Pay with Dict8

[Chrissols]

Good Morning all Dict8 ladies

@carosel2 it’s not like that everyday but usually manage to get a couple over 10 minutes

@carosel2 @Chrissols - in all my various specialties I am lucky if I get something 3 mins long, most are just a few lines. I think about once a week I might get a 6 min one!

(although before Epsom & St Helier Hospitals left after the last system upgrade that DICT8 did they regularly used to post whole clinics in one go of 15, 20 or even 25 mins long. I think the most I earned for one long task was £35 - it took a while to type and check though!)

I also manage to get some long letters/reports - 15-20 minutes long but not very often, but they are great when they appear and it saves waiting for work.

In the past, I too used to get really long files with whole clinics, but now they are mostly one letter per file and I am lucky if it is 2 minutes. I have recently felt that Dict8 have asked that the doctors do it that way rather than putting a whole clinic on one file so that it gets typed quicker. If you think about it, a 30 minute file, depending on the quality of the dictation. usually takes four times that to type so 2 hours roughly, whereas if all the letters are individual with many transcribers being able to access the files they will be typed and back on the system in a fraction of that time. Makes you think doesn't it?

I wonder how many Trusts actually use Dict8 these days

@Lovemydaxie - I wonder if that is why Epsom & St Helier left DICT8 if they did make such a "request". I had assumed perhaps with the upgrade that DICT8 had increased their fees, but a clinical suggestion makes equal sense as E & ST H were the only hospital that used to do such long dictations of whole clinics (other than I think Medway, but they left some time earlier). I do remember once when I was typing a long clinic, it was New Years Eve and DICT8 were doing some sort of system maintenance or something at the same time and I had a lot of problems and it took me a lot longer than normal. I got several of those automated messages they used to send out after about an hour and a half telling me I had had the task for that amount of time etc. Those messages used to annoy me, but it shows how we did used to have some work, unlike nowadays.

@Gally123 - having worked for Dict8 since 2006, when I think back to how it was in those early years, nearly all of my files were multiple letters and regularly hour long files and it just seems so different these days. I can't remember the last time I had a file of more than 10 mins. I can only assume that Dict8 must have something to do with it. After all, I would imagine from the doctor's point of view, it's a lot easier dictating the whole clinic into one file rather than doing it separately.

I agree that you would think it would be easier from the Consultant's point of view to dictate the whole clinic onto one file, but from what I have seen with other companies they all seem to be single letters/reports on each file.

I have been going on at random times during the afternoon/evening/weekends to get work - seems to be working out at the moment, although I never do mornings they don't suit me 😂.

when I worked at the local hospital and digital dictation was introduced the doctor or nurse dictated each letter by selecting the relevant patient on the clinic list, as opposed to the whole clinic in one go as they used to with tapes so it could be that DICT8 has introduced the same sort of system (esp with the tasks where the hospital number is already supplied in the box to the right) and only multiple letters are dictated on the same patient or non clinic letters such as results letters.

@ Meha5 - That is exactly what I have been doing. I am not keen on morning work either (but then again, there is very little work available on mine in the mornings). Good luck with it.

I always see work on in the evenings, but definitely do not want to work evenings and will avoid it unless it is absolutely necessary, up to now I've managed to not have to. I like to get my work done and dusted as early as possible to have a long evening free......as everyone says, it is each to their own 😊

How's it going for everyone, all had a good weekend I hope. I've had a dozen of tasks today but all very short. Had a message on Tpro saying their hospitals are getting back to physical clinics as from the first week in March, so lets hope that's the same everywhere

@Chrissols - I had the same message from TPro, so fingers crossed.

DICT8 quiet at the moment.

Yes very quiet with DICT8 today

I wonder if DICT8 is getting left behind technology-wise and if their system is long winded to use for dictators. There seems to be an increasing shift toward Artificial Intelligence for healthcare administration, including, unfortunately for us, improvement in voice recognition programmes in terms of clarity, speed and accuracy and user friendliness for the dictator.

@Whitestar5 if Tpro is anything to go by artificial intelligence systems have a very long way to go yet, the speech accuracy has a long long long way to go before it could be classed as even passable. Not that I am saying Tpro are bad, definitely not, just VR systems have still got a few years to go yet before anyone could rely on the them

@Chrissols I know VR is rubbish at the moment, I was just making the point that DICT8 are possibly less technology focused and might be losing customers - I hope not though.

I don't know about TPRO, but for instance, DICT8's system seems to have a lot of repetitive processes, like both the dictator and transcriber having to key in the hospital number in various places, which is a pain for everyone (I don't mind typing it in the main text box though, we need all the characters we can get for that don't we!) .

@Whitestar5 from a transcribers perspective, Dict8 is the easiest system I have ever used, but I do see your point about pre-populating hospital numbers etc. I am assuming the dictator does not have to key in anything in though

static1.squarespace.com/static/5a0aa60080bd5eaffa9a595e/t/5b4a234a352f534ffb4b5688/1531585359423/User+Guide+DR-18-5.pdf

I don't know if this has been mentioned on here before but this is DICT8's user guide for doctors. On page 7 in the blue box, they are asked to rate tasks so that appropriate transcribers can be selected.

[quote Chrissols]@Whitestar5 from a transcribers perspective, Dict8 is the easiest system I have ever used, but I do see your point about pre-populating hospital numbers etc. I am assuming the dictator does not have to key in anything in though[/quote]
Some tasks are now coming through with the hospital number prefilled by the doctor, which is better for us, as long as we can still type it in the letter to increase our character count of course .

From page 7 of the doctors user guide:

Transcript notes: Sometimes our transcribers will be unsure as to what was said in a dictation. When this occurs they will put a number in brackets in the transcript, which will correspond to one in the transcript notes box adjacent. You can also use this to send notes to your secretary.

..............It looks like dictators are actually being encouraged to send notes to their secretaries via our unpaid labour.

voice recognition is rubbish for people with accents.

VR and AI is so hyped up by these tech and transcription companies when you read their websites, but they obviously rely on experienced transcriptionists with a working knowledge of the respective fields to make it work, and unfortunately we seem to be the least valued and most exploited.