Re: Any way to figure out typing speed yourself?

Ok, here's the long story that I was avoiding...
I get paid per page. It's templated so it's kind of easier this way, but
makes the line counter in Word pretty useless. Well, I suppose if I figured
out how many lines are on each type of template and then subtract that from
the total it would work, but that is a lot more work than it's worth and I'm
not sure how useful it would be to me.
I've been with the doctor for 4 years now and this has worked out great.
He's given me raises on my rates on his initiative and really treats me like
an employee come holidays and office outings. I also fill in as a medical
assistant from time to time when they need help.
Because I'm somewhere between IC doing just their transcription and an
employee, I do (in my opinion) a little bit more than a big service would
do. For example, if he needs a letter sent to a doctor but doesn't have his
address, I look for it. If anything is flagged, I follow up with the office
and then retype it. If I notice people on the schedule weren't dictated, I
let them know so they can be dictated if they did indeed show up. Then of
course there's the typical following up of "cervical MRI showed L3-4 disc"
and "male, LMP on 1/21/06".
Lately, it seems like I've been doing a lot more of the administrative-type
stuff, which my rate doesn't include. I haven't really had a day off for a
while - the days I'm not typing, I'm going back taking care of notes that
needed more information.
Before I can just blanket "I need a raise," I want to make sure that my
typing speed hasn't slowed down - I took a typing test for some weird reason
the other night online and it did come up slower, but it always is when
you're typing something you're reading. If the typing speed is okay, my
next step is to give the doctor the option of either streamlining what this
procedure has turned into, or pay me more. As wonderful as he is, he's not
going to pay me an insane amount when he can go to India unless I point out
exactly what extras he's getting.
Of course, if it turns out that for some reason my typing speed is not what
it used to be then it's all on me. I can't do the typical "time how long it
takes you" because my 3-year-old screws that up each time! lol This isn't
perfect, but it's better than nothing and will at least give me an idea.

--
Christie

"RaeMorrill" <RaeMorrill@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:HDNAf.101304$XJ5.53264@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Well typing speed, i.e., words per minute is really different than lines
> per hour. I recall (vaguely) on real typing speed tests in typing
> class you typed for 1 minute, then I believe every five characters was
> considered a word and you got your speed knocked down based on errors.
>
> If you want to time your transcription speed I would just note start
> time and work as you normally do, then stop, see how long it took, and
> do the math. If you're using Word you can just check characters with
> spaces and divide by 65. Or type for say 15 minutes, count lines, and
> multiply by 4.
>
> How are you getting paid? By line or by hour. If by hour you lose money
> the faster you go, so a newbie who has to look every other word up
> actually makes more per line and for doing less work than a pro,
> possibly even if the newbie is being paid far less. If you're working by
> the line, being fast isn't really a reason to ask for a raise - long as
> the doctor is getting his work back in the agreed upon turn around.
> Doesn't matter to him then if it takes you 1 hour or 10.
>
>
>
> Christie wrote:
> > I pretty much type as fast as my doctor talks - we've worked together
for 4
> > years now, so I pretty much know what he's going to say before he says
it.
> > He's a clear speaker for the most part, and when he's not I know when he
> > meant to say while he was coughing (of course, I double check though!)
> > There has to be some type of program that will time me start to finish,
> > isn't there?
> > Or would the best way be with a stopwatch in the corner?
> > Just curious....I'm thinking about raising my rates so any info that I
have
> > to back me up would be great.
> > (I hope this makes sense - I had to take Benadryl for some hives and it
> > makes me a little - ok, very - sleepy)


.

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