Speed comes with practice
Posted By: sm on 2008-08-19
In Reply to: MT salary - Fingers-to-the-Bones
It may take several months to reach 150 lph. I agree with the other poster that an Expander is not necessary. Fooling around with the expander to load in abbreviations takes a lot of time. In spite of what expander-sellers say, you can easily reach 2000 lines a day without an expander if you are efficient. MTs did it for years on typewriters.
When you have done enough dictation to begin recognizing that all doctors say the same things over and over, and when you can recognize those things in spite of individual doctor differences, you'll begin to fly. It's a matter of learning what they ought to be saying so that you can understand them.
It's also a matter of focus. If you are trying to load up an expander, eat, do laundry, do daycare, fool with pets, you will never make progress. If you keep checking IM, email, and answering the phone, you'll never make progress.
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- MT salary - Fingers-to-the-Bones
- Speed comes with practice - sm
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increase speed 3, decrease speed 2...sm
increase backspace 9, decrease backspace 8. At least that's what mine does.
C-phone speed help! PLEASE! Speed key!
I am in tears - typing speedy gonzalez - a total knee replacement, not a standard, dictated in under 1 minute - FULL REPORT! Can you imagine? I have a C-phone that is just hanging in there, but lost all its programming. Isn't there a # key on the number part of the phone that reduces speed? I need it way slooooooooooow!! I'm afraid to just start hitting numbers, though, cause I've lost reports that way!! Anybody have a # to hit for me???
Maybe if you practice what to say
before talking to her and then try to keep your cool. It is much better to be friends with your neighbors. Having a difficult neighbor can truly make your life miserable.
How is she going to practice? Does she have
s
practice, practice, practice
Apparently not being distracted by internet surfing and concentrating while using Expanders is the key. I haven't done more than 300 lph myself, but I don't have a lot of expanders.
Partners in Practice
Partners in Practice does outsource.
Practice dictation
Does anyone out there know of a website where I could get some practice dictation? Have been away from transcription for a few years and want to get my "ear" back and some speed before trying to get back into it. Thanks for your help.
Family Practice
I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what you should charge per line for a Family Practice of 4 physicians? I am interested in working for this practice that currently has been doing their own transcription (oh heaven help! lol), but did not know what would a fair rate to charge per line...thanks for any input! 
practice tapes sm
As usual, your answers are so much appreciated. I love this site, helping others is so important, I do it whenever I can as well. I believe in karma. Thanks again!
Practice dictation sm
This is a crazy question but I've had to take time off and feel really out of the loop. Never worked from home before. Is there any company who would forward some sample dication to let you kind of play with for awhile before you formally test for them? At this point, I don't think I'd pass the test although I've had plenty of acute care and specialty experience. I know it sounds really unprofessional but I thought I would at least ask. Hate to fail, spent too many years being a perfectionist, I guess. Are there any sites you could recommend for someone returning to the profession after a few years taking care of family business?
It's good practice.
I know it hurts at the moment, but it will help you in the long run to have a bigger variety of dictators and specialties. When I was doing radiology there were only about 15, and all but 2 were quite good. Now doing acute care again I may not have a repeat all day. It does make a big difference in production.
Practice tapes from?
I have heard practice tapes some give out that are almost perfect dictation- definitely not what you run into when you transcribe. Are you doing the "goodie" tapes or are they the real McCoy? The practice ones I have heard put in their periods, paragraph. Ha, very seldom hear that in real. What kind of work will you do, speciality or the 4s? I have my equipment as fast as it can possibly go and my salary has gone down in the past 4 years 20,000$ from the constant outsourcing the companies are doing. My speed is between 130-140 wpm and I make good only because I have my nose to the grindstone most of the day. By the way, independent as well but my company asked me for certain hours and which days. I have seen numerous posts on here saying you do not have to do it -but I wanted to work for this particular place and I accept it.
practice tapes from...
Practice tapes are real; slurring run-on sentences, gurgling muffled words, you name it. But, she gave me the printed reports to go with them, so if I really get stuck, i can look at them and find the answer. If you don't mind my asking, how long have you been in this, and what's your cpl? You work for an agency? Yes, my speed is concerning me. Thanks for your reply.
If you are an employee at this practice sm
then it is not your decision who they hire. It is probably in your job description to train new employees. You may want to ask for a copy of that before heading into Dr. Whozewhatsee's office to complain. The other thing is even though you have a background on this girl that does not mean she is terrible (innocent until proven guilty). In my opinion, when I read your post, I am hearing "this job is mine, mine, mine, and mine". "I am to make all of the decisions because this job is mine, mine, mine." Sort of like a 2-year-old. In saying that I'm sure it will really make you mad. I am hearing from your post that you really do not want help but you want to be off to have surgery, etc. The practice cannot just back-up their work but unless you are a supervisor (25+ years does not make you that), it is the decision of the office manager on who to hire. You may be better off with this young girl as opposed to an outside service. The outside service may very well take your job by underbidding and letting the practice know that they can get the job done and do not take off for back surgeries, etc. You may want to keep the waters smooth until you get back. I would do my best to keep this girl going on a steady pace. JMO. Good luck. 
What a rip-off! That practice keeps their profits UP
$
Practice dictations
I am at a hiatus in my transcription career, but I do not want to lose what I know, or lose my speed. Is there somewhere you can purchase practice dictation tapes, or digital downloads? I would prefer digital downloads of voice files if there is such a thing. Just wondering.
private practice
Cardiology in PA, $17.00/hr, 6 weeks vacation, employer funded pension plan 10% of salary yearly, been here 15 years.... longing to be home and a full time MT.. good luck coming back to the jungle.
MT and practice are both at fault sm
Have had this done to me more than once. The PT office should have said, no way, if she approached them. She should have said, no way, if they approached her. You have been hurt, and it's not only common courtesy but a stab in the back. Keep them as a client until you get really busy with others and then drop them. I would not keep her, not for one moment. I had to let go of both a friendship,, a client and an employee twice because I do not tolerate this type of sinister behavior. You should not either. Fool me once, shame on me; foll me twice, shame on me. You should be flaming mad, you have every right, you were scammed by both.
Outsourcing may not be a bad practice,
but in my case that is why I have no benefits. Hospitals/clinics outsource so they do not have to provide facilities for us to work in and full-time benefits to employess to do the MT work. If they are paying the MTSO less that what they were paying the former employees, who eats the difference? We do.
depends on practice
For the most part, my platform fills in the ADT for me BUT...there are some practices that do not provide electronic ADT, therefore I have to enter it manually, which I hate because it's time consuming. There are even a few of my practices where I have to enter it on one screen then enter it again in the report, but I only get paid for entering it the report.
this is common practice ....
in hospitals. What our hospital HR told me was that they save all the applications until they have an opening, they then will advertise that opening in-house and if none of their employees apply they will take out the applications. So, it's quite a long process and really the luck of the draw. Since hospitals cannot be without the necessary staff even for short time, they stock pile applications ahead of the need. So often they will advertise and in reality there is not an opening. Hope this helps. btw, I'm 64 and just got hired by a wonderful and company working at home.
Hot keys and practice.
How long have you been on this account? My average is typically between 550-600 lines an hour but I have bad days too, today is only 394 but that is with the kids home and lots of distraction. At night is when I get my good lines in. I use the shortcut keys, keep it mouse free, try to keep the audio speed increased whenever I can and do my proofing as I do my spellcheck and throughout the report. I also still use my autocorrect a lot during editing for common mistakes that must be typed in (usually the same VR mistakes every time).
I know that when starting a new account and still checking on specs and such it does take time to get that number up. There are also days like today myself that typing just seems to be faster. It happens. I also noticed when I did a short sting on a clinical acount on Escript that it had horrible lines. I much prefer Acute Care with VR.
Practice what you preach, Grandma ...
Make sure you do charitable work both as a nurse and as an MT ... just "do your part" to spread charity here at home in the good ol' US of A.
You start...we'll follow. lol
probably train MDs in private practice to use VR
(only kidding)
Family Practice, Internal Med
I like them because of the variety. With family practice you have everything from Pediatrics to Geriatrics.
I would never have given up the doctors' practice I was typing...
when my husband had his kidney transplant. The money was great! I had 2 people who worked for me! But I was not sure how long his recovery would be (turned out to be only 2 months) and if I could continue to deliver reports anywhere close to on time. Ah well....
Look for tapes on ebay for practice nm
nm
It's not your practice, you are an hourly employee, yes?
You ask the administrator how you should handle this mentoring thing and mention that you will do your job as best you can while training her but you will have to let the doctor know that the work is going to get backed up. Simple as that. No? :)
I am on 3 jobs right now. Gets easier with practice. Just get
p
Thank you. I am looking for dication that free to practice with..n/m
k
Practice makes perfect.
Let me tell you that QA will not tolerate this kind of 2 and @ and not beginning a sentence with a capital letter. So, if you want to make it in the MT word, you'd better brush up on your typing. You wanted tips, right? Well that's my tip! Are you serious?
Oh, and in answer to your question about companies reading this board? Yes, they certainly do. Look at the poster on company board defending her job ad post! I'd say that is an employer reading this board. 
My family practice doc just starting using it. sm
The doc had me meet with the Allscipts trainer to see the different options for transcription from home. The first option was accessing their system via internet and cutting and pasting what I typed in Word into each patient note (I suggest not typing directly into their EMR as you won't be able to use your spellcheck, abbreviation expander, or count the lines). Once you log on, it would be about 5 steps to get to the appropriate patient, then I would have to cut and paste, either each SOAP headings into appropriate heading or just as one note at bottom. Of course, I didn't want to do any of this, too many steps and didn't want to cut and paste (didn't tell him this but trainer had already figured it out and I think he did too as he said that was a lot of steps). However, after he heard he would have to buy an additional license or two (about $5000-10,000) for me to do this, he nixed that idea, which was fine by me. We then decided I would transcribe the SOAP notes as usual and send back via FTP site and HIS office staff would cut and paste, especially when I told him another doc did it this way!! Perfect! And to top it off, his PC guy set up a FTP site on THEIR server!! So far, this has been working great. However, the problem now is decreased work. His PA-C is still dictating but his ARNP has pretty much been using the EMR only and he has decreased his dictation load as well. So, that's it in a nutshell. None of the EMRs are very transcription friendly. Good luck.
I agree that what you need is plenty of practice
You need to concentrate on learning medical transcription before you try anything like Dragon NaturallySpeaking. BTW, DNS cannot type directly from an audio file unless the program has been trained for that particular dictator's voice. You would have to repeat what they are saying and then recognize if DNS makes a mistake, something you wouldn't know unless you are an experienced MT. Not a good idea at this point.
Family Practice trains you with a little of everything
continuing....Practice what you preach.
x
Need acute care practice
How can I obtain acute care, op note, experience? Im interested in a "crash course" in acute care. I have multiple years experience in multispecialty clinic. Have interest from an emplyer for acute care, I just dont have the experience, and dont want to lead them on that I do!! Seems like there is much more out there for those that have experience in acute care! Practice is a big part of it I know, but schools want you to spend $ on the whole course, which I dont need, and will I really be getting the "experience" I will need to succeed! Any advice!!!
so then why did you LIE and say you were doing a practice tape of your friends??? if it truely was a
'
Maybe you don't, but I've taken the practice MCATs online
without studying and passed.
Why don't people practice peace and love,just
zz
Any body know of a family practice hiring PT..
I am currently working full time doing hospital work but things are slow all around for everybody. I was hoping to find a small acct to supplement on a perm. basis. Any help would be appreciated. I am new to this board so I hope it was okay to ask here.
Yes! I have 2 friends who left a practice as RN to pursue becoming a
PA-C, and let me tell you - it just about killed them! It is extremely difficult to even get accepted into ANY PA program. They are very, very selective and most people don't even get accepted into the program to become a PA, let alone certified.
When my one friend left the urologist office as an RN, she went to a local family practice place where there are a total of 10 physicians and 2 PA's. She is now one of them. She went from making 40,000 to over 90,000 a year. Hey, they even put her name on the sign outside - an engraved sign!!!
I can almost guarantee that your friend of a friend is NOT a PA! Is she living in a very nice home? Dress well? Very intelligent. LOL You can tell a big difference in the lifestyle of a PA then an MA!!!
If your friend is answering the phone where she works then she is probably an MA! LOL
Family practice transcription question
I have done transcription for 4 years, have done OB/GYN, oncology, urology and plastic surgery. I am currently seeking employment but haven't been applying for any family practice positions because I don't have that experience.
My question is, given the types of transcription I have done and the length of time I have been doing transcription, should I apply for family practice positions, or stick to only what I have the experience in?
Would appreciate any opinions/feedback at all. Thanks so much.
Anyone have any Express Scribe practice files? (sm)
My employer is switching from using a call-in system, for which I use my Dictaphone, to using digital files and Express Scribe. I would like to practice using the Express Scribe software and my new pedal and such, but I can't seem to find any practice files. (I figured that with some of the crazy stuff I see on Ebay, I could find about anything online, but I've been unlucky so far searching for practice Express Scribe files!)
Does anyone know where I could find some Express Scribe compatible wav files? I admit to not knowing much about how this works... I'm pretty much a Dictaphone girl. That's why I'd like to do some practice. The files wouldn't have to be medical, of course... just anything where someone is talking and I could type along and use my pedal and just get the hang of opening the files and such.
Any help would be met with much adulation and beaucoup gratitude!
you must have worked for a simple family practice
I work for a large multispecialty clinic, first will get some general surgery, will transcribe a rotator cuff surgery or hernia surgery or breast reconstruction, then I'll get urologist and transcribe about urinary system, then I'll get orthopedic talking about joints and bones and muscles, then I'll get ENT talking about ears, nose or throat issues, then I'll get cardiologist talking about veins and arteries and valves, then dermatologist talking about skin problems, then an audiologist will do an exam, then neurologist will talk about nerves. Hmmm, I should be making more.
I think a lot of the private practice docs like smaller ones.
They like the personal attention they get.
Getting IC work with family practice experience
I have 15 years of experience at home transcribing for family practice and currently work part-time at home as an IC. I would like to keep the account I have but perhaps add another to bump up my hours a bit. Almost every job I see posted requires acute care experience. Does anyone have input as to whether it is possible to obtain work without the acute care experience? I love the work I have done. Yes, it is probably easier than ESL or acute care but it does require attention to detail and accuracy just like everything else.
Please advise what someone in my position should do. I am sure these jobs do not appreciate people posting without the experience listed so I have not done so.
My current work is local and is on tapes but I am willing to learn a new system or possibly obtain different equipment. Any input will be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
There is no such thing as a "standard business practice".
This is just another variant on the AHDI group-think. There is no standards body that has the authority to establish "standard business practices" for text communications among businesses.
If you mean that it became "common practice" to use one space, that's a very different thing than a "standard practice" - although I would not even concede even that much.
this is not totally illegal. it is sound business practice.
.
I worked in a rural physician's practice for years.
He eventually ended up joining a group. He still has his office in the same place, but is financially part of that group. Unless they join some sort of group/organization so that they can get group rates on lab, insurance, etc., it is really hard for them to survive. The community lost its hospital several years ago. You said your community has a hospital, but is it a full-service one? Our next nearest town with a hospital is about 35 minutes away. Now the 2 hospitals in that town each have satellite physician clinics in our little town. When I was working for this physician, we had a total of 4 doctors in town. Now, through these satellite clinics, we have a good number. Before this physician joined this group he recruited numerous physicians over the years. Unfortunately, he was not able to assure them enough of a salary and benefits to keep them. There is simply not enough money coming into these small clinics. They have to satisfy Medicare and insurance regulations, just like the big clinics. The recruited physicians all eventually left for greener pastures after being actively recruited by other facilities. One physician I remember tripled his salary when he left there.
Not to mention, most tape accounts are private practice
Lots of normals and Expander entries so you can just pound out the lines in no time. I have a tape account where I can easily hit 400 lph due to the normals and expander entries I have created. I can finish a whole day's worth of dictation in no time and who cares if I spend 15 minutes running to pick up? I make enough in two hours to make up for that!
I am trying to get them to go digital and when they do, that will only save me 15 minutes a day so it's not like I'm going to make out like a bandit over it, but I'll take that extra 15 minutes and spend that time on myself! :)
I think most of these people don't realize that those of us who do still pick up/deliver, do so locally and therefore the offices are usually within a 5-10-mile radius at most. I say let them pound away at their acute care with different docs every few minutes! ;) I did my time with all that and I'm happy to work the gravy train now, even if that means I have to take a little drive now and again. In fact, I'll be done, deliveries and all, in about an hour (12:30 p.m. here) and have the rest of the day to spend doing something fun with my kids or gardening. Can't beat that! :)
Decent money won't be there until you've had years of practice. Maybe do
s
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