A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Voice recognition work? Am I the only one? - YesIAm

Posted: Aug 09, 2012

I have read the horror stories over and over about voice recognition and was literally scared to death to take the plunge and try it. I recently got hired on at a large company where my account is about 50/50. It took a bit of getting used to, but have found that I really can edit faster than I can type, and actually enjoy the break from straight typing. But from all the posts I've read about it, I know many people do not enjoy it. Granted, I hired on at another company a while back, where they just threw me into it and I could not get the feel for it and DESPISED it so much, I ended up quitting. Just wanting others perspectives on it, and how other newbies are faring with it. Thanks in advance.

second time around - meme

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The second time around, I grasped it better also. Probably because we had exposure already. In my case, unless it's a difficult ESL doctor, I can type faster than I can edit. But, I am an extremely fast typist. So, on the easy-peasy dictators, I felt like I could have done it better just straight typing. My opinion (humble) is that it will always to back to who is dictating and what type of report they are dictating. That is wonderful that you like it. :)

I think there are several factors involved. I had - me

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one account that the dictators were about 95% ESL and about half of that were extremely challenging ESL. Partner that with a VR program that was not user friendly. My supervisor was telling me that even with the worst dictators they got text, which they did, but you got nonsense and I would delete the text and retype it. It also quit learning. After 2 years of this account being on VR I still made the same changes on every single report. There was absolutely no way possible to make a decent line count with this account. At least it was paid hourly.

I had a better account on the same platform and it wasn't bad, but the program still was not user friendly.

I have another account on a different VR platform. Only a percentage of the doctors are on VR. I find that it also stops learning and I make the same corrections with the same doctors. Some days you get almost perfect text, and other days, despite the dictation being very clear, you get garbage, and I don't know why. Each program has some features I like and if I could combine the best of both I would probably do very well.

You have people that love VR and they are productive and you have those who can't make even their usual line count, but unless you have the same dictators and the same platform you can't compare.

There is a learning curve. There is also a period of attitude adjustment for most people I think, especially if you are a seasoned MT. I know when I had to switch from WP5.1 and PRD to Word I thought I would never get it and I sabotaged myself because I had an attitude about it.

This industry is constantly changing and mostly not for the better. You either have to accept change and make the most of it or get out.

I agree with your assessment, adding only that... - sm

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...although sometimes I can edit faster than I can type (and I test 100-105 wpm with no errors), even when I get good VR text under no circumstances have I ever consistently (hour after hour) been able to edit TWICE as many lines as I can transcribe.

...and THAT is the gripe we have with VR editing. We've been sold the nonsensical notion that - despite the multiple KNOWN problems with VR, despite KNOWING that we often have to completely transcribe VR garbage documents, etc. - we can be paid HALF the line rate because we can do TWICE the production.

The idea is nonsensical as well on a totally different level (if I bring a given degree of skill and knowledge to a line of medical text, why should my skill and knowledge be worth one bit less for that line of text regardless of HOW it is generated?).

And this is actually even a more profound manner in which we are being cheated than on the basis of the silly "twice the lines" argument, because this is an expression of the fact that our knowledge and skills as the gatekeepers of the medical record are actually disrespected by our employers.

Several factors involved . . . - FriendlyMT

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Regarding VR, most of the times when VR is said not to learn, it's not actually the VR's fault, instead it is the MT. To explain, VR, or at least one program I have worked extensively with (and taught others how to use) learns from changing/correcting words/letters within the voice file that has already populated the field. If an MT erases all the text and types it instead, the system cannot learn from that. It has to learn from the change. There is no way it can learn from complete deletion of text.

I had an instructor tell me that to make a change, VR listens to ten different times to a certain word. If 10 out of 10 MTs use the same word that corresponds to the same sound, then it remembers it. All it takes is one MT to mess that up by changing that spelling.

For example, Kocher clamp being used in an op note. The proper spelling is Kocher, but someone kept changing it to Coker clamp. Once this was done, the system had to learn the term over again, waiting until it found 10 different times where Kocher is spelled this way to correspond with this sound.

That is how this system learns. It's really extraordinatory, the ability it has to learn. It categorizes by type, such as GI or cardiology, then by doctor, then by report. It's very extensive and intensive and is fascinating the way it can learn.

When I worked in the hospital, we used this VR program for about 7 years and it worked fabulously, that is, before we were "farmed out" to an MTSO, so the hospital could "save money." I hope that's working for them. . . or do I?

Nevertheless, the old saying still goes regarding software and computer programs . . . you get out of it what you put into it. If it is used and standardized the way it was meant to be, VR works beautifully. JMHO.

So why can't it get the DOS right? - SB

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We all type the DOS exactly the same, per the account specs. Yet on my platform, it is very rare that the SRE inputs the date and format correctly. It ranges from getting the entire thing wrong, getting the year wrong to leaving out the colon or a space after it. I just do not understand why it can't get this standardized element correctly virtually every time it is dictated.

Voice recognition - FriendlyMT

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I can only assume that the reason the DOS (Date of Service) is wrong is because everyone is not doing it the same way. There is always the possibility that it is a coding error in the program also. That's not unheard of. I'm not sure how your formatting is, or the specifics of the client, but if 3 MTs do it one way and 5 MTs do it another, it will never learn it. It's very confusing, but this was exactly what I was taught by the instructors. It makes sense, and I know from experience that it DOES work. There were many doctors who dictated where I could just sit back and watch the screen as I was listening. The text was correct. I may have to add a comma or make another minor change, but even "next paragraph" dictated would add that extra line automatically.

I can only tell you what I know and have been told, but it basically comes down to knowledge, training, following the format, and the desire to get it right.

From the masses of MTs that I have spoken to and read about, both here and on other forums, etc. there are many who are so disgruntled with their loss of revenue that they just do not care anymore.

I really cannot blame them, because the MTSOs do not act like they care either. They just want to get it done in the fastest turnaround possible. The amount of mistakes in some reports I have seen is sickening. I take pride in what I do, and no matter what, my initials or name on the report are my trademark and I'll stand by them every time.

I just wanted to let you know that there are VRs out there that do work, and work well, but the MTs who are using them makes all the difference. The training makes a big difference, but most of all, I think the desire makes a difference.

Money is not everything, my friend. It just isn't.

On my accounts, the DOS is almost always entered correctly - SB

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by everyone, as shown on the archived documents. So while your argument makes sense perhaps, it does not correlate with my experience. I do not see any reason why the software cannot learn to type the DOS (and DOA, DOD, DOO, DOS) correctly. It remains a mystery to me. Furthermore, my experience on my accounts is the the MTs must care about their jobs because they overall do a very good one under difficult conditions.

I see what you're saying, and.... - (see message)

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....this is probably a major reason why it's sooo wrong-headed that MTSOs hire and hire and hire, wanting to meet that all-important turn-around time; but in doing so, they get way too many different MTs on the job and way too many inexperienced MTs working, in order to get enough hands on deck.

Although it lulls me to sleep, I don't mind so much DOING - VR, it"s the crummy pay that I hate! (NM)

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