Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What Are the Main Types of General Transcription?

There are primarily six main types of general transcription. Some transcriptionists concentrate or specialize in just one or two of these specific areas and others take on transcripts in all areas:
  1. Focus Groups are usually found in marketing companies. If you're new to general transcription, it's good to build up some credentials with a couple of contracted companies doing focus groups.
  2. Interviews can take place in person or over the phone and can be an interview of one or more people so this type of work can come from a variety of clients from authors to seminar speakers.
  3. Corporate can be from corporate presentations, quarterly earnings release calls when companies announce their financials for the quarter and year end; teleconferences, seminars, lectures, and conference presentations.
  4. Dictations are normally one speaker recording notes, a journal, instructions, chapters of a book, just about anything while alone.
  5. Podcast are used by smaller companies to help them build their businesses. Generally these little audio files are extremely clear, high quality and there's usually not a lot of research involved to complete the transcript.
  6. Academic transcription projects can be transcribing recordings from class lectures, academic seminars, classroom meetings, etc.
You may find in just a few months of practice alone which types of general transcription you like best, worst or flat out just won't do. Again, this is a personal choice, not something that a boss is going to tell you that you have to do.
Keep in mind, however, that one of the best marketing tips is to find your "niche." What do you have the most experience in? What do you do best, better than anything else? What is your educational background and work history relative to the specialized service you will be offering your clients?
Once you find that niche, then start advertising for clients in that field.
About the Author: After several years in the transcription industry, Karen Musselman recently closed her own transcription company and now designs custom laminated wedding favor bookmarks and offers wedding planning ideas for couples planning their fairy tale weddings on a low budget.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Monday, February 22, 2010

The Top Benefits of Having Transcription Software for Health Care Providers

It is well-known that a transcription program is a heaven-sent for those who are working as medical transcriptionists. To put it simply, it makes their lives so much easier. However, the benefits far extend from the direct users. It is equally helpful too for health care providers and facilities that are counting on the work of medical transcriptionists.
Here are the top benefits of using software like Infraware for health care professionals:
It can help reduce the costs. Like any business center, a health care facility will always be concerned about how to lower their expenses. This way, they would be able to provide cheaper bills for their patients and higher fees for their professionals, such as doctors and nurses.
A transcription program may help in that department. By using it, you can minimize the costs of training medical transcriptionists. There are plenty of tools that will make voice recognition and text typing more convenient and definitely more accurate.
Normally, if your medical transcriptionist is located in another country, you have to shoulder for the long-distance fees. Otherwise, there is no way that you can transmit the information that has to be written. The good news is that Infraware can assist you in cutting back expenses on telecommunications because you can just make use of the local phone numbers. There is also need to make use of several login IDs for your telephone. This allows for better records of your deals and transactions with medical transcriptionists.
Though the software may be pretty hefty in terms of price tag, you do not have to spend another dime whenever there are upgrades. Of course, you can utilize the software all throughout the life span of your health care business.
It increases the accuracy, security, and integrity of the information. It is highly important that all information will be properly protected or secured, especially against unauthorized individuals such as hackers.
The software called Infraware utilizes SSL technology. If you are not familiar with it, it is being used by online stores that have checkout payments. You would know that it is activated because you are redirected to a page that says https:// instead of http:// on the address bar. Moreover, there is a golden lock or key at the bottom right corner of the screen.
It simply means that the pieces of information are encrypted. When they travel through the World Wide Web and are unfortunately intercepted, the hackers will not be able to do anything about them because they do not understand the language, and they cannot decipher the information.
If you need the reports, you can get them by accessing a secure portal or by opting for an automatic delivery. This then limits the number of people who can have access on the vital information and hence lessen the possibility of tampering by an individual.
Moreover, to ensure that you have got the right patients' record or report, everything will be accompanied by the demographics of the patient, such as his or her record in admissions and discharge.

About the Author
Infraware is the latest and effective transcription software that guarantees accuracy, integrity, and security of information. It is now being used by thousands of medical transcriptionists and providers in different parts of the globe.
Source: http://www.goarticles.com/

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Discover How Transcription Software Improves The Productivity Of Medical Transcriptionists

There are thousands of medical transcriptionists all over the world. In fact, it is one of the fastest rising industries to date. A key reason for its boom is its pay. For few hours of work or few pages of transcribed audio files, you could earn as much as hundreds to thousands of dollars a month.

However, a huge issue among medical transcriptionists is productivity. Especially if you can just type 36 hours per minute, you cannot expect yourself to produce a lot of records in a day. Hence, you cannot expect to earn more than those who can type a lot faster than yours.

If your issue is productivity and time, the good news is that you do have an alternative. It is whole new innovative transcription software by the name of Infraware.

With its different tools and features, you can enjoy the following benefits:

You can cut down the training time. How do medical transcriptionists do their job? The truth is that most of them maintain more than just one program. If you have to learn at least 3 applications, just imagine how much time you are going to spend by getting to know them.

Because everything you need is right in Infraware, you can already reduce the training duration. In fact, based on feedback of medical transcriptionists/users, you only need to spend at most an hour to master the program.

You can improve your accuracy. Another reason why it takes you some time to produce something is because of accuracy. If you only have basic medical background, you will definitely grope in the dark once you encounter more advanced terms.

Infraware, however, is equipped with a medical spell checker. It functions very similar to your word processor, where you are provided with the correct spelling of a word and have the option to select it over the wrong one. There is no need to erase and type the correct spelling.

It makes use of a breakthrough technology. Infraware uses FirstDraft, which is a back-end version of ASR (automatic speech recognition) service. If you know how it works, you can picture this scenario.

When the words are dictated, you really do not hear doctors or even nurses say period or comma. They just, well, talk. The job of figuring out where the first sentence ends and the next one begins is on you. This then becomes a problem because you have to reread your document and ensure that the right kinds of punctuations are used.

You can already avoid this with Infraware. The artificial intelligence of this technology can already determine where the periods, commas, and other punctuations are and insert them. They can also capitalize letters. Reediting does not have to be too time-consuming.

You can customize the tool. If you have a unique way of speeding up work such as using keyboard shortcuts, the software allows you to do so. You can assign your most convenient hotkeys for creating a new line or document, conducting spell check, and other functions.


Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:

Infraware is the latest and effective transcription software that guarantees accuracy, integrity, and security of information. It is now being used by thousands of medical transcriptionists and providers in different parts of the globe.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Editing Blanks In Medical Transcription Documents Made Easy

EasyEdit's Blank Filtering feature

Medical Transcription is the latest boom in more spheres than one. Advancements and inventions have enabled the healthcare sector to intertwine with technology to maximize ease of access to one's work. The need of the hour is to make tasks easier, to optimize output and quality. Doctors , practitioners, and other staff of the healthcare sector are a breed to whom time is of utmost importance. Apart from dealing with ailments and maladies, they have to provide treatment and care to their ailing patients at the earliest. A professional environment which is largely crowded with ill people to be treated leaves them with little time to make reports, check, and edit them as well. Thus Medical Transcription Services come into play.

With technology at its best, and getting better, practitioners have a variety of Medical Transcription Services to choose from. Picking the most suitable one, keeping in mind the nature of work is indeed of all importance. Available in the market are some web based technology that require hardly any installation, maintenance, or even learning-time!

While many transcription companies offer their services, there are few that come with added perks of the newest technology intergrated into the Medical Transcription Service process.

Blank Filtering in Medical Transcription files :

Technology has progressed so much that EasyEdit, an integral part of EasyFlow, includes a unique Blank Filtering feature. Transcribed files are automatically filtered and grouped in folders marked With Blanks and No Blanks, depending on the status of the document. Any transcription containing blanks will be filtered under With Blanks. This makes it easier for the Physician to locate the documents that need to be corrected and saved. Following this, it can be signed, approved, and saved all in just one click. No more hunting and clicking a million times for finalization.

SpectraMedi's Medical Transcription Services :

Quality services are offered by few Medical Transcription Companies. SpectraMedi is a leading US based company offering Medical Transcription Services to various hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities across the country. With a decade of being in the Medical Transcription field, SpectraMedi has grown to incorporate the latest technology in its Transcription Services to aid clients and increase quality of output. The core workflow system, EasyFlow has a number of input and output modules to ease the flow of dictations and documents between the server and the client. SpectraMedi is widely known for its fast turn around time, efficiency, and high quality services. These attributes have helped in acquiring and maintaining an esteemed client base all these years. For further details, visit : www.spectramedi.com

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Why Would You Want to Use a Transcription Service?

Why Would You Want to Use a Transcription Service? By: Melody Trantham
As a business owner you may ask, “What’s in it for me,” when it comes to deciding on whether or not to use a transcription service for your office dictation needs. The answer to that question is a varied as there are many business categories, but the one constant benefit of using a transcription service is, it is more economical. This includes but not limited to legal transcription, medical transcription, seminar transcription, dissertation transcription, et cetera. No matter for what need, it is more economical.
Why is it more economical for a business to outsource their dictation work to a transcription service?
  • It eliminates the need for paying a full-time or part-time transcriber to physically sit in the office and type. You don’t have to pay the hourly wages, taxes, insurance and other necessary and expensive employee costs.
  • Using a transcription service can also benefit your business by not having to worry about the high costs of turnover and training of new employees to handle your dictation needs.
  • Eliminates the expense of having to purchase and maintain the equipment and software necessary for in-house audio transcription work.
  • Gives you the peace of mind that your transcription work will be done when you need it done seven days a week with no sick days, holidays, or vacation time taken that may interfere with the work flow of your office. And we all know how costly it can be for a business to have to hire a temp to work in place of an absent worker.
Listed above is only a few benefits for using a transcription service for your business.
About the Author
WeScribeIt offers a free 500 word trial so that you are able to test out our quality as well as to compare the costs to what your current situation is costing you. Having been in the business for two years, WeScribeIt knows time is money. No matter your needs, we work diligently to meet them. WeScribeIt is based on referrals from happy clients.

(ArticlesBase SC #1466928)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Why Would You Want to Use a Transcription Service?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

University Transcription Company Benefits UK Workers

UK Transcription company TP Transcriptions outlined the benefits of using a UK based company with UK workers and pointed out the advantages both to the Universities and the wider economy.
PR Log (Press Release)May 27, 2009 – Pearl McNamara of TP Transcriptions outlined the company's support to the UK economy in the present recession.

"TP Transcriptions (http://www.uk-
transcription.co.uk) use British secretaries to transcribe for both British and overseas companies, and support the efforts of the UK government to get out of recession. We do a lot of work for UK universities, in particular on large volume research work and often handle assignments of 50 hours of more. We do not send any of this overseas to outsource centres as firstly the standard is pretty poor and secondly the names and regional accents can throw the overseas transcribers who find it hard to decipher a strong Yorkshire or Glaswegian accent."

"We hope that other businesses follow suit and try to keep UK workers operating in these troubled times, avoiding the pitfalls of making a quick buck at the expense of quality. "

Transcription is a very specialist operation requiring a number of years experience, and can be very time consuming. TP Transcriptions offer companies, academics and individuals a rapid response service assisting with recordings on a wide range of media including tape, CD, DVD and VHS.

# # #
Transcription Company offering a full range of UK based typing services from UK qualified and experienced secretaries. Handling work on behalf of leading universities, academic institutions, the NHS, local government bodies, national government institutions, businesses, individuals and researchers. http://www.uk-transcription.co.uk

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Medical Transcription Service And Pricing

Medical transcription prices, MT cost per line MT pricing, cheap medical transcription pricing, medical transcription rates per line, pay per line medical transcription, cheap, free trial, medical transcription company at low cost,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release)Feb 15, 2010 – iSource offers its fast and accurate medical transcription services at low cost of pricing for all types of customers. Toll Free @ 1-(877)-323-
4707. We guarantee 98% accurasy with 12-24 hour TAT and HIPAA compliance.iSource is a medical transcription service provider company based in Pomona, California, a branch office in New York, and also an overseas office in India. We are one of the most sought after medical transcription service company providing transcription services and solutions to over 250 clients spread across North America and Canada.

iSource assists various physicians, hospitals, clinics, and several healthcare centers in providing accurate medical transcription services at a fast turnaround time and at an unbelievably low cost of just 40% of the local US rates.
The Medical Transcription service team at iSource

The transcription team comprising over a 100 transcriptionist at iSource are certified Medical transcriptionist who have undergone exclusive training for a month to make sure they are well versed with the medical terms/jargon/
abbreviations and terminology/vocabulary prior to their induction to do the actual job.

Monday, February 15, 2010

"To Transcribe" or "Not To Transcribe" Interviews?

11 Secrets from an Experienced Interviewer
One of the unwritten rules of writing a book, an article, or any sort of material that requires the writer to interview experts or people "in the know" is to tape record the conversation. Whether the recording occurs via phone or in
person is irrelevant. This rule is a good one.
This leads to the following questions:
* Do you transcribe every tape?
* Who owns the transcription?
The answer to these questions does have an "it depends" so let me explain. It depends on your state's or countries laws on the tape recording issue. It depends on the how much you're getting paid for the project. It depends on whether you can use the interview notes more than once. It
depends whether you are using interviewing as an escape -- a procrastination technique because you enjoy that interview process more than the writing.
Okay, we got the "it depends" listed and out of the way. Let me present a few of my secrets -- the things I have learned as a writer and teacher over the last many years.Secret 1: Just because you tape recorded the conversation doesn't mean you have to transcribe the tape. The tape is a great safety net for reviews.
Secret 2: You don't need to transcribe the whole tape. Many times all you need are the important parts.
Secret 3: Tapes are cheap, buy plenty instead of reusing, and keep them for a few years.
Secret 4: Create a tape master finding system. Microsoft Excel is a great way to track with a numbering system. Include the year somewhere in the numbering. Color coding adds visual effectiveness. Large colored dots are available at most office supply stores.
Secret 5: The storage container and where you store the tapes is important as to how long they last. Heat and moisture destroys the quality. Find small, thin, plastic containers with a tight seal with a one-layer depth.
Secret 6: Don't place a magnet anywhere near them. So keep the paperclip magnet and the phone (many have magnets in them) away from the tapes. Palm Pilots too.
Secret 7: Use rubber bands to consolidate tapes for a similar project or topic but be careful not to wrap them vertically over the open part of the tape. Wrap horizontally. After a few years rubber bands dry out and become brittle.
Secret 8: Delegate the task, it always cheaper either in dollars or patience. Place an ad at the local college and offer $30 to $45 per tape. I have found several through the Business Centers at high schools and community centers. If the interview is rare or precious, hire a professional
service and pay the higher rate. Have at least 10 ways you can get a tape transcribed reasonably and fast at your disposal. Start with the Yellow Pages. Rate them on fastest and quickest. Consider using FedEx to deliver and pick up the tapes, for safety, and to save time. I never
recommend sending the tape out of your country to save money.
Secret 9: Don't sign a contract, ever, if they have a clause in it, "All notes, tapes, materials and transcripts must be turned over to the publisher." Cross it out and don't agree to this. If the publisher is paying for the transcription and your time separately for the interview, they are yours.
Secret 10: Prepare the questions ahead of time and stick to them. Preparation saves time all around. If you are not sure what questions to ask, ask the publisher what questions do they want to have answered when they give you the assignment. It is a good procedure to provide the questions before hand to the interviewee. This helps them prepare. If they read from their typed notes then ask questions differently or drift with one question then return. They will usually stop reading, think, and not return to their notes.
Secret 11: If you are a fast typist you will most likely be able to type and capture 75% of the conversation. Learn to leave out repetitious information and use a keyboard shorthand. After the call, review the notes immediately and expand the shorthand. If you use a common shortcut, use "find and replace" in your word processor as a time saver. Also explain that you will be typing their response so that the sound of the keyboard doesn't distract from the conversation. If you prefer, you can even ask for permission: "I hope you don't mind, I'm a fast typist so I
prefer to type my notes as we talk." It's like asking for permission but not quite.
(C) Copyright 2005, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved
Catherine Franz is a writer and author of over 1800 published articles, books, and on various subjects. For more: http://www.abundancecenter.com
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Sunday, February 14, 2010

New feature in Medical Transcription - No more missing out dictations

One has no argument when told that Medical Transcription Services are building bridges across every imaginable obstacle or shortcoming. This is an era when computers and the Internet can give you all the comforts of life. The web has morphed from being a lifeless entity to a wholly, almost-living consortium. Who can say otherwise? Be it businesses, education, politics, or even medicine, the Internet is all one needs for promoting business, conducting meetings, making and breaking deals, and treating patients. A U.S. based Transcription Service provider, SpectraMedi, has been known to be creating waves in the field of Medical Transcription by integrating an assortment of the latest technology into its core field.
Missed a few dictations?
With the advent of online interfaces of various Medical Transcription Services, it can be made sure that no work is ever left incomplete due to lack of access to reports, dictations, etc.There are various scenarios wherein a practitioner may need to go back a few days and add dictations to previously serviced patients. When the practitioner has to attend to a large number of patients, dictating all the patient files in a day becomes a task. In such cases, dictations of certain patients maybe left out. It is possible that the doctor might be unable to recall the exact name or chart number of the patient corresponding to the file containing the missed-out dictation. The perfect solution to over come this confusion is a feature in 'Patient Demographics' where the status is marked against each patient details as 'Not Dictated'/ 'Dictated'/ 'Transcribed'. The names of patients for which the practitioner is yet to make a dictation, or failed to make a dictation will show a status marked "Not Dictated".
The status of all patient files are marked as "Not Dictated" when the patient-schedules are initially sent to SpectraMedi. Upon sending the dictations, the status changes to "Dictated". The transcribers then convert the voice files to text and send it back to the client. The Medical Transcription process is now complete. At this stage the status gets updated to "Transcribed".
About SpectraMedi :
SpectraMedi is a well-established US based Transcription Service provider, which provides impeccable HIPAA compliant Medical Transcription Services to various hospitals and clinics.Over the years, the company has built an impressive list of long-term clients. SpectraMedi was founded in 1999 in New York, and has carried out its services for over a decade by a team of dedicated Medical Transcriptionists, Medical Analysts and qualified IT professionals. The company has been successful in intergrating technology with transcription to achieve excellent results in Medical Transcription. The work management system covers data analytics, structured documentation, and key customer reporting among others. Committed to providing quality transcriptions, Spectramedi has taken elaborate measures of Quality Control. At the same time, the company has a secure data transfer mechanism to ensure the safety of documents while in transit. To know more details about the services provided by SpectraMedi, visit : http://www.spectramedi.com

About the Author
For further details, please visit : http://www.spectramedi.com
Source: http://www.goarticles.com/

Friday, February 12, 2010

Who Hires Medical Transcriptionist : Medical Transcription Services

Who Hires Medical Transcriptionist : Medical Transcription Services By: Ramvie Santiago
Medical transcription service is one of the fast growing businesses online. This is probably because of the demands of hospitals and healthcare centers that are continuously increasing.
If you've taken your training, you can work as home based medical transcriptionist. Since there are a lot of Medical Transcription Services looking for experienced MT, they are not far from making money online out of their proven skills.
Although there are two ways to make you money online as medical transcriptionist, trainings and seminars are still a must though sometimes are not required by some of the services due to the growing online books and training tools that can easily be downloaded. It can provide readers more knowledge to acquire, enabling them also to function well in the field.
The income potential depends on the skills of Medical Transcriptionist. This is either managing your own Medical Transcription Service or work in a company as MT. Of course, if you are handling MT Service, the income potential would be higher than working in an online firm.
There is no doubt about it that a person who just starting MT career after his or her training is receiving a salary ranging from $25,000 to $30,000. As you continue your journey working as MT, medical transcription rate would definitely go up from $35,000 - $40,000. However, working for two to four hours a day can't provide you the above stated rate, but devoting your time working full time can probably meet the usual rate of Medical Transcriber.
Working from home as MT, rendering your service with a firm or managing your own business, can both earn you a living.
About the Author

Looking for Medical Transcription Services? Please visit Medical Transcription at www.HangelbelBusiness.com
(ArticlesBase SC #1517904)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Who Hires Medical Transcriptionist : Medical Transcription Services

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Voice Transcription Software: What Doctors Get

When youre a doctor, its not only your job ease the symptoms or to cure the ailments of your patient. It is also your responsibility to ensure that everythingthe tests and diagnosesare properly documented. They are not only meant for archives. They can be used for references for other patients (think of case studies) or for coming up with the best protocol for an individual.

Thats why they need the help of medical transcriptionists. Its their main job to transform into texts the words that are being dictated by the physician. They may be compiled into audio files, or the physicians themselves will be the ones to call their medical transcriptionists for automatic transcription.

Regardless, you may want to consider using voice transcription software. This application will be beneficial not only to you but also to your medical transcriptionist. It assures you that you can achieve productivity, accuracy, and integrity.

When you make use of voice transcription software, you can take advantage of the following:

Use your own dictation method. Some doctors are comfortable with using handheld recorders. Others would like to make a call and immediately dictate the reports or perhaps leave messages in telephones. There are also others who rely on third parties.

A good voice transcription program is one that allows you to be more versatile on your mode of dictation. It doesnt matter what option you choose. Youre going to get the same correct results. Moreover, some programs these days give you a local phone number to dial, so you can scrimp on the cost usually incurred in long-distance conversations.

Edit and approve/reject documents. You will also have more power on what to do with the documents. With the help of online editing tools such as medical spell checker, its very easy for you to spot errors that could have been committed by your medical transcriptionist.

Also, when youre satisfied with the texts handed to you, you can decide to sign the documents electronically as a seal of approval. Otherwise, you can click on Rejection to have the document returned and be under QA process again. This would also give your medical transcriptionist a time to correct his or her mistakes.

Keep track of your reports. Time is of the essence when it comes to reports that have to be transcribed. This is the reason why most transcriptionists will have only 24 hours to complete a particular job.

You can utilize the voice recognition software to determine the status of your order. You can log in to the network and see at which stage in the production process your job order is. The order will be given its own unique code for easy follow-up.

Easily check for accuracy. Some voice transcription programs can combine text and audio. This way, you can conveniently compare the texts in the template to the audio that youre currently listening.

Dont worry. A voice transcription program like Infraware is easy to handle. You dont have to be out of your doctor duties for a very long time. In fact, less than 30 minutes is already enough.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Infraware is the latest and effective voice transcription software that guarantees accuracy, integrity, and security of information. It is now being used by thousands of medical transcriptionists and providers in different parts of the globe.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Why Choose An Online Transcription Services Company?

Let's say you need a project transcribed. Do you hire someone as an employee full time for just that project? Do you transcribe all of it yourself and take away from your precious time? If you pay an online transcription service, it will be temporary (or until your project is completed) or you can have them do regular work, and you won't have the need to provide benefits. The online transcription services company contracts with independent contractors (professional transcriptionists) to do the work for you, as needed.
Selecting an online transcription services company is tricky. You might search in Google or another search engine and come up with a very long list of transcription companies, so you'll need to do some research. Visit each site and make comparisons. If you know someone who has used an online transcription service, ask them about their experience. It's very important to make the right decision. Here are some things to look for when making your decision.
Is their website easy to read and easy to use (user-friendly)?
Is their website too "cluttered?"
Does the website answer your questions?
Compare their rates and turnaround times.
Notice their methods of payment.
Do you notice grammatical/punctuation errors?
Does the website have a copyright?
Are they easy to contact and do they list their contact info?
Have you checked forums, blogs, or articles for an opinion?
Have you checked to make sure the website is not a scam?
If they ask for ANY money at all for ANYTHING upfront, DO NOT USE THEM.
Have you checked to see what type of upload process they use for your audios?
Is their FTP transfer secure?
Make certain everything they do for you is 100% confidential.
Ask questions about their typist pool and who will be doing the work for you.
Is the work outsourced to another country? How can you be certain of that? ASK!
Do you find their customer services reps to be courteous and helpful?
Are they expedient in returning your calls or emails?
Check with the Better Business Bureau.
Check their work accuracy rate.

These are just a few of the things to take into consideration when choosing the best online transcription service for you.
Just because a transcription service might be ranked in Google on Page 1 doesn't mean they are the best choice. ANYONE can get their site on the first page by paying a lot of money in advertising. A smaller transcription service might not have as much money to spend on advertising, but they depend on word-of-mouth advertising instead, and this only makes sense. The only way to find out is to use the service for a small order and make the decision yourself.
They might offer you some type of incentive for using their service or a discount for volume work. Get the best deal you can for the best work they can produce for you. Customer service is very important in any type of business, but when it comes to transcription and what you pay for it, you really do want courtesy, and you also want the customer service representative to know what they're talking about in giving you the best possible answers to your questions and helping you get started in terms you can understand. They must also be computer savvy in order to help you through the process of signing up with them and giving you instructions on how to use their service.
Your working relationship with your online transcription service choice must be pleasant and uncomplicated. The customer service representative must be personable, helpful, and understanding, always willing to help.
To that end, please do research prior to making your decision on which transcription services company to use. The above tips should help you make that decision.
Joyce Warran is the Transcription Director for Chromolume Transcription. She has extensive experience in transcription, sales, marketing, management, and business.
http://www.crtranscription.com
(866) 375-2441
Santa Monica, California
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Helping to Get Good Audio Transcriptions

HELPING TO GET GOOD AUDIO TRANSCRIPTIONS
All things being equal, personally dictated work should be the easiest to transcribe. However, this is not always the case.
When dictating, people tend to either speak too closely to the microphone (sounds like they are eating it) or have it too far away (sounds like they are in another room). Try doing a short test file first, so that you can find the optimum distance to position the microphone. Try not to mumble or otherwise muffle your speech.
People dictate in canteens or with windows open allowing traffic and outside noises in or in noisy areas in general. A quiet room or area makes life easier for both you and the person transcribing your work. Also, try to avoid working on the computer or eating and drinking when dictating - this can be very offputting and annoying.
People also have a habit of 'tailing off', so that the ends of sentences just get lost. Try to keep the strength of the voice constant throughout a sentence.
Always spell proper names which are unusual, foreign or ones which have various spellings. This is a common complaint by transcriptionists and it is very easy to rectify.
If your work is in a specialized field, such as medical, then it will probably be worthwhile finding a transcription company that has people who are expert in this type of transcription to avoid any problems with spelling and terminology.
If capitals are required, then tell the transcriptionist. Don't assume that they will know what you want. It may be worthwhile thinking about how you dictate acronyms, especially if they are not widely known.
If you have any specific formatting requirements, such as font size and style, tell the transcriptionist before they start!
If you require a list, then tell the transcriptionist how you would like it. There is no point in wanting bullet points and getting numbering because you forgot to mention it. Just tell the transcriptionist exactly how you want the list done and all should be well, but try to avoid using the word "item" when making the list, as this may well be transcribed.
Having a decent external microphone is well worth the investment as well. Cheap microphones will tend to distort voices. The internal microphones of dictation machines also tend not to produce high quality dictation.
If possible make sure you use digital transcription software. This, combined with a decent microphone, can make all the difference between a poor sound file and a good one and, hopefully, a decent transcription.
As a general rule a good transcriptionist will punctuate well, but the use of some punctuation, such as commas, can be somewhat subjective and it is doubtful that any two typists will punctuate the same. The use of some punctuation - for example, semicolons and colons - is not always wanted, so it is worthwhile telling the transcription service if there is certain punctuation that you would sooner not have. You can, of course, add your own punctuation whilst dictating, but this is not necessarily easy to maintain to a high standard, especially in lengthy sentences. However, a good transcriptionist should be able to correct any errors in punctuation accordingly.
And one final point to consider; try to remember about accents. For example, a very strong Scottish accent may be almost impossible to understand by someone who is not Scottish. Likewise, foreigners speaking English with strong accents are equally daunting. Consequently, these sound files can be very time consuming and will almost certainly cost more to transcribe.
As with all dictation, preparation is the key.
About the Author
If you would like to learn more about our Digital Audio Transcription Service, please visit our website SJH Transcriptions and we will willingly discuss your needs with you. We aim to be competitive and always work with our customers to ensure the best possible transcription.
Source: http://www.goarticles.com/

Monday, February 8, 2010

Types of Transcription

There are many different types of transcription services. These types of services vary from company to company; however, there are many companies who will perform any type of transcription services. Let's go through the different types of services.
Legal Transcription: This type is used by law firms, courts, etc. and might include depositions, hearings, general correspondence, etc.
Medical Transcription: This type is used for any type of progress notes, patient summaries, etc. These reports are generally short in nature, but usually present themselves with many in one day. It is customary that a medical transcriptionist be certified, as medical terminology can be very detailed and difficult.
Academic Transcription: This is pretty self-explanatory, but it entails work from any type of school, mainly university students, professors, doctoral students, etc.
Business Transcription: This type is used for general correspondence or any type of office needs.
Dissertation Transcription: This type is used for doctoral students completing their dissertation and usually involves a bulk of interviews used in preparing their final dissertation.
Focus Group Transcription: This type is used specifically for focus groups, and these groups generally consist of more than three or four speakers.
Market Research Transcription: This type is also self-explanatory and may or may not include more than one speaker. It is generally used for any type of market research.
Podcast Transcription: This type is used for transcribing podcasts. Some clients prefer to not only broadcast their podcasts live, but also place the transcripts on their website or merely to store in their archives.
Sermon Transcription: This type, of course, is used to transcribe sermons. Many churches like to be able to provide hard copies of their sermons to the handicapped or simply place them online for everyone to read.
Spanish Transcription/Translation: This is also obvious, but many companies are able to provide Spanish transcription and/or Spanish translation services. Please note this also may apply with any non-English language, not just Spanish. Check with the companies to see which languages they are equipped to transcribe.
Interview Transcription: Also pretty self-explanatory, this is the most commonly used type of transcription, as it deals with any type of interview between two or more people. Interview transcription can fall under most any of the other categories.
Lecture/Presentation Transcription: This applies to lectures or presentations, where there might only be one speaker. Sometimes, there will be an announcer to introduce the main speaker. Text-to-Text Transcription: This is transcription, involving typing from written text (such as handwritten materials, .pdf files, etc.) into an editable MS Word document.
General Transcription: General transcription is the most commonly used type of transcription. A certification is not necessary in order to do general transcription; however, there are many determining factors in contracting with general transcriptionists, and a short test is normally required. General transcription covers a broad spectrum of areas, but basically includes interviews, lectures, presentations, podcasts, and all of the above types of transcription with the exception of medical and possibly legal, although some general transcriptionists are also legal transcriptionists.
Knowing which type of transcription service you may need aids in determining which transcription services company to choose. Using all these types of services is becoming much more prominent in today's society. I am sure you will find most general transcription services companies will provide you with any or all of these types of transcription services.
http://www.crtranscription.com (866) 375-2441 transcription@chromolumeinc.com
About the Author
Joyce Warran is the Transcription Director for Chromolume Transcription. She has many years of experience in transcription, marketing, business, management, and writing.
Source : http://www.goarticles.com

Friday, February 5, 2010

Transcribing Your Life

Books on tape, CD or mp3 are popular because they enable you to multitask. You sit an knit or drive while you are hearing your greatest author speak about diet plans to lose weight or make money with real estate. With more audio content becoming available on the Internet, you can hear talk radio shows on pod-casts, called because of the iPods that propelled them into easy access and popularity.

Reaching a larger audience than ever before, you can have an online one person show talking about whatever subjects you are interested in. Audio reaches even those unable to see well, like the partially blind or, like my grandmother, those elderly who have suffered sight loss through complications from diabetes or age. On the reverse side of this coin, if you already have a successful audio product, you might be interested in turning it into a book or individual show transcriptions. Transcribing a conversation can be done using online transcription services. Transcribing takes an audio file and turns it into written words.

In school, we were required to learn a little bit about transcribing. Our school was built in the stone age, so we used tapes that were controlled with a foot panel that stopped the tapes and then rewound them a little bit so you could be certain to not miss any words or have breaks in the flow of speech. I hated that class. I think I got a C. All sorts of antiquated equipment that barely made sense and we got to learn all the fun short cuts for operating systems no longer in common use.

This was my school's idea of teaching financial literacy, teaching us how to write checks and then giving us points off for forgetting to enter them into a check register, what fonts look best on software and how to make a household budget that did not include such important items as car payments, a mortgage or food. One of the best things I learned in that class was I am really good at cooking and I like transcribing my own thoughts without using a transcription device.

I also learned that online banking is a good deal. More than a decade after that class, it records what checks or automatic payments have been deducted from my account, has software to track my spending and registers my checks. I really think things have changed since I was in school, for the better.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Some Factors to Consider When Hiring an Audio Transcription Company

SOME FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN HIRING AN AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION COMPANY
Importantly, talk with various audio transcription Companies about your needs and determine what the company can do for you. It is important that the company works with you as well as for you. A good, working relationship is very important and the company should always be aware of your needs and be willing to discuss around the topic(s)/projects you have, to ensure you receive speedy and accurate audio transcriptions.
Make sure the transcription service can meet your timeframe demands. If you need your information in a couple of days, then that is when they need to deliver. Late work can be as frustrating as inaccurate work.
Small errors can make a huge difference in how you receive the information. Make sure your transcription service can replicate the information accurately and, above all, consistently from project to project.
You need your information kept confidential. Talk to your transcription service provider about their regulations regarding security. Their typists should sign a Confidentiality Agreement.
Get assurances from the transcription provider that files will be deleted from their/their typists' computers and any transfer USB sticks, as and when you wish, after completion of a piece of work. This is especially important where sensitive work is involved; you may also wish to insist that all computers are password protected on boot up - computers can get stolen after all.
Search for a transcription service provider with experience and one which has worked in your industry before - this can save a lot of headaches, especially if the provider is not familiar with your branch of business, terminology etc.
If you need transcription services frequently, find out if a typist/team could be assigned to your account. This way, the same people will be working with your information and will get to "tune in" to voices and accents, so producing more accurate transcriptions. It will also help to ensure that you get style consistency within your work eg. words ending in -ise/-ize, consistency in punctuation style etc.
There may be a little trial and error in finding the right transcription company for your work, but as with most things, word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool.
About the Author
If you would like to learn more about our Digital Audio Transcription Service, please visit our website SJH Transcriptions and we will willingly discuss your needs with you. We aim to be competitive and always work with our customers to ensure the best possible transcription.
Source : http://www.goarticles.com/

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Medical Transcription Increases Provider Productivity

The demand for fast, accurate medical transcription is at an all-time high. The increased need for electronic medical record access and the ongoing improvements on patient privacy and safety is forcing providers to cut costs and increase their productivity. This article will provide you with information about how medical transcription can increase provider productivity and cut costs. Whether you are a solo provider, small physician practice, large group practice or a community health center, the following information will be beneficial to you.

Highly efficient dictation and medical transcription solutions can significantly reduce transcription costs and turnaround time. With an experienced medical transcription service company, you can increase provider productivity, improve document accuracy and decrease turnaround time, allowing you to spend more time on patient care.

Here are just a few of the advantages associated with outsourcing medical transcription:

- Reduced overall transcription costs
- Improved patient record accuracy
- Faster turnaround time
- Improved provider satisfaction
- 24/7 electronic access to patient records anywhere, anytime

When using an outside medical transcription service, in-house medical transcriptionist, or pointing and clicking through an EHR ask yourself, how much time am I spending on documenting patient encounters? By reducing the time it takes to document patient encounters you'll be able to increase productivity and reduce your overall costs.

How can you reduce the time spent managing your clinical documentation? First take a close look at your whole process for ways to reduce your time. One way to reduce time is to make the dictation process easier and faster for your physicians and other providers by creating consistent templates and using "macros" and "normals." Your medical transcription provider should be able to work with you on creating these templates if you haven't done so already.

Reducing costs is easier than it sounds. In addition to comparing medical transcription services cost per line you should also consider a finding a service that can streamline your processes and reduce the time spent managing documentation. This leads to higher satisfaction and reduced overall costs. Also by working with your medical transcription service company to identify other areas for improvement such as quality, you can reduce the time it takes to manage clinical documents.

Medical transcription solutions should fit within a standard workflow that begins with providers dictating clinical information and ends with coding professionals sending complete and accurately coded patient data on to billing. In an industry as complex and as heavily regulated as the healthcare industry, your medical transcription solution should provide superior technology, 98% accuracy or better and a standard 24-hour turnaround time.

With automated workflows, customizable templates, and electronic signature authentication that lets providers edit patient documentation anytime, from anywhere, medical transcription services mean less repetitive data entry, reduced turnaround times, and more time for delivering quality patient care.

The downside? With multiple systems and technologies in any given healthcare facility today, installing new technology can be a challenge. Your medical transcription partner can help make the implementation as smooth as possible. Most should be able to provide you with software training and instruction through on-site or web-based sessions to help new employees come up to speed quickly as well as provide refresher training later on.

The right medical transcription solution can help providers increase productivity through comprehensive software, fast turnaround time, improved quality and 24/7 access to clinical documentation. Plus many medical transcription companies give providers the flexibility to choose traditional dictation or speech recognition, which can greatly reduce turnaround time and costs.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Craig Mercure is VP of Sales & Marketing at MxSecure, the fastest growing provider of medical transcription services to physicians, medical practices, multi-specialty clinics and community health centers. Learn more about medical transcription solutions, dictation and EHRs - visit our site.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Why Use Online Transcription Services?

Using an online transcription service has become more prominent in the last decade. Remember when you needed anything typed, you either had to do it yourself or hire an office person, possibly full-time, to get the work done, even if work was sporadic? Using an online transcription service is most popular these days, and I hope this will help you understand why and how to choose the best service to fit your needs.
Let's say you need a project transcribed. Do you hire someone as an employee fulltime for just that project? Do you transcribe all of it yourself and take away from your precious time? If you pay an online transcription service, it will be temporary (or until your project is completed) or you can have them do regular work, and you won't have the need to provide benefits. The online transcription services company contracts with independent contractors (professional transcriptionists) to do the work for you, as needed.
Selecting an online transcription services company is tricky. You might search in Google or another search engine and come up with a very long list of transcription companies, so you'll need to do some research. Visit each site and make comparisons. If you know someone who has used an online transcription service, ask them about their experience. It's very important to make the right decision. Here are some things to look for when making your decision.
Is their website easy to read and easy to use (user-friendly)? Is their website too cluttered? Does the website answer your questions? Compare their rates and turnaround times. Notice their methods of payment. Do you notice grammatical/punctuation errors? Does the website have a copyright? Are they easy to contact and do they list their contact info? Have you checked forums, blogs, or articles for an opinion? Have you checked to make sure the website is not a scam? If they ask for ANY money at all for ANYTHING upfront, DO NOT USE THEM. Have you checked to see what type of upload process they use for your audios? Is their FTP transfer secure? Make certain everything they do for you is 100% confidential. Ask questions about their typist pool and who will be doing the work for you. Is the work outsourced to another country? How can you be certain of that? ASK! Do you find their customer services reps to be courteous and helpful? Are they expedient in returning your calls or emails? Check with the Better Business Bureau. Check their work accuracy rate.
These are just a few of the things to take into consideration when choosing the best online transcription service for you.
Just because a transcription service might be ranked in Google on Page 1 doesn't mean they are the best choice. ANYONE can get their site on the first page by paying a lot of money in advertising. A smaller transcription service might not have as much money to spend on advertising, but they depend on word-of-mouth advertising instead, and this only makes sense. The only way to find out is to use the service for a small order and make the decision yourself.
They might offer you some type of incentive for using their service or a discount for volume work. Get the best deal you can for the best work they can produce for you. Customer service is very important in any type of business, but when it comes to transcription and what you pay for it, you really do want courtesy, and you also want the customer service representative to know what they're talking about in giving you the best possible answers to your questions and helping you get started in terms you can understand. They must also be computer savvy in order to help you through the process of signing up with them and giving you instructions on how to use their service.
Your working relationship with your online transcription service choice must be pleasant and uncomplicated. The customer service representative must be personable, helpful, and understanding, always willing to help.
To that end, please do research prior to making your decision on which transcription services company to use. The above tips should help you make that decision.
About the Author
Chromolume Transcription (866) 375-2441 Santa Monica, California
Source: http://www.goarticles.com/

Monday, February 1, 2010

ABOUT TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

Transcription is the process of typing from audio to text. The audio may come from any type of media, such as a CD, DVD, tape, Video, etc.; however, the most common audio format is digital, such as .mp3, .dss, .wma, .wav, etc. The audio is typed into a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word or Word Perfect.
A transcriptionist is someone who transcribes from audio to text, and the necessary equipment she/he needs would be a good set of headphones, a foot pedal (with this, one is able to control the audio), and a software program, such as Express Scribe, to listen to the audio.
A transcription service is a company (either in-house or online) that will provide you with the services you need. Transcription service companies normally contract with independent contractors, transcriptionists, in order to complete the work.
An office in need of transcription services might prefer to use a transcription services company in order to get a large project completed or simply because their in-house staff is absent for some reason. They may also use a transcription services company on a regular basis in lieu of hiring in-house staff in order to save on offering benefits and having someone there all day when there is no need to do so.
Because these online transcriptionists are independent contractors, you will not need to pay taxes on the work they do for you. The independent contractors receive 1099s at the beginning of the year because they are self-employed. This can save you a great deal of money in getting your work sent out to a transcription services company.
Transcription services companies should guarantee 100% confidentiality and also, at minimum, 98% accuracy. This is extremely important to all customers, and a new customer should always do research for just the right company prior to signing up with their services.
Although Google is a good source for finding the right company, word of mouth is also very important. If you know a colleague, friend, or family member who has used a transcription services company, simply asking them may do the trick. Otherwise, do not count on the No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3 company listed in Google to do a good job for you. They may, in fact, be the right choice; however, there is more to it than that.
In many of the transcription forums online, you could find a list of transcription companies. You could also read some threads in those forums that might suggest a good fit for you. Most transcription companies also have a â€Å“rating” listed online. This could also be helpful. You might also make a list of companies, call each one and speak to a company representative, and then make your choice based on that.
The company representative must be able to answer any and all questions you may have in a friendly, courteous, and helpful manner. The representative must be ready and willing to help you not only with questions, but also with any technical questions you may have regarding the use of their FTP tool (File Transfer Protocol), signing up with them as a customer, and also be ready to take down your contact information as a reference for the future.
You now know what a transcription service is, what they do, and the steps to take in finding just the right company for you. It is now left up to you whether it would be advantageous to you in using transcription services.

About the Author

Joyce Warran is the Transcription Director for Chromolume Transcription. She has many years of experience in transcription, business management, marketing, and writing.
Chromolume Transcription (866) 375-2441 transcription@crtranscription.com
Source : http://www.goarticles.com/

Data Transcription Services What You Need To Know

Data transcription services are a popular vertical of the offshore outsourcing industry. Since data is an invaluable part of business and forms the basic foundation of the various processes, it is important to make it accessible across various channels. This is why data transcription services are immensely helpful to a business. It refers to the process of transforming data from one medium to another and therefore, making in available in a variety of formats.

And if you are looking forward to hiring data transcription services, it would be wise to first gather a thorough knowledge about the nature of the transcription business. Data transcription is not easy. In fact, there are various challenges that needs to be overcome if the quality of data needs to be maintained.

There are a number of offshore service providers who offer valuable data transcription services for your business. They have a team of in-house transcriptionists who work round the clock to meet deadlines and deliver solutions for the project concerned. There are also freelance data transcriptionists that you can hire for a lower price, but if you are seeking quality deliverables, you should rather hire a professional company that has significant experience of the industry and expertise of the task.

Outsourcing Data Transcription Works

Before you go ahead and sign the deal, it is important to know who to outsource effectively. You need to evaluate the potential service providers and key in on the one that you think is actually capable of supplying you with quality deliverables and that too at a reasonable turnaround time.

There are various steps and procedures that are involved in outsourcing data transcription services. As a client, it is important that you know these so that you have a clearer understanding about the processes of the data transcription company.

Finding Professional Transcriptionists – The first and foremost step that needs to be accomplished is to find a professional data transcription service provider. Even though you may be tempted to hire freelancers who would offer their services at a cheaper price, it is important to consider the experience and expertise of established companies who are not only more credible but have a better understanding of the industry. These companies have qualified data professionals with high level analytical skills and type fast and accurately.

Getting the Job Done – The next step is handing over the data that needs to be transcribed to the service provider. When you do this, make sure you also specify a deadline when you need the transcribed files back. Often service providers commit to a said time/date but fail to make deliveries on the due date. Therefore, make sure you draft a contract that sets on paper all the deadlines and milestones for the project.

Consider the Time Differences – If your service provider provider is based in another country, you would need to consider the time differences. Your work hours would not coincide with theirs and its best to consider these differences beforehand and plan the course of your project. Remember, if you mail them something, it would take around 12 to 24 hours before the transcriptionists read it. Therefore, make sure to do things well in advance.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Maneet Puri is the Managing Director of LeXolution IT Services, a reputed IT Services company based in India. His company provides clients with an extensive array of KPO services that includes specialized services like virtual assistance, internet research data entry and data transcription services