how is your work assigned?
Posted By: C.J. on 2008-01-07
In Reply to:
I just started with a new company and very frustrated with how they handle work assignments. I'd like to hear from other MTs how they feel about it and how they are assigned their work. I have always been assigned a specific amount of work each day or worked a specific amount of hours. When my time was up or my jobs were done, then I was done for the day. This new company is doling out work in a very unusual way. It is a clinic Ortho account and she assigns work as it comes in, which is understandable. But if I happen to be gone for an hour or so and she gets work in, she will assign it to another MT who can do it right then and there. I have asked her to send me a whole gob of work each evening so I've got work that will last me the next day. She refuses to do it that way so I end up sitting here all day long waiting on her to e-mail me saying, "I've sent you a few files." And so far that's all it's been, a FEW files. Nothing I can't finish in under 30-45 minutes. This is just ridiculous but the line rate is so good that I am hesitant to try to find something else. Anybody else have this problem?
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assigned work
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I have the same problem. But I have an acute care backup account to work on. I prefer the other account though because I am used to it. It sounds like we work for the same company. LOL. When I get the clinic it is sent like you said as it comes in and sometimes if another MT is available she will send it to them. I work on a clinic general surgery account. And I wished they would let me do the accounts work exclusively. But no it is given to one MT one time and another the next time. But I have the backup account so I can't complain but that is how they do the clinic work.
Well we are individually assigned work...sm
The manager assigns the work out to each individual MT so I am wondering how much work the other MTs are getting on the account.
It was simply the work from your assigned accounts.
More of our work is transcription based rather than ASR. However, we are in a training initiative so all employees will be prepared for handling ASR.
As everyone said, you have to have it assigned back to you...(sm)
It's actually not a part of ExText that you do it in. The program that handles the voice jobs is Dictaphone's JobLister. Not only would you have to have the rights to access it, you would have to have the program loaded on your pc. This is, with most companies, only given to team leads and QA.
I have always had an access # assigned....
If you could get into a records system without a private passcode, that would be a major HIPAA situation! I always have a sign-in ID asigned by the facility for any C-phone account I have worked; but it is strange that you are hearing a beep and not an operator giving instructions. I've never had that situation before. If you don't have an account Lead you can contact to get help, I'm thinking you'd best tell your employer this isn't working! Good luck.
being assigned same dictators
does help you get to know them so you can get fast with them and set up macros and auto-text but when are these MT companies going to realize that and quick putting us in pools? I realize they have to have their accounts covered 24-7 but this is no way to make money and really increases your chance of errors. It would be beneficial for both MT and the company to assign us our own dictators. There are only really a few companies out there who do this.....what a shame!!!
Assigned accounts....sm
There's a lot to be said for "assigned jobs" if it's done on a fair basis and if the person doing the assigning doesn't have their own agenda, i.e, where the "Lead MT" does the assigning of jobs as well as having to get her own lines in. Who do you think is going to get the best dictations?? Do you think she/he will assign the good, easy dictations to the MTs on a fair basis and keep the lousy, crappy, ESL dictations for herself ? Come on! For the most part, management doesn't give a hoot as long as work gets done and is kept within TAT. 
How can you tell if you're being assigned certain jobs or not? sm
It seems to be as if I've been getting mostly the yucky dictators for a while now, with some good ones being thrown in here and there. I know a while back with this company (been here 1-1/2 years), I noticed a good change with getting assigned same clinics (clinic acct., obviously). It was even brought up at a phone conference, and the VP acknowledged they'd changed tactics and were assigning accts. as opposed to just letting us all in the pool. Said it was a good change for the company, and we MTs agreed as well.
But, for the last couple of months or so, I've noticed a downward trend in my dictators, and the job numbers aren't in order, just here and there, even different clinics popping in and out. I emailed the Account Liason and asked her if there was something going on here, and she said she didn't know, she'd have to check with the MT supervisor. She then came back & said no, there's been no change or assignments (which I reminded her the VP herself had said there was), and that I was just getting the luck of the draw.
However, something I'd read on this board got me to thinking. If these people in the position to control these jobs, such as the AL and who all else, are also typing and getting paid by the line, naturally they could pull in all the good jobs themselves. If they do get paid by production, I don't think they should be able to control the ques at all.
I just don't know whether to pursue this line of questioning or not, since I'd already tried once, and I'm not 100% sure of myself, just suspicious. Like, the other accts. jobs that are thrown in between while working on one clinic is usually a bad one.
Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, should I ask for a line-rate increase? I've been here 1-1/2 years and am making the same as I started, .08/line.
ask them about your assigned (or not) doctors - be careful with KS
also, no auto backup with Lanier footpedal, can only work when Lanier is available.
Are you using a Cphone? Don't the files keep feeding into your que or are you assigned? You'll
s
I do have assigned accounts and even those I can't get back within 24-48 hours at end of week. s
I think I need to have on-call coverage to help, but I don't have much time to train...I sometimes just think it takes less time to do it myself than to train someone new, but I'm just tired of working all the time. If I could find people who have so much experience that they can just be able to work and get it right by having a sample report and a template...hard to believe, but not everyone can do that....Also need a c-phone to access work on my system.
I assigned single letters to very common labs SM
For instance, i is for calcium (i just because I wasn't already used it for abbreviations with low-range numbers). Calcium 10.3 would be i103. Creatinine 0.7 is e07, e used for the same reason. I like it.
10-20 red cells is 1020rc and 10 to 20 red cells is 1020rc', but I'm not crazy about it. The "tttrc" I used to use was just as basic but better; I just wanted a system that would be memorable and allow me to enter lots of values without conflicting with other abbreviations. Maybe someone will offer a good system so I can change without bothering to think about it. :)
This is becoming the normal, unfortunately. To get assigned docs & accts. makes for good line
s
I assume you are assigned number much like a license number that can be verified through the AAMT.
Beyond that, I have no idea.
You don't need to remove the key, remove the shortcut assigned to the key
in the customize keyboard dialog box.
I get my work from an FTP site that they load the work to, however I don't have pool work so to
speak, but I tell them how many minutes a day I want. The work is generally put in my box by 5 pm every day, then I have until 10 am the following day for some priority work, or 3:30 pm for the rest, so TAT is not too bad. I would like to work less at night though, but I working on that. My downside is I do not get the same dictators day to day, there are a few I do on a semi-regular basis though, some generate great lines but take longer to do that other doc's and are not "money-makers", I also do not get paid for spaces so that hurts a bit too. This is WP5.1 too.....so very antiquated but that is what the hospital uses, so not much choice there. But I understand what you mean about the C-phone. I was just doing another job with C-phone recently...they incidentally did not tell me how to get off of the system, which was very simple. I'd finish a job, then hit stop and hangup if I wanted to get off or quit working. That is what you need to do if you want to sleep, eat, etc. Don't feel guilty, do what you signed up for, believe me they watch the pools and will get others to do the work you don't finish. If they get on your case remind them that you are only PT and only want 500 lines a day, etc. It's not worth killing yourself over. Good Luck. 
You go by your schedule and have no work. Everytime I get on to work, there is always work.
x
Then you would have no life at all except work, work, work if you did that. I wouldn't do it. nm
.
Same thing with nationals. You work all the time to keep the account caught up when others dont work
and then when they decide to put a whole lot of extra people on your accounts and run you out they could care less about how much you worked.
Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
steady work...gearing up to start new account....but there was no work on Tues as it was a holiday
Be patient with your eyes open....
I work for Warminster at MQ and I am sick to death of being jerked around with no work all the time.
I would like a job where I can depend on the work and it does not seem to be in this office of MQ.
Speaking of offshoring MT work, who does not directly send work offshore?
Just curious. Has anyone got a list of companies who do not send work offshore? Precyse? MQ? Spheris?
Becky you work in a great place. With no one hovering, I bet you get a lot more work done w/o agoniz
wants what. The only people qualified to do QA on my reports are the dictating doctors and the rest is just pure waste of money and time. If I have a question fine. But this random QA bites and hurts everyone. BTW, I don't have random QA for those who seem to think I may have an ax to grind. No dog in this fight. Just common sense.
Good. Why dont you send some our way. What office do you work for so I can call and get your work.
:
Before needing to work, I did volunteer work through the Junior League where I am from in Texas. lm
Junior League was like a full-time job sometimes, but I loved it. Now that I have to work, even though it is from home, I still volunteer through my son's school. I am a school teacher in my previous (pre-MT) life, so I volunteer my tutoring services for children who need the help beyond what the schools are able to provide but whose parents cannot afford to pay for private tutoring. I also know how you felt about being afraid. I was strangely afraid before I joined the Junior League. It was just the unknown. But I was SO blessed by being able to help. Honestly, I am sure that it helped me just as much, if not more, than I helped others. Go for it. You won't be sorry. (Just remember that you have to say NO when you have to say no, okay? Remember that and you will be richly blessed by the experience!)
nm would you mind if I asked where you work and what type of work hosp, clinic ?
x
All I know is it caused the company I work for to be unable to do all work due today and the rest
:+
Just return the work, submit your bill, the scurry and find more work elsewhere. sm
They will never meet with you before next week. It is Thursday, already. Be prepared to sue for payment, because you will probably need to. But, most of all, find other work elsewhere, because I have a feeling this final payment will be a long time coming.
I work on Escription platform and the adapter didnt work for me. I tried it on my laptop though
and the foot pedal would just not play correctly with the adapter. I think others have tried it and done it but it just didnt work for me.
IC sets their own hours. As long as the work is done by the deadline, you decide when to work.
Glad I work somewhere where you cannot cherrypick....our work is divvied out by minutes and - sm
the office manager (who does not normally transcribe) dishes out the work, so some days are easy, others are a mix. So no cherrypicking is possible. You type up what is given to you, period. She will alternate the tough one's out so no one person gets him/her all the time unless they want him/her and are used to that doc, or everyone gets a little piece, etc. There are days when I ask for easy work (tired, chemo day, Jen sick, or a lot going on, etc.) but not often, generally I get a mix but they all get easier the more you do them. I am not working as much as I should be of course, every week is different here so I adjust my limited work schedule accordingly, so sometimes it hard to get better at certain docs. I used to have a lot of blanks with the Trauma ER unit, but I have been doing that a lot lately and now and very good at it, still a time consuming account but at least I am improving. ----------------------- But I believe the OP was stating she did it to clear out the log, not to make more lines, and only when she was asked to do so. At an old job I had #s meant everything, everyday we would get report (2=4 x a day) of the backlog, and emails pleading us to work, work, work. The QA rules sucked  (MQ probably is basing their new plan loosly on this one), however we did not get penalized, just chewed out if you sent in too much work to QA (over 5%, and was 80% ESL), I would imagine eventually fired if you continued to do it. They were a great place to work for until they re-organized....it all went downhill from there. This is why I prefer smaller MTSOs, it's not all about the #s, yes, they want production too but at least it's not so cut-throat. 
i used to work for a company that divided the work types up and i loved it. sm
there were only 4 of us working a major teaching hospital. someone was assigned surgery, different assigned discharges, different admits, etc. we all had the backup work type in case the original assignee wasn't available and were cross trained. it made us much more efficient, ability to get used to dictators, set macros, and in the long run we were all much happier.
Used to work in Cooperstown, NY - and on the way to work is a huge turkey farm
It made me never want to eat turkey again - seeing them all cramped up against the fence and cages, packed tightly, no room to move. Actually, it made me want to do some harm to the farmer who found this acceptable.
Do not work for Amherst if you can work for any other office in MQ. It is terrible. They overload
accounts terribly. We are always running out of work or need to have 8 or 9 backups to get lines in. This is the way it is. There may be a few out there that it is different but I do acute care and was just transferred there along with my office and everyone in my office is in the same boat. Not a good deal at all.
An MQ recruiter told me yesterday if work is low they "cut off" the work
SEs are doing it. She also told me that it is written in MQ policies
that MQ can let go EMPLOYEES without notice (I'm not saying statutory employees here, I'm saying employees).
You're lucky they work for you. I've never gotten a refill to work right, ever.
x
Has anyone breast fed while trying to work at home, can you do this and still work full time?
It seems like the more literature I read on the subject, the longer it seems to take, especially in the beginning when you are breast feeding every two hours, or does it really just depend on the baby?
HAHA! Yes! I have those daily! But it's not really work as I work nights, it's little things l
turning on the pool filter in the morning and then in the afternoon running out there because I thought I forgot to turn it on. Or preheating the oven and then 5 minutes later saying "shoot! I forgot to preheat the oven!" It's really bad. And I'm only 31. I'm not 90!
I don't know if dementia or Alzheimer's runs in my family, but this could be a sign of something to come. Or as my husband says - you jut don't pay attention to much. He's probably right!
I work Sun.-Thurs. normally and will work on Fridays to get Sunday off if I need it. Works
s
The company I work for said cable phone wouldn't work, just FYI.
nm
Easy to work with. You can look up old reports. Your own word expander will work
s
I just work with ShortHand minimized. Smarttype doesn't work the same way? nm
s
Work for 1 hour, then count your lines of the completed work - sm
either check you total characters in word (with spaces) then total them all up and divide by 65, and you get your total lines per hour. 10,000/65 is 153 lines. Or if you have a line counting program us that to figure you count, either way will work quite well. Maybe do it a few times and then figure an average over 3 hours or something like that, it will vary with the ease/difficulty of the work you are doing.
Sounds like where I work. Everyone morning I wake up to not enough work. I'm quitting
This has been going on for a few months so I don't know if they have overhired or just sent a lot of it to India. I just know I can't sit here everything day waiting until "volumes build up." I'm looking elsewhere.
The state told us that MTs are employees because we they work in our system and do the same work as
maybe you can work for a company in another state.
the hospital I work for already has started to implement this and lessen our work
I see it every single day... they are going to EMR... meaning the doctors simply use a template already in the computer and check boxes or something... The doctor's office i GO TO actually does this too. This is why it creates tech jobs to create those templates and takes AWAY MT jobs because the doctor is no longer dictating, they are just pushing little buttons or checking boxes straight into the computer.
Personally I still think that is more time than the doc wants to take but whatever, i dont see how generic charts are good, what happened to detailed information...
But this is definitely how i see it going along. Maybe not everywhere, but plenty of places are going to go to this, it's all about saving money now isn't it???
Question. How many MTs sit and wait for work when companies overhire and there is not enough work
on your shift. Is this what these companies want for people to sit around and wait on work. As an IC, this probably doesnt amount to even close to minimum wage. What do you do in these cases of no work and sitting waiting for practically nothing to come in when obviously lots of others are doing the same thing. It actually almost seems as though you need to have 2 jobs to survive in this business really. I cant image how you can get the lines in they require. Crazy business this is.
I tried Relacor, it didn't work because I wanted it to work without
my trying to really lose weight, i.e., dieting.
My true belief is that any product will not work unless you TRY yourself. I had 20+ lb loss with Metabolife (sp?) and really felt more energy.
BUT, I truly believe if I don't really try, nothing will work to make me lose weight. Please know, I'm right there with you and wish there were a magic pill that could make the lbs just shed away.
Yes I work for AMHERST ALSO and it is 9:30 and no work. Everyone really needs to call Corporate
about this. This will not get any better unless you go to Corporate and complain very loudly and I am very serious about this. Some of us have already done this but it will take all of you to do it. If you dont get a person down there put it on someones voice mail. The human resource manager is Donna Jack at extension 4905 in Mt. Laurel.
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