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

Help! Can't make minimum LPH - 1verytiredMT

Posted: Oct 21, 2014

My primary account is a straight typing account. I can't consistently make the minimum line count of 150 lph in our 8 hours. I use my shorthand and as many normals as i can, but I'm making no money. How is everyone doing this? Plus for VR it's only 180 lph. Seems like actually typing the lph should be lower. Someone please tell me how to get enough lines in!! Would quit in a heartbeat if I could, but a little pay is better than no pay, though I am still looking.

Scheduling - working

[ In Reply To ..]
Create a schedule. Say, clock in, take 5 minutes to see email etc. Then work until the next hour. For that hour, have a power hour, where you work as hard as you can for the whole hour with no breaks. No phone. No bathroom etc. By putting scheduled 15 min breaks in your day with 2-3 power hours, your production WILL come up. It works. Go hustle!

How many breaks do you take? - 1verytiredMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure how many "breaks" we are allowed to have.

Another thing - working

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you have shortcuts for all headings that puts them in caps and puts the colons? Do that. Colons and caps make you slow. Any phrase used repeatedly, make a shortcut for. tyvmf (thank you very much for) acot (after completion of this)hapmh (has a past medical history) tpwg (the patient was given) tpwtt (the patient was taken to) etc. Just some suggestions :) Shortcuts aren't just for normals and templates.

schedule - working - mt

[ In Reply To ..]
And in that hour, when one works as hard as they can but receive horrible drafts, lousy sound files, and bad dictators and only make on average if they are lucky 190 LPH.....x8 hours for the day....then what? Everyone's situation is not the same.

Therein is the rub, VR is not all that much faster--sm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
so the 186 is reasonably fair , not to mention it is combined. You do not state how much experience you have, etc. So another basic thing beyond power hours is not spending too much time looking things up, etc. Depending on how much experience you have, you should have a good idea of whether or not something is going to be found. I have a good feel for whether or not the doctor is being clear enough for me to find a med or another physician's name and if not, QC can take a shot at it.

20+ years experience - 1verytiredMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Been doing this a long, long time. I know I DO spend too much time in looking things up as I HATE to leave a blank. When I worked in-house would average anywhere from 1600 to 2000 a day. Maybe I'm burned out. Apparently I need to revisit my shortcuts and an try to make more. Thanks for responses.

Another thing - 1verytiredMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Just curious about the breaks, I know we are to only work 8 hours, but can we take more than 2 breaks? or does anyone work over the 8 hours? Feel free to reply by email for privacy

You can take breaks, but clocked hours should be consistent--sm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Make sure that when you are taking a break that you do not have a report open. I take breaks as needed, to get blood into my legs, etc.

With the blanks, I think it is a matter of wrapping your head around the direction that MT is going. It should be a quality report but you are not being paid for your level of knowledge and expertise any more, it is now all about TAT.

on the contrary, I take 8 min breaks all the time - especially on long reports

[ In Reply To ..]
I take 8 min because the system kicks you out after 10 so I set my phone for 8 min and have 2 min to get back. This is how I cook, cut my grass, garden, look at MT stars. I do not clock out for these breaks either. My production seems to be just fine with or without these. Never clock out for a break, you may get flack for too much time off system! I used to be good and take my two 15 min breaks and that is what happened to me about 4 TSMs ago, but since I switched to lots of 8 min ones, haven't heard a word. :)

If somebody is already having production problems-sm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
then having a report open while taking a break cuts into their lph. I do not clock out of webclock for my breaks but I do not have any reports open if I am taking a break. If I need to use the bathroom, I try to do it in between reports, etc. That is because on the platform I work on at least, lph is figured not by your clocked in hours but the amount of time reports are open.

Taking breaks has HELPED my production - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I used to be a stickler to my schedule, never getting up until my set break time, but eventually my body and hands could not take it anymore. I have to get up at least once an hour to get away from the computer screen and stretch my legs. Staring at a bright screen for hours on end is not healthy. I have found that if I give myself a quick break each hour, I come back refreshed and with a clear mind, and I am able to get more done knowing that I will be able to get up again soon. Instead of taking a 15-minute break every 3 hours, I take a 5-minute break every hour. I use an egg timer on my desk so I do not stray too long. It has helped me to increase my production by about 20% since I started doing this on a regular basis. I agree the OP should give it a try.

breaks - newbutold

[ In Reply To ..]
I take a break every hour, normally take the dog out and then may fix me a snack or a drink or just check my email to clear my head a little. You have to do that otherwise you will go crazy. It will get easier and you will get faster. When I first started i was put on an account that was straight typing which I had not done in awhile because of the VR and I loved it but my LPH suffered at first and then I got into the swing of things and it did improve.

Blanks... - AnotherAnon

[ In Reply To ..]
I used to hate to leave them too, but not anymore, not with this company.

If I cannot quickly resolve the blank it stays as long as I am below the required 10% for blanks sent to QA. I used to run 2% or less to QA, now I hover between 7-9% sent to QA each week. I'm not proud of it, but I have a family to feed and house too.

I blank it - working

[ In Reply To ..]
I refuse to break myself trying to hunt things that speakers aren't somewhat clear about. I blank it and go on. I hope that QC and higher ups will see speakers consistently having many blanks and it might help. Maybe not. Either way, I look for a very short time and move on.

Opening private emails on this board jeopardizes your anonymity. - It creates a traceable path straight to you.

[ In Reply To ..]
In case that might ever matter to you. They can then block you from accessing this site and others have been targeted for firing after revealing themselves in this way. Please remember that you never really know who is who or even who they represent themselves to be on this board, and HR trolls are monitoring all activity.

LPH discussion - anonie

[ In Reply To ..]
I feel bad for all of you. My God, you will ruin your urinary tract if you don't go when you have to. I take a diuretic, so that is not possible plus I have diarrhea daily, much better since I started a new medication.

Sounds like if you can't talk on this site, it is again like the government spying on you. You should be able to come here and vent.

I mean most people know what companies are not good to work for, but sometimes I think that they should be exposed and someone investigate their actions, i.e. Labor Department, etc. and of course monitor outsourcing our medical records out of the country to India or elsewhere. It is time something was done about this. Don't imagine too many patients know this may happen now. Think they would be enraged about it.

Mistakes have been made by American MTs but hey even more from overseas MTs. It is a shame that American MTs have to proof and correct their work. Seems like a hospital would rather have good reports done by American MTs rather than have them done twice in most cases.

Oh, the idiocy of this whole global economy. I wish we just strictly traded and nothing else. Too much going overseas to get away from paying taxes.

I hate having to buy products that are not American made and would not want my medical records going overseas. No way do I want that.

I hope all of you can make some money. I know that this wonderful career has really turned into something so awful and too many companies with really harsh rules to survive working for them. No more trying to retain people huh?

HR monitoring MTStars - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
HR departments do monitor MTStars and have been notified of such. Please be careful!

Lie on your timecard - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
that's what I have to do. They get away with giving you less than minimum wage but at least its money of some sort.

Although, reading the other posts, I'm guessing that might not be how it works at nuance. - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
You are actually timed in your reports? that sucks. sorry

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