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

Can this stupid company find anything more stupid to do? - on the chopping block

Posted: Aug 29, 2013

Ugh, I never encountered this before. I have some different accounts. There is this INANE gender check which kicks out he or she if it is not the patient's gender. OMG, the dumas people who have nothing better to do and set this up apparently do not realize males may have mothers or girl friends and vice versa. I'm so sick of wasting my time fixing the worthless things they have set up to make things "easier" for us. We'd be better off if maybe they tried to make things harder for us.

Just had to rant tonight.

Why they do this - It is NOT for YOU

[ In Reply To ..]
They aren't doing this to make things easier for YOU.

Companies which are developing SR technology do not intend for there to be "medical editors" forever. Their goal is to be able to deploy front-end VR systems to transcribe and insert dictation directly into the EHR...without going outside the facility. The goal is no human at all. Not in the facility, not in the US, not in India.

To do that, the systems must be able to work without human assistance.

At first, your editing job was to improve the product (the report). Now, though, your job is to improve THE SR itself.

It is already possible to install an SR system that works without editors. They are just working on improving them. Yours is apparently working on gender-recognition. Every correction you make is used to refine the logic that drives that.

You are, in essence, providing the systems with the information they need to remove you. You have been doing this since they turned it on.

That is why your jobs become more and more impossible. The easy editing goes to India. The challenging dictation...the stuff that the machine can't handle...goes to you so that you can train the machine. It has to be an American to understand it, but also to prevent the software from picking up Indian syntax and developing an Indian accent.

My guess is that the layoffs have been those MTs who are not as useful in the SR training process for some reason.

You may think your jobs are there because the patient needs your accuracy, or because the physicians appreciate you, but that is not the case. You are there now to help your employer improve the software that will replace you.

Really, you need to find another line of work. If fear of being laid off is not enough motivation, anger over being used to effect your own demise might be.

Go back to school before it is too late.

This Makes Sense - Alias

[ In Reply To ..]
This makes as much sense as anything I've heard on here. You almost sound like an IT/computer person rather than an MT/MME. I've said for a long time that it's not India that's going to be the demise of the MT profession, but SR itself. I just never thought of it in the terms you explained. The MT is not only benefiting SR for the medical industry, but for the SR industry as a whole, it sounds to me. I do believe with technology speeding up the way it is, this profession may have at the most a decade before it becomes a dinosaur profession, and all the companies like MM will be doing is selling SR products to hospitals and clinics.

Yes, it makes sense, but what I don't understand - is SM

[ In Reply To ..]
how can SR learn and recognize things enough to be completely without human editing when you've got new residents coming in every year (or twice a year) all with different voices and speech patterns and accents. Let us not forget those who have their own peculiar speech habits like the sniff or um between every other word, those who dictate at top speed, those who dictate in a soft voice among background noise, those who dictate in cars, with screaming brats, those who stutter and change their mind every other sentence, and any other type of noise possible to confuse SR.

How in the world is SR going to recognize that? Yes, it doesn't matter, says the sales rep, SR will do it.

Then, who's going to clean that crap up, and who's going to take the hit when the errors start coming in and doctors/facilities start getting sued after patient incidents.

SR is good in theory, but it's never going to get it right to the point where MTs are not needed to edit or clean up crap. Unless, facilities simply throw quality down the drain along with patient care priority, and accept the errors as "the way it is."

I can see that coming not too long down the road.

Think About It - Alias

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, if you think about how well your own smart phone is about to pick up your speech in a short period of time, even in a noisy situation, it is possible for other hand-held SR products. Each one would start to learn its particular "owner's speech pattern. No, it wouldn't be 100% all the time, and neither are humans, but it would be close enough for hospitals or clinics to unfortunately take a chance, considering the money it would save them.

Yes, SR will learn each person's speech pattern - but SM

[ In Reply To ..]
how is SR going to figure out what the dictator means to say, how is it going to clean up the stuttering, is it going to learn to edit out the "sniff" between every other word, is it going to put the correct words in among the background noise, is it going to take out the part where dictator talks to someone over their shoulder "yeah, call them back for me" and how is it going to figure out the mumbled dictation and is it cephalosporin or cefoxitin.

If you've worked with SR for any length of time, you know very well most of this type of crap can't be figured out or "learned" by SR. Especially drug names that are similar or often not pronounced properly.

I posted on another thread, I'd bet anything this whole SR mess is going to collapse upon itself eventually because India can't edit well enough, errors will eventually cause lawsuits, company will go bankrupt after they've milked all the profit they can out of the system sales, and that's part of the executive grand plan to take the money and run.

i cant agree with that - Siri cant even find simple things 2 years

[ In Reply To ..]
after we got an iPhone 4S. we were in atlanta and we had to google everything directions and location wise manually because either she didn't understand or would be way off base

nor can the "transcript" option on - YouTube

[ In Reply To ..]
Click the "transcript" option (to the left of about, share, add to) on any YouTube video. Here, SR makes an attempt at plain English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9TnjHNap6E
ASR cannot think, reason, or deduce!

Those are your problems now, but - not with SR

[ In Reply To ..]
Every one of them trains the system. It understands them.

This isn't getting phoned out to be returned days later. It happens right in front of them. They do it in the facility. If there is noise, they get nothing, so they learn to do it right.

They see errors right then. They are responsible for fixing them. if there are lawsuits, THEY SIGNED the report. There is nobody else to blame.

You would be amazed how much better things work after that.

question... what line of work are you in? - Des

[ In Reply To ..]
The tone of your post infers that you're not an MT now or ever, but you have working knowledge of MT platforms, specifically VR. Are you in IT?

I'm not trying to be snarky here. I'm just curious why you'd be visiting an MT board if you're not an MT.

Informatics - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You are mistaken about me not having been an MT. I was, but went back to school.

Another quick question - NuAnon

[ In Reply To ..]
First, thanks for the very clear and distinct wake up call.

Where did you go to school for informatics?

Roads to health informatics - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You can get into health information through an RHIA program. An increasing number of RHIA programs offer this option.

An easy route to this is through the RHIA bachelor's at WGU, which can take as little as 3 years.

You can also do a coding program at a school offering the RHIT, get a job, finish the rest of the RHIT work, then transfer into the last 2 years of an RHIA program in informatics.

See the AHIMA website for listings of programs that they accredit.

Thanks! - NuAnon

[ In Reply To ..]
I spoke with an EC at WGU on Tuesday, think that's the way to go for me. I'll be working on my Web Foundations Assoc Cert next month which should help with my acceptance since I do not have any IT experience.

I was just curious if you had attended WGU.

As a person who might get sick someday... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I shudder to think that my care will be guided by whatever cr@p comes out of SR. Really, I don't care how much we're used to fine tune the machines, it's still going to be a matter of GIGO. Appropriate use of pronouns is going to be the least of our problems.

Think of the quality of the dictations we get - the eaters, the burpers, the auctioneers, the ESLs, the chronic misprouncers, the ones who think it's a good idea to dictate in the car with the kiddies screaming in the backseat, the ones who must dictate next to copiers/restrooms/fax machines/radios/pick your poison. Throw in the ones who can't keep left vs right/meds/pt name/med history/lab results straight throughout a single report.... SR is never going to be able to deal with that.

Forget it. SR reports are going to be worthless without *someone* checking them, and you know it's not going to be the MDs. I just wonder how long it will take them to figure that out.

They better get themselves a lot more - malpractice insurance! MTBankAccount

[ In Reply To ..]

Oh Lord. let me make it to retirement - amen

[ In Reply To ..]
X

Hopefully that's within 6 months! - Trampled underfoot

[ In Reply To ..]
I figure personally I'll be canned by Christmas, not long enough to get me to retirement, though I've been an MT for 39 years.

8 weeks to retirement - on the chopping block

[ In Reply To ..]
but I'm going to make them fire me.

As the OP, I do know they are trying to replace us with ASR, but corrections regarding gender are stupid...as I pointed out. I think this was just an easy programming idea some IT with nothing better to do gave to the company to try and prove his/her worth.

Oh, Lord, let me make it to retirement..... - catlady

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm long past retirement but still have to work because my Social Security alone isn't enough to live off of. This I can look forward to until I die. Aint life wonderful?

Isn't there anything else you can do? There must be SM - Maribel

[ In Reply To ..]
something. It is difficult to get out of the house once you've been working at home for so long.

I was fired 2 months before retirement and I'm now retired and loving it, but if I had to go back to work I would find something. Even working as checkout clerk at supermarket or working at Joanns or somewhere. Apply to local hospital. Anything.

My heart goes out to you. It must feel like you're in a maximum security prison with no way out, but think about "breaking out" for your own sake and your own health. Please think about it. There is a wonderful life outside of what's left of this job.

Somebody will HAVE to check - tw

[ In Reply To ..]
This week I've had about 4 reports where the doctor didn't hang up the phone properly at the end. I end up with about half a screen full of what elevator music would saying if it could talk.

I've been doing this job for 20 years and I have never heard a doc say nookda before. It was pretty clear and really bothering me. Nookda. Nookda?? Oh, it's under allergies so he means NKDA. Oh, please , really?

Yesterday I had a report where at the very end VR put, and I am not kidding, "This report has been dictated by God." Can you imagine requesting a copy of your op note and finding out God did your surgery?

No, nobody has to check - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
No, no one needs to "check" anything.

You are not seeing how this works. You are familiar with the phone dictation process in which the doctor dictates, SR processes it, it goes to an MT, and hours or weeks later it gets uploaded to the electronic record, ages after which the doctor signs it.

You are assuming that the MT-free process just omits the MT, i.e., doctor dictates, SR processes it, after which it gets uploaded to the electronic record, ages after which the doctor signs it.

That is not what happens.

The doctor dictates, on-site SR processes it AS HE SITS THERE, he sees the result RIGHT THEN, and he fixes it.

There is no phone to leave off the hook. The report is done right then, so he sees any problems. They FIX the problems themselves, right then, and if they don't want to continue fixing them, they learn to do things correctly.

They train the system to their voice. They get what they put in. If they get crud, it is their fault. There is no more MT to blame. At my facility, they are held responsible.

Believe it or not, the vast majority of them love it. Residents, in particular, have no problem with it. They went through college and medical school on computers, so they want to do it themselves.

Believe me, there is no need for MTs with this. I was an MT once...I am not misunderstanding anything. It is just that all that fixing-up you do is not necessary because once the doctors become responsible and get the output right when they dictate, they just plain stop screwing up.

They start thinking ahead, stop dithering around, stop leaving the recording running (or it doesn't matter), stop changing their minds all over the place, and become much easier to understand. You would be amazed.

Only family practice or such could be - bothered to spend so much time on a note.

[ In Reply To ..]
Don't see neurosurgeons or other specialists spending the time it takes to look up spelling of equipment, catheters, drugs, etc., etc., on a lengthy OP note or procedure. I'm sure they'd rather pay someone else to do the grunt work. I could see them making a lot of errors and not necessarily knowing they did. Just the kind of record I want in my chart...

Again, you do not understand what this is. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
They do not need to know how to spell anything, nor do they need to look anything up ... the software knows.

There is no grunt work left to do.

I'm not talking about the future. We have this. It isn't perfect yet, but it is very, very good.

Nobody cares about misspellings and punctuation, anyway. When doctors wrote by hand, it was full of misspellings and bad writing. Nobody noticed, much less cared.

Disagree - Spell this

[ In Reply To ..]
If your statement were true, there would be no need for QA staff, and we're out there in abundance correcting the mess from India and VR.

what software are you talking about? - certainly not ours

[ In Reply To ..]
Our VR software is dumb as a doorknob and has a learning disability. Which one are you talking about?

The one where I work - Informaticist

[ In Reply To ..]
We have a front-end system with no MTs or editors. The output is just fine. The doctors train it individually, get the output in real time, and get clear real fast.

It is a major medical center, not a family practice office. :-D

I used to work for MM some years ago.

wouldn't you think MM would invest in that? - they want to get rid of us so bad nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

You missed the entire point of this thread! - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Did you read this thread???

"Wouldn't you think MM would invest in that?"

INVEST in it? Someone just pointed out that you are being used to TEST MM's version of this. It is a major focus of the company.

The end goal is not to have an SR system with a giant bunch of "fixit" editors in ANY country. It is to have an SR system that requires NO editors.

I guess someone might have said that - somewhere in here

[ In Reply To ..]
like I got time to read all that.

If you were an MT once and no longer are, what is it you do? sm - wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm just curious what your job is now that you have all this knowledge about how the SR works.

Health informaticist - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
The same person who posted above.

that was rude and uncalled for. nm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
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