Steno for MT
Posted By: mqt on 2008-05-22
In Reply to: Does anyone use Steno for MT work? - C-C
I have used a steno machine for 10 years and if you are already doing 250-300 lines an hour you are beating me. I get around 250 on a good day and really with the dictators and filling in ADT information I would think it would be hard to do much more than that even if you never stopped except for spell check, sending reports, et cetera. Learning the machine is no piece of cake either, took me years. I passed my 200s, but never could pass all my 225s, so never got to be a court reporter. I can keep up with most dictators, but they back up, change their minds, et cetera, so it is not like you can sit down and write without a break, so it is difficult to do a lot more than you are doing right now.
Just my opinion.
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MT-steno
Well, learning machine ShortHand isn't the easiet thing in the world. I think it is what you make of your practice time. I'm returning to an online school for this in the near future.
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Today's steno machines are electronic and computerized so they hook up to the back of the computer. Then we use a CAT program to translate steno Keystrokes into English using a dictionary of steno/English entries. The translation occurs before getting back to the computer word program that is active on the screen. The screen only sees QWERTY, not steno. It's all highly technical and I don't know it all, but I do know that steno is way faster than longhand typing for me, and way faster than ASR.
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Wow! If you're already doing 250-350 lph in long hand then you don't need to steno!
steno for mt
Hi Julie,
I'm not sure if I have emailed you before, but I saw your post about using your steno machine for medical transription. I've passed all of my 120's, and I am thinking of making the switch and going to school for medical transcription. Do you think it can be a lucrative endeavor? Did you just add medical terms to your dictionary as they came up? I use CaseCatalyst software. How did you make the transition? Anything you could tell me would be great.
Thanks
Lorraine
steno machine
What kind of steno machine did you purchase to help you?
Steno transcription
Yes, it is definitely possible to use a steno machine and do transcription. I have done so for over 10 years. I never could pass all my tests to be a court reporter, so finally decided to use that skill in medical transcription and has worked out great for me.
I'm a steno writer
I went to school to learn how to use a steno machine, like in court, to "type" my medical reports. I have been doing this since 2000. I trained at 225 words per minute back in the day, so now I have a reservoir of speed to draw from when dictation speeds up. I rarely need to lift my foot off the pedal with steno.
I think steno is the fastest way to produce a report, but now that MQ is forcing us to do ASR work, I am not using my machine as much. To me, this is unacceptable since they only pay 70% of our base line rate for ASR. I have hung in there so far, but I'm fast approaching the need to get out of MQ since I used to produce 2000 lines a day easily with steno, way less now on ASR reports.
They say ASR is 30% faster than non-ASR thus they justify knocking off 30% of our base rate. Not true. ASR has slowed me way down, can barely make the minimum each day. Last I heard, they will not take us off ASR if we request it. I'm getting madder by the week and losing tons of money in the process.
learning steno, et al.
Hi mt,
I looked into closed captioning many years ago here in San Diego, but it was not as good as it sounded with many problems both internally and externly, hard to explain in this forum, but I didn't want to get involved in that mess.
I started court reporting school way back in 1988 when we still had saber tooth tigers running around. I started the program at San Diego's City College. The first semester was learning theory which taught the steno language and the keyboard. We used the old manual machines, which are still available for students. The second semester and thereafter was all about the dreaded speed-building classes. We finished the first semester at 60 words a minute. Speed-building is a very personal matter. It can take years and years or less time, depending on the person. It took me 2 more years to reach 225 words per minute which qualified me to take the California state board test for licensure. I passed the academic portion the first time but not the machine portion. So I took it another 6 times, never passed that damned thing! Nerves got the best of me each and every time, so I could not go into the court reporting field (something I don't regret in hindsight). Instead I opted to enter our wonderful field of MTing.
I'm using my machine to write this message. I really like using the machine a lot. Each stroke produces either one word several words or phrases or parts of words that have many syllables. It all depends on how you have your dictionary defined.
Today's steno machines are electronic and computerized allowing us to interface with any word processing program.
I hope more people learn this skill and start using it for medical reports so we can get rid of this rotten ASR chap which has reduced my income way more than I can live with. I need a firm that will appreciate my skill and recognize its value in this field.
BTW, it would only take about 10 months to a year to become proficient enough on the machine to start using it for MTing, maybe even less time depending on the person. I didn't work during 3 years of my early training as I had financial help at the time (which I had to pay back, of course, $30,000 - it's paid back now).
Dave
Does anyone use Steno for MT work?
Could you tell me about how many lines per hour etc you type using steno. I've found a local college that offers a court reporting course and have thought it might be worth the investment if it could speed me up some more. I'm doing 250-350 lines per hour with a qwerty keyboard right now.
Thanks a bunch.
Do you use your steno machine to transcribe? nm
nm
Has anyone ever done steno transcription? What is involved? Is it
most importantly, are there jobs out there available? Toni
I can't testify to the steno pads
But when I started I used tapes and a selectric typewriter with 3 carbon copies. We used to use a scapel blade to correct the carbon copies and then slide a little piece of carbon paper in to re-type the correction.
I think it started going downhill when the MTSO's started showing up more and more. Only because, they cut the wages because after all, you got to stay at home, didn't have to pay for work clothes, transportation, meals, etc. And you could write off part of your house mortgate, utilities, etc. as long as you had a room that used only as an office. Everyone bought into it saying they wanted to work at home and thus they bought into the little less in wages that they offered. I still think there is a distinct advantage to knowing the doc's you are transcribing for. Working in a clinic or a hospital and getting to know the doc's make it alot easier to look at them and tell them they sound like they are gargling with peanut butter, they acutally laugh, and listen and I found they would make a bigger effort to be a better dictator because of it. Better dictators = easier to type = faster TAT = less errors = less need for as much editing. We used to transcribe all day and our work never went to QA (what was QA) QA was the doc complaining about our work which = counseling from your supervisor = getting written up = out the door if you didn't fix the problem. That was what it was like when I first started 30 years ago. I didn't have google, I had little notes taped all over my workstation for those words I had never heard before until they came naturally to me, then that piece of paper was replaced by another one. I had what I called my "bible" of phrases, etc. certain doctor's always said, no short cuts or expanders, we typed it all out. That was real transcription.
Question for the steno machine user
I keep remembering how much faster you said it is than typing and I am wondering how one would go about learning how to use one? Is it something that can be self-taught with a book? Would I likely be able to find a good used machine? Also, will they work with any transcribing software?
I am a slow MT and need all the help I can get!  Thanks for any further information you can give me.
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