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

new to medical transcription-Dragon? - blondie

Posted: Jan 26, 2013

I'm new to medical transcription and thinking about buying Dragon software. Does it work on wav files from different doctors? If you have a Mac and MacSpeech could you transfer those files to the Mac and then back to the PC to send back? I don't want all of my work done through Dragon, I just want it more for clarification and accuracy.

Thanks!

If you are new - don't mess with VR (sm) - Angie

[ In Reply To ..]
VR is NOT something to rely on for accuracy and clarification! You cannot depend on VR to create an accurate record without an experienced MT/editor checking it. A person new to MT does not have the experience to accurately edit VR. Therefore using it places the patient at high risk for errors that can result in serious risk to their lives. This doesn't even start to go into software conversion and compatibility issues.

Seriously? - djr

[ In Reply To ..]
Is this a real post? Why in the world would you want to go through all that just to get some clarification. Doing something like that will probably just create lots of mistakes (way more than you'd make on your own). I'm truly not trying to be sarcastic, but depend on your own ears and eyes, not on some machine with no critical thinking ability whatsoever.

new to medical transcription-Dragon? - blondie

[ In Reply To ..]
Because I have some hearing loss and I know I would have to edit it but I'm just nervous about my own accuracy. I also have trouble understanding the different accents.
Didn't you feel that way when you first started? I'm just looking different ways to make myself and work better. Don't be so judgmental.

SM - djr

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm not being judgmental, I just think that you may be out of your depth. I've been a transcriptionist and an instructor for several years, and as someone with a lot of experience with straight typing, offshore editing, VR editing, and training new MTs, I can tell you that the only thing you can trust is yourself.

I also would think that someone with hearing loss should NOT be doing any kind of editing. Especially at the end of the day, things start to run together. For example, Naprosyn and naproxen look and sound an awful lot alike and the VR often gets them confused. Your ears will hear it, your eyes will see it as "close enough" and you may move on without even realizing it. I've caught myself doing this at the end of the day when I'm already a little brain-fried.

Just be super extra careful if you decide to use something like that. It also sounds like a technical nightmare that might not be worth the effort even if it didn't create extra errors. Good luck :)

just learning too! - blondie

[ In Reply To ..]
The course that I took also teaches VR. I am not out of my depth. You can't tell me EVERY SINGLE medical transcription has 100% hearing. Thanks for the advice, I will not buy the Dragon software.

I teach VR too.... - djr

[ In Reply To ..]
I think that's best.

I teach VR in my program too, and the dictations used for students are a LOT easier than in the "real world." You don't want to unnecessarily confuse yourself by adding in a bunch of extra steps. If you're worried about accuracy, just take your time starting off and make sure everything makes sense. You will probably find that VR doesn't get the hard stuff wrong. The things it gets wrong are the things that are easy to miss.

not easy... - blondie

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, I can't really say I know how the dictations are in the "real world", but the dictations my school uses are tough. Both VR and straight transcription. I'm not complaining, I know that it's teaching me and I HAVE learned a lot. I love the research when I don't understand a word or procedure and come to find out I got it right! I love that feeling. I received a lot of good advice on here and won't be buying Dragon. I'm just a couple of weeks from my final and nervous but I will do it and be an awesome transcriptionist! Thanks again.

Transcription with hearing loss....sm - me

[ In Reply To ..]
I too have hearing loss and in fact, had to sit out a semester after it happened and now have tinnitus on top of it. However, you can still be very successful in medical transcription, but it does take extra effort in learning and double-checking what you think you hear and what should go there. My advice... buy the best headset and sound card you can (this goes to nonhearing impaired MTs as well) and keep notes, save out samples (if you are allowed), etc. I personally can recommend the Dictaphone Stereo Deluxe headset (comes in a variety of configurations and plugs), and I use a SoundBlaster Pro external sound card with Media Toolbox 6 sound-enhancing/clarity software. I have edited behind thousands of transcriptionists and can fill in blanks and edit behind transcriptionists with no hearing loss on the toughest of dictators (this comes with experience too). Please flag anything you are unsure of though. Good luck!

Perspective - Everybody has those issues, not just you

[ In Reply To ..]
You are experiencing the same things that plague other new MTs, but you are blaming them on yourself, getting "nervous" about them, and trying to solve them with Dragon.

Not everyone hears the same. Few people encounter accents and understand them straight off. Not everyone has the same computer skills, spelling ability, and command of writing and grammar.

These are all things you need to learn to do MT. They are the things EVERYONE needs to learn. Some are better than others at them, but everyone still needs to learn them.

You can look for ways to make yourself work better, but in the end the only sure-fire way is to learn these things FOR YOURSELF.

Some people approach learning new skills with the idea that they can find ways around learning them. Others just accept that these are skills they need to learn and devote their time to learning them.

Dragon sounds real good because of its advertising hype. Because you don't know better, you're buying into that. Really, though, Dragon isn't going to hear any better than you do AND if you can't do the work on your own, you will be in no position to know if Dragon did it right or not.

You just need to do what every new MT does . . . learn to do the work yourself. I had to do that. Everyone hear had to do that. You CAN do that, too.

thank you! - blondie

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for your advice and you are right. I am looking to depend on something else instead of my own confidence and skills. I appreciate you saying that everyone experiences this when first starting out. This has been something I have wanted for a long time and I will succeed!! Thanks again!!

I was kind of wondering the same thing. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I know others have used it for production purposes. Of course, it will still need edited, but I guess it could save some keystrokes and serve as a learning technique.

I hope you get someone to post that uses it as I know people do, I just don't know anyone personally.

Have you tried doing a search on here in the archives? I haven't done that yet but would be interested to see if anything comes up.

Clarification and accuracy??? - Wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
You don't want to use it in general, but you want to use it for "clarification and accuracy"???

Wondering what that means . . . I think you believe that it will tell you what the doctor is saying when you don't understand it yourself.

That isn't likely, at least not if you are a legitimate MT, i.e., one trained in a good course. If you are that, then you should be able to understand what you hear well enough to exceed Dragon.

The amount of time spent comparing your wor with Dragon's would be prohibitive. It would not be worth the time.

I can't say it would help you learn, either. It makes errors, too, and to an astounding degre.

See, that's the thing. Dragon may interpret - what the dictator said SM

[ In Reply To ..]
perfectly. The problem is, the word the dictator used was the absolute wrong word. Something as simple as saying kidney function tests instead of liver function tests and go on to list the different names and values. Someone without MT experience would read that and think it was correct. An experienced MT would know it was wrong (now this is a very simple example, but I hope you get what I am trying to say). A more serious example would be medications and dosages (as in the recent lawsuit, in which case even if the dictator is correct, the VR is not, and it is up to the MT to know that.

It has to be 3 pronged: VR, dictator, and MT. The intelligent one must be the MT. Never count on the other 2 prongs to be accurate.

I really agree with the poster who was talking about learning for yourself. You can't go wrong with that. If you want to do this as a helping tool, so be it, but never think it is smarter than you once you have experience.

good point! - blondie

[ In Reply To ..]
I never even thought about that, that is an excellent point! I did an appendectomy report the other day and the doctor said he put the appendix back in the cavity. WHAT???? Granted, I would still have to edit it but I think all of my focus would be on the editing instead of the quality of the transcription. Thank you for bringing that up!!

You have to train it to one voice. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
The only halfway successful use of VR by MTs is by 'redictating' (but not really much more speedy, if any faster, than what the MT could do on their own straight typing). In other words, listening to the dictation and resaying what you're hearing. And that only works halfway well with the most expensive, professional version of Dragon (around $800 or so?). You can't just run different voices through it and expect it to work, sorry, doesn't work that way except for the large companies who have a much more expensive set-up than you or I could ever afford.

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