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Help Poor Sound Quality Report - pulling hair out

Posted: Apr 03, 2011

Please HELP!!! What is the policy when you have a 22 minute dictation and the sound quality is so poor you can only understand may be every 4th or 5th word/phrase. I already have about 25 blanks and I'm only about 5 minutes in. I have been a tier 3 MT for 12+ years and am not trying to pass the buck here. I believe it is actually a mechanical malfunction on his end. There are times when it is dead silent and I can't tell if he is dictating or not through it, when I can hear again it doesn't make sense. Please help!!!

My policy, don't know about MQ's - Frosty Mug

[ In Reply To ..]
I listen to the whole report, inserting blanks as necessary, then send to QA with a note saying "poor sound quality throughout entire report" or whatever. I feel for ya. My morning has been gum-chewing, mint-clacking, nurse-flirting, smug cardiologists.

Let me amend my policy - Frosty Mug

[ In Reply To ..]
It would depend on the CP. Also, if I don't think there's a snowball's chance in Hades that the QA will be able to understand anything either, I will bypass QA and send directly to client with the same note.

If it is that bad, don't break your ears. Send it - dnr

[ In Reply To ..]
to QA with a note that the sound is so bad you can't transcribe it. Then send a note to your CCM with the job number and a description of the problem and that the report is untranscribable, and check the email high priority box.

But first, scan the recording to make sure there aren't spots that the sound problem clears up. If there are decent spots, you must transcribe them.

then it counts againist your 5% QA submission - no name

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

You're supposed to run through the whole thing and - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
type the words you can make out, blanking the rest.

help - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I would type what I can, leave blanks and send to client with note stating very poor audio. I would not send to QA, as I do not send anything to them because I am not getting penalized for things I can't do anything about. I have even suggested in notes that they may want to redictate the report. Just keep your notes polite and send right to client. I have never had a problem doing this and if I do, tough. If I can't hear it I can't type it and won't be penalized for it.

I'll get dinged - pulling hair out

[ In Reply To ..]
The report turned out to be 133 lines with 85 blanks. I sent it along to QA because I felt wrong sending it to the customer in the condition it was, even with a note of explanation. I also informed my CCM and QA sup regarding this and was informed, that while I could have sent it to the customer (QA couldn't fill in the blanks either) since I did send it along to QA it will count against my 5%. Makes one really think twice about sending anything to QA. Not really in the best interest of the patient, just my opinion.

if I have a report I know is going to have to be QA'd, - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I go through it as quickly as I can, leave all kinds of blanks, mark it for QA and let them deal with it. I spent NO extra time on these report. Some of the blanks I could probably get, but I figure I'm going to get the most out of the money I'm losing sending to QA.
the Q can kiss my butt

Why - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Why would you feel bad. Did you cause the audio to be bad? Why would you send to QA and risk getting penalized? I don't send anything to QA. Are you going to be on here in another post complaining that your pay is cut because of QA submission? You need to get over taking responsibility or "feeling bad" because of something that is not your fault.

When I get something that bad, I don't waste - (sm) - MT Wordz

[ In Reply To ..]
my time (or the company's, for that matter) on it. The reason I get bad sound on my account is that they won't upgrade their dictation equipment, and it's ancient.

I let my supervisor know the report is untranscribeable, and I send it back. Will I get dinged? Yes. But not nearly as much as I would get dinged if I wasted hours trying to transcribe it, left a ton of blanks, and sent it to QA, as QA dings for EACH blank.

I can then make up for whatever amount I am dinged by returning the bad report, by typing lots of other reports that ARE transcribeable.

To waste time on the impossible-sound-quality reports hurts the company, too. Better for them that you type 10 good reports that they can bill for, than waste time with a dud that they'll ultimately have to ask to have re-dictated.

If the offending account with the ancient dictation system has to re-dictate enough reports, maybe they'll eventually figure out the fact that they need to invest in some up-to-date equipment.

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