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How many lines will you type in a week on average? - cindy

Posted: Sep 15, 2010

How many lines will you type in a week on average? I am typing anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 lines a week. I spend my entire life typing, cooking and sleeping. I very rarely have to time to go anywhere or do anything. I was just wondering if everyone else who types at home has to type so much. I work seven days a week and never get a day off. I am just getting so tired and I think I need a break but if I do not do it, it just piles up and no one else helps out, so what's a girl to do?

Welcome to my world - Backwards Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
I have no answer for you except to keep on doing what you have to do.

Since VR, I have to produce the same amount of lines to keep my head above water. I took 1 day off in the past year, but still had other work to do on that day, so in reality, no time off.

DH does all the grocery shopping now since I'm practically sole support for us.

Now that fall is approaching, I also have the produce to put up for the winter. DH picks it, but I get to do the rest.

It wasn't too bad when I could afford a cleaning lady. At least my house was spotless, but now that job is also left to me. When DH complains, I just ask him if he wants the bills paid for the month or a spotless house and tell him to do it himself. Needless to say, it doesn't get done unless I do it.

No, he's not lazy. There is just no work for him so he spends his days making sure everything is done outside, which is a job in itself.

lines - 1mt

[ In Reply To ..]
Are you saying you do transcription 7 days a wk? Why would you do that if you don't want to? Do you work for an MTSO or what? Tell them you can only work 5 days a week. I don't get it. Maybe you could tell some of the people on this board who are so desparately looking for work that you have too much and they can apply where you work.

I do the same - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
At my company, we have exclusives. We don't have to work 7 days a week, but a lot of the times you end up doing that to keep up. I really won't say anything myself because I like my accounts and want to keep them. You do the work for your doctors in the TAT given. Weekends have a longer TAT, but if you recieve a lot of work, you definitely will be doing some work or risking not getting it done.

Yeah 7 days a week - cindy

[ In Reply To ..]
I get assigned work Monday through Friday but the work I get on Friday needs to be completed by Monday. I work directly for a physician practice. I do a doctor and his CRNP. Monday and Tuesday, the doc is usually in surgery, so the work is only what the CRNP dictates but I have the two of them to type from Wed, Thurs and Friday and to get all this done, I work all weekend and usually stay up all night Sunday night and go to bed around 10 am on Monday. A lot of weekends, I will type 5000 lines over the weekend. The office will not hire anyone else. We are all spread pretty thin. There have been times, where I have had the flu and was so sick, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache, etc. and so sick that I could not make it any further than the bathroom in my bedroom and in bed for five days and when I can get out of bed, I am given five days worth of work to do all at once. Honestly, I need the money and really can not afford to take time off although we scrape by if I am sick and get lucky enough to have someone else do the work (usually only because there is another doc on vacation), but I have one son in college and the other is a senior this year and they both have Asperger's syndrome (a very high functioning form of autism), so they do take medications and have to see doctors more regularly than average physicals, but I would just like to be able to take a day off now and again.

You poor dear, you just don't get it. sm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
She needs the money and can no longer get it working 5 days a week because of all the changes in this field, most of which stem from the MTSO's, plus she is now sole supporter.

when pay keeps going down and lines counts mysteriously get harder to get...you do what is necessary. Better get that in your head now, comes with the business.

Cindy, ignore this is you've already done it, but - Skilled MT

[ In Reply To ..]
have you carefully examined your work habits to make sure you are working consistently within a schedule and not diluting your work time with distractions?

If not, how about setting a 5-day 40-hour work schedule (you probably already agreed to one with an employer or contractor) and make a contract with yourself to work hard, fast, and focused during your at-work hours and not all all when you walk away.

I mention this because
1. A lot of people who think they're working a 40-hour week are actually frequently off-keyboard, dribbling a lot of that time away here and there throughout the week, drastically lowering their line counts even though they feel they're "working" long hours. This is production work. We don't get paid while we chat but do while we work. That's why high producers make so much more than per-hour office workers ever do.

2. A lot of people are stringing their 40 hours out over 12, even 14 hours a day 6 and 7 days a week. This is a strength when done deliberately to flex with work with demand. However, many people are leaving work to do something else and coming back as the day winds on, often in dribs and drabs, with a last anxious must-do spurt before they go to bed. A real life killer for those who are doing this.

Regarding lines per week, lately I have not been working to my standard as there have been some changes in work type/SR/typing and I have not been disciplined enough to make a quick fix and stick to it. I am, nevertheless, getting back to my old standard of 18,000-22,000/week (varies with work flow and personal demands) even though I am doing less SR and more typing.

well over 40 - cindy

[ In Reply To ..]
I am focused and work hard for hours on end. I do have to take breaks every so often because I am in such pain but I do work well over 40 hours a week. I get assigned work five days a week with the majority of it all coming on Wed, Thurs and Friday and the work assigned on Friday needs to be done by Monday morning, so I spend the whole weekend typing and usually stay up all night Sunday into Monday. Monday and Tuesday are lighter days, as I only usually have one provider to type rather than two but I am assigned work daily, so need to type daily. I have to look up doctor names and proofread my work which also takes time. I expect the highest standard of work from myself and deliver no less of a product for my doctors. There are several girls who type for the practice that I type for and I see many mistakes all the time in their work. It really makes me mad when they produce such low standard work and still get the same pay as me, but I refuse to do poor quality work. I honestly do not understand how you can have high quality work and type 18000 to 22000 in a 40 hour week. Of course, it does not look like you are extremely accurate if you read your subject line.

Well, Cindy, in spite of the less than gracious snipe, - Skilled MT

[ In Reply To ..]
let's try this. When I was learning this work in offices among skilled MTs, both companies had one person who always produced perfect reports, would accept nothing less. As a direct result, they both did a fraction of the work produced by others. One enjoyed polishing her reports to such a degree that I truly doubted that she could support herself, but maybe she had another job in the evening.

Cindy, here's the thing: There are diminishing returns on perfection, just like anything else. Perfection requires a much greater investment of time than near-perfection. (You say "highest-standard," and since 98% QA is required of everyone at my work, I'm assuming you mean as perfect as you can produce.)

Here's the other thing: Knowing this, nobody wants perfection from us. Oh, they praise 100% QA, but having almost-perfect reports on the chart as quickly as possible is far more desirable than slowing the whole process down for yet more polishing. Everybody is waiting for the reports.

For instance, a zip-zip glance-over of the entire report is very valuable and picks up big mistakes, and maybe a little one or two will jump out. A more careful but still very quick scan is likely to pick up any mistakes in most reports but, of course, can miss. I'll do that IF I'm feeling goofy and not in the groove, but that's the most I ever do. I type carefully, so my reports are usually good on first draft; and on SR, when I arrive at the bottom I send. The editing includes the proofreading. In spite of what I may casually produce on this laptop in an easy chair, my QA never drops below 98.5%, 99% is common, 100% now and then, but I don't shoot for it. My reports are NEVER sloppy. And I am fast.

Cindy, it's the extra time you require to achieve that consistently "highest standard" in your reports that is causing you to work your life away, I'm sure making MUCH less per hour than...a whole bunch of us.

Since your original post suggests perfection may no longer be a completely satisfactory trade-off for your sacrifices, how about trying to relax to...maybe a 99% standard? Learn to be proud of producing very good work within a very good turnaround time? I'm actually pretty sure it'd be hard for you at first, but you obviously have a lot to be gained.

Maybe it'd help to start by accepting the simple truth that other skilled MTs like yourself are producing 18,000 to 22,000 lines within an 80-hour/14-day pay period of very good quality work.

40-hour work week - curiousMT

[ In Reply To ..]
For those of you working so hard and working up to 7 days, are you actually working all these hours and just claiming that you work 40 hours a week to the company?

I though that there was a rule that we were not officially allowed to work more than 40 hours a week.

Can't speak for the OP, but I am an IC - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
When I was an employee, I had to let the company know what hours I had worked via time sheet. Now, as an IC, I do not have to provide them any documentation of my hours, just have to get the job done whether it takes 30 hours or 50 hours. The company could care less the hours I worked as long as the reports are back by TAT.

really over 40 - cindy

[ In Reply To ..]
I do not have to report hours. I am an IC and get assigned work for the MD And CRNP that I type for and must have it done in 48 hours. They do not care if it takes 1 hour or all 48, just get it done and have it correct. The MD I type has lot of complicated cases and these people have seen numerous other doctors, most of which I know but sometimes have to look up, as misspelling a physician's name is very disrespectful. They are both in the office Wed, Thurs, and Fri and I have an extremely heavy workload all weekend.

windy, too much and we all have do to it in our own comfortable way - or it does not work. you are full. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
sheesh...

Investment of wind in an attempt to help a fellow MT get a life - Skilled MT AKA Bleeding Heart

[ In Reply To ..]
is not a waste. I don't know Cindy, but I've worked alongside her soul sisters (nice girls, just no time and/or money to go to lunch) and am perfectly aware she likely would not make the change even if she intellectually accepted the premise. Some would eventually after chewing it over long enough, though, and it might be her. Or somebody else dropping by.

LOL! I have a life, but hey, thanks anyway. - NM

[ In Reply To ..]
.

Hard to believe - cindy

[ In Reply To ..]
Well I did not just learn this work in an office. I have a AA degree in medical assisting and transcription was one of the classes. I have been in the medical field for 25 years and have done it all from front desk to nursing, doing transcription for the past 12 years, ever since my youngest son was in kindergarten and my oldest son was in 3rd grade when they were both diagnosed with autism. I was taught to do accurate work in college, so that is what I produce. Also, the doctor I type for expects acurrate work. We have no QA, just the doctor complaining when you get it wrong. (I used to be the director of medical documentation at an orthopaedic practice and the doctors would complain when their work was not correct. One doctor even complained if there were too many comas in his notes and I had to replace his transcriptionists frequently because of mistakes of people who do not check their work!) I have a contract with the practice to produce accurate work and that is what I do. I am the highest producing transcriptionist with the practice on a consistent basis and the most accurate. I must get the work done in a 48 hours TAT and must work seven days a week in order to do this. I simply do not believe that you can produce 18000 to 22000 lines in a 40 hour week, much less of any quality. I have a very good eye for mistakes and at a glance can usually see everything, including an extra space that does not belong, so the majority of the time I spend is actually typing and I do type really fast. I am sorry that more people did not reply with their line counts, as the ones that I have seen on this board, which I am fairly new to, seem to produce much less, so you must be some kind of miracle worker

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