A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Are you a VR editor...or VR proofreader? - Bettie_Bgood
Posted: May 05, 2011
I'm not talking about the official proofreader positions that people hire in as. I'm talking about VR "editing" - meaning, when you get those reports where VR does what it's supposed to, and you only need to add 1 comma, for instance, in the entire report - and you are zipping along at the 300-400 lph you were promised, as justification for the 50% pay cut on switch to VR...isn't that actually proofreading??
...but what about those OTHER reports...the ones that require a little (or a lot) of "TLC" - babysitting, handholding, call it what you will...then those you really trully are editing...that you have to make changes in every sentence, if not more...whole phrases drop out...or are added in erroneously...etc...
Why does the distinction matter...because proofing and editing imply two different levels of effort...and so there should be 2 (or multiple) pay rates for VR, because you're not actually doing the same work, not by a long shot, on all reports.
I just wonder what the legalities are, when an employer mischaracterizes (let me rephrase that, misrepresents) what a job entails...in order to pay a worker less. How can that be legal? I wonder also if the Fair Pay Act applies, because MT-ing in US is female-dominated, as they say - whereas editing and proofing fields...aren't???? Have to check on that.
Opinions please...are you a VR/SR editor AND proofreader both? I think I am - and I want to be paid accordingly.
nitpicking - VR MT
[ In Reply To ..]This is like saying "Are you a typist because all you do is hit a macro on a SOAP note that needs no changes?" v "Do you have to transcribe paragraphs of information?"
Could you even IMAGINE the muck-up of trying to nitpick if you are proofreading or editing? If you are editing, you have to PROOFREAD, in order to do your job.
Can you think of any more ways to try and drum up emotional reactions from MTs? Geez LOUISE.
It's not an emotional thing - it's a reasoning thing - Bettie_Bgood
[ In Reply To ..]It's not that hard with the reports I do. The idea is, should there be only a flat rate for VR? There wasn't for straight typing. So I'm trying to reason out what a fair VR pay scale would be. That's all.
dual positions, dual payrates - Shirl
[ In Reply To ..]I suppose I'm both, too.
If they paid us at 75% instead of 50%, that would make it a lot easier to stomach. It would better balance out the easier and the "spend more time fixing than straight typing" jobs.
I still haven't signed our new contract that came out last week because I don't want to be locked in to SR slave wages for the next 3 years.
I've been with this company for 10 years. I asked for a raise from 8 cpl to 9 cpl for straight transcription 7 years ago and got it. I haven't asked for anything more since, yet the cost of living has gone up tremendously since then. My production was slacking off due to job burnout, so I can't justify asking for more, though I'd like to.
The company gives us the standard BS that after the system is "trained" it will go faster. Yeah, right. Reports that came through last week with very little editing needed have now become like the system never did them before. What the what!?
I once was an assistant editor/editor trainee in publishing. - (Before surprise #1 came along.)
[ In Reply To ..]An editor wannabe who spent too much time on the phones and did a fair amount of proofreading. Proofreaders scan text for errors of grammar and punctuation, and fact. Sound familiar? Number of errors is irrelevant.
Although we have the title, we're not editors, which requires writing composition skills at very least, plus often creative talent, people skills, and a bunch else. Jackie Kennedy became an editor at Doubleday after her wifely adventures. At the far other end of the job description, I did once work as an editor of insurance investigation reports submitted by mostly ex-cop investigators, which is to say rewrote them so they got the info across succinctly without handing defense attorneys weapons to use in court.
I wonder if the "system" has a "mind of its own" - Bettie_Bgood
[ In Reply To ..]That happens for me all the time - the VR software will finally get it right, and I don't have to make the same dumb changes for the 10-thousandth time. But then...the very next time...I DO.
What is the problem? It's costing us pay, money, which is the reason we work.
I'm just wondering how this can be legal. We're TOLD the system is trainable - but on a daily basis, we who work for it know that it isn't...or it is, when it feels like it...
Should we be thankful that it doesn't always get it right? - Shirl
[ In Reply To ..]If it did, then we'd really be out of work.
I'm trying to be optimistic that I'll get the hang of all of the shortcuts and speed up the money-making process. I've actually made.....are you ready?....about $13 an hour average the last three days, at 5 cpl. Mind you, I've had days where I've made $5 an hour, so this could be a total fluke.
The system is only as "trainable" as the MTs behind it. - editor
[ In Reply To ..]Everyone on the accunt has to be editing consistenly. If they are not, it interferes with the recognition.
I agree - I have no idea what the "logic" is - Bettie_Bgood
[ In Reply To ..]The VR just does not "learn." It learns and then un-learns. And we take the hit in our paychecks.
The physicians need to train the VR to their voice, that's why you keep - having to change it, not because of some other MT
[ In Reply To ..]not correcting the word right. Half the words I correct are clear as a bell and they still get dropped and put in wrong from the VR. Do you really think 1 new MT is messing up the whole system? I have some land to sell in Florida. If the physician is not working out on VR, you should let someone know and have that physician taken off of VR because the VR does not understand the person dictating into the VR system. By the time the VR reaches the transcriptionist, it is a hard copy for edit and VR has nothing more to do with the document.
The VR types what it thinks it hears, some days, it obviously hears something else - jmn
[ In Reply To ..]as some of the VR I have done on these ESLs it just spits out garbage that it thinks it hears. ESLs that cannot speak correctly do not belong on VR. Yeah, I see the post that all the transcriptionists need to be consistent, but I don't recall ever speaking to the VR so that it could learn my voice. VR-voice recognition, not transcriptionist recognition!!!
I think you are exaggerating. - VReditor
[ In Reply To ..]I highly doubt that your employer told you that you will have to "add only one comma" to a speech rec report. If that were the case, they wouldn't need you at all. Your expectations of VR reports are not realistic at all. Every single report I've ever gotten has needed edits, sometimes extensive, other times not as much.
Speech rec editing involves both proofreading the report for mistakes AND editing that report and making corrections.
It is not the same as transcription. It's a combination of a different set of skills. I was hesitant at first, but now I'd rather edit a speech rec report than transcribe.
VR is here to stay. I told myself that at this point in the game I had to accept VR and work at honing my skills or get out of the business. I'd say that 75% of my work is now speech rec and I'm okay with it. I'm not rolling in piles of money, but I'm making what I was before my company moved to VR.
Some reports only require 1 comma - Bettie_Bgood
[ In Reply To ..]I'm certainly not exaggerating - there is WIDE variability in how well the VR is "recognizing" the dictator's speech - they should not all pay the same rate. With transcription, there were different pay rates, based on the difficulty of the dictation. Variable pay rates for variable dictators needs to be reinstituted for VR, in order for us MTs to be paid FAIRLY.
It's a matter of semantics. Doesn't matter what label you put on it... - sm
[ In Reply To ..]When you review a speech rec report - no matter your employer, no matter what platform, you listen to the dictation, read (or proof) what the engine transcribed, and make the necessary changes to the report (edit).
Sounds like you don't like speech rec and are trying to blame everyone but yourself because you don't like it/cant' do it.
Love this post. I am an editor. My accounts - require a LOT of changes
[ In Reply To ..]Sentences don't begin with capitals, punctuation is non-existent, ASR can't decide whether to use numerals or spell out numbers, never gets medications right, makes up stuff, leaves out stuff it just doesn't know what to do with. I understand there are some accounts that just need "proofreading," and I am tired of feeling like a failure because I can't do 500 lph when I am changing so much in every line that I could retype it easier. Thank you for understanding!!!!!!
I do understand. I have had the same experience, VR puts out a lot of junk - that requires time to correct
[ In Reply To ..]Unfortunately, I am not being paid the correct pay for spending that time on each and every one of the documents.
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