DICT8 Plus (new November 2022)

[Whitestar55]

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

Having said there is plenty on the tasks are going down very fast .. from over 100 down to 50 in 5 mins!

I wonder if it's a consequence of the strikes plus VR edited by in-house secretaries (or not edited at all) and tech companies annoying claims that their systems can wipe out the need for transcribers and secretaries.

Dict8 is picking up again now, but still nowhere near what it used to be.

The quality for mine (plenty of work) is diabolical and therefore I am giving myself a long weekend, this transcriber has had enough this week 😳

@Whitestar55 : they started off good today loads, diminished, loads ... now nothing transcribable. I sent a message re. a task that was inaudible. The comment from Dict8 was that it was unclear but could be typed with lots of notes .... [I think the team at Dict8 should type it then] I have declined. The rest are the same. What do I do now? - resort to start the letter and send a note to the dictator 'unclear' (for which I will be reprimanded) ... it's ridiculous.

@danblack87 We must be owed £100s for our time spent explaining and typing messages in the notes box, as 8 pence a line just doesn't compensate for this any more.

Tpro great for me still just doing work for them and earning more than I ever did with Dict8. There is now plenty of work, I can actually get a day off and most afternoons done by 3.00 as I’ve reached my target. I haven’t looked back since signing up to them.

Does anyone else find this work really tiring or is it just me?

@danblack87 - with quiet tasks I normally just put a note at the start saying something like "please check the letter carefully as the dictation is very quiet and difficult to hear" or "due to background noise" etc, trying to phrase it politely so DICT8 can have no complaints and without pointing out that the dictator is rubbish, one such note at the start usually covers for the whole of the letter, but occasionally I might add extra an extra note if the voice disappears completely etc.

Just in case anyone missed me, I broke my patella in two five weeks ago and at 66 I don't bounce back so fast and am not desperate to get back to work. Physio and lots of rest for now! It sounds as though things are a mite better overall. Good luck all and a happy Easter when it comes round.

@Lunnuni - painful! I fractured mine (hairline) 40 years ago and for a long time it ached etc. Hope it is not your foot pedal leg (if you use one). Happy Easter to you.

danblack87, I took to doing a first note saying 'unable to tell what is being said' (which is general enough to cover most things and doesn't sound as though it's anyone's fault) and then note 2 'as note 1' note 3 'as note 1' etc. I'd mention separately if distorted, too quiet or noises on recording.

I did all of the above and was email-told-off and asked to ALTN everything !!!

@Whitestar55 - ive done a couple of Dict8 but was so fed up again with shocking dictation I soon swapped to T-pro where there are lots of work on again in abundance. Only thing is im asked regulalrly now to type certain hospitals that are way behind in date order even though tasks are in the red in my preferred specialities but because date is so behind in others im having to tackle them instead. However, saying that im still making more money with them because even though im not familiar with the specialties, if the doc is clear, it's not so bad to fathom out especially when you can refer to previous letters. Im like @nomadchild - im making my target even with the tasks im not familiar with and im in front for the month so will be able to have a few days off before April starts again which is a massive bonus knowing I can have a very extended weekend at the end of March!. I also agree with @Gally123 - that still keeping in with Dict8 as you just never know, that things can go wrong at a drop of a hat so its better to still do a little bit for Dict8 to keep another source of income coming in, albeit a small one at the moment 😏

@carosel2 I am glad that it is not just me being asked to do other stuff - the other day I was working my way through my usual tasks when there was, I thought, a general shout out to help another hospital for a while - when I went back to my usual tasks they had all been typed!

With Tpro I increased my daily/monthly target, so I can get more done to the house and also after the problems with going away with lockdowns I plan to take two short holidays this year instead of one. Also I plan to take it easy during the summer when the weather is nice knowing that I can work in the evenings instead, which is not always the case with DICT8. But generally, because there is (usually) a constant stream of work the worry about whether there is going to be any work is less.

@Gally123 - yes that happens to me too when I tackle the ones im asked the decent ones in my subjects have disappeared when I get back to them which to me others arent playing fair. I spent all day last week typing a certain foreign doc who was very difficult and really couldnt put sense in to her dictation so I typed all her letters from scratch as it was easier as the VR was putting peculiar sayings 😄. Fortunately it was one of my specialities and I suppose typing such rubbish for Dict8 it came in handy as I could work out what she wanted to say with the pigeon English but I did the lot. Ive also had tasks put in my WP and asked to get them out of the way as theyve been so behind. I like the fact they always have work on which helps me as I have grandchildren that I look after 2 days a week and when they've gone home im able to pick up some tasks after tea which is good. Im sure Dict8 gives the better tasks to certain transcribers, T-pro system allows them to give you certain tasks so im sure Dict8 will do the same but weve always said that, remembering a certain poster when in Covid times had said she too was struggling to get any tasks and then admitted she managed something like 500/600 tasks a day! but I do think she obviously thought we were all getting roughly the same when the rest of us on here were lucky to get 1 to 5 all day. The docs that come in my account with Dict8 are all the same day in day out amounting to perhaps 6 or 7 docs. There has got to be more than that. Dont forget we are talking about Trusts all over UK they have as clients and one hospital alone would have many in one speciality alone what with registrars, SHO's etc. So why do I get the same half a dozen shockers and I have three specialities and hardly any tasks. I was told there is no cherry picking transcribers from the boss! Well no there isnt, because its Dict8 that does the cherry picking that puts the best dictaters in certain transcribers accounts. Yes its the doctors who upload their work at will on to Dict8 system but its Dict8 that takes that work and allocates it to certain accounts. Its absolutely fixed and im afraid no one will convince me otherwise. I feel sorry for you posters who only have Dict8 to rely on because without T-pro Id be totally skint! 🙈

@Lunnuni Glad you are back on the forum and hope your recovery is speedy! Happy Easter to you and everyone else too. 🐣🌷

@carosel2 I don't how both D and T are getting away with allocating and supervising/monitoring our work like they do, as the criteria for being self-employed rather than employees is that we are not told, how, when and what to do to the extent they do.

@Whitestar55 - Yes I totally agree with you there, to me if the work is getting behind then the proof readers/team leads from both D and T should pick them up to me because as you say, we are self employed, im not sure what T would do if I refused, but I like to help them out a bit, as they are on the whole very nice to work with.

@carosel2 yeah, I understand what you're saying, I just wish they would pay us better, as they are running their companies with a convenient and low cost workforce, but that workforce struggles to earn even minimum wage, never mind setting money aside for sickness or holiday breaks, it's pseudo-self-employment. Not that I'd want to be employed by them as a transcriber, but I think we deserve a better rate of pay.

@Whitestar55 - yes hear hear! We are totally taken advantage of. We should be paid the same rate as a medical secretary or at least a band 3.

@carosel2 Advantage, exploitation is the name of the medical transcription company game. They have to pay their essential employees the going rate and benefits, but the transcribers, whom without they wouldn't have a business, don't get a fair rate or any benefits, which is why I've held off applying to Tpro and others.

I don't buy the 'you can work flexibly from home whenever you want' either. My daughter has a job as an employee, working flexibly from home, has more time off then I do and a much higher income and the benefits of holiday, sick pay etc.

14 days ago - please type in note box

• but doctor had not stated note to secretary/note, so typed as a letter as previously been asked to use standard formatting all the time

2 days ago - please do not type in note box unless stated

WTF ????😱🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

@Pinksville In my original contract it was stated that the notes box was to be used for the transcriber's queries relating to the dictation, there was no mention of using it to type in actual dictation/instructions/messages spoken by the clinician that is not meant to go in the letter. This was brought in by stealth in the last few years, and as we know, it's not added to our line count, even though it is actual dictation we are typing within our own precious time, effort and resources.