Utilize the speed typing engines and begin
Posted By: speed typer on 2005-11-10
In Reply to: One transcriptionist, three doctors--HELP - AnahShae
storing in their favorite phrases so that a few letters will bring them up. I am working for several physicians. Took me a few months to get all the words into speed typing mode but now that I have, the time I spend typing is cut in half.
Never type a word larger than 4 letters.
chest pain - cp
pneumonia - pnea
atelectasis or infiltrate - aoi
so on and so on - whatever works for you. This is how to make money these days, high production. And the speed typing engines lessen change of typos and other erros.
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Are you using two speed typing engines at the same time?
Or did I read that wrong. If that were possible, it'd be a breakthrough.
Speed typing engines are our best friends.
Shortcuts is why.
Tineoafod becomes
There is no evidence of a fracture or dislocation. This is IT. Where the first letter of each word is the shortcut. There are also continues and ability to have entire paragraphs be typed with IT by suggestion several possible continues from TINEO (There is no evidence of); ending the sentence based on the ways you have most consistently.
I am a novice IT user. Am about to try SH was many rave about it but IT has saved my fingers and also helps with the quality as chance of typing typos or word dropping is reduced. I tend to create my own phrases but that was with radiology which is redundant much of the time.
You have several to chose from. Other MTs will come along with better suggestions. Is important to know your program compatibility.
I try to think of this feature as a crossword puzzle and challenge myself to find the correct phrse or word fast to complete report and get on to next. Expanders make our job a bit more fun.
speed typing
Okay, ladies. I have been working for 8 months now as an MT and my typing accuracy still is lacking quite a bit. I have the typer shark program that I use sometimes. I type about 50 WPM. Not good enough for me. I was hoping that somebody could give me suggestions or hope that it will come with time. I seem to be a little bit better lately, but I keep hearing about MTs who type 300+ lines per hour. It takes me a couple hours or more to do that. Depending on the dictator, of course. One woman said she used to type the news and that seemed to help her. I just need some encouragement that I will get better, or maybe some people don't.
speed typing
I also use IT, as it is through the company I work for. I am still getting to know the program. I tried Mavis. I found her to be cute, but annoying. I think am just being impatient. I really like the typer shark program. It's actually fun. I think I will take the time to work on understanding IT, so I can get it to work for me.
Thanks your input. It did make me feel hopeful!
speed typing
Will do! Thank you for the encouragement.
What is your typing speed? - sm
Though most of being a great MT involves excellent listening skills, to make the most of production, IMHO, you have type like the wind and use macros, including macro sentences rather than words only. Just a thought - when was the last time you took a typing test? I think there is a free Web based typing test...
Typing Speed
Is there an easy way to calculate word-per-minute typing speed using the lines per hour I can do? -Thanks.
Typing Speed
I type about 70wpm with about a 98% accuracy rate. Per a couple online typing tests I took this week. I'm curious what speed accomplished MTs type? Is 70wpm fast enough? If not, are there any work at home classes or software packages to improve typing speed? Are there any you know work or recommend? Thanks in advance for your help.
Typing speed conversion
Does anyone know the formula for converting lines per hour to words per minute?
Generally typing speed is
irrelevant, since the typical typing test usually involves straight copying from a printed or hand written sheet. Any transcription involves other functions than just typing, hence the standard typing speed means nothing.
Typing speed is not the key thing
but how efficient the dictator is in dictating, the distractions, the platform, etc. If you get alot of air ("uh, um, duh...") it brings your line count down big time.
I usually manage 1000 lines (with no distractions) in 4 to 5 hours.
What is your typing speed and do you use a lot of templates or have repetition?
??
I have never listed my typing speed. Never prevented
nm
XX,, I promise you can double that typing speed quickly SM
then triple it, and eventually quadruple it with an Expander used right. You're doing something wrong, but I assure you once you know what it is you can correct it easily and immediately start seeing the benefits having your expander do much of the typing for you.
To begin with, though, most of your increased speed is going to come NOT from inserting blocks of text standard for one dictator but rather abbreviations for the individual words, phrases, and headings you're constantly typing anyway.
For instance, I type RPSV for "reports that." It wasn't hard to remember. Variations of "report" are used constantly, so RP became report, RPS reports, RPG reporting, RPD reported. V is "that." AO is "also" for me, and F is "he", so "he also reported that" becomes FAORPDV and "he also reports that" becomes FAORSV. This is the first time I've seen those on paper; you don't memorize the long forms, just string together the constantly used short ones. Amazingly quickly your fingers remember (muscle memory?) so you don't have think about it.
Smartype is probably not the best expander but fine to start on since you have it. Later on, better programs have conversion programs that will allow you to move your abbreviations to that program.
In the meantime, go to productivitytalk.com and start reading and asking questions. If you wish, you can import a whole ready-made dictionary compiled by an MT abbreviations.
But you could also take another tack for now just as a trial. Instead of trying to use Smartype's abbreviations, if that's what you're doing, enter just a handful of your own that you can get very familiar with. I love these that I use and am happy to pass them on to anyone who wishes to try them:
Make T expand to "the"
F expand to "he"
G expand to "him"
K expand to "she"
J expand to "her"
T expand to "the"
B to "but"
Q to "who"
R to "right"
L to "left"
F to "for"
D for "and"
That's more than enough for now. If you do this, I think in a couple of days you'll be loving how a quick tap of the finger drops in all these little words so much that you'll eventually become addicted to abbreviating everything in sight--and to watching your scores on your speed tests rise and rise and rise... Best wishes.
Could be avoided if more would utilize
the good schools instead of trying to take a shortcut.
Other than MQ, what other companies utilize DocQScribe??
![](https://forum.mtstars.com/smileys/sowhat.gif)
If I had just one other skill that allowed me to pay for my modest lifestyle, I'd utilize it.
Maybe it is the 20 yrs in this business. I now have tinnitus, am absolutely sure that sitting for 8-10 hours a day is having a detrimental effect on my health, am more anxiety ridden now that there is very little job security and I am a sole operation here in my little world, have arm and hand fatigue (it's a freakin miracle I do not have CTS yet). I just really do not enjoy doing this as I used to. I have to really force myself to stay focused and am really really trying to find some joy in it by realizing other people have tedious jobs just as I do that they must also dislike.
What other search engines to you use that are
x
Desktop Search Engines
Does anyone know of any desktop search engines that will let you use a keyboard command to get to the search taskbar without opening the whole desktop program or mousing to the taskbar, other than Google Desktop?
I can't use Google Desktop because it doesn't search all the directories in the C: drive. It only searches the main directory.
You could use your internet search engines to find
"grand rapids, MI, jobs" and get lots of hits. I'd also check monsterjobs.com for your area, and your state Dept. of Labor should also have a site where you could find jobs in your area. If you are unsure about the search engines, try google.com. It's a great tool for finding anything you could possibly want. God bless.
dogpile.com combines a lot of the search engines together. nm
;
Blog about it on wordpress.com - it will show up in google/search engines. This really works.
Categorize each post with as many tags as you can type related to medical, any words you can think of that people would search for. Maybe someone with SEO experience can chime in here? :) :) :)
The categories show up as "tags" show up in search engines.
We need to blog-
Information about the issue.
A form letter peoople can print/sign/mail.
Contacts/Snail Mail of government officials where people can send the mail too.
We can also give information who they can contact at their local hosptial to find out if their records are going to India/Asia. Most people don't know to ask for the director of health information or operations manager.
Also ad the url to your blog to google:
http://www.google.com/addurl/
We could also link to one another blog's.
Is there someone willing to post a form letter? We could copy and paste it in our our blogs. My writing skills are not good enough yet. ;)
I'm not a Transcriptionist yet but I know about wordpress categories and google. This works!
increase speed 3, decrease speed 2...sm
increase backspace 9, decrease backspace 8. At least that's what mine does.
Where to begin?
Brandy,
Where do you live, most importantly? I am a mom to 3, in Georgia, and am currently homeschooling my son in kindergarten. I can give you some tips, if you want, but there is a lot, too much to post here. IF you want more info, post back and I'll give you my e-mail address or e-mail you privately.
Oh, where shall I begin. sm
The *hoopla* about offshore not being secure is absolutely a valid threat. It may have nothing to do with transmission and everything to do with the value system of another group of people though. At least three VERIFIABLE instances of offshore MTs holding medical records for hostage and at least one where the MT threatened to publish the records on the internet if she was not paid, exist. Hardly *hoopla* my dear. I seriously doubt if the CMT will ever become a mandatory credential and I seriously doubt that for several reasons. After nearly 30 years, the AAMT has fewer members now than it ever had. People are leaving in large numbers. I also have it on good authority that the test the offshore MTs take is not the same one given to US MTs. Personally, I don't put someone down for having a CMT, I just have no great real respect for it or the association. I trust I am allowed my opinion. I worked at a local hospital where the transcription supervisor was a CMT and she could not answer one blank when asked! I actually know a lot of CMTs who are not all that.
Maybe it's your attitude to begin with.
Change your tune. Be sugary sweet when you think someone is being rude to you and see what happens. Pay it forward. Give someone a smile or a kind word. Let someone in line in front of you. Just do one little nice thing per day and it will multiply. People are never rude to me. Everywhere I go, they know me by name because I take the time to be kind to them. Gas station, grocery store, bank, school, doctor's office. You might have to fake it 'til you make it, but you can change your outlook and how you perceive the world treats you. If someone is "rude" to you, blow it off. Maybe they're having a bad day and it's nothing personal.
To begin with, I would suggest
Paying for your rent/mtg, food and utilities without fail first.
I ended up in BK 13 so I can't help you with a company name but this is what I learned, food and shelter come first.
That's Why I Posted To Begin With
I didn't make the assumption that 'fast typing' was all it took. I still believe that you have to be able to type fast, but I also have 'top notch computer skills' and can learn well. I wanted to know more about training in this field because I assumed training was a necessary evil. One thing I didn't assume was that the folks on this forum were just downright rude!! Not saying you are, just most of the others that replied to my initial post. I am certainly not looking at MT as a way to pay my mortgage or put my daughter through college. Just a way to fill some free time.
Thanks for your post!
You should have a system to begin with. SM
I recommend mining the Productivity Talk forum for tips and a book such as Saving Keystrokes by Rolland. One high producer strongly recommends Easyscript Express by Levin, an old ABC-based ShortHand method that can be used with a keyboard.
When I first started with expanders, in the Ice Age seemingly, there were no forums like this to consult and I just started dropping definitions in without a good system. I've since had to redo everything a number of times as I wanted my Expander to do more and more for me.
As time goes on, you'll also want to abbreviate EVERYTHING for you, which requires system, both because you can't possibly remember thousands of abbreviations but remembering a few rules is easy AND because you need to have a way to enter various terms that seemingly need the same letters.
One tip just to jump you off: Some systems start two-word phrases with the first two letters of the first word and the first two or three of a second word. However, if you look up "lesions," say, in a medical dictionary, you'll see immediately that starting with three letters of the describing/adjective word and two of the noun (i.e., cocle for cochlear lesion and corle for cortical lesion) would serve you much better. Although if you gaze over just at the ones that start with intra- you'll realize more system than that is going to be needed for more complex terms. I personally start that prefix with "ia" to differentiate from ones that start with inter- "ie". Best wishes.
ADD vs. MT - Let the Battle Begin
Have you tried setting a timer for 20-30 minutes, then giving yourself permission to get up from the desk (setting the timer again for 10 minutes or so), wander around, surf the web a little (on a different computer if you can, it will help keep the surfing bug separate from the MT'ing bug), then when the timer goes off again, go back and set it again for 20-30 minutes and start typing again?
These days, I'm working in bed from a laptop due to back and wrist issues that don't play well with conventional desks, but in some ways that actually helps keep me focused, because it's such a pain in the neck to get up and walk away... I still struggle with wanting to surf while typing though - a problem I never dreamed of having back when my shiny new computer was an IBM PS2 or something like that - where the floppy drive held less information than my cell phone does today!
Good luck!
Does it have 3 letters, begin with an M?
If so, I'm there too...Ain't life grand???
The one time I asked for one, they said no. Ask and if they say no, begin looking elsewhere.
dd
The rules for Op notes are a little different. You may begin a....sm
sentence with a numeral; so, you would never spell out cc for blood loss, IV fluids, urine output etc. In the indications section, if a sentence starts with a number e.g. "Three days ago the patient" or "One day prior to surgery, I spell out the number. Otherwise, in the body of the report or in the headings, I use the number.
Don't get excited. You should have provided it to begin with. nm
x
The head set worked to begin with so
if it was in the wrong hole would it have worked in the beginning? Because it worked until I downloaded the pedal software.
How do you begin to come up with a line rate..
to pitch to a new account? Been working for others as an IC, now contemplating approaching an account on my own. No clue how to not hang myself and selling out at too low of a rate vs giving a quote that's too high and will make them back off quick. Would it be a good "rule of thumb" to take what you make as an IC on someone else's accounts and add .05cpl? From what little I've gathered over time, that's about the ballpark of what the MTSO gets paid per line for the account vs what the IC gets paid to do the typing. Does this sound about right to those of you who have experience with this? Tks
I promise you - I begin work at 7:00 p.m. - I'm only PT, and my day always begins with
stat, H&Ps, consults, etc! I love it!
When they have me working mornings I am getting special procedures, ops, caths, and don't like it one bit! Maybe 2nd shift would work for those who just can't see themselves working from 11 to 7. Good luck!
Nope. It was a small account to begin with.
The work never went anywhere. The company has not lost contracts. I'm not being "phased out" either. The workload simply doesn't suit my needs any longer. I can do it in my sleep, so I'd like more work that's more challenging.
I would never begin a sentence with an abbreviation, for one thing. nm
x
I begin my day, every day, with a nice 2 to 3 mile walk with
This gives me time to think, alone time, fresh air and of course exercise. I love to walk and it seems that since I began doing this I am less stressed out. Have you had your thyroid checked??? Just wondering if that could possibly cause hair loss. I wish you the best.
Was taught in my program that all those eye words begin with
s
That is assuming they could even understand the dictation to begin with.
I would love to see the doctors having to listen to dictation.
Okay. Where do I begin? I need some advice! My husband is in real estate. sm
He owns 5 houses (rents 4), and just closed on a house on Friday that he needs to "flip" really quick! Basically, it's a 30,000 profit IF he sells it quick! We've never bought a house to flip before, but have purchased them for rental property and to gain the equity. Okay. I'm spoiled. Very spoiled. Or you could call it blessed! We are both Christians with good jobs. I only work part-time and then we live off of his salary and the 700 we make in rent that is extra after paying ALL the mortgages. But we are in a real bind now. We have renters who owe us 2 months of rent, well now 3 months of rent! They won't take our calls, you know the rest of the story! This house that my husband bought on Friday cost us ALL of our cash because we had to put some down and then pay closing costs (close to 4,000!). So now, for the first time, we are broke (NO cash flow whatsoever now). And I'm struggling over here! I mean, we can't even go and get ice cream tonight. I'm really questioning our decision to purchase this house.
See, we had no idea UNTIL closing (honest to God), just how much it was going to cost! So, we couldn't back out of it. We were thinking 2000 on the high end. I completely flipped out when the attorney told us how much we needed to write a check for!!!!
We've gotten a couple of calls on the house, but obviously no takers. My husband went straight from the attorney's office to the house to put up for sale signs in the yard! It's a cute house. We just need someone to buy it ASAP!
So, if you've ever wanted to meet the people on the Carlton Sheets infomercial - here we are!!! yes, we've made a lot of money in real estate, but there are huge, gigantic RISKS! You could go for the gutso (like we did and buy all these houses) and you could lot a lot if it doesn't work out. The loan we got on this new house is a type of loan I've never heard of before. It's just a "quick" loan where you need to pay it back pretty quick in the hopes that you will make the 30,000 in equity that the house did appraise for.
What do you do on a budget? What do you do when you are so broke you can't even buy ice cream for the kids? I want to cry now, even though I know some of you out there have zero sympathy for crazy folks like us...Well, I need some ideas on food. What's cheap to make and cook? I put 30.00 in my SUV last night and that will have to last me until the 15th!
To all of you who struggle every week like this, my heart goes out to you. It truly does. Now I know what it feels like to live in desperate need every day.....
They're not thrown to the dogs when they had no work to begin with!
nm
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???
Typing. This is NOT typing, it is transcribing. There is a BIG difference. sm
Transcription includes typing, but so much more.
Speed when it comes to DSL
I would love to cut my bills, with my DSL carrier have to have land phone in order to have internet. I do both VR and straight typing, mostly VR. Has anyone had any issues with similar, using the fastest DSL (which costs more) and then going to the lower rate (which costs less). I might be interested if I can find is there really that much difference in your speed?
Probably will! Maybe we could speed it along - sm
by sending the link to our local TV stations!
speed
your processor is what adds speed or diminishes speed. being as that your computer is 4-5 years old, your processor probably just cannot keep up with the expectations you have of it. With increased files and using an online platform, you probably need an updated processor. Also depends on how much you have *open* at the time of working on the online platform.
Speed
Definitely have to have a split keyboard. My wpm went up considerably with the split keyboard plus your hands don't get as tired because it is in a more natural position. ![](https://forum.mtstars.com/smileys/smirlove2.gif)
Speed
I have found that timing myself with a stopwatch makes me get more done. Otherwise, I take my time and then I do less work. I make a limit for each transcription, and then I try to beat that time.
Abby
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