adding 5 a week would not work well IMO
Posted By: SM on 2007-02-14
In Reply to: My opinion... - sm
I currently have over 1500 entries in my mail abbreviation program file. If I had built this by adding 5 entries a week, it would have taken 300 weeks, or almost 6 years to build my main file. I have an additional 6 other files with varying numbers of entries built specifically for different purposes - one for medications - one to correct misspelled words in my current MTSO's spellcheck - and one for each of the different accounts I work (mostly entire op notes and templates).
I believe the one on ShortHand's site is a good start. Once you get familiar (or even while you get familiar) with it's pattern, you can add your own. I constantly add to my main file. Sometimes when I come across something I haven't seen in a while and don't know for sure it is in the file, I follow the pattern, and voile'...there it is and I don't have to guess at the spelling or look it up. 
In addition, if you activate the prompt screen of available entries on your screen, you do not necessarily have to memorize all the entries. You get to chose from a selection of 9 entries to help jog your memory if needed. I am a firm believer in the use of expansion software, even though the first one made me dizzy for 2 weeks 
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I work 6 days a week every other week
Due to my company's payroll (it runs Sun-Sat), I'm able to work a rotating schedule with every other weekend off. Week 1 I work Sunday through Thursday with Fri, Sat, Sun off. Week 2 I work Monday through Friday with Saturday only off. Then I'm back to week 1 and get that following weekend off.
I've found that I'm more productive with shorter shifts and I have kids in school anyway, so I work a lot of split shifts during the week. If possible, you might want to consider cutting back your hours to 30 hours and just work five 6-hour days in split shifts, 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening.
I work 7 days a week because I work 3 jobs.
Workaholic here who would seek counseling if I had the time. hahaha
Anyone work 7 days a week with shorter work
I have arthritis in a couple of places, and I'm having a lot of trouble making it rhrough 8-hour days, even with split shifts, and I end up working most weekends anyway to make up for my decreasing production durng the longer days. I'm wondering if I should just commit to seven 5-1/2 hours days and be done with it.
and work more than 40 hours/week you are due
compensation. If your company requires you to work 7 days a week I'd find a new job. They may ASK you to work extra as workload dictates but by no means should you be required too. Many companies require 1 weekend/month or every other weekend, but there are off days during the week, unless you WANT to work.
If you are an IC you work what you commit to. If a company can get you to work as an IC by holding over your head you dictate the hours you work, versus working a set schedule, why not. With having to compete with companies offshoring they have to cut expenses where they can and cutting benefits, etc. is where they do it. I don't like it, but in order to stay in business they have to, but they also can't require you to work 7 days/week either.
Within a week or two, you will have more work than you can handle
nm
I don't work for MQ. I got out of there after one week because I didn't like them.
I rarely whine, unless I'm PMSing. (Which I'm not.) I just think you're being rather harsh. I ignore the MQ posts because it doesn't pertain to me. I can do that. I can rise above it. Yes, I do think this board has been swallowed up with negativity lately. And I'm tired of it, too. There are very few positive posts, so those posts are the ones I focus on.
You can't sweepingly brush everyone into one pot. You can't call everyone whiners and losers without getting some backlash. For that matter, take your proactive messages to a blog. I'm really tired of your attitude. Life is not cut and dry or black and white. It's not all or nothing. Most people can't just quit a job, move to another town, or just walk away from a situation. It's more complicated than that. That's where you're being judgmental.
Nope, cause I only work 32 hrs a week.
x
I work 6 days a week- only 1 of these has - sm
weekend work and that is by choice - so I could have the weekend off too. Generally though I work Sunday; Saturday is the day we do things together; and Sunday mornings we usually go out and do something. So I have most of the weekend free to recharge and have fun.
Manager work week
I am a transcription manager for a 3 hospital system. I work in house Mon-Fri 8 to 4:30. I am on call Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues evening. My coordinator takes call on Mon/Tues/Wed evenings. We both have access from home to the backlog and all other applications and keep in close contact from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 at night with staff working from both home and in house. I also cover a couple of the holidays either in house or from home during the year. If I had no in house coverage I would be responsible for coming in house to work at any given time. I think it is important the manager/supervisor stay in contact.
I work 6 days a week....
I posted this before, but it got deleted somehow, so I'm sorry if this shows up twice. I work 6 days a week for about 4 hours a day. Sometimes it is 5 hours a day if the dictators are bad. I have found that since I have switched to this schedule, I am more productive since I am not so worn out, and I produce more per hour than I did when I was working an 8-hour day. But I must have at least 1 day off. I couldn't imagine working EVERY SINGLE DAY. Good luck! 
I work evenings throughout the week
so I have no plans on adding weekends to my schedule. Times are tough but I would never see my family. I am starting to pick up some overtime on the weekends here and there if my schedule is open but I'm afraid to commit to anything more and lose my weekends altogether. I hear having weekends off are less and less common.
I work 40 hours a week and more
if there is work and I don't slack off and barely take a break. I do acute care and seldom leave a blank. According to my Expander stats, I am saving myself 23 hours of work and do 22% of the total in expanders. My pay has actually gone down especially this year and I am using more Expanders every day. That's my story.
Week Day Time Work Only
Has anyone heard of MT work that can be done during the daytime hours only. I am currently being hassled/bullied into working nights, my sole reason for leaving a hospital job and working from home for a national company. I may just have to send out 1,000 resumes to see if any local doctors/MTSO need such a position, but I am really beginning to doubt. What about you? Do you all work nights, weekends? TIA.
Little to no work for the past week.
Where have all the dictators gone? I have been idle for the past week without work and QAs say that doctors are on vacation. Does this make any sense?
Pls help!
Is there engineer week? Astronaut week? Veterinarian week?
x
I currently work 70 hours a week and three jobs...
so it is physically possible to work that many hours. I am going down to 50 hours a week in two weeks, but you do what you have to do.
Ad for new hires 2 weeks ago, no work last week or this :(
No work for basically 2 weeks on either my main account or backup. Can't help but wonder how many new hires have plenty. I've been sitting here with absolutely nothin' for nearly 10 days and even tried on the weekend. I love the account, but a girl's gotta eat!
Anybody else, or just my accounts?
No one could pay me a big enough salary to work 80 hours per week
Hired to work 40 hour week, 9-5 and then...
Then your computer goes down or you have a doctor's appt or a responsibility taking you away from the keyboard. The other two MTs on your acct have to work like crazy to keep up with a 3 MT work load and they do so like champs. Then, back you come and grab work off your schedule. This means the two MTs who covered you while you were off are not going to be compensated for working strenuously but instead, end up sharing their shifts work with you.
This is soooo frustrating.
Anyone else having an unusually slow work week? (nm)
dd
How many days a week does your manager work? sm
Do you hear from them 7 days a week, 6 days a week, 5 days or what?
Disagree. I work 48 hours a week for $65K.
If you can't make a living, it probably isn't the job for you.
Not everyone can do this work successfully.
Of cours. I only work 48 hours a week. ?
I work 5 days a week. Have plenty of time in the evenings and all weekend with my family, my friends and to go out of town, etc.
What kind of quesiton is that?! LOL
I'm no Olympiad but I do workout. Do YOU? LOL
I work 7 days a week -- see message
I work 7 days a week. I work 30 hours Monday through Friday and 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday. I start at 3 a.m. through the week. Weekends are my time to sleep in -- LOL. I don't start until 5 a.m. My production is way up. I just can't do 8 hour days. I felt like I spent my 2 days off running errands and cleaning.
I have 2 kids who are school age. When I finish my shift, I go back to bed for a couple hours, get up, shower, and eat lunch. Three days a week I go to the gym for an hour and get home just in time for them to start getting home from school. The other days I use to clean house and run errands. It just seems I get more accomplished and have more time to do the things I enjoy with this schedule.
On the weekends, by the time I finish up everyone is just beginning to get up, so I don't feel like I miss out on any weekend time with my family.
Trendy. Had one for a week but didn't work out.
Maybe I could have given it more time, but I was not happy with it.
Any companies out there that allow you to work 5-10 hours a week?
I posted this on the company board, but didn't get any responses, so I'm hoping there will be some help here. work full time outside the home and I am looking for something for just 5-8 hours a week to supplement my income. I worked for MQ for 6 years, but certain things led me to quit. Is there a good company out there where I can work 5-8 hours? Back at the Q I think now you have to commit to 24 hours and I just can't swing that. Is there such an option out there anywhere? Any input would be very much appreciated.
I beg to differ. I work 35-40 hours a week
FT and have an IC job I work maybe 3 evenings a week for 3-4 hours. I easily make over 50K a year. There are good jobs out there that pay wages one can live on.
I work for a small MTSO about 25-30 hours a week
nm
There were in-house parties, donuts, 40 work week.
dd
And then consider when you work 9 hours a day 7 days a week...that adds up to way TOO much!
thanks for a great MT week to all involved and for your hard work
  
I have work...16 hours' worth every day, 6 days a week no less. nm
nm
At 53 working 2 jobs 80 hours a week is impossible. I tried it, it does not work!! (sm)
I have been at this business 30+ years and at one point worked 3 jobs and 2 were for hospital contracts with taxes taken out and the other IC. It gives you no life. My suggestion, if you need the extra $$ work your 40 during the week, then 1 or 2 nights 2 hours and then Sat/Sun 16 hours which would give you 20 hours. That is more than enough and will give you a chance to see if you want to make a job change. Have tried the 2 FT 80 hours and almost had a seizure over it. Remember if your not physically well you cannot do it all!
Yes, I work 80-90 hours a week. I am going to stop because life is passing me by and it has caused
depression. There is no way mentally or physically you can keep up the pace. It is finally getting to me and I now realize there are more important things in life than work. I have been a workaholic all of my life. It started as an escape to a bad marriage but I ended up missing my kids grow up, I've lost friends because I have no time for them, and this is my last chance with an 8-year-old child left at home to get it right and put my family first. It means giving up a lot of "material things" but what do they matter when all you need is the love of your family. I'd never recommend this to anyone.
I'm sorry I didn’t make myself clear. As an employee I can only work 40 hours per week (sm)
Overtime has to be approved by manager. I have always been an SE and could work as many hours as I wanted to, such as when I had a day of bad dictators I could work until I got my daily line count. Just wondering if all states had this law. I am working in CA.
In the past when I've needed extra work could get a response from co.'s within a week and be w
Now it's like zip, zero, nothing. No responses whatsoever from my emails to the companies here and on mtjobs.com.
At first I was looking for specifics regarding hospital work, clinic work, days, hours, etc., and choosing those but later got desperate and even with 16 years experience have been applying for 7-cent-a-line clinic jobs.... STILL no response from ANYONE! Well, actually, I get responses but they are automated emails stating I've passed the test(s) and will be contacted in X amount of days/weeks/months. Then I never hear back even with a followup email. In the past, I could get a new job within a week or two.
I don't know. I was thinking maybe they're thinking that with 16 years experience it would be easier to go with someone with less experience (for whatever reasons), so I'm considering just putting down 5 years or so as my experience instead of the truth. Could be they don't want to deal with this old dinosaur and want new blood, I don't know.
EXACTLY! Thank you for adding.
x
And that is without adding in the
Ouch, ooch, eech, (walking out to grab the paper off the step this morning).
And adding to that. ..
What happens when the company runs low on work, which is known to happen. There is nothing in the contract about the "penalty/incentive" does not apply.
Typically this week is a slow week in lots of places
because it is a big vacation week. Typically things slow dow a bit in the summer too because people are putting off elective surgery, but at the same time lots of people going on vacation so it should balance out.
Lowest runs $900 week, highest $1400 week (sm)
Get paid 12 CPL. Been doing transcription for about 12 years.
Nothing about MQ is adding up anymore.
x
adding my 2 cents
It can be done, as I have been in your shoes as well. It will be tough without family close by, but thank goodness you have a job that can keep you close to your children. When I did it my job was 12 hours a day. Just wanted you to know that you have support here, and by the looks of it you have alot of it. You and your children are in my thoughts.
lol.. thank you for adding humor to my otherwise
nm
Keep adding to that expander SM
Just backing you guys up. I'll never have those quick fingers either (nv hv tos qk fgs eir), just not in me, but by continually creating and memorizing abbreviations, I transcribe fairly challenging acute care hospital work somewhere between 330-340 lph--including short breaks for coffee refills and so on. It wouldn't add up to 3000 over 8 hours (most of my work is actually editing these days), but could be if I were doing work I could make more templates for, clinic for instance. Zero stress, BTW.
Adding Expansions
I was wondering how you build your expansion list, meaning, about how many words do you put in day? A few, 20, 50? And do you review them daily so you know what you have? I tend to create them and then forget I have them and then do not use them. What are you tips? Thanks in advance!
Did you try leaving the .09 and adding .09.vox? nm
nm
Are you getting paid for adding the
demographics, such as the patient's name, the medical record number, the dictator's name, two spaces instead of one at the end of a senstence. Is the space included in your line count? Some companies are now paying by the character only. Unfortunately, a lot of these things we used to get paid for have been taken away, thus you need to work a lot harder for the same amount of money. Try to master the more difficult dictators, and once you do, then ask for a higher rate.
just adding my 2 cents; not sure where you have
worked with 'Indians' to have such a negative viewpoint, but my experience was pleasant and the people I knew from India were polite, quiet, respectful but probably mistrusting of Americans I supposed. Most everyone is India gets a college education, not like here. Even on the phone from call answering centers, the 'Indians' I have spoken with for the most part are very soft-spoken and polite.
They were given an opportunity and are taking it and making the most of it and for that I don't blame them. It is our American companies that sought them out and went over there and started these transcription companies, yes?
I had 6346 and adding each day. :) nm
.......
I am talking about adding a few more notches to
make the playback speed increase, only if you want it to, such as if you have a really slow dictator and you want to go back and proof the whole report. Since I proof every report by going back and listening, it really would make the proofing go faster to be able to increase the speed more than we are able to now.
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