Fan Mail From Some Flounder
I am beat. Spent the last week being thrown into the deep end of the pool without swimming lessons (well, I had them, but that was almost 10 months ago and I forgot most of it) and am just now feeling like I'm starting to learn how to float again. I used to love to swim, so what happened?
Well, in this case, what happened was a new transcription platform that is so bloated and slow that it not only slows me down to a fraction of my usual speed, but I'm having to completely revamp my expander macros to allow for all the extra crapola involved in creating headings, removing spaces, etc. This was compounded by the fact that we work on disgusting peecees to begin with and mine had randomly decided to revert to a previous version of my macro file (from before I changed accounts a few months ago) and I had only come close to recreating all those macros to begin with. No, I didn't change a thing--it has a habit of ruining a lot of settings every time someone remotely performs maintenance or upgrades. Yes, I disobeyed the general computer rule of backing things up regularly, or I wouldn't be suffering so much.
As if that didn't make me an unhappy camper (er. . . swimmer) as it was, I know that it's going to be a very short trip before I'm informed that I have to completely unlearn how I do things and start integrating speech "recognition" (a misnomer if there ever was one), which I fully expect to be the equivalent of being thrown a hefty rock for use as a flotation device.
Too late to help me, but for the love of Pete. . . to any of you brainiacs who think you're going to make a fortune by writing the next great transcription platform, I beg you to get serious input from the people who will be forced to use it before you start churning out code. What is often touted as a great compilation of features is too often so full of extraneous crap that nothing works quickly and you end up robbing us of productivity for the sake of inclusiveness. I can't even begin to whine about everything I hate about this, so suffice to say it's not fair that I should have to spend almost as much time sitting idly waiting for my CPU to catch up to me as I do actually transcribing. It's forever choking--either the audio and cursor stop completely or the audio is unstoppable until I mash the pedal 20 times. Since it took the better part of a year to even transition, I'm not even at a point where anyone wants to hear what doesn't work--they're focused on the SR side, in hopes of maximizing profit and minimizing trained MT input. It is the ultimate insult to be asked to train the technology that robs you of your pay and ultimately, your job.
I spent hours over my precious weekend going through my Shorthand entries (all 18,000 of 'em) in an attempt to tweak and try to bypass many of the awkward formatting commands and compensate for the many shortcomings, but the goddess only knows if I'll have the patience to adapt once the SR anchor drops. Much as I dislike change, I have to say I am coming perilously close to bidding the abuse farewell. Surely, there is a patch of dry land out there yet where MTs are actually valued and integrated into the decisions that impact their livelihood. Heck, if I could just grit my teeth and survive a 160-hour course at the vo-tech, I could be making the same/more money as a phlebotomist, with a heckuva lot more bennies and respect. . . I've already got the vampire thing down pat, stuck on the graveyard shift all these years.
I do find myself wondering how Karma will come into play. I will be very surprised if the very MTSOs who are working so hard to eliminate MTs are even still around in the next 5-10 years. Once they succeed in doing away with us and automating the vast majority of patient records, what's to stop clients from bypassing MTSOs altogether? There are already some good open source EMR and coding applications out there, as well as a move to real-time documentation--some of the best written by doctors themselves. As the old-school docs fade away, I fully expect the younger generation will not only be willing to futz around the computer and fill in their own blanks versus the onus of dictation, but will view it as the only way to go. Transcription has always been the first line when budget-cutting, after all. Just imagine the savings when they finally figure out how to slash it to the nub. Yes, I truly do believe this. All those greedy folk talking about garbage that will never happen (i.e. mandatory credentialing for a field that already does not reward us for knowledge and experience) are totally ignoring what's coming down the pike. This tidal wave MTs have been whining about for a while now is coming for us all.
Maybe that's the hypoxia and fatigue talking. For now, I'd do well to keep working on my stinkin' breaststroke.