Keyboarding Techniques for Speed and Accuracy – ERGONOMICS
KEYBOARDING TECHNIQUE
Students who correctly practice using our keyboarding techniques can dramatically improve their speed and accuracy. Regardless of your present level of skill, whether it is 40 wpm or 80 wpm, please look over these suggestions and do the drills frequently. Occasionally "freeze" while you are typing and observe your technique to see if it can be improved.
The number one problem of students is that they want to type "interesting" copy instead of doing "boring" drills. If straight typing accomplished the results we want, you could type novels or other interesting straight copy and improve your speed and accuracy. Medical transcriptionists would automatically develop phenomenal speed! Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
Occasionally, students find a really cool typing drill that makes them come out with a great score. They tell each other and soon everyone is using it. Their typing speed temporarily goes up. Sure, you'll get great scores if you do easy, straight typing, but in the real world you have to use numbers and hard letter combinations. Now is the time to challenge yourself by doing hard drills. Don't worry about speed and accuracy right now. Your speed will temporarily go down until you progress through the areas where you need work. Then, it will continue going up, and up, and up!
We want true and lasting results. Do the drills. If you want to be entertained, rent a video! If you want fast and accurate keyboarding technique, do these “boring” drills! Put the radio or television on while you do them. You don't have to concentrate. Your brain and your fingers will do the work automatically. Try to spend at least 20 minutes each day doing the drills. It will help! Expect amazing and dramatic results in about 3 weeks.
Do the four steps below, first focusing on accuracy, not speed. Then do the same four steps again, but focus on speed, going as fast as you can! Both types of drills together help build your typing skills.
1. Type each letter of the alphabet in order with no spaces between the letters.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (repeat 4 times)
2. Now type each letter of the alphabet, but insert a space after each letter.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z (repeat 4 times)
3. Now type each letter of the alphabet with no spaces between the letters, but go backwards beginning at z.
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba (repeat 4 times)
4. Now type the alphabet backwards again, but insert a space after each letter.
z y x w v u t s r q p o n m l k j i h g f e d c b a (repeat 4 times)
A WORD ABOUT ERGONOMICS
Avoid arching or sticking out your neck. I've heard it referred to as the "Barney Fife" neck. Observe your technique to see if you are causing yourself pain anywhere. Sit up straight with your head centered over your shoulders.
Keep your fingers curved, with your "pinkies" almost on their home keys. Space only with your right thumb--even if you are a left-handed person. Your right thumb should hit the space bar between the B and the N keys. The H key should be at the middle of your body. Keep your elbows fairly close to your body, not flapping as if you were about to lift off into space!
Never rest your hands or wrists on the desk. This will help you avoid carpal tunnel or repetitive motion disorders. Also, resting your hands on the desk slows you down--possibly by 20 wpm or so. Pull your keyboard out to the edge of the desk to keep yourself from resting your hands and bending the wrists. Allow your hands to be in their natural positions with no abnormal wrinkles from flexed wrists. Many transcriptionists use a wrist rest (a computer aid made of plastic and a soft top that allows you to rest your hands in a neutral—nonflexed---position as you listen to dictation).
If you have your keyboard at the edge of the desk, make sure you also move your monitor as far away from the keyboard as you can—towards the back of the desk. Try not to move closer and closer to the screen as you peer at the words you transcribe. Keep your distance and go easy on your eyes!
And while you are taking care of your hands and eyes, don’t forget your ears! Keep the volume on the transcriber as low as you can while still having it loud enough to catch all the words of dictation.
Remember, your eyes, ears, and hands need to last throughout your many years as a professional medical transcriptionist. Be good to them!
I do love the Cortez-Peters Keyboarding books. More on that from Former Instructor Redpen in just a minute.
There is only ONE thing I disagree with, so please do this one thing in a different way than they describe.
They have you crimping up your hand in an abnormal way.
Just naturally hold your hands as if you were holding an orange in them.
Ahhhh! Even better, don't bend your wrists up or down. AHHH again!
I don't really like wrist rests. Some hand surgeons suggest that they weaken hands. Before I knew that hand surgeons "sometimes" say that, I've always said, "Your hands are not lazy. They do not need to be held up. Let them hold themselves up." I still believe that's true, but if you have a question about it, check with your own doctor and do what your doctor recommends for your particular hand and wrist situation. [a little bit of wise waffling here]
Catch yourself typing and FREEZE! Are your elbows sticking out? Unless you plan on flying somewhere, pull your elbows in to your sides.
From Instructor Redpen regarding Cortez-Peters Keyboarding
It is sometimes difficult to improve your keyboarding speed above a certain level due to speed-limiting "things" you learned way back when. There is a keyboarding program authored by Cortez Peters which I can just about guarantee will improve your speed as far as you are able, and do it quickly. You can order the book from a bookstore. Follow the directions EXACTLY. Begin at the beginning (lesson 1), even though you "know" this stuff already. Pretend you've never keyed before -- learn it like it is brand new. He'll tell you to key letter by letter -- DO IT letter by letter, no matter what anyone else has taught you. Do all the exercises exactly. Do all the corrective exercises exactly. You don't need to rush or try to "go fast," either. Do them only as fast as you can do them without making mistakes, and try to relax and let it happen, rather than forcing it. I predict that you'll be over 60 in a few weeks and the book can take you to over 120 if you follow it exactly. I've seen people increase 20 wpm in two or three weeks.
The book you want is Cortez Peters, Championship Keyboarding, Skillbuilding, and Applications, McGraw-Hill, 1989, ISBN 0-07-049635-8. There are one or two others, but this is the one you need to begin with.