cheater method for longer smartwords sm
Posted By: tiredMT on 2007-05-21
In Reply to: I do, and I like it, but ... - NYMT
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.
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The once a cheater-thing just is not
I'm sorry, but some people (not just men cheat, you know) do learn their lesson, albeit the hard way. It's not fair to condemn someone for life just because they messed up once!
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.
Your method of proofreading? -- SM
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???
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.
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
The longer
you are in the business and have more expanders, the less errors you tend to make. You are then able to do more scan proofing (mostly to make sure you typed the expansion properly and didn't cause something bizarre to pop into the report).
I am still pretty green. I try to notice what I can while I type and always go back through it (and find something more to correct).
Some reports are much easier to proof than others. The long detailed ones that are harder to type are more difficult to proof as well. I have a hard time keeping my mind from wandering to personal issues, etc. while proofing those.
Lots longer
I don't know - I've been an MT over 25 years, am a super fast typist, use expanders, and have a great platform and accounts, and it takes me a good 5-6 hours, with a 15 minute stretch break here and there, to make 1000 lines. Bad dictators - a good 8 hour shift to make 1000.
*a little longer than usual...
nm
then that vet would no longer be my VET!! unbelievable. NM
z
If her first initial was J, they are no longer in
business. She went into nursing, pediatric intensive care I believe.
Don't wait any longer...sm
contact an attorney. You don't have to pay the attorney until he gets your money, then it's a certain percentage. I know it's a killer to have to pay, but if you don't you're probably not going to ever be paid. I had to sue a client for 3K. I still walked away with a good hunk of the money and my pride. It was well worth what I had to give the attorney.
WC does not cover CPS any longer. They sm
have determined that it is not caused by typing. Can you believe that?????
oh goodie - we no longer have to see her!!
       
Working probably longer than you have
been on this earth. I have worked over 30 years in this. I do work for an agency as have been outsourced twice from hospital work, always at a lower rate than the hospital. The first hospital I made nearly 60 thousand a year, outsourced, dropped 20 thousand in the new hospital, outsourced and now my salary per year in the 20s. I do operative notes, discharge summaries, history and physicals, consultations and my pay is about yours, 7 cents a line- most of the time you are just expected to produce more- we used to have production (incentive)- some might still have but probably few and far between. If I had to raise a family now, would have to work more than 1 job to do. This is me- I am not speaking for others even though my speed is extremely high. I put my all into my job, have answering machine, no interference, have office set up in my home, have fax (because I need 1 just for my own use), printers, phones, my own computer and a backup in case this 1 goes. Your tapes definitely sound like the real McCoy. That is what we hear day in and day out. I started out with a hospital almost 70% ESL, oh, so hard, well even the English were also and even now after all these years still grit my teeth sometimes just to do a certain dictator. Good luck!
I no longer use satellite, but used
DirecWay when I had it. Service was about $70/mo. Download speed is not consistent. Most of the time it was fast, but sometimes as slow as dial-up. It depends on if it is raining, snowing, wind blowing and tree may be blowing in front of the dish, if it is real cloudy, etc. Upload speed is much slower than download, but upload files are usually much smaller so it doesn't take long. I had trouble with e-mail, though they have upgraded equipment and supposedly the equipment comes with the software installed and configured already so basically you just plug it in and you're ready. I paid $800 for my equipment years ago - that included dish and 2 modems. The newer modems are a lot more expensive.
Delete them.........esp if you no longer do them...
For private MDs, I only keep their diskettes 6 months, since ALL the work and an additional diskette has been provided when I returned the work.........
If you worked for a national, you need to send the diskettes to them I would think.........that is, IF you worked for a national MT company. If not, I'd just delete them..........keeping the floppies for myself.........for future....(yep, I still use floppy disks...*LOL*).........
they no longer pay for proofing
Just kidding.
I know, I know...
Proofing is very important. Patient care is at stake.
And so are our jobs.
I have been MTing longer than you and get this
When starting VR was also told I should be using the function keys. My "new"(outsourced) job of years even went so far as to show us where we were using the mouse as opposed to the keys. I have never used the function keys and do over 3000 per day, my lines have increased since VR and have worked NOT using the function keys now for several years and it works ok for me. Did they threaten you with not using the function keys???
No longer confused
Now, that makes sense to me!
No longer so frustrated..
I've been reading with interest the comments my venting inspired.. both here and in my email .. and some of the assumptions are amusing.
I've been a Transcriptionist for 36 years, an MTSO a couple of times during those year, a manager with a national company or two, transcription manager, QA manager - basically just about every job possible in this field. I know how important it is for a transcriptionist to be respected for our skills and to be paid for the work we do.
We actually flew to a central location in California to train transcriptionists within a 10 mile radius of the central location, so there was no cost to the transcriptionist. We wouldn't have made the trip had we received only one or two applicants. It isn't that difficult to train someone remotely, but since we had several positions to fill and several applicants, we decided it would be beneficial to make the trip and meet the new ICs.
We have 35 very good transcriptionists, all on IC status, working at different levels of competence, on different accounts, with all of the flexibility they can use. Some started as trainees right out of school, others came to us experienced with one or more specialty. All have been cross-trained to some degree to cover each other when someone has a family emergency or just wants to take a vacation.
We have work, plenty of it, and our pay scale is competitive with other services. We've even done work share programs with other services for short term.
My plea is simply on behalf of other service owners - don't apply if you aren't serious about work. It is a waste of time, both yours and theirs.
Thanks for all of your comments. I'm getting back involved on the board a little more and find how much I've missed the exchange of opinions and ideas.
T.
Where have you been, this board is no longer -sm
***Removed by Moderator***
Hi. I no longer use this program...
also the job I worked using this program couldn't help me. So I guess I would have to hire someone.
Can't imagine what would be in conflict with it. I just want to remove it from my computer.
Thanks for suggestions.
I no longer use one, but on the back where the
cord comes in is a cover that I believe has screws. Unscrew it and see if the plug has come unplugged from the machine. If that doesn't work I don't have any idea.
In NYS I was told they no longer have
that particular program (I was lucky enough in the early 1990s to go to school for 6 months totally 100% FREE for MT, books paid for, gas mileage, everything) because I was laid my medical record clerk position at the hospital.
In checking now I find no such help at all because of funding being so low.
you would think is this great, rich country there should be plenty of money for those of us who put a huge percent of our earnings into the government for times like this when our jobs disappear yet alas I could find no such help. Displaced homemaker only applies to a specific group of people now, like those with children who are single I believe. Maybe other states are different...
Even losing your job to overseas outsourcing, pretty much only a few professions can claim that, and I think it was airline employees and tech type jobs.
Again, if we are all rich and educated, we probably could get some kind of help/benefits...but then who would need the help right?
sometimes I feel I am in debtors prison because my credit is falling because of the economic times and the company I work for just keeps somehow lowering my pay all the time as my bills are skyrocketing.
In my state anyway there are a lot of jobs you cannot even get without good credit (?) so I guess you have to not need to job in order to get one.
Funny I don't remember this growing up...I always believed if I just worked hard I would be okay...
not so much now
I have done this longer that 35 years now
and have a job, thanks anyway, what makes you think people are kept out of this field by the way we think or believe? I have paid my dues and others. You, my younger peer, get a grip.
Have been with this profession probably longer
that most of you have been on this earth. I, too, have paid my so called dues. I care not if the retired person hangs out with foreigners, that is her life. I do not have to have tea with someone that I would have to grit my teeth to listen to and that would be the case with me. I specifically tell any dealer I call if someone from another country trying to speak to me there is a language barrier and I would like to have someone who speaks not broken English. Having said that, I do not like to listen all day long to foreigners. I did not start out this way, hardly any in fact and now we are completely up to our necks in people who cannot speak correct English. I care less what people think about me, I can be politically incorrect if I like, try not to even have a PCP of my own, hear too much of that every day. Just the way I feel and my previous husband said if you think it, might as well say it.
Having just had a large pay cut, I no longer do
x
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