DICT8 Plus (new November 2022)

[Whitestar55]

Hi, Here we go again, anyone else set up a new thread yet? Hope to find everyone 🙂

another poor day with both TPro and DICT8 so while I am waiting for some work I thought I would share the following VR I did have earlier -

a patient had "trialled a regular low dose psychiatrist" and another had been prescribed "duff lubricating eye drops" !!

No wonder patients never seem to get any better...

All I can say is, for today, this is how I feel 😂

@Whitestar55 just wanted to say I do medicolegal typing in my 'day job'. I think it's easier especially if it's in a speciality you are familiar with. It's usually pages and pages of straight typing and can be really interesting so you can really get stuck in. If you have an opportunity to do some I would recommend trying it.

@Lovemydaxie Thanks, I'll look into it.

@Whitestar55 yes I've had a few days like that recently ! One particular regular (female) sounds like something out of the Haribo advert 😱Unfortunately most of my task list consisted of her voice but try as hard as I could I just couldn't face it so have had a few days off 😂

I am listening to dictation which sounds as though it is taking place in a Spa. The music is rather like that you would find playing in a flotation pool! What next?

I think transcription companies need regulating, so that the whole process is made safer and easier for both the clients and we the transcribers. It's ridiculous to expect us to transcribe something that has travelled digitally with all it's failings making it akin to Chinese Whispers, with no information to refer to, expecting us to decipher, research on GuessAGoogle, edit and proofread, achieve 100% accuracy (and be reprimanded when we don't) or query everything in the notes box for someone else to have to sort out, and all for a pittance that = <minimum wage. I'm so looking forward to the day I can give up this trash of a job.

Agree, from an ear perspective the loud dictation and loud background noise is damaging and gives rise to tinnitus. Volume of dictation should be better regulated.

not to mention the sudden loud & unexpected computer noises that occur from doctors leaving handsets in desks next to computer and then using it.

My experience over the last week is Dr's dictating and phonetically spelling the names that are not the difficult (like say Julie Black') and then 'do yu wanna chewonit@@@ (not spelt out phonetically). Hello, made me giggle some much I couldn't even attempt my perception of it ... ANO whoja nick a bollock off !!!! NO, never attempting ... my best guess was Huja NIKABOLOKOV. Just put note in box instead 'name unclear'!!!! I was laughing for ages.

I don't even bother with a note stating patient name unclear, just type what I hear which is what Dict8 always say to do. Same with doctor's name dictating. I once asked for a list of names of drs in my specialty but was told could not be provided, just to type what you hear.

Oh yes I've had some rude-sounding names. Maybe another class of letter that is left because transcribers don't know what to put. That one's a doozy though.

I still enjoy it at times I must admit. There is some satisfaction in puzzling out what they are on about but as a serious job it is pretty awful. There is no protection for the self-employed so we get exploited. Anyone who tries to organise or protest will simply not get work. Even if you got old-style solidarity with everyone stopping work together I think it's likely these days the owners would simply dissolve the company.

0 tasks on Tpro again this morning for all my hospitals and there was 0 available yesterday as well. Just managed to do 2 short letters on DICT8, but worrying times for Tpro workers, just glad I kept my DICT8 work also.

@Gally123 I think Dict8 have far too many transcribers. I logged on this morning and there were 164 tasks showing, went for a quick wee (too much information I know, but just so it’s clear how long I was away lol), came straight back and only five tasks showing.

@Chrissols - that is still 5 more tasks than Tpro.

@Gally123 worrying times for folk relying on it. Up until this last year I relied on it and the stress it caused was unreal, thank goodness there are other companies out there.

I agree the uncertainty of gig work is stressful. I spent yesterday looking at other companies and other lines of online gig work, but wasn't impressed.

By the way, I have some DICT8 emails with newsletter attachments (from years ago), but when I tried to open them, they no longer appear to exist. I wonder if they've deleted them? I remember the older newsletters being quite instructive on how to do the work, maybe they've got rid of them because of the new criteria over what constitutes an employee versus SE contractor.

@Whitestar55 I'm going to sound stupid here, but what's 'gig' work?

@Chrissols Where you do a series of one-off tasks/jobs at your own discretion.

@Whitestar55 you learn something everyday 😊

Low volume of work down to 0 at times on DICT8 today.

Dict8 has had low volumes of work all last week for my speciality. It is currently on 0 but haven't seen it above 10 today.

@Whitestar55 I love that youtube I will be using that a lot! haha.

I sent an email to Tpro enquiring about part-time hours and how they worked etc then they lured me in by offering a typing test which I passed and was offered a post within the day if I wanted it. However, on reviewing the contract it was apparent from what has been said here that they expect 500 letters done minimum each week. I explained my situation in my preliminary email and that asking me to do that amount of work is triple the income I cannot receive. so I declined and then had to wait until yesterday for them just to say okay thanks! (been on annual leave) talk about time-wasting, I think for that reason TPRO I'm definitely out!

All that said now, the allowance is incoming and as the work is sparse anyway I'm actually accruing just enough now and hopefully with little stress worrying if there is work. But after only doing a few letters today I'm still getting hammered with emails regarding mistakes in dictation due purely to the fact the sound quality or dictation is p**s poor as usual.

@Frazzledbynature The fact that the companies provide apps to enable dictation via iphones etc in any location surely doesn't help with the quality and clarity of recording, or do they just not care as it's only the transcribers that have to deal with it and carry the can.