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

Need to improve my lines - JW

Posted: Aug 12, 2012

I need suggestions for more lines per hour. It seems like I am working right along and do not let any grass grow under my fingers but when I look at my lines, it seems it should be more. I have IT and use it religiously. There are next to no templates in this account and yet they expect 150 cpl an hour. When I get OR reports with templates it really goes up but there is very little of that. I work and am paid by the hour and only when I am in a file typing. Any suggestions for improvement? Also I don't know if they count spaces or not.

I think 150 is low, even with no templates - not sure what is holding you back

[ In Reply To ..]
I have no templates and typically type 250 to 275 lines per hour and edit about 250 per hour.

All I can say is use your shortcuts (expanders) and keep your nose on the screen. If you have to stop to look up a lot of stuff, that will slow you down. Maybe get better/faster at research?

I have the same problem, and use expanders, and - some shortcuts. But many - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
of the shortcuts are "longcuts" for me. I can mouse much faster than I can navigate around the screen using multiple keystrokes. What slows me down is my company's slow, slower, SLOWEST transcription software. When you have to wait up to a minute between keystrokes while entering demographic info, something is definitely wrong. Even working 2-4 hrs of [unpaid] overtime, I've never even met their minimum, let alone exceeded it. And they're now about 90% VR, and their VR system borders on the absurd in its inaccuracy.

So, don't be too quick to blame the MT. Most of us are busting our butts to try to do more and more work. Usually for less and less pay. Most of us are at or near the breaking point.

The platform and the way they count lines is probably - the problem. See Msg.

[ In Reply To ..]
I remember some years ago I worked a part-time job IC for a company and the platform was horrible, it literally could take anywhere from from 1 to 3 minutes to download a job.

And if there were no demographics, you had to do a lot of work just to get them entered. Often times after having been on it for more than 4hrs it would start to stick while I was typing and it was like I would type a sentence but it wouldn't show up on the screen till a couple seconds later.

It sucked. Not to mention they were mainly all clinic notes and were pretty short. I had tons of templates, but with the system being so slow and the way the counted lines, it would take forever to get my rate out. I eventually quit.

Keep in mind it may be their platform and the way they are calculating lines. Because I would fly at my regular job and have my line count in like 6hrs into an 8hr shift, but with that place it took almost 8hrs to do 4hrs worth of work. Good luck.

Have you done line ct to be sure what you get as a line ct is - the same as what MTSO says SM

[ In Reply To ..]
your line ct is? That is your first step. Find out what you come up with for a line ct. And easy enough to find out if you get paid for spaces. ASK SOMEONE WITH THE COMPANY. Start with your team lead and them make your way up the ladder if lead can't tell you.

Line Counts - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm having the same problem as the OP and it's so frustrating. I use IT, autocorrect, templates, etc, but am still sorely lacking.

I am interested in knowing if there are accurate line counters out there somewhere. I use Word as a platform, but am unsure if theirs is accurate.

some ideas... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
First, definitely find out if they are paying you for spaces or not.

Next, even if there are no templates on this account, try to make "shorthand" entries for words.

Pretend you are taking handwritten notes, and instead of spelling out "lymphadenopathy", you abbreviate it. Learn to type this way. Abbreviate everything you can think of - just like if you were taking notes. I never used a shorthand program. I have always used the autotext and autocorrect utilities in MS Word, and have found them invaluable for this purpose.

i.e.: pu (pulse); hr (heart rate); bp (BP), blo (blood pressure); cmp (cardiomyopathy); lv (LV); lve (left ventricular); rve (right ventricular); edp (end-diastolic pressure) -- you get the idea.

Make the abbreviations 1) meaningful to you and 2) unambiguous.

I could type 200 per hour; with ASR down to - 150 and making 40%

[ In Reply To ..]
less per line. I have over 20 years' experience. It is the work and the accounts sometimes. I am a worker, worker, worker, put in ALL my time, no breaks, no phone calls -- still can't do but 150.

The problem is - those 3 letters

[ In Reply To ..]
ASR. Not sure if the poster above meant it in a good way or not when she said she can type 250-275 (I think) and 250 with ASR, but that tells you right there that ASR sucks. It is the new people that seem to be okay with 250 on ASR making half the money. I guess that is why these companies don't mind getting newbies and losing all their seasoned employees. Seasoned employees are not okay with making half the pay.

I am NOT okay with making half due to ASR - holding you back

[ In Reply To ..]
I am so not okay with it, but how am I going to change it. I have to work until I finish school. I was trying to answer the OP, that is all.

Did not - mean

[ In Reply To ..]
to criticize you personally. I was just trying to point out that nobody is making line counts with ASR. She may have a slower speed typing than the 250-275 , maybe she only types 150 or so, and 150 on ASR is all she can get.

That is why I suggested better/faster research skills - holding you back

[ In Reply To ..]
It did feel like you were critizing me personally, but apology accepted.

I just wanted to help.

No, I - was

[ In Reply To ..]
your numbers of an example of how lousy ASR is. There is no reason why you (or anybody) should type as fast or faster than ASR, which is what is happening. I can't type as fast as you, I type about 180-200 and I would not be happy unless I could get 360-400 on ASR, which is not the case. I can only get about 250, thus a big pay cut. ASR is the biggest scam I have seen in a long time.

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