With our QA department, blanks count against us..sm
Posted By: JLH on 2006-12-04
In Reply to: The MT never gets blamed unless the MT is just makes something up sm - Utter nonsense
If we have more than 1 blank per report, other than for dictation that is cut off or something like that, it counts against our percentage, which isn't very high given the difficulty factor associated with a lot of the dictators. Once the percentage reaches a certain point (and again it don't take much to reach that point) we start losing bonuses that we would otherwise be entitled to and even getting deductions from our pay. So, to say the MT doesn't get blamed is not true for everyone. We shouldn't get blamed, but a lot of us do.
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How big is the rad department?
I wonder if that makes a difference. My rad account is going to beta test VR and I am wondering if I should get out now.
You could try the Department
of Labor. There are many of us on this board who at one time or another have gotten the shaft by being an IC. Just wait.. you will get many suggestions. My case- there are at least nine of us owed close to $25,000.
Can you go over both of their heads to the department
supervisor? Tell her that you're getting conflicting reports on your job performance. Do you have emails saying that you're doing great? Keep them, print them. Explain to the department head that you simply can't afford to pay for gas or daycare to work in-house. (Yeah, I've told my supervisors this before and their reply was that my daycare and gas expenses weren't their problem. I told them it was their problem and quit.) What is your production level? Eleven minutes or 130 lines per hour are about the average for direct hospital work. It's usually less than that in-house with all the interruptions and other tasks.
As far as the online company, can you work part-time or as-needed for them for a while? Is there any way you could do both jobs until after you get the bonus? You applied Friday and got called back Monday. That tells me that they're interested and you're a decent MT. How much research have you done into this company? Are you sure it's the best company for you? Honestly, if you're good, you'll get more offers. Sometimes it's nice to have the security net of a hospital job and a regular paycheck, especially with Christmas and bonuses coming up. Your production will probably drop by starting a new account, and it's not the best time of year to be taking a pay cut.
police department right behind us
Funny thing is the police department is right behind us--they probably hear her--just kidding. Her ex-husband workes on the volunteer fire department housed in the same building as police. He has probably already told them all she is crazy!
Can your company's IT department not
I bet they have all the information necessary and even suggestions.
One of my accounts is a PT department...
they invite me to their Christmas party every year. One year they had a huge bouquet delivered to me at home on Medical Transcription week! That was a nice surprise.
Our QA department is much too busy
to give us feedback like that. They are very complimentary of my work ... probably because I do take the time to look up other reports to make sure I fill in all the tough spots I possibly can. I've done acute care before, but got away from it for a few years. I only had one ESL at my last job. I sure got good at Korean though! With this job it's pretty typical, with many different dictators and accents, but it's just heavy on certain "Asian" (happy now?) dictators instead of Indian. At least there aren't many of the certain Spanish ones I have trouble with. What the ones I have trouble with have in common is that their language uses more percussive sounds and fewer vowel tones. It doesn't matter if the vowel tones are different; I can adapt. But when it records as whispery percussive sounds, I struggle.
Department outsourced
After going through this 2 years ago I feel your pain. Though there are some positives to working at home it is a whole different ballgame. Personally I miss my coworkers and just the general atmosphere of the hospital. I keep hoping more hospitals will realize they still need some in-house staff, at the very least to do QA on what a lot of the services are turning out. It seems to me it has become nothing more than churn and burn with the emphasize on turn-around time, not quality. When I look up old reports in our system I am appalled at some of the stuff that goes out, and I am on accounts that require American MTs. It is really sad what this "profession" has become.
Department of Labor
Were you awarded a judgment in your favor and how long it takes?
Department of health
According to my doctor, Hillary Clinton was the main one involved in the HIPPA. Don't know if it is true or not, just what he said.
Take the character count divded by 65 and that will give you your line count.
x
Try the Department of Labor and Industry.
You can turn them into the State Attorney General's office, BBB, FTC, as well. And small claims court. I would send a certified letter demanding payment first with the threat that if they do not pay by XX date, you will pursue further legal action against them.
Turn them in to the BBB and the Department of Labor.
They're scamming people. Somebody needs to stop them before they hose over any other new MTs. Parents magazine even had an article about TranScam.
Call the MR department at the hospital and ask sm
simply "who does your transcription". May not work every time, but they gave me the name of the service, and the phone number. I called the service and asked if they were hiring. She said, "we are always hiring", and I was working for them 3 days later.
I wonder why when a department is outsourced/offshored sm
the physicians never have a say in it even though most of them don't like it? They are the ones who bring in the revenue, after all, so why shouldn't they have a say in what goes on as regards patient care?
If it were me I'd do some house cleaning in the friendship department.
Make some new friends. It's time.
Report them to the Department of Labor and Industry and the BBB, too.
I can't stand it when pay is not received in a timely manner. It shows a complete lack of professionalism and inability to manage a business.
Health department here said straight mayo. SM
Slathered it on, put on a shower cap and left it for hours. Not only were the lice gone, but our hair was so soft and shiny and conditioned!
Turn them in immediately to the Department of Labor and
Industry, the BBB, the FTC, small claims court and anybody else that will listen. Contract or no contract, they CANNOT withhold pay due to giving no notice. ICs do not have to give notice. It was even on Judge Judy that you can't stiff somebody their pay for walking off the job.
Or maybe check with your state's labor department?
?
Frederick Police Department - 580-335-7503 (sm)
Tell them Kristen is at it again - they know all about her.
It took the fire department to get her out of the house! My GAWD!!!!
Department of Labor worked for me in my state
Also contact the Attorney General in your state; but the final result for some was to file a complaint with the magistrate in that company's district. Good luck
it does not count gross lines...I count 37 and it counts 67.
x
I hear they the Education Department Needs 2M teachers by 2015
I think thats a great idea. English teacher... Hmmm.. What are the requirements?
you need to contact the police Department in Frederick, Oklahoma sm
If you call them and make a complaint against her, they will help you take care of it. She's afraid to go to jail, if she's not there already
Our department does 1200+ reports a day. They average 11 lines. nm
This is for 2-3 line normal chests to MRIs. They look longer, but if you take 65 characters with spaces, you will be surpised. Here's an example:
CHEST:
INDICATION: Chest pain.
FINDINGS: Heart size within normal limits. Lungs are clear.
IMPRESSION: Normal chest.
This is 116 characters with spaces, which is 3 lines (if you round up - actually 2.55 lines). If by the line, you would make $0.30.
Something to think about.
Do the same with an MRI of the knee. Copy and paste it into word and count it. A very long one I had was only 15 lines.
simply ask HR if it's common practice to hire for a department -
nm
Are you kidding? After reading the health department's annual review, I NEVER eat out.
Especially at a fast food place. They always have long lists of violations, plus, after a look at the fingernails and hair on some of those people, I wouldn't feed my dog there.
They do list restaurants that maintain high standards of cleanliness with no violations, so if I'm in the mood for a long drive, I'll go to one of those.
I do miss eating out.
Here is part of the email my husband received from his IT department at work..sm
It has been widely reported that a newly discovered Windows flaw will result in several new computer viruses over the next few days.
This new virus is launched by visiting web sites that are infected with this virus or by receiving infected e-mails. You will not be able to know if the web site is infected.
The anti-virus software vendors are working on a system update to fix this issue, but as of now, it has not been provided. Also, Microsoft is working on a patch that will fix the root cause of this problem.
Makes me very nervous also!
blanks
Can anyone out there clarify how a company penalizes for sending in a report to QA and how do you know if your company does that? Thank you upfront!
blanks
Can anyone advise how long an MT should spend researching an item as opposed to letting a blank? The company I work for is very reasonable about 1 blank per document etc. I was just wondering if there is a general rule.
Thanks for the opportunities this board offers to learn, vent and feel less isolated.
How many blanks in a day?
I am wondering if I am a good MT. I am an IC that worked on the same account for 3-1/2 years and NEVER sent any blanks. The doctors were great! I lost that account and now my company has given me a new account for the past 2 days. I think I have left at least a few blanks in EVERY single report I typed that had to go to editing...is this normal? What are the average number of reports that most good MTs have to send to editing in a day?
Blanks
With a new account, you are getting used to the dictators.
Go back and listen after you have typed the whole report and 9 times out of 10, you will hear what they are saying.
more on blanks
The specifics of how to mark a blank for QA vary from account to account, service to service, etc.
When I was a QAS, I really didn't want my MTs to put sounds like phrases in, for example:
____(s/l) bazaar or bizarre____
because it would often be something completely different. I prefer to approach the blanks I'm filling in as a QA person with an open mind. I read through the body of the whole report while filling blanks in order to make certain that the word I'm hearing fits the context of the report, but I prefer not to be told in advance what the word is.
Yeah, I like crossword puzzles too.... LOL!
BLANKS
Hello, I am having a very tough time with blanks, especially with doctors who have accents. I try listening really close to how they pronounce the word, but after listening for a good few minutes, I find I still have to leave a blank; this is so fustrating. Are they any tips to cracking blanks?
Blanks
First question I ask -- are you a fairly new MT? second question, do you have access to company IM? I have worked in this busines many years and even those of use with experience have trouble with blanks at times - I did a dictation today and the docs dog was in the background -- one blank and really not bragging here but if I leave 3-4 blanks in a report it is because of horrid sound or terrible docs -- this is really where a lot of newer MTs need to be able to have contact with someone who "has an ear" 
Blanks
First question I ask -- are you a fairly new MT? second question, do you have access to company IM? I have worked in this busines many years and even those of use with experience have trouble with blanks at times - I did a dictation today and the docs dog was in the background -- one blank and really not bragging here but if I leave 3-4 blanks in a report it is because of horrid sound or terrible docs -- this is really where a lot of newer MTs need to be able to have contact with someone who "has an ear"
Blanks
First question I ask -- are you a fairly new MT? second question, do you have access to company IM? I have worked in this busines many years and even those of use with experience have trouble with blanks at times - I did a dictation today and the docs dog was in the background -- one blank and really not bragging here but if I leave 3-4 blanks in a report it is because of horrid sound or terrible docs -- this is really where a lot of newer MTs need to be able to have contact with someone who "has an ear"
BLANKS
Thank you all for the advice. It is much appreciated, and I will try the suggestions.
I live in Washington state and the health department posted it on the internet.
Here is the link to the information for this state, but every state probably has the same thing.
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/food/restaurant-inspections.htm
Started in-house at a hospital, medical records department, on a typewriter in
1983, earning $6.00/hour, eventually moving up after 7 years to $10.00/hour. All hospital work was then outsourced to a national service in 1986 (beginning of our downfall), went to work for the service and made $2.10/page. Service was bought out by another service, rate changed to $1.90/page. Rates changed again to $0.08/cpl. After many years of experience in all services, found my first account in 1992, charged $.09/cpl/gross lines but blank lines not counted. Business has grown steadily through the years through word of mouth. Now charging $.16/cpl or $25.00/hour or $6.00/page, and having to turn down work at this point. If you have the experience and are detail-oriented, you can find your own accounts eventually like I did. But you have to pay your dues first and be able to transcribe all ESLs accurately. If you learn how to transcribe ESLs well, those doctors are the ones to target for work. I do work an ungodly number of hours, only because I am trying to save at a faster pace for retirement because of all the uncertainty in this line of work.
Realistically, 16 blanks they were able to get and you could not?
x
So you NEVER send anything in with blanks, or
Can you walk on water, too?
Blanks in a report
Are you serious? Are there really MTs that leave 20 or 30 blanks in a report? I feel bad about leaving a blank when the doctor dictates the wrong dosage or I cannot verify the dosage and decide it is better for QA to check it. Sometimes I leave a blank because the background noise is too loud for me to hear what the doctor is saying. The most blanks I have ever left were three during my first weeks as an MT. Now I know why my production has been low (because I researched). I am proud of my accuracy being at 99.97% to 100% and my reliability at 100%! Why is an MT allowed to leave that many blanks?
How can they predict how many blanks?
This annoys the heck out of me about some transcription companies. How in the world can they set a limit of one, two or three blanks per report? That's unrealistic. What do they want us to do, make it up? Well I sometimes wonder if that happens, or some things are just "skipped over". It's tempting, but I haven't gotten to that point yet. I don't care how long someone has transcribed, there are things you just cannot hear, understand, or find. I'm finally working for a company that has no limit to blanks. They have a great editing system. I do a reasonable amount of research on terms I have not heard of. But if I can't hear it....I CAN'T HEAR IT. And don't even get me started on the subject of blanks in ESL dictation. Even the editors can't grasp a lot of it. I used to spend LOTS of itme on blanks, but I've wised up now and let the editors figure it out if I can't get it after a minute or so of research.
There is nothing wrong with a report going to the hospital with a blank. If I were a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional, I would rather deal with a blank than incorrect information. The doctor can fill in blanks when he signs the report.
I leave blanks for even slightly unclear lab values. I see when I review the QA'd report later that they have been filled in by the Editor and it amazes me that they could hear it clearly. Unless they called the nursing station at the hospital and asked them to look it up....which of course does not happen
Maybe I'm too naive about it. I could make a lot more money if I'd just ad lib and send it in. But, I never have been a good liar.
Definitely finish with blanks. nm
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I think it is normal to have a lot of blanks when ...sm
you are learning an account. You have to learn the things the doctor says and get accustomed to it.
I think leaving blanks when you are new...sm
to an account is normal. You have to get used to the account and the doctors.
Docking for blanks
Encourages guessing....totally wrong. This is a policy adopted by people who have never done the job.
Blanks in tests
Hi!
I am looking for an opinion please. I have been taking my very first at-home test(hoping to come home and leave the politics behind). I was wondering if it would be counted against you if there was a blank in the one of the trascrption samples. My current employer prefers blanks to guesses but then again they are familiar with their employees' strenghts and weaknesses.
Any advice welcome.
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