - they have lost everything - they have nothing. I blame their own government at least a bit for not evacuating the ones that were too poor or had no way to evacuate.
That being said, it isn't going as well here as the media makes it out to be. Anthony has been down the to the Astrodome as required by the Fire Department, and I went down on Saturday with a friend of mine.
The Astrodome holds around 50,000 people - and there aren't that many evacuees down there. There are bathroom facilities, but these people are squatting on the streets, parking lots, and lawns of places down around the astrodome and leaving behind urine and fecal matter. They are throwing trash wherever they are when they finish with it, and quite a few act like we "owe" them something. I can't tell you how many people were bitching about the MRE's that they were being served.
As high as gas prices are, I will go out of my way not to have to drive by the Astrodome (my RE's office is about 1 mile from the dome). When you stop at a stop light they come up to your car and beg - and knock on the windows. There have even been reports of some jumping in the backs of pickups and even scratching cars and trucks with knives, if you don't give them money.
I know that there are some good people out there, but there are a lot of bad ones too. There are some that were appreciative of the baby formula (breastfeeders - please don't jump on me here) and diapers and coloring books that we were handing out - and some that were bitching about the brand of diapers, the fact that we were only authorized to give out one can of formula per child and that we didn't have a certain kind of bottles. I even had people that refused to take gift cards from Grocery Stores - wanting money instead.
Last night, one of the evacuees was able to score some alcohol somewhere, got drunk and carjacked a car and ran into several parked cars - the police were able to pull him over after a 15 minute chase.
And I can't get over the smell of raw sewage in the area of town that most of the evacuees are housed. The plumbing in the toilets are working just fine - but they aren't using it. They are trashing the place.
I can't imagine what it must be like for them, having nothing but the clothes on their backs - but I think I would be more appreciative of whatever someone could do for me, instead of griping about what kind of bottles they were giving me to feed my kids with, and that the MRE's were cold.
I really have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I feel sorry for the people who couldn't leave, and got stuck in the chaos. I don't have as much sympathy for the ones who could have left, but didn't want to.
I am sure I sound like a cold, callous, b****, but I was absolutely amazed at the attitude of most of the evacuees that I was in contact with on Saturday.
Some people believe anything
Evacuees are NOT trashing the Astrodome! You people choose to believe anything. There are enough cameras around the Dome to show how residents are reacting. Security is very tight and strict there right now! As far as "sorry people" that were evacuated, you do NOT know their situation NOR their minds and hearts. My brother was one of the evacuees. He was a student at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He lived in Orleans parish just blocks from Ward 9. Most of Ward 9 are very poor people, handicapped and disabled, and yes there are some drug addicts and lawbreakers there. But I bet if you would look in your own neighborhood you would find them there yourself! Some people, if you could crawl out of your own self-righteous world, do not choose to be in the financial shape they are in. Let's see here, I live in NE Mississippi and people's financial status in this community is very poor. Why? Is it because we have women having babies at 15 and no daddies and no desire to better theirselves? NO! It's because our lovely government signed NAFTA and allowed all our manufacturing jobs to be taken away. So what happens to the people? They fall in the cracks!
Back to New Orleans. Let me tell you all about the wanting certain things to be donated. A evacuee does not EVEN get to choose what they want. How assinine of you! Do you think they just sit on the streets and wait for handouts? NO! They have to get passes to even leave the Astrodome or any other shelter. It is the Red Cross that is not taking clothing donations and asking for particular donations. My brother went to the Red Cross to get assistance and was told unless they were living in a shelter, they could not help them at this time. Where is the justice in that? We took clothing to the shelter here in MS and was told to take it back home because they didn't have the time to sort through it. They said that was the job of the Salvation Army. ALSO, our area churches wanted to adopt families and take care of them. Out of 300 families, 50 were given homes to stay in. Last Thursday, we were told by the Red Cross unless we could take them all, we could have none! It had to be the evacuee to approach us and ask, they would not allow us to come in and get families because they said it would only stir up strife. The Red Cross needs some serious reorganization! They have infuriated me!!!
So before you get on your high and pious throne discrediting ANYONE, why don't you come on down here in our area and just try living in the situations that are going on right now. Life is very difficult for most of those people. They have lost all of their livelihood and have no hope for the moment. It's only when loving, kind people with caliber that you do not seem to possess, try to help those that are less fortunate!
BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU
I get the garbage every darn day. You people bite the big one and not well.
BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU
I get the garbage every darn day. You people bite the big one and not well.
Why are you trying to tell people
what to say? If you would look at the start of the post, MQLOVER was trying to help. People were coming down on her and she became defensive, rightfully so.
Why are you using other people's
initials. You don't use my initials just because you are replyig to me. Use your own name. You confuse people by doing this. Why are you doing this? Are you new to this board?
Look, people,
I am saying I have missed her and other people on this board. It is extremely sincere. xx oo
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