Anyone else doing medical transcription at home?

[olddoglover]

Not much work and low pay but not much choice if you can't go out to work unfortunately.

@carosel2 I might be inclined to ask for it to be verified, and/or change to problem breaking wind or something.

Unfortunately a lot of the dictation these days is spoken like they are chatting to their mates down the pub. I once pointed out to she who must not be named in DICT8 after she told me off for changing a word to something less vulgar, that during my training I was told that these letters should be treated as a legal document that the dictator should be happy to have read out in court if the situation arose. I noted that the next time the doctor used the word I had put and not her original vulgar expression.

@Gally123 - I usually would have changed it to flatulence but this woman speaks in pigeon English and is terrible at the best of times, this is a poorly patient being put on Nicorette patches too for pain, It could be Fentanyl but can only second guess that one, I cannot change that. I have sent it to QC so they can sort and hopefully have a word about dictating wrong medication (it seems to happen often) and have a word in her shell like regards to her slang😕.

It appears that punctuation is now very much optional and paragraphs non existent which makes it quite tricky sometimes to get the context correct.

Not to mention a "can't be bothered to even try and get the correct template" just dictate on default with one very large unpunctuated paragraph and some dogsbody will sort it out for you.

@deewu - sometimes it's better if they do not give much in the way of punctuation of some of them have no idea that a sentence is suppose to make sense. All the continuous comma after comma...

As for the default template - return to the queue, either let the paid employees pick it up, if it is stays untyped for long enough perhaps note might be made, although I think some of them don't have the intelligence to realise if they dictated properly, ie clearly, in English and don't slur all their words together as if they are drunk then they might get their letters back quicker.

@Gally123 - 🤣🤣 I agree
I also agree @deewu - the flipping templates are a nightmare. Ive had one saying please change dr to another name at the end of dictation at the bottom of letter when it clearly has been taken from another template in the first place and the system doesnt allow us to alter this, 🙄

@carosel2 any requests to change letter templates I put to the help desk. Once or twice I've picked up letters dictated by people, once a consultant who dictated a whole clinic using what I assume was someone else's log in so I had to keep all the letters back and ask the helpdesk to change dictator to the correct person. I've also had consultants send letters back that have come to them for second approval/sign off and they want it changed to another consultant as they claim the patient is not theirs or it was the incorrect clinic that the registrar or SHO had selected. Again I pass that on to be done.

@Gally I just put the note the doc had dictated at the bottom in red - ive also noticed recently that even though I havent sent any letters to QC that day ones suddenly appear in QC waiting to be corrected. Im not sure where these come from unless they have put back previous ones that they havent managed to decipher themselves.

@carosel2 I think they spot check some that haven't been sent to QC

@gally123 I just put a note in red and send to QC - takes too long involving help desk and often get someone who knows even less than me!

@carosel2 I agree with @olddoglover they do constant spot quality checks like DICT8 do. I see that quite often as I usually check my counts at the end of the day.

@olddoglover - @Gally123 oh really! Well yes I suppose I read something on those lines early on when joining they would check at random, makes sense now! Thats why I like these forums you get the help from one another when needed. Cheers! ☺️

Hi all, I just joined Dict8, can I ask something? I assume that you just type into the template doesn't appear to have hospital name at top or clinic stipulated? Any advice appreciated, also if your feedback states missing word do you amend as can't get doc back to alter🤔

@rejeke - yes, the template is really just a blank page. If the dictator stipulates a clinic and/or date then include it. Very rarely do they give a hospital name. The feedback is just for your reference to let you know if you made a mistake (according to their checkers), with the inference to be more careful if the future - they used to be quite rude but not so bad now. No, you do not have to redo the letter (I think with Accuro you do, there was one company they give you the work back to redo, unpaid of course).

Is there any other companies taking on that I don’t know about? I had one good day on DICT8 a couple of weeks ago but nothing since.

Thanks

@Raisingboys22 you could try Tpro - that had a very lean spell earlier in the year but now seems to have work daily. You need to note, however that there is a minimum requirement of I think presently 500,000 characters per month, and they like you to work on various specialties, not just your usual ones. There have been some issues, but the work is better than sitting waiting for it. It is also mostly VR checking but that is not as bad as it sounds, plus you do get the variety. Check via their website. (I do both companies as I found in lockdown just working for one can be very limiting).

There’s no vacancies atm but will keep checking thank you.

Well ive just been told I cannot type any tasks that are not red anymore. Unless.all the reds in every speciality have been typed up I am not allowed to take any tasks or save any in my WIP unless they are red and all tasks in red whatever speciality has to be typed first. I never seem to type anything else but red! Has anyone else had this message. Its from one TL without giving too much info away and one particular hospital

Just copied this from the BBC website about the new changes proposed

• Zero-hours contracts

Zero-hours contracts are also known as casual contracts. Workers are not guaranteed hours from employers, but they also do not have to work when asked. Under the new legislation, company bosses will be required to offer a zero-hours worker a guaranteed-hours contract based on the hours they clock up during a 12-week period. Employees who prefer having a zero-hours contract will be able to remain on those terms if they want to - the change is that they will have the right for guaranteed working hours if they want them. Workers on zero-hours contracts will also be entitled to "reasonable" notice ahead of any changes being made to their shifts, as well as compensation if a shift is cancelled or ended early.

So anyone with low work levels from DICT8 or other companies will have the right to ask for guaranteed work (although I dare say not guaranteed quality).
Umm, I wonder. If work is sparse in the 12 week period, how can they offer a decent contract? No guarantee on pay etc although I suppose with guaranteed work you should be paid a decent amount.

@carosel2 No I haven't had any message, but I can guess which TL it is!! I tend to keep a few nice green ones in my WIP and wait for them to go red otherwise I never get to type any nice ones, they are all gone by the time I have ploughed my way through the reds. Maybe worth switching to a different hospital queue??

@Gally123 don't suppose that would apply to Ireland??

@carosel2 I had a similar message a few weeks ago which I queried as
A) I rarely do any work for that hospital and
B) I had not done any that were not red (I only dip in and see what is on offer when nothing much in my other hospitals, plus there is always DICT8).
She replied that it was just a general message to everyone (although it had my name at the top, addressed to me).

@carosel2 @Gally123 - I find that so annoying when they send messages addressed by name and we don't know if it is a general message or not. Wish they would just say Dear All when it is a general one.

@olddoglover probably not. However, I don't see the point as that is just being an employee again being told when to work, not being able to take time off when you need or want to. Unless you can have a contract for, say 18 hours a week but have the possibility of doing 30 if you want to etc.
I can see the benefits of being paid a regular amount (plus maybe with holiday and sick pay, that's not clear) but I would not want to go back to someone standing over me, monitoring my every move and measuring how long my tea break is!
However, I thought they already had the possibility of being a contracted employee?

@olddoglover @carosel2 my TL once sent me a message to do some particular tasks and at the end thanked me, however wrote someone's name, so I assume it was a message to several people she cut and pasted etc to look more personal.

@Gally123 you are lucky to get a thank you!! I think thank yous have been sadly lacking since Kate left