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Those who do 2000 lpd straight typng, would you share some tips? - Pumpkins

Posted: Nov 17, 2010

Would those of you who do acute care work and average 2000 lpd share a few pointers with us on how you do this? I've been in this business for many years but struggle to do 1200 lpd with about 40% ESL dictators in my account pool. Also, there's very little repetition in the dictation narratives. I understand about refining your macros, which I do, but other than that I just can't seem to get my speed up.

Thanks for any help that you're willing to give.

I had to change my shift to get results... - Hayseed

[ In Reply To ..]
For me, when I went to 3rd shift is when I wound up making a complete 360. I went from STRUGGLING to make 1200 in 8-10 hours to blowing through 1800 lines in 6-7 hours, and this is on a nearly 80% ESL workload.

I do acute care, mostly stats, and hardly ever get the same type of report twice--mostly H&Ps, consults, so my expander (auto correct really) plays a huge role.

Another time saver: Having 2 monitors. HUGE help when researching things.

Personally though, for me it's the pressure of the stat work that has made the huge difference, and also being at night I have ZERO distractions and can totally focus on work. No people coming to the house, no phone calls, no people on the internet at that hour to chat with.

I work for 4 hours straight with no break and then NAP for 45 minutes on my lunch time...the nap is incredibly important for me, as my brain is usually fried by that 4-hour point and after the rest I'm completely ready to do battle again.

:)

2 monitors - MT35

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Do you mean 2 computers? I actually do research on a computer (laptop) different than my work computer because I recently changed jobs and I was just to lazy to email myself/add my favorites to work computer. Somehow it seems easlier to reach for the laptop keyboard rather than using the computer I'm working on. If that makes sense...

Anyhow, is that what you meant or do you have a 2-monitor secret you'd like to share? :-)

Just one computer with 2 monitors hooked to it :) (NM) - Hayseed

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Tweak your glossary, get lots of samples for difficult dictators, - turn off the phone, TV, Facebook, and lock the doo

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nm

You have got to know the docs enough to speed them up. sm - MTBird

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I was stuck like you too and never could figure it out until I decided the voice speed was my clue. You have to go up in increments though so you still understand them. Set you a goal that each week you will type up to so and so speed and then occasionally if you get stuck on something slow it down. The faster I set the speed, the faster my fingers type and I skip right over a lot of him hawls and ahs and pauses out of the dictation. Now I am working on trying to do the same with speech in increasing my voice speed.

I also agree with Hayseed. I was on 3rd shift and was making double what I am now simply because of less distractions and staying more focused when all alone in the middle of the night. I don't know how she power napped though. The 3-4 a.m. part was the hardest to stay awake for me but once I hit the bed and closed my eyes there was no waking back up shortly.

my best tip - .

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By using AutuCorrect I basically type in shorthand much of the time, e.g.: ret=return; inc=increase; dec=decrease.

Take it one step further, and you have
retd=returned; retg=returning; etc.

When you encounter a word or a phrase that you hear frequently, assign it an AutoCorrect entry, and in the future you will be able to type it in "shorthand".

examples:

pos = I had the pleasure of seeing
imp = It was my pleasure seeing
tfc = thank you for this consultation

GLTY (good luck to you!)

I do this too PLUS I type in text speak with expanders - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
Such as "convo" = conversation, "2day" = today, "2moro" = tomorrow, etc. If you text a lot, you know the common abbreviations used and it's really easy to incorporate them into the expander, lol!

2000 lpd - Ladyrose

[ In Reply To ..]
Another tip: Never left your fingers just sit on the keyboard, you should always be transcribing. Gauge the voice speed and operate your foot pedal so that you are never more than a several word phrase behind the dictator, then release your foot pedal to "catch up" then depress the FP again when you're within 1-3 words from the end of the phrase and keep going. Even better would be to gauge the voice speed so that you are on the dicator's heels so to speak, so when he/she says a word you're typing it as they say it. Then you start speeding them up a little at a time and try to keep up as the other poster said. You'll get fast very quickly. But the real key is to NEVER LET YOUR FINGERS IDLE (of course, unless you can't understand something). Idle fingers will cut into your productivity like nothing else. AND use your AutoCorrect like there's no tomorrow. I recommend no more than 3-4 letters as the identifier. Develop a "system" for derivations of the same word or phrase so you will remember it, such as first letter, a hard consonant, last letter, i.e., sgt=suggest, sgs=suggests, sgd=suggested, sgg=suggesting, or the obvious, the first letter of each word for a phrase with the last letter an "s" for plurals, i.e, omu=ostiomeatal unit, omus=ostiomeatal units, etc. At the moment I'm transcribing radiology with 12 different radiologists who sometimes use the same phrases with a 1-2 word difference, so I begin my identifier with the first letter of their last name, but use the same 3 characters to identify the the phrases, i.e, ffap=Fisk,foramina are patent, sfap=Simons,foramina are adequately patent. Even use your AutoCorrect for small words like pt=patient, wn=within, wo=without, nl=normal, so that you are basically typing in shorthand like the another poster suggested. This will help your speed immensely. Good Luck

happy tendinitis everyone! - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I know all these tips are great but who is actually doing over 2000 lph on ASR? I was averaging 2200 lines a day but that was when we had decent dictators. Then I got tendinitis trying to keep that count with all the lousy dictators and corrections I had to make.

However, the best advice I can give is to set short-term goals and use a timer. Set it for every hour or 45 minutes and set a line goal for that amount of time. Good luck.

I think one of the best tips I was ever told for general t yping sm - MTBird

[ In Reply To ..]
also applies here. That is that when you are typing you need to mentally be going word-for-word and not letter-by-letter and your fingers/brain automatically spell that "word". Does that make sense? I don't know how else to describe it.

i know what you are referring to - steady eddie

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My typing teacher told me to concentrate on the first letter of each word, and the rest of the word will follow. It really helps.

Like posters above, you have to have - sl

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thousands of macros/shorthands, know your accounts up 1 side and down the other. I am lucky that I have 1 account and can almost transcribe before the doctor actually dictates. We have lots of templates also which we get the character count for. Also--I time myself to type xx hours before stopping for a break. Plus, having a very friendly platform on which to work is a major plus. We also have access to all previous dictations--whether it is reports on the current patient or reports by the dictator to refer to.

Does anyone use Instant Text or just - luddite

[ In Reply To ..]
autocorrect? i, like the OP, need to increase my speed. need the money, honey! (not used to getting paid on production, worked in hospitals for the past 18 yrs until last year). fortunately, i do have experience at a teaching hospital, but, now, on production with 30 specialties and hundreds of dictators, autocorrect "just don't feed the bulldog". thx!

I just use autocorrect, but ad more almost daily. nm - MTBird

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@

Definiitely one of the professional-level expanders created - for this work. Shorthand is my choice. NM

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(Although Instant Text is also excellent.)

English - Smileyind

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Auto-correct sounds nice, but obviously it doesn't help with the English language. (Your word "ad" above should not be a word for an ad in the paper, but should be "add" as in adding more words, etc.) Good luck with all that.

thanks mtbird and "shorthand"! nm - luddite

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x

A little thing I do that helps - - NYMT

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It doesn't raise my speed significantly, but makes life easier - In my word expansion, if I find my fingers going to the same keys for a particular word or phrase, even if it doesn't make sense, I add it to the abbreviations. Ttptw is how my fingers type out "the patient tolerated the procedure well", and I just gave in and did that rather than try and force my mind and fingers into something I'd have to think about. Get the idea?

another little time saver - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
When I'm starting my programs to start my shift, I also always have an internet window open with one tab at google, another tab at drugs.com, a third tab at the employee roster for my account, and the 4th tab at the QA submission page for my account. I don't use the last 2 that much any more, but little things like that can save seconds at a time, and when you're verifying stuff several times a day or hour, waiting for pages to load can add up.

Not sure if this really fits here, but.... - Shirl

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I have an "old" computer. Windows XP, bought in 2006, only 512 megabytes. It was running very slowly, even after doing all kinds of cleanup. I couldn't afford to go out and buy a whole new computer, so I bought an extra gig of RAM. HUGE improvement and well worth the $40.

Thank you, everyone, for all the wonderful tips! I really appreciate it. -nm - Pumpkins

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Add your doctors names to your expander. I added 2 versions...sm - ndmt

[ In Reply To ..]
I use drXX (X for the first letter of first name and X for the first letter of last name - you can add the second letter or second and third letters of the last name if needed to differentiate) when they're talked about in the HPI, etc., and XXMD (same rules) for when they are listed as surgeon or attending physician. Even with VR, you can't trust the names to be spelled right, and it saves a bunch of time not having to look them up.

I would also use drXneu (with neu being my abbreviation for the specialty neurology) if they always say "Dr. Khan of neurology" and I can never remember if it is K-H-A-N, C-O-N-N, K-A-H-N, etc. You can expand that to drXsrhl (with srhl being my expansion for St. Rose Hospital) if they say "Dr. X at St. Rose Hospital" and whatever else keeps you from pausing over the names.

The last thing I do is have an abbreviation for all my people who need to have their dictations signed. That would be like XXpac (physician assistant) or XXnp (nurse practitioner). Those are a little easier as there aren't as many, but it is still keystrokes you are not making.

What would we do without the letter x! I do almost exactly the same thing! -nm - NYMT

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x

Yes to X the Great! :) Names of institutions are often dictated in - Poppy

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abbreviated (and incorrect) forms, and I often don't remember the correct name, so I enter complete formal names with letters for the part I do know and finish with X for the part I don't.

Thus, Walter Reed would be /waree, but Walter Reed Army Medical Center would be /wareex. (I use the / to create a category of proper names so they don't conflict with other, more used abbreviations.)

One other use for x - - NYMT

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I have a "wild card" which is just xx, which I use for anything that will be recurrent in one document but temporary, like a patient with a difficult to type name or an obscure malady I know I won't see again for years.

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