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

I'm hitting the proverbial wall - anon

Posted: Nov 11, 2014

Lately, I've been checking my hourly production, every hour on the hour. For my first hour of work this morning, I stayed completely focused, no distractions except getting a quick cup of coffee (in the same room as my work desk) but quickly sat right back down again and went right back to work. What was my hourly rate of production for that hour?

$7.42.

Yes, I said I earned a whopping $7.42 in a solid hour of intense concentration and focus.

I also noticed that one of my new "POD" managers has already sent an email this morning with a laundry list of new "protocols". Seriously, I'm 52 years old and in my entire life I've never seen a job pay so ridiculously little and have so many "protocols and guidelines".

I've hit my proverbial wall with this job. I don't know how much longer I can tolerate this.

Have you ever checked your hourly rate? What do the rest of you earn in an hour?

Minimum wage and I'm 51...is awful... - Debs

[ In Reply To ..]
I have a high minimum wage in my state at $8.25, so get makeup pay. Really sad...Pay has really bottomed out.

It DOES ... - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Do they ever give you grief about supplementing your income to minimum wage?

I was telling my son on the way to school the other morning that looking back on my life I never dreamed at my age I would be earning minimum wage. I honestly try not to compare myself with other people but I look at other women my age in their 50s who have successful *meaningful* careers, who are accomplished, earning a very decent living for their family who are in no different of a life situation than I am except having made a different career choice. When I was a younger girl starting out in my life I never in a million years ever saw myself barely earning minimum wage. I've worked for this company for 16 years, I'm honestly shocked that I am only worth $7.42 an hour. It makes me ILL. I mean, it literally makes me feel sick inside.

Once in a while...they do ANON - Debs

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't think they can really do anything because I always am over 150 lph. It really makes me not push for more because I would have to kill myself to get over my minimum wage. It really takes the wind out of my sails, and I do what I have to and that is it. Pretty sad with all we have to know to do this job, and we are paid less than McDonalds workers flipping burgers. VERY disheartening... :(

Instead of complaining, lets help each other out - here is what I did

[ In Reply To ..]
I have tried several ways to speed up. The one that seems to be working best for me, and my accounts are horrenous BTW, is to put speed at about 1.6 - 1.8 unless it is a particularly bad dictator. Muttle through the report, leave markers for things your not sure of, then at the end of the report for proofing, drop the speed back to 1 or even 0.8 and fill in the blanks..If you have good accounts, music in the background always worked for me..

And don't check your line count every hour - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Because it is not always accurate..Just try and wait till beyond the end of the shift,so that all the reports are actually counted.

You also need to - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Make shortcuts for common mistakes that ASR makes especially headings. ASR is not going to change, so we have to re-route ourselves to make it as bearable as possible. My shortcut file is a mile long at this point.

I disagree with this. You need to know how you're doing throughout your shift. - x

[ In Reply To ..]
Before this newest version of the software came out, I was checking my line count every hour, with a goal in mind that I made myself meet. Now, between reports on the right hand side of the screen (before you accept the next report), right under Productivity you'll see a little yellow bow with a number in it (eg. 272.7 lines/h). I set a goal in my mind and tell myself if I meet that goal I get an extra 5 minute break every 2 hours. I'll still take a break to use the restroom or get a drink every 2 hours, but if I'm meeting my goal I'll take those extra 5 minutes and check out my Facebook page or play with my cat for a few minutes or whatever.

That's why I check too, only ... - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
... instead of checking my current productivity on the screen I take a second every hour to calculate my past hour's income. I'm a single mom and I know that in order for me to make my bills every month I MUST earn at least $12.50/hr. Sometimes if I get a lot of QA it flies all the way up to $16/hr but mornings like this morning when it's all ASR it plummets to below minimum wage.

If I don't earn my goal, I might delay my lunch break or gun it extra hard the next couple of hours to make up for it ... sometimes I can ... sometimes I can't. Today, I'm struggling because I'm getting accounts I've never gotten before.

I do like the suggestions I've been reading though ... although the speeds that some of you have your settings on is super surprising to me! I'm asking in all sincerity because I'm genuinely interested ... how can you set your speed on 1.5+ and hear all the nuances? I have my speed on 0.8 and I can pick everything up (my last Audit was 99.74 so I'm extra careful) but I've been dinged like crazy on my Audits in the past when I speed up. Do I just have slow ears?

Also ... to the poster above who has the production goal ... do you mind if I ask out of curiosity, what is your goal?

Answer - x

[ In Reply To ..]
First, to answer your question about how I can have the speed turned up so high, that's only on ASR reports, and usually only after the first hour of work (my ears are slow when I first start working). I have lots of doctors and residents who talk so slow it's painful, so I just turn them up, and surprisingly 2.0 sometimes sounds like normal speech because they are THAT slow. Basically, if my fingers are sitting still I need to turn up the speed.

My goal is 300 and I'm ecstatic with 350 and above. I know I can meet my goal of 300 every day if I don't mess around. And yes, I've done 350-400 many times.

Excellent, thank you so much for the response - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I liked this line of your post: "If my fingers are sitting still I need to turn up the speed." Thank you so much for your tips - 300 is a great goal and reachable with a little focus.

I'm one of those who feel there is a LOT (LOT!!) of experience here on this board - some of the old-timers seem to have all the speed tricks while some of the new-timers seem to have all the technological/software tricks. If we could all just share our information and experience, tips, etc to make each other BETTER at what we do instead of bashing each other (I noticed some of the nastier posts from this morning have been removed - THANK YOU) maybe we can make this sometimes unbearable job ... more bearable.

Even though I've been with MModal for 16 years, I'm sure there is something I could learn from each one of you, and vice versa. Thank you so much for all your insight - I appreciate it very much. :)

Learn the keyboard short cuts - no mouse

[ In Reply To ..]
Learn 5 a day. Can you spellcheck a report and upload without using your mouse? Can you move through the ADT screen with only the keyboard? Can you enter a carbon copy with no mouse? You will be AMAZED at how much time you can save. F1 has the entire list. There are also suggestions on the Fluency screen where it shows the line count graph.

For instance, when you get ready to upload a report, look at where the commands are that you would normally click on. There usually is a letter underlined. That letter corresponds to a keyboard short cut. Ctrl-U is upload, then you can Alt-I or Alt-N through spellcheck, hit enter and in comes the next report.

It may seem daunting at first, but that is why I suggested learning 5 a day. As you keep using them your fingers somehow take over and you don't have to think about it anywhere.

I consider myself an old timer but I have really embraced the keyboard shortcuts and watched my line count double. So I guess I am a new timer too.

This is a variation of what I do - x

[ In Reply To ..]
With the exception of some of the hardest doctors, I have my speed set at 1.4 most of the day. I don't turn the speed all the way up so much that I need to leave blanks because that also (at least for my accounts) means I'm missing little words that QA will ding me on. The really slow residents I have turned up to 2.0.

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