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I beg to differ. Acute Care versus Clinic

Posted By: CMT on 2009-03-24
In Reply to: I disagree. - acute care reports are lengthy

You may have the same terminology in clinic as with Acute care, but I promise you, you will have terminology in Acute Care that you will never see in clinic. The terminology in Acute care is more extensive than in clinic. I have done the both, but I specialize in Acute Care with Ops. I've been in the business 30 years. Multispeciality clinic is quicker and easier terminology, therefore the pay is less.


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acute care versus clinic
You are so right. Same here. Started in acute care about 15 years ago back when they had tapes. arrrgh! I started out weekends in radiology which was for 5 docs and then when I graduated college went to HIM to do acute care. Started with maybe 30 doctors and doing all kinds of reports and hospital grew to 250 doctors minimum before I left there a couple of years ago. Now I am so thankful for the experience because I am very flexible with what I can do and that makes a better candidate on an interview. Best of luck to you and do stick with it if you can. Actually, I think its great if you are only missing it by less than 100 lines a day. Some advice, though, make you your own 'normals' and maybe save them in folders in Word or something if you can. Even if the dictation isn't the same every time, you can read through while the person is dictating and change what needs to be changed. Op notes are notoriously repetitive for surgeons, barring complications, so that is why it is important to proof as they dictate. Hope this helps bump up that production.
Acute care versus clinic work...sm

Which do you feel you can get a better line count on and would you take a slight pay cut to do just clinic work?  Most acute care accounts have such difficult dictators and such I was wondering if it would just be better to go to a good clinic account even if it meant less per line.  Opinions? 


Clinic work versus acute care?
Anybody have any input as to the money to be made doing clinic work versus acute care?
Multi clinic versus acute care

I was wondering if it is possible to make a good line count with a multi-speciality clinic.  I was offered a PT position; one with acute care and one with a multi-clinic.  Just wondering what you all thought.


Acute care versus pathology

I did pathology transcription for 13 years and have been doing acute care for 8 years now.  Pathology can be very detailed, especially in the hospital surgical setting where you have a lot of surgeons performing every type of surgery imaginable.  The specimens run the entire anatomical gamut.  If you are going to be doing pathology in a laboratory setting, such as LabCorp, your work will be repetitious and you should be able to use many macros. Also remember, in pathology you will have no meds and no equipment to research.  In the hospital surgical setting, you would have more detailed anatomy dictation than a typical hospital OP note, but you will not have this in the typical laboratory setting.  Pathology reports are also completed in stages that are dictated days apart, and that is the biggest difference between them and medical records type work, in my opinion.  If you have been successful in doing acute care for any length of time, you will be able to do pathology and do it very well.  My concern would be that you would become bored with the work.  In a lab setting you will probably be doing lots and lots of prostate and skin biopsies, and biopsies taken from EGDs and colonoscopies.  Best of luck in whatever you decide to do.  :)


Was that for acute care or clinic? nm
nm
Are they looking for Acute Care or Clinic?

There are a few posts already about Axolotl if you want to do a search.  A lot of negative lately.  Clinic work is not bad but the pay is average.  Acute Care is terrible.  90% ESL on some accounts and every account has conflicting Account Specifics so you really have to pay attention to which account you are on. (for example, if the dictator says 50 cc - you type on one account 50 cc, but on another 50 mL), and QA will nail you on that if you do it wrong.   Work comes in by TAT, so you may switch every other job between 2 or 3 accounts all day or get a string of the same horrible ESL dictator in a row.  No flexibility.  They are a small company with only enough MTs to cover incoming jobs.  You tell them what hours you are going to work and you have to be there at that specific time.  Really depends on what you are looking for in a new job.  Ask lots of questions.  Let us know how it goes. 


Clinic should pay 8 cpl and acute care 9 cpl
Clinic notes can be just as difficult as acute care.  You can run up against difficult dictators and varying templates.  Acute care reports can be longer, but not anymore difficult especially if you know the specialty.  I say 7 cpl for clinic is way too low.  Acute care should pay more in that you will most likely have a variety of dictators and specialties whereas with clinic you tend to get the same dictators and shorter reports, but not always.    JMO. 
Acute care or clinic? - nm
NM
Clinic and some acute care
I work on clinic, but I also work in acute care too.  The work is not an over abundance, but it's enough to keep me going.  I hate to hear you are having such problems.  At my last job I had a humdinger of an account and just could not make my lines.  It's so frustrating, but hang in there.  Maybe things will change soon. 
both acute care and clinic
-- not sure about ER. No benefits, not quite an IC, actually SE (statutory) status/no benefits. They have a couple systems in place, my work is done over the I/N; some positions require unlimited LD.
Pay for acute care versus ER/progress notes

My company has been out of work quite a lot lately and their only explanation is you know how it is during the off-season but the off-season now has been pretty much all of this year. My question is are MTs now all paid the same way for notes as opposed to reports. I distinctly remember that MTs who did progress notes and ER notes were generally paid differently because the notes were so short it was next to impossible to get an adequate line count. I feel like I am getting shafted because I am reduced to doing progress notes on a daily basis and I am generally spending 10 hours a day just to make my 1100 lines. Keep in mind that these are still ESL doctors who either don't know or don't care about putting in demographics so that too still has to be looked up and in the end I may get 5 lines per report. I understand that things do change but if its gotten to this point then maybe I need to be the one to make the change.


Acute Care versus Pathology.... After 28 years as an

acute care medical transcriptionist, and working from home the past 7 years, I have decided to go back out in the workforce.   I have an interview on Monday with LabCorp as pathology transcriptionist.   After almost 30 years in the medical transcription profession, and at age 50, I am facing no retirement benefits, no health insurance, no sick time or holiday or vacation time.   I know it's a little late to wake up and smell the coffee, but I figure in the next 15 years, I may have a little retirement to look forward to.      Anyone working for LabCorp know anything about the benefits?


They have acute care, ER and multispecialty clinic,
nm
225+ acute care 300+ clinic - I avg'd almost 400/hr this week - sm
It is easier to get more on clinics because your expansions can be much more specific than on acute care. I have over 40,000 entries now, so most things I don't have to type straight. If you have specific questions, feel free to email
Does MDI-MD have clinic accounts or only acute care? nm
nm
is that clinic work or acute care if I may ask?
I prefer acute care and am really not interested in clinic but was told I have to do it
Acute care is quite a bit harder than clinic.
Definitely. Never a good idea to lie. You won't find anyone at most big companies to ask beginner questions to, on ops or otherwise.
Acute care is very different than clinic notes

I have been an MT for 20 years.  I have hired and trained MTs for a service.  There is a HUGE difference between clinic notes and acute care.  The poster who says she made the switch and didn't have problems is lucky and is probably a very good MT, who had a good base of knowledge to start with.  It can be done, but not in every case. 


Some MTs who work on clinic notes work for the same set of dictators every day typing about colds and aches and pains.  Dictators tend to say the same things over and over.  Most clinic notes are only a 2 or 3 paragraphs.  They work for the same set of dictators for years and even have their stuff canned, just pull it in and make the changes.


You put that same MT on an acute care account for a large teaching hospital and they may have a nervous breakdown, I've seen the meltdown, it's not pretty.  On an acute care account like that you may have all the specialities and subspecialties, probably 30-40 or maybe more, adults and peds, with all the dictators, anywhere from 5 to ??  And residents, let's not forget them.  And all the work types.  They are dictating DS, H&Ps, consults, ORs, clinic visits, progress notes, etc.  They are dictating about new procedures and medications that may not even be in reference books yet or that are experimental.  Some of those reports are 20-30 minutes long, 7 or 8 pages.


I'm not knocking the clinic MTs, but don't just assume because one does clinic notes, they can jump into acute care.  That would be very misleading and a total injustice to a newbie who read that and got into an acute care position, possibly setting themselves up for failure. 


 


Also acute care here and maybe the clinic people
should have learned how to branch out to acute rather than losing jobs to EMR if that is the case.
Can you give us the name of the company and if it's clinic or acute care? Thx. nm
s
Acute care and clinic work are two completely different
things. Anyone can switch from acute care to clinic, but if all you've done are a few clinics, then you only have experience in a few specialties & acute care requires experience in ALL specialties. Big difference.
Both their acute care and clinic starting offers are more than that.
nm
Was told recently that they do 70% clinic notes and 30% acute care, very few Ops. Don't know
m
Are there companies out there that have clinic work? Tired of acute care..
I have both hospital and clinic experience, but I am tired of working for large hospitals where you cannot get familiar with the accounts or the dictators.  I work part-time for an orthopedic surgeon and I love doing it as I can breeze through it because I have learned his style, voice etc.. It is getting so frustrating every day doing different doctors who either cannot speak English or choose to speed talk and ramble on so fast.  Do they think we are miracle workers?? I guess you could say I want an easy account, which by now, I have figured out, does not exist OR does it?? HELP.. any ideas besides getting out of this profession
It depends if clinic or acute care, years of experience, can you do
ESLs.   They pay about the same as most companies. 
Clinic or acute care? I am looking to work 5-6 hours a day during the morning and early SM
afternoon hours.  Which type of work is more appropriate for this kind of schedule, clinic or acute care? I really do have some time constraints outside of these hours as well as on weekends, so I need to find something where I can concentrate on working during those daytime hours.  I am a newer Transcriptionist (at this point looking for IC), and I am hoping to find a place to stay for a long time.   Any advice appreciated.   Thanks
I spoke with recruiter 3-4 wks ago and was told mixed acute care & clinic, no ops exclusively. Low
s
How are the MW accts that use the ExText? Good sound? Lots of work? Acute care or clinic? Thx. nm
s
Do you recommend starting with clinic notes or acute care when just starting in the MT field?
!I realize this question may be better suited for the new MT board, but this board is my favorite)

I am considering accepting an acute care position, even though I am just out of MT school. However, I don't want the learning curve to be so steep that I fail before I even begin. I would also like to have a smaller pool of dictators to transcribe from as opposed to many.

Also, are there more ESLs in acute care versus clinic/dr office work?

What has your experience been? Would you do it differently?

Thanks for any insight!
I went from clinic to acute

I worked for about 10 years as an IC for clinc work, then lost my account (like you).  I got a job in house at my local hospital and also applied with a national for PT work at home with a teaching hospital.  Things were slow going at first, having to look a lot of things up, etc.  I left the in house job after a couple years to be at home full time again.  Being in house helped a lot because of having the other girls to help and I also learned the ins and outs of HIM dept.  Poster below is correct about teaching hospitals being difficult.  But if you are going to learn acute, you have to do them.  I find the work very interesting.  I now work at home as a full time employee for a teaching hospital and couldn't be happier.


See what companies will test you for acute care even though you don't have experience.  I passed my test by a national.  The test took me a while, looking things up, etc, but it was worth it.  Just remember things will be slow for a while.  I only did about 150 lines an hour in the beginning (now I am at 300+).        


    


acute/clinic
clinic is not like ER, pays less than acute, you may have a few ESL in any clinic company, and is different from acute in that you have all different specialties who have different word lists, from ENT to dermatology to pediatrics, etc., and once you learn them, make macros or normals, you can make more LPH.
Clinic or acute?
Do any of you happen to work on the clinic side? Just wondering. Thanks.
they have mostly acute but some clinic
x
clinic or acute
The ad says that they are looking for acute cardiology. I am thinking this is a hospital account. I could be wrong. It does not specifically state clinic though.
is this acute or clinic work? nm

100+ clinic and 50+ acute - really depends on
x
pay depends on if you are acute or clinic...
I was told acute care starts at 8, but clinic is less than 8 cents, but that is normal just about everywhere.
are your accounts acute or clinic?
nm
The post, below, about acute vs clinic got me

thinking. I started in clinic 15 years ago and at some point the nat'l I work for put me on a hospital account-- ER.  I've been doing multi-speciality and ER reports for hospitals around the country, two different national's ever since (discharge/H and P/consults, etc).  Everything but Op's.


I never thought of it that I was learning acute care, but I guess this means I do have acute care experience?  I've been doing it for around 7 years now.  I don't recall a big transition between the two.


Wmx has acute, clinic, radiology and ER accounts. nm
.
6.5-clinic to 8-acute, special teams-9
nm
Anyone happier working for a national versus local clinic or hospital? SM
I'm with a national but from time to time, openings come up with areas places. None are in my own town, but would be 30 to 45 minutes away from home. In the case of at least one of these places, you are required to work in-house just to get used to their system, which I understand, but they say it usually takes a year before being set free at home. Now I can understand that if you are a brand new MT, but as far as just getting used to how they do things, that seems excessive. If you meet the criteria sooner, you can go sooner. It worried me about the length of time. That would put me in a bind with little kids and being away from home on certain days after they got off the school bus.

On the flip side, they pay hourly so I might like that, rather than make next to nothing on some days where the dictators are horrible on my current account. On the other hand, on a good day the lines are worthwhile and I'd come out ahead by LPH rather than hourly rate.

So many things to think about...oh, and another biggie...with this local place I'd get health insurance free for myself (not the family, but I have the kids covered on a plan I'm already paying for myself, along with me on the plan, which I could then drop myself from).

Anybody worked both scenarios and decided the national really was better? I actually interviewed here a year ago but didn't have to decide because they offered it to somebody in-house so I never got an offer. I have 3 years of experience but I still worry I would take forever to meet the criteria to work from home. I guess there are a few that have been there over a year and haven't met it. I don't want that to be me.
They're in here on a search. 7/8 cpl for clinic/acute. Maybe use ExText
s
specify, clinic/acute, IC/employee, national/own accounts,
nm
Any companies hiring out there for Psych/Behavioral Med Clinic/Acute?
  I'm looking specifically for a primary account in this specialty.  Any ideas?  Clinic or acute would be okay, and I'd prefer PT, but would consider FT if the hours were right... just thought I'd check in here and see if anyone has any ideas.  Thanks!
Acute and/or clinic work? Set schedule or flexible hours? Thank you! nm

MDI versus MedScribe versus SoftScript versus Transsolutions versus TransHealth. SM

I'm getting ready to start applying and these are the companies that I'm looking at.  So give me the low-down.  Good, bad, India?


Here are my criteria:


9 cpl or better


Does NOT send work to India


Good accounts with at least 50/50 of ESL versus American dictators


Consistent work flow - no downtime or time spent waiting for work


Upper management should be professional, positive, and encouraging.


Pay for lines WITH spaces.


Is there such a job out there or am I just dreaming?  If there are other companies other than the ones I listed that would fit the bill, please feel free to let me know. I tested with TransHealth and I felt like I tanked.  It was a hard test and I had to use the mouse to stop and start the dictation as it was online test and you couldn't download the voice files.  So that made it a lot more difficult.  One of the dictators was cutting himself off through the report and I had to leave some blanks.  I'm very frustrated with this whole process of looking and testing.  Are all the tests like that?  Or are there companies that allow you download the test files and transcribe them using your pedal and software?  Ugh!  I am just so frustrated and discouraged.


Thanks for any helpf.


Acute care

Acute care is (sm)
typically the basic four: history and physicals, operative reports, consults and discharge summaries. It's hospital work typically done in the medical records department of a hospital.

That's going to be your hurdle because it sounds like you don't have the acute care experience. Once you have 2-3 years of that, you've got it made. Getting your foot in is the hard part.

I'm not a recruiter. Is there a local hospital you can work at? That's sometimes the way to get the experience when you have some medical transcription but not acute care.

Good luck!
Yes, acute care
I have 5 major accounts I get backlogs for and they are all empty, completely!!!! It has been this way since the beginning of December and before that so light that if you got 300-500 lines you were very lucky and had to work morning to evening for it. If you talk to the owner, she will just say she is going to hire more, the work will be there, it is slow deal with it, etc. I can't believe we are not being taken care of.