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0.5 point taken off for blanks SM - assassin

Posted: Apr 11, 2013

I just looked at my review for March and I see all these 0.5 deductions for "blank filled in by reviewer." There are also Valid Blanks that take off no points.

Sorry if this has been asked but did they say they were going to do this? And if so, when? Also, I listened to these blanks. There is no way they can tell me 100% what was said in any of them, which is why I blanked them. So they are guessing.

Two reports I have gone through so far are for really bad dictators. I listened to a valid blank and it is no different from the other ones--bad audio/dictator error.

There is even a comment in one that was taken off 0.5 that said "stumbles." Well duh.

I am just almost speechless.

Face it, they do whatever the they want - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
nice that they guessed on someone's permanent medical record and they are totally backed up by the DA's who run this stupid company.

Don't blame you. - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
A QA even came on here and said she does that because leaving blanks is "line-padding" (what?!) and if she could figure it out, the MT "should have". How crazy is it to have someone like that QA'ing? She counts them as "valid" ONLY if she can't figure it out either. You probably had the unfortunate luck of having her. I would contest that. She should be taken off QA; that is insane.

The whole reason to send blanks is to have that second ear, not be penalized for it.

Wow - Assassin

[ In Reply To ..]
I know they can get away with a lot but I never heard of this rule.

One so far, of course, I was correct in putting a blank and then they put in something wrong. This was in the lab section too.

Unfortunately, there are multiple QA people who have done this. I never saw this before so I figured it was a new thing.

Ugh, this is such a highly flawed.... - ...industry! (SM)

[ In Reply To ..]
When I worked as a hospital employee, I put so much time (probably too much) into struggling, researching, and making sure I was as close to 100% accurate as I could be. We were paid hourly plus a bonus for production, so taking more time did have at least some effect on our pay; however, I still put in the necessary effort because we were paid the base hourly wage, so I did what was best for the patient's record. I rarely sent a report for QA to listen, and most of my blanks were left blank by our QA person, too...it was more of a "courtesy" thing to pass it on to her, even though, usually, if I couldn't get it, she couldn't either. Now, in THAT situation, I was really PO'd when I saw some of the reports others sent through, riddled with tons of blanks. Sometimes, they had 20-or-so blanks! You just knew that a lazy (or greedy) MT had breezed through the report and slapped it on hold for QA so the MT could crank out more work. We weren't penalized financially for putting too much on hold or having too many blanks (although they did keep track of what percentage of jobs you put on hold--just to ask us to keep it under a certain percentage).

So, from that standpoint, I sort of "understand" companies feeling like they can't afford to pay someone full price for the line if their work is full of blanks...after all, ANYONE can send a report through full of blanks; and there ARE blanks that one could fill in with a little bit of research, looking up a word in Stedman's, listening another time or two, or just slowing down a little bit. HOWEVER, it is soooooo unfair to the good MTs who have valid blanks (like you've described above) when the QA person fills in some "guess" word(s) and/or penalizes you for sending valid blanks through. It's so obvious that this system encourages people to put their own guess into the blank instead of pursuing accuracy....heck, if I wanted it filled in with a guess, I can do that myself!

And can I just say, it absolutely burns me up when the doctor clearly dictates, say, "75 mg" for a medication that only comes in, say, a 200-mg dosage, so I leave a blank; and if I have to put it through QA for other blanks, the QA person fills in "75 mg." Burns me up!!! If I leave an obvious blank like that, use your head, QA person!!! It's for the DOCTOR to verify and fill in the correct dosage!

As I said, this is a highly flawed industry.

Some of these blanks should be noted as Discrepancies (sm) - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
If you are sending in reports with blanks and one or more of those blanks is because the dictated info is just plain wrong, you should note it as discrepancy on the QA note even though you send it under the Blanks option.

Note the time marker for each discrepancy and a short description. You must learn to CYA because obviously no one else will.

0.5 is only taken off for blanks if there are more than SM - allotted blanks per accout specifics

[ In Reply To ..]
In other words, if the account allows 4 blanks and you have 5 blanks in a particular report, and the reviewer can fill them all in, you are only penalized for ONE of the blanks. Not all of the blanks are given 0.5 deduction. If the reviewer cannot fill in the blank, it should be marked "valid" blank and no points are taken off. Hope this helps.

0.5 taken off for blanks - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
That is soo bogus. I sent one to QA the other day because of BAD AUDIO and was given an entire point off for the blanks. QA just does whatever they want, make up rules as you go along.

I say QA needs to be QA'd. I hope this helps.

They took 0.5 for each blank... - Assassin

[ In Reply To ..]
Since I never saw this before it seems like they have changed their procedures. There is no way you can tell me not to guess and then deduct points because I did just that.

The audio on these...I could have put the right answer (what they came up with) and depending on what the other person heard this would be right or wrong. They could say anything is wrong or right on these...that is how bad the audio is.

If the MT does not abuse the opportunity to send blanks to QA - wannie

[ In Reply To ..]
for help, nothing should be deducted. There aren't too many times that I have to send a report to QA for blanks; however, sometimes I do either because I can't hear the dictator, because it's something I can't confirm (like a new medicine) or just simply because it's a dictator that I'm not absolutely, completely, 100% sure about what he/she said. Being able to understand some dictators is an acquired thing that comes with hearing them more than 1 time a year. The way our work is pooled quite often does not give us the opportunity to become accustomed to a certain dictator's speech pattern. In my opinion, it takes a more conscientious MT to send a report with a blank because he/she is not sure what they heard than someone who just fills in using guesswork. I hope I never get to the point where I fill in something just to keep from being penalized by a company who cares nothing about quality, only quantity. Off my soapbox now!

I agree but ... SM - Assassin

[ In Reply To ..]
This is exactly what could happen ... some may try to fill in something just so they don't get points off.

I have been there for over 5 years. They know by now I don't abuse blanking.

I guess we are different, though, in that many of my reports go to QA because of blanks. I have some really bad dictators. I can be 99% sure and I still won't put it. If he says the same thing over and over and it probably is what he is saying, but I can't hear it (thus not PROVE it), I leave a blank.

This is how I was trained. This is part of why I was hired. This is why, until now, I had mostly 99% and above.

Each one I listened to was iffy. The fill-in could have been right but there is no way they can say 100% on any I checked so far that is what the dictator is saying. Period.

Any QA person saying we are padding lines ... I will be happy to Skype my entire day. You will see me checking things. Try again.

My LPH has done nothing but go down and not because of anything I am doing wrong.

I will challenge each one and we'll see what happens but in te end, this will cause them to lose a very good MT. Good luck to the QA and patients who get my replacement. And not that I'm all that but this company will now only attract really bad MTs.

Which really stinks if you are on a no-blank account-sm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
which of course is ridiculous anyway. All accounts should allow a minimum of 2 blanks unless they are going to force their dictators to higher standards as well.

I had the same experience when I was told I may - have to go back on NonDSP ...SM

[ In Reply To ..]
My supervisor told me in a post-audit of 25 jobs, I had only 2 errors but both were critical. I questioned the validity of these and he agreed to check them out. I also asked him if the offshore post auditors were harsher in their scoring that onshore. He agreed that the offshore auditors were very literal and picky when it came to scoring jobs. This may be what happened to you - your jobs were reviewed by offshore and they were harsher than our onshore folks. Worth checking out anyway

They were not off-shore; I did check. SM - Assassin

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for the suggestion though! I know almost all of them from previous reviews and know they are not in India. I think they are trapped by what they are told to do but they still shouldn't guess.

Like I asked before, what is QA for? I thought they - are there to help. noogle. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

What about audio subjectivity? I have to think - this is an issue

[ In Reply To ..]
I imagine those doing QA would have better software and listening capabilities to the audio - am I wrong? Aren't you kind of at the mercy of your computer/speakers sometimes, and if theirs is better they will be able to hear more? I think it is rather unfair to judge that someone did not fill in a blank when they could have until you walk a mile in their shoes, or hear with their "ears" (as far as the hardware and software is concerned anyway) and I kind of think if they are requiring us to hear the same audio as QA does, it is up to them to ensure the level playing field. And I don't mean that crappy Boostaroo thing either.

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