Your method of proofreading? -- SM
Posted By: MT on 2007-02-02
In Reply to:
I feel like I'm pretty slow on my lph because I might spend too much time proofing. Sometimes I proof each section before starting the next. Sometimes I just do the whole report and then go back and proofread in one shot.
Is there a best way? I don't dare skip proofing because about once per report I do find that I left out a word or did something similar, and I wouldn't want it to go through like that...so I know I need to invest the time.
What are your tips to speed up???
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proofreading
I have always proof read by work but am gunna stop now!! My line count sux!!
Proofreading
I proofread (past tense) for a small publisher in central Maine in 2003 and was making less than $150 a week. Of course, I had another job and could only do a limited amount of pages, but the fact remains that proofreading is not very lucrative.
proofreading
I quickly read the report, but also proof as I go. I quickly read the report to myself (out loud) after transcribing before sending it on. Yes, this takes a little time, but not a bunch (I am quick), and I've never heard complaints from employer/s. 100% accuracy. I've been doing this for a long time. I catch my own mistakes, but still it's a comfort and takes worry out of the quality of the job I just did.
Is that with or without proofreading ; )
x
Proofreading
It is most certainly not the QA staff's responsibility to proofread your work. I have never heard of that.
Proofreading and had to laugh. sm
In one of my word programs I noticed I apparently typed does not too fast and it came up as "doe snot." The spellchecker didn't pick it up.
After I got done laughing about the poor female deer with post nasal drip, I entered a quick correct in my expansions. 
I gave up proofreading...
when it became clear that I had to move fast to produce reports in bulk in order to make my production requirement as well as a decent hourly wage ($20 to $25 which I feel is fair for this type of work). My feeling is that if that MTSOs wanted error free reports they would pay by the hour and not by production. Most places which say they want 98% accuracy get this figure from a random sample of reports sent to QA. If you were falling below this consistently, and I am talking gross mistakes in the reports, hopefully the service would hear it from the dictator, who has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring his/her work is accurate. 
Proofreading problem too
I mostly work in EditScript doing VR. The majority of my account is VR. I find proofreading to be the most difficult thing, especially when the report is a long rambling one. I would love any ideas to help me catch those elusive typos and words. I read everything over, and over, but still miss things sometimes.
but it isn't helpful with proofreading as QA
was still finding errors in my reports. I also found proofing like a boring book and found I kept nodding off.
And get THIS! I looked into proofreading - sm
on a tip from a friend. Checked with the companies she mentioned (there is a whole proofreading industry, just like there is for MT, coding, etc.) This was for universities, medical papers, etc., and they actually want their proofreaders to be working towards their DOCTORATE degrees in the same field they they are proofreading! ????
If I was that far along in my education that I was working in a doctorate program, don't you think I could probably find more lucrative employment than PROOFREADING, for goodness sake?
Expanders and proofreading sm
This is a response to Expanders and is a little late but as a proofreader in a hospital once, I saw some horrible errors come past my desk, i.e., "The patient is restricted from driving her carcinoma for a week." Expanders are wonderful but proofread, proofread, don't be greedy! I'm sure most of you do proofread but some newbies may think they don't have to take the time.
Proofreading and high production
Does anybody now exactly what 98% accuracy means. I have been working for a local company for many years and have always been taught to always proofread my work and if you get a report back with a mistake every 6 months that is a lot. I am seeing on some of the national ads for work 98% accuracy. How is that calculated? I have also seen in some posts people saying "voice recognition is no good because then I have to proofread", implying that maybe they do not proofread after they type. I am just wondering after years of typing are some people so accurate that they do not have to proofread their work to achieve 98% accuracy? How does QA work in these national companies? Do they proofread everything or just there for questions? I was under the assumption that the transcriptionst proofreads their own work that is what I have been doing for years at a small local company. If anybody could give me their insight that would be great. I am also wondering how some transcriptions produce so much? Do they kind of proof as they go along or do they read over all of their work at the end? I am trying to get my production up without sacrificing accuracy and I feel that I am pretty accurate. I really do not find too many mistakes when I do proofread but still I proofread everything. I just do not want to be wasting my time. I just want to now what everybody else out there is doing. Thanks for any insight you might have 
To be quite honest, I absolutely do not do any proofreading
at all!! Never have, don't have the time, and nobody has E-V-E-R given me a report back or told me that I have transcribed something wrong. If I cannot get a word, I leave it blank. I've been doing this for quite a looooonnnggg time and realize that most doctors do not read their reports.
Isn't editing basically proofreading!?!
Or do you just hit upload and that's how you get 650 an hour? Oh boy!
The swiftness and accuracy of proofreading is mainly reflected by (sm)
length of experience, as well as your fund of medical terminology knowledge. I am fortunate in that years ago I took an Evelyn Wood Speed Reading course. I would suggest trying different methods, such as those you stated, until you feel what is most comfortable for you, in addition to producing error-free reports.
This is my method
Listen up, Bozo! Don't you have stains you need removed?
Oh that's right, your hemorrhoids bled all over your carpet and now you are mad at us. We didn't do it, your hemorrhoids did!
Get a grip and go stop your bleeding hemorrhoids, and for pitty sakes, clean up your chair - it's full of blood!
It all depends on what method your
potential clients use. If you solicit someone that still uses tapes you need to be sure you have the equipment for that, etc. I don't know if maybe someone has a sample of a solicitation letter to give you an idea of what to send out to potential clients.
My method, nothing special...sm
I like to look at the previous line I typed as I go, just to make sure. At the end of the report, I go up to the top of the report, glossing over to catch anything else that might not have caught my eye the first time. I feel better about it when I send it off. My expansions have gotten me in trouble before so want to make sure I don't see anything strange. I think that's what makes us specialists, not just typists:-)
ooh this is fun... my method for acronyms sm
I'm jumping in; hope you don't mind :-)
cad = CAD
cadd = coronary artery disease
and so forth.
However, I use Instant Text, so I'm phasing the following in...
cad (not activated through Instant Text) = CAD (in Word Autocorrect)
cad (in Instant Text) = coronary artery disease
I like both ways.
But I'm an efficiency junkie and probably spend so much time trying to BE efficient that I may very well get less work done LOL.
VBC - my new typing method
After a 27.5-minute ESL dictation that took me an hour to type and netted me $12, I'm going to embrace the new visible black character counting method by redefining "verbatim." Here's a transcript the way it will look in the future ....
"... I mean, no go back, delete that, okay and the admitting diagnosis was uh ... sepsis, number 2, ... no, number 1, no that is number 2 ... change in mental status. (flip pages flip pages flip pages ... put phone down) Number 4 ... diabetes. Long pause (... the nurses are talking about a baby shower). Go back up to the labs and insert a chest x-ray with left lower lobe infiltrate ... no, it's normal. Now, go back down ..."
Can't wait for that next check! 
Why do you call that a new method?
After all the dictionary definition of verbatim is "word for word" and we should all take that seriously. If they want verbatim we should give it to them, and see how long that demand continues.
Or it may be abz method. Really tired. Maybe
x
Geez. It's a method to be more accountable for
a minimum amount of work.
There is a method to their so-called madness JMO
Regarding send back to pool: It's a Band-Aid for now. MTs who can't cut it ESL or otherwise do not have a future with MQ for much longer. I posted this below, but with the progression of VR and MTs who can and will do the hard guys, they might not need the cherrypickers eventually (excluding VR, of course!).
Regarding paying more for ESLs with blank limits: Good ESL MTs most likely are being compensated and the blanks they leave are probably very justified. Therefore, it makes financial and TAT sense that the good MTs do difficult dictators (less QA time) and good dictators go to VR/MEs. So what we are left with is MTs who can do anything and VR MEs (same pool).
Cherrypickers have no future in this company. The old-fashioned MT may not either, but we will be around at least a little longer than they will. :-)
Method of obtaining accounts
Hi all...I currently have a couple accounts of my own but I'm looking for maybe two or three more. I'm wondering what the best method is to go about finding them.
In the past I have tried just driving around to different clinics and walking in to talk with the staff, but the person at the front always seemed annoyed and not very receptive. I've also tried calling clinics out of the phone book, but they never want to put you on to the office manager and they usually just say they don't need any transcription. Once I also tried doing a mailing and I sent out about 100 letters with business cards to offices around town. I only got one reply back and that account didn't work out for me. I'm wondering if the office managers even GET the letters or if they just throw them in the trash without reading them thinking it's junk mail.
So...for you all with your own accounts....how do you go about getting them? What have you found is the best approach? Thanks in advance 
May be the line counting method.
The company I worked for had one client where the MT reported that many lines a day. The company sent the MT inhouse for that department, and it was the way the client counted the lines. This girl made a killing for as long as it lasted.
Easiest digital method
Hello everyone
I currently have one of my own accounts with 2 physicians. They use digital hand-held recorders and we email files back and forth, encrypted of course. Anyway, is there an easier way for their office staff? Something where the doctor could talk right into the computer and it would be sent to me without using the office staff? I am trying to take some of the burden off of them.
Thanks.
Lynn
Meditech search method help.
Can anyone refresh my memory on how to search by DOB in Meditech. Preferably in RAD module, but I know it can be done in PCI. For instance, you search by Unit # (i.e. U00012345), account # (i.e. A00012456) and DOB is something like D/ or D mmddyy or mmddyyyy or mm/dd/yy.
I need to know what goes in the front "D" and the mmddyy layout. I don't have access to PCI on this account so I can't go in and check. TIA
Google ABCZ method.
xx
Care to share your method and/or company?
Sounds like you might be in Radiology. Appreciate.
cheater method for longer smartwords sm
I used ST for 10 years (recently moved to Instant Text and am much happier).
I had issues with SmartBlocks and fonts; I ended up not using the SmartBlocks too much. Besides, they don't import into another Expander (should you ever need to switch) the way the SmartWords/Phrases do.
So, what I used to do was this. If I had a long paragraph I wanted to insert a SmartBlock for, I'd divide it up into however many SmartPhrases it took and would just name them in sequence.
Far and away I preferred to use Word's AutoText, but if you aren't working in Word, you can't do this ;-)
But, regardless, this is why I moved to Instant Text. Not a problem anymore.
Line Count Method Question
Can anyone help me compare two offers that I have? One is 9.5 cents a line for a 65 character line including spaces and the other is 7.5 cents a gross line. I am trying to figure out which would be better. Thank you very much.
Use a secure method of transferring files.
Encrypted email for delivery of completed documents works, but voice files may be too large for that method. A secure FTP site, either your own or through a commerical provider such as mydoconline.com or ftptogo.com, would work for both documents and voice files. You may need an FTP program, but there are lots of free ones out there, like filezilla.com, which is what I use.
Google xyz method of expansion use. Easy
x
Barbara Grow expander method
I am in search of Barbara Grow's or Mary Morken's word Expander method and dictionaries. I googled these and am not finding any place that has them free or for sale. Do any of you know where to find them?
Ack!!! Sorry just realized you wanted packs and not years, but still the same method.
/
Help! Need New Method to transfer voice files asap
Voice files are now transferred from clinic I work for via email (unencrypted) and are then sent back via Winzip and email.
We need new method to be compliant, as well as to eliminate "many missing" files it seems when sending through email. Clinic now uses Olympus equipment and does not want to use email any longer. Checked into secure FTP site and will not work well with the Olympus system they have. Any suggestions on what to do here????
Yeah, I use the ABCZ method too. Didn't know that was what it was called.
You are right, the normal function is when you highlight your text and then higt ctrl+y and a little window pops up asking for a description and an abbreviation. For the description, I always start with my initials and a dash and then the actual description. That way all my normals are grouped together in the list and I don't have to sort through everybody elses to get to mine.
EMR = 'point and click' method can only insert data in a
preprepared template.
Doctors will not insert whole sentences, what is called 'free type', they do not have time for this.
VBC (visible black character) method of measuring productivity. SM
I just read an article about this in the Advance mag I get biweekly. It seems the MTIA, AHIMA, and the AAMT are endorsing the VBC method of measuring productivity for transcription. Basically, that means they don't want to pay for spaces. So they are finding another way of screwing with our money.
I know there are several services out there that don't pay for spaces now and quite frankly I won't work for a company that doesn't pay for spaces. I'm a firm believer that transcriptionists should get paid for every single keystroke, but that rarely if ever happens. Now with those three major industry organizations endorsing not counting spaces, it may be the case that all services will adopt the VBC method and we are all going to lose.
Oh, the AAMT says that the VBC method will create a "level playing field throughout the industry" and allow for a "great opportunity for the industry to engage in a real discussion about the inherent value of transcribing and how pricing under the new defintion should reflect that value." The AAMT also states that MTSOs should consider an MT's "critical thinking skills and interpretive judgment" when discussing compensation.
Yeah right. Like MTSOs have been considering anything more than the bottom line and pumping up there pocketbooks. To them we are machines. I'm tellin' ya medical transcription is circling the drain.
Yeah beware..Chronicle Transcripts pays by this method.
I worked there briefly and the platform was awful, and what was worse is that you'd do a whole page of dictation and it came to like 30 lines. Totally felt ripped off.
Thanks! That macro worked like a charm using the copy/paste method.
.
I thought Word counted blank lines using this method. I think the OP is looking for Abacus. nm
xx
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