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Speeding up productivity - Single MT mom of 2

Posted: Apr 06, 2014

I am looking for suggestions to speed up my productivity. I have been with a company going on 7 months. Besides the fact that I have had numerous problems with their Service Manger, which has slowed my production, but I also use Dragon Speech; not only does that help with accuracy, but production. None the less, for a FT contractor, we are suppose to be doing a minimum of 1100 lines in an 8-hour shift. I work at times 14+ hour days, 6 days a week and still fall short by roughly 200-300 lines a day. I have tried the IT software. Unless I have set that up wrong, I have really not found that useful to speed up production. So far with all the problems, I mainly use Dragon because that seems quicker, but not quite enough to meet that daily line count. I have even done the Shorthand on MS Word, but doing so many different doctors, that would take forever to set all of their frequent terms in there. So, I am looking for any suggestions on anything or software to help with production. Thank you :-)

Productivity - mtinmi

[ In Reply To ..]
I use Instatext as my expander but have had it for years and the same account. I have a question, you use Dragon Speech to transcribe? I had considered that as my hands get really tired, does it work? Which one do you use? Any info would be appreciated.

I used Dragon in the 90's (sm) - Rose

[ In Reply To ..]
I had an account of fast talking oncologists and used Dragon before they had a medical version, so it took a LOT of of time to train the program. I dictated as I listened to the dictation and at that time when the doc dictated "BP 120/80" I had to dictate "Blood pressure one two zero slash eight zero." I could sail right through it at the speed it was dictated (very fast). The most effective way to build speed and accuracy was to train phrases more than just words. VR is a great tool for someone who takes the time to learn how to use it, which does not include most doctors. If the idiots who developed it created it as a tool for MTs they would have been far more success. Still, VR did not and cannot distinguish "he" from "she" or letters with the long E sound, B, C, E, D, P & T, so it is necessary to proof at the end. Unfortunately the need to proof abolishes any time savings using VR so you end up spending the same amount of time to redictated and edit as you do to just transcribe it. It was a help for my carpal tunnel and that is about it.

If they made a Dragon for MTs that included fast formatting (takes forever to format by voice) we could really increase speed, but it is not designed for anyone but the dictators.

To the OP, if you can possibly get to a point where you can proof as you go (difficult with redictating) you would build a lot of speed. I could not do that and don't know anyone who could and still maintain accuracy.

Dragon - Single MT mom of 2

[ In Reply To ..]
I use Dragon 11.5. I absolutely love it. I could not live without it. It does work great with transcription, but with the added server problems from the company I cannot say that it or Instant Text has helped me gain production. With Dragon, you can have it scan all your medical transcription to recognize all your terms, and it will automatically adapt to how you type and word forms. It was the best investment I ever made.

Dragon - me too

[ In Reply To ..]
I just started using Dragon too to redictate. I have to be careful during the proofreading, but it is also one of the best investments I've made.

How much experience did you have - before this company?

[ In Reply To ..]
Are you a new MT? That will have a lot to do with it.

MT experience - Single MT mom of 2

[ In Reply To ..]
I have 7 years of experience; although, I have only been with this company going on 7 months. There have been nothing but problems with their Server and it takes a long time to search for a patient on it or going to the next report. I know a majority of the slowdown is the Server, but they want 1,100 lines a day, which seems a little difficult with a slow Server. That is why I am trying to find alternatives.

productivity - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know how you can be working that much and still fall that short....I assume this is a straight transcription job with no ASR?

How fast do you type? Maybe you need to take some typing courses and work on your speed. Are you typing the report and then proofreading it after? It's amazing how much faster it is if you just learn to proof it as you type it. Are you doing things like going on facebook, checking email, twitter, this site when you are working? That kind of stuff gobbles up your time.

I can't wrap my head around how after 7 months you can work 14 hours and still not do 1100 lines. That just seems way, way off. If you were brand new it would make sense, but 7 months is a long time to build some speed.

I agree with you - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
There is no way to still be doing only 800 lines in 14 hours if she was typing by hand, even without an expander. That works out to around 50-60 lines per hour.

I think attempting to do this with Dragon is the problem. If she is new, Dragon might have seemed faster because she was naturally slow as a new MT. However, she did not realize that Dragon would be far slower than keying it in by hand. As fast as it seems to her, it is far slower than an experienced MT.

Had she typed by hand, at this point she should be meeting the goal even without expander software. It is actually a rather generous minimum that could be completed in 4 to 6 hours.

Other issues that slow this down might be constantly stopping to fix errors and typos, and spending time looking things up.

productivity - Single MT mom of 2

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, this is why I am asking for suggestions because it does not make sense to me either. I am very much disciplined when it comes to working. I have no TVs and I do not do social media. It is all straight transcription. I do roughly 60-65 wpm, but again, as I said in the before, I use Dragon as well as shorthand. I just do not get it. I proof read my reports at the same time I am transcribing them.

dragon - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know what to tell you then. Can you ditch dragon?

How fast do you type?

Do you spend a lot of time looking up terms?

After 7 months you probably are doing less than half the lph of what you should. If you have no distractions, proof as you go, and can type at least 60 wpm I'd say it's Dragon...

I think your typing speed speaks volumes - I think below what is needed

[ In Reply To ..]
I have never run into an MT with 60-65 wpm and done well at this. With production you have to be extremely fast, even with VR you need to be able to scan extremely fast, catching errors and correcting them fast, with straight typing (don't know if you do that the most or not) I don't see hardly any production with line count that low. Did you have a previous job and if so what were your counts like then? I think most of your problem rests directly on the fact of your not being able to produce much and that is the bottom line.

lph - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I only type about 70 wpm, but I have no trouble hitting 150 lph doing straight typing. I definitely prefer ASR as I can do 300+ lph.

The only time I was pulling 60-70 lph was when I was brand spanking new, trying to learn the program we use, and having to look up account specifics and medical terms non stop. Someone with 7 years as an MT shouldn't have to look up a lot of terms and with 7 months you should know the program and account specifics.

this is what i thought if you cant do 1100 lines - mtr

[ In Reply To ..]
in 14 hours there is definitely something wrong and i have no idea what
definitely you must use SH for everything if you want to increase your production

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