Yes, thanks for a thoughtful and constructive comment. SM

• I have heard so much about - MTing not being paid as much
  • they are dropping. - another Escription editor.
    • I must add - Escription editor
  • And if you get truly garbage dictation, you'll never break - 200 lph. It happens all too often like that. NM
  • Several considerations sm - Lyndia
    • Lydia - I think your post was excellent however - Charlene
    • The raise you're describing is a merit-raise, - (SM) - Flibertygibbit
    • wonderful answer - sa
      • Yes, thanks for a thoughtful and constructive comment. SM - MsIndigo
        • I am surprised - SA
          • "Not fondly"--SO true! Who'd ever go back to THAT? NM - MsIndigo

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Thank you for the response, I really appreciate you taking the time to write me and I took your advice to heart.  I'm glad I posted this, i'm not a very open person and so this is kind of all I have right now.  I've already taken the time to write an email to my mom, and through the advice of others, told her basically i'm uncomfortable going around there, but I love her and for her to remember that, and I just need space right now.  She wrote back that whenever i'm ready to talk, please write.  So the door is open.  Its a start.

I'm also going to write another person in my family, who will understand more than anything, and then help me out with the actual bringing everything to light.  My stepfather is in therapy for something else, maybe if he's confronted by this he'll get help for this too, even though he's 70, its never too late.  The only thing, he more  than likely will deny it and say I blew things out of proportion, or my mom will.  Thats my worst fear, or to have my mom fall deeper into her depression.  But even I have questioned this...and its undeniable to me that something is wrong. 

This has taken so long to get to this point, I wish I were like some of you and to just confront and nip it in the bud, but like I said, its my nature to want to keep things as peaceful as possible and hopefully it will get ironed out on its own.  Thats awful, I know.  And I want to say again, in no way am I comparing myself to sexually abused children, but this is something that has been eating away at me for awhile, its been a hurtful burden because my mom and I are kind of all each other has, even though we do not relate well, we are always there, and I just do not want to lose that, or have her hurt and humiliated more than she has to be. 

Thanks again everyone..well  most of you, for your responses.  They have really helped me.

What I don't understand is why you think they're not. People are stating the truth--the employer calls the shots, not the employee. Just because the truth isn't as comfortably "warm and fuzzy" as you want it to be, doesn't make it less true. It seems that this point is missed very frequently on this board and to try to convince this person that it is the employee who decides the working terms is both cruel and non-constructive. (There are so many cliches that I could use right now I'm not even going to start.)

There have been several posters who lament the loss of jobs to overseas competition but instead of laying blame at the feet of workers who want to call the shots, they instead try to blame the people who are hungry for jobs and are willing to work at getting and keeping jobs that are "too demanding", "too demaning", "not family-friendly" for US workers. Employers are also to blame when their biggest concern is the bottom line and not upholding the society that allowed them to become employers in the first place.

A very good book to read for more on this subject is The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman. It is a long book but if you're really interested in understanding what is going on in the world today and being prepared for the reality of tomorrow, it's worth the read. Of course, it also requires a mind willing to see the problems that both workers and employers have created.

providing commentary and suggestions on improving the MT's work process (i.e. 'hearing' ESL's better or maybe a more refined search process, etc.) in a professionally worded fashion.  Most times when an MT leaves a minefield of blanks in a report it's because he/she because of their lack of experience wasn't able to 'hear' what the dictator was saying. 

A true QA person of excellence can recall their own journey on the road of transcription, remember that type of frustration and lack of experience, and translate solutions and suggestions to the MT in a manner that the MT can draw upon that experience and going forward incorporate the QA's suggestions into their work process, correcting any deficiencies they may have in putting out a quality document without a lot of blanks.  

In the case of where you work, sometimes constructive feedback is as simple as just filling in the blanks.  You can use the document that's been returned to you as a sample for training your ear to better hear what that particular dictator is saying when you get him/her again.  In this way, you continue to improve and are more autonomous in the work that you do. 

I hope this helps. 

You came here to whine and moan about QA and you wanted people to pat you on your head and said "poor little MT, you were right."  When you didn't get that, you started throwing a tantrum and telling everyone what big 'ol meanies they are.

By your own admission, you have been an MT for three years.  You are in no way qualified to tell QA or the QA supervisor that you like or dislike changes made, account specs, or anything of the sort.  Your job is to type according to the account specs and according to whatever other BOS rules QA imposes.  Like it or not, this is the job!  MTs are called upon to be flexible.  Personally, I abhor the BOS, but I like money, I need money to live and feed my kids, so if my employer says do by the BOS book, then that's what I'm gonna do.

I going to go out on a limb here and guess that since you said some of the mistakes you made were "stupid mistakes" you shouldn't have made, then you probably look inexperienced to QA and aren't going to be taken seriously when you complain.  When you've become a seasoned MT who makes very few mistakes and then want to complain, you might be taken a bit more seriously.

I have 20 years under my belt.  My last QA score (which happened to be yesterday) was 99.5% and that is my consistent score.  If one day I get a QA score say below 98%, then I may question it diplomatically.  I probably have more experience than the QA person proofing my work, but being condescending is not the way to go.  Here you are 3 years experience and you are condescending and go above your QA's head to her boss.  Good thing you're starting a new job, sounds like you're going to need it.

That's my 2 cents.

most MTs either don't read it or read and immediately send it to the recycle bin literally and figuratively.  So when I send feedback, it is basically a list of their errors, my corrections, and quoting chapter and verse from the BOS if necessary. 

Quite frankly, I'm tired of hearing MTs gripe.  I used to try to educate and mentor MTs, but it is a thankless job.  Someone below said that QA people try to insinuate their egos, but in my experience it is the MTs ego that is getting in the way.  So many MTs think they are "excellent MTs" and so many of them are not.  At one point, I decided to keep a running log of unacceptable errors that even the most remedial MT should not be making and start posting it here because I'm so sick of MTs posting that QA is unreasonable or big meanies.

So here is a very unacceptable mistake I've seen this morning and I've only been on the clock for an hour...

"pressure ulcer on the left heal"

Of course, when I sent feedback to this MT, she emailed me saying "ha ha, oh it's just a typo."  Problem was she did it repeatedly throughout the entire report -- not just once but every instance the dictator talked about the left heel ulcer, she typed "left heal ulcer."

Now, MTs, tell me that I'm not supposed to roll my eyes and be a little irritated that I had to spend fifteen minutes listening to her entire report because such a basic error sends up warning flags, when I should have just had to fill in her blanks.

Please also check borderline personality disorder on the internet.  True bipolar has fairly long periods of either mania or depression and cycles.  Bipolar is more ongoing pervasive personality of poor coping skills and conflicted interpersonal interactions.

My advice is to realize there is probably nothing you can do to help them or change them other than altering the way YOU deal with THEM for the good of your own mental health!

Not sure why you needed the computer as I am assuming you already had a computer and the equipment?  Most computers with fairly new Windows system would work okay.  I personally feel the rental fee is kind of a bad idea in the long run at $48.00 a month.  Sounds like you may need a phone line again unless you can get wireless.  You'll have to talk to tech, I guess.

As far as learning and training, are you on DQS? 

Hayseed, Aren't you the gal who did 1700 lines in 6 hours or something like that?  In that case, it's likely you wouldn't have any problem making their quota.  But, how about that hourly rate?  Will they be saving money by putting you on hourly, will you be making more money than when you were doing MT work?  Ask for all the details in writing, would be my advice.  Ask them to also state, in writing, if you can return to MT if you don't like QA.  Congratulations and good luck!!

This is a good solution; it puts it in their face, so to speak.  I've heard that people have to hear or see something an average of 3 times before it sinks in.  If they receive no feedback, they think everything is okay or totally horrible, depending on their own point of view (this is for all people in all aspects of life; I suspect that doctors will just assume that everything is okay).  If they receive negative feedback with a smile, they tend to believe that improvement is optional.  A more dramatic, serious approach is necessary. 

My situation may be a little bit different from yours, but you are not alone, and ER reports seems to be the main star.

I don't have any answers, but I'm kind of in the same boat with you.  I have been working on an account that has all worktypes.  I begin working very early in the morning, when I might be the only one working on this account.  The ER reports supposedly have top priority, right after the stat reports.  My problem is that lately I've noticed that once I complete all stat reports and am getting to the good stuff--the ER reports, whoever is managing the queue changes the priority of the more difficult OP reports and consultations, so that they float to the top of the queue, above the ER reports.  This maneuver would sometimes make sense, but the account specs are such that the ER reports have top priority. 

So, then, it takes several more hours to get to the ER reports, at which time there are so many workers on board that I end up getting 1 or 2 ER reports.  I've lately gone from making over $22/hour to a mere $7/hr.  I feel like I've been messed with, simply because I really got used to the account the way it used to be and now someone has come along and purposely made it more difficult for me.  I have the option of signing off, changing my hours, or going elsewhere.  I do have another interview pending after successfully completing the testing at another company.  I know that the grass is not always greener, but there is a limit to what type of treatment that I will tolerate.

I agree with you. 

This situation seems to be the end result of long years of MTs trying to do their best, while plugging along and accepting the treatment of the facilities, that filtered down to them through the MTSOs, who may or may not be addressing the issues of bad dictators with the facilities, for fear of losing the contracts.  I believe, it is the job of those who have direct contact with the doctors (i.e., those at the facility in the HIM dept).  According to what I have observed, they are not doing this job, and are either clueless, don't care, or enjoy this special power of oppressing the workforce from afar.  It also seems that they are not required to properly train their dictating clinicians.  Some of them are very active, however, in checking reports for proper comma use and such details, and do not hesitate to contact the MTSO to complain when the MT left out a comma, or failed to select the proper date of service on the header, failed to read the doc's mind and did not realize that when he/she coughed in a certain way, it was a clue that he/she wanted a copy sent to Dr. Joe Doe, etc.  Of course, they actually do not pay for headers and footers and they do not provide the MT with enough information to fill in all the details on the header and footer.

I have an egg timer.  I spend exactly 3 minutes trying to figure out a blank or the correct name for a doctor that requires a courtesy copy, etc.  If I cannot accomplish this in 3 minutes, given the lists that I have been provided or internet resources, the report gets a blank and it is sent to the QA department to figure it out.  Each report gets a grand total of 5 minutes for multiple look ups of blanks that are the fault of the dictator or due to me not having enough information to fill in headers, footers, consulting doctors, etc.  If it is my fault because I do not know the terminology, and the word was dictated clearly, I will take more time researching.  If the MTSO wants to address the issues of poor quality dictators/dictations with the facility, that is their choice.

If I were to have my own accounts, I would hope to have a deep pool to draw from so that I could include sanctions for such difficulties in my contract with the option of discontinuing service to those who proved to be so difficult.  However, I do not wish to be a dreamer, and don't think such deep pools exist, at least not in my part of the country, so I haven't even tried this option of having my own accounts.

I"m not sure I understand your comment, and I am not here to debate, but the account that I work on has plenty of difficult dictators, as well as plenty of easier dictators, comparatively.  My point was that you cannot depend on what type of report you will get at any given moment; there is no picking and choosing and the next in line might just change due to major shuffling.  It is not predictable by worktype either.  Whether there is plenty of work depends on how many MTs are working at the time, whatever jobs have been added to the pool, etc.  There is often no work during third shift.