A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Why the VR bashing? VR's not the problem. MTSOs are. - Des
Posted: Mar 05, 2013
If our production was supposed to "double" with VR, they could've easily just "doubled" our quota. This would've reduced our pay with the reduction/elimination of incentive pay, but at least we would've been able to preserve our cpl rate.
VR isn't the problem, any more than expanders, shortcuts, macros, and even computers (versus typewriters and stenopads) were the problem. All of these things have boosted our productivity over the years, making individual MTs more productive, meaning not as many MTs are needed to do the same volume of work.
Attacking VR just makes us look petty and unprofessional, and confirms the stereotype that MTs are wannabe divas who are difficult to work with and unwilling to adapt. The MTs out there who've managed to keep their clients from MTSOs have done so by changing to meet the needs of their clients, by being available when other MTs refuse to be, and by taking advantage of technology to improve productivity and reduce cost.
Technology for decades has been putting people out of work. It's not limited to MT. However, technology isn't a bad thing. How many lives have been saved, how many products have been created, how many jobs have been created because of technology?
If we want to survive in MT, we have to adapt to what it has become. Or, we can just move on.
but isn't it supposed to learn? - and it never does
[ In Reply To ..]you can fix something 1000 times and it won't fix it. If VR were human, it would have been fired.
VR - In House VR MT
[ In Reply To ..]You making the corrections does not help the VR program "learn". The dictating physician needs to make the corrections in order for the "learning" to take affect.
Us making the changes does not teach the program anything.
I may be wrong - sm
[ In Reply To ..]but doesn't someone have to go in and manually make corrections to the program? In the hospital I work in, we have an IT department person who does just that all day. No matter how many times we make corrections ourselves, it won't "take" permanently until the IT person fixes it within the basic program.
You are not wrong - VR neophyte
[ In Reply To ..]I QA the outsourced work for my employer. We send our corrections to IT (particularly the sound-alike words that get used incorrectly) and IT enters it into the system. The next time through, we no longer see that error. VR can't "learn" unless someone "trains" it.
you are 100% correct - Snow Bunny (the original)
[ In Reply To ..]The basic speech engine is the same whether it is a 1-user program or used by an MTSO. IOW, no train = no gain.
With DNS, the Vocabulary Editor has a written form and a spoken form. Sometimes you have to utilize both parts to get things to stick. For example ... if I want to have the program type a suture material correctly, I would have this:
Written form: 1-0
Spoken form: one oh
And then I train it 2x. When I return to my document, Dragon will type it the way I want. Failure to follow this step and no matter how much I repeat things, it's going to get it wrong. If I say "one oh prolene" then what I'll get is "1 O Prolene."
and yet when we ask for them to fix things - they cant or wont
[ In Reply To ..]in fact, they will make it out to be the MTs fault. The MTs aren't correcting things properly so ASR can't learn. At least that's how it is at MModal.
They can do/say whatever they want - Snow Bunny (the original)
[ In Reply To ..]It's called passing problem ownership over to someone else.
Whoever is telling you that at MModal is an idiot. Please give me their name and email address and I'll save you the trouble.
It does learn, if it's edited consistently and managed properly. - Des
[ In Reply To ..]
It does learn, if it's managed properly. I've seen it with my own eyes.
I've seen mistakes that never get "fixed," and I've seen it "fix" things after just a few days of changes.
I think "Snow Bunny" said it best in her post at the link below.
of course it's trainable - Snow Bunny (the original)
http://forum.mtstars.com/462358.html
I think "Snow Bunny" explained it well in her post at the link below.
VR success depends so much on the quality of the program & IT. - abysmal VR here
[ In Reply To ..]I strongly agree with limiting the reports run back through the system to a small select group of MTs. Mixing in the sloppy editors, poor-quality MTs/editors with the good and experienced MTs/editors is a recipe for the VR program never learning.
The MM program is horrible. I have been correcting the same errors for literally years. Now, also, there seems to be more and more predictive text being added which was never said and even dangerous without diligent editing. Just reading the report, it looks like a proper report, but upon full listen, the text does match what was said.
VR Bashing - Rather Disgusted and Fed Up
[ In Reply To ..]The thing is, I'm not VR bashing. I am simply questioning whether I can adapt to it and make enough money to live on with it, and I am rather afraid I cannot. Now it does seem to me, that if VR is, indeed, a better technology it still needs skilled human involvement to make it work. That human is going to have to be paid enough to live on, and I fear that VR is not "priced right." My concern is the compensation that is being offered to me is on par with what I would make in the fast food industry, with the economic advantage going to the fast food industry as there are not the associated expenses such as high speed internet. I don't have a quarrel with VR per se, if it is indeed superior (which I frankly have my doubts about) what I have a quarrel what I am being paid to edit it. And, just for the fun of being inflammatory, I would like to make the observation that I was very very productive and my work definitely of very high quality, in the "bad old days" when I was working on a typewriter -- although I will admit when I got my first self-correcting Selectric and was allowed to photocopy instead of making carbons, I did see a real increase in productivity but really not so much since then despite all so-called advances which I see as benefiting the medical record clerks, not us; clerical duties such as tracking down patient names, dates, and medical records were not really a part of my job, the clerks were there to take care of most of that. I freely admit I have gotten computer lazy over the years using macros, expansion programs, spellcheckers, templates, etc., and I do not want to back to the typewriter. BUT I am secretly of the opinion that any truly skilled MT could still do just as well with a self-correcting IBM Selectric -- once back into the habit of typing for accuracy, making the effort to remember how to spell things, writing things down, and looking things up. Granted we now have some increased speed, but really not all that much, and that speed can come with cost, and that cost is in the accuracy/quality of the report. In addition, I have noticed that these platforms I have been using in the last few years are not nearly as good as my old 386, DOS 6.2, PRD, SmartType, 4 megs of memory, and WP51. This wonderful new technology that is supposedly making me so productive is in fact slowing me down! Way way down! In general, I don't like what I am seeing and being forced to use, and frankly I do not think it is better. So flame away!
No flaming here - Snow Bunny (the original)
[ In Reply To ..]I use Dragon on and off and my production is always higher than using the keyboard. Partly, because I have a poor memory when it comes to remembering tens of thousands of abbreviations. So, while I knock out around 150-175 lph straight typing I can produce 300+ lph using Dragon version 12.5. So, for me it definitely improves production.
Why? Because I do everything that is supposed to be done to make it work correctly. If I didn't, then the production will deteriorate over time.
I've said this before and will repeat it again ... unless *ALL* of the MTs in this industry refuse to do VR unless it is well trained (like it was at Alpha Transcription, even with ESL dictators), then get used to things or get out. There *IS* no other choice.
I have heard and tend to agree...SM - Old Anon
[ In Reply To ..]that the faster straight MTs actually do not do as well with SR/VR as far as increased productivity as the slower straight MTs. My case in point is that I was an average producer when straight transcribing, 150-180 lph, but I can actually double my production with SR/VR; but mores the pity that, while I have the same MT skills, they are only compensating me with half the rate of pay. So, SR/VR is not user friendly for very fast straight MTs, and that is the reality of the situation.
Our pay is cut in half and if we don't like it we're whiners? (sm) - Bermuda Bahamas
[ In Reply To ..]However I do agree with you that technology has been making jobs obsolete for years and we need to either adapt or move on. I am very happily moving on after desperately trying to get out the last two years.
That's not what I said. Not even close. Read it again. - Des
[ In Reply To ..]nm
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