MTStars :: Medical Transcription Forums

ESLs are no big deal to me. I am working right now but I have been running out of work every day now for over two months. Time to consider a change.

I have checked the archives but nothing more recent than November 2005 is coming up.

Can anybody recommend a good ergomonic keyboard and noise-cancelling headphones that don't cost a small fortune?

who says what he REALLY thinks about the JCAHO. Funny, I found it on Google when I typed in JCAHO and q.i.d. since I wasn't sure what to do about q.i.d. ........

The Death Star of American Medicine

I wish I had written this (JCAHO Unplugged; registration required), because it gives voice to the feelings that I (and probably 99% of the physicians in this country) have about the Death Star of American medicine -- JCAHO. A few excerpts (emphasis is mine):

That is why it really upsets me to watch the JCAHO people walk through my hospital like they were navigating a toxic waste dump. What upsets me even more is the utter paralysis of normal activity that occurs months before their visit and the huge sums of money spent on mock drills and consultants to prepare for the JCAHO invasion. JCAHO (the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization) arouses more fear in hospitals than MRSA gone wild, and their "visit" has a greater institutional paralytic effect than circulating a neuromuscular depolarizing agent through the ventilation system.

A few unsigned verbal orders, or an anesthesiologist carrying a syringe of Anectine in his or her scrubs, or not locking up I.V. bottles of normal saline will result in conditional or provisional approval, and failure to take remedial action within 30 days may result in the death penalty, which for the hospital means bad PR, and more significantly, loss of all federal money. That's right, you can get the chair for parking tickets in the JCAHO world.

It doesn't matter that the hospital admits 50,000 patients a year, saves countless lives and performs daily miracles. Write q.i.d. twice and you can get your liver transplant someplace else.

A response by Russell Massaro, MD, FACP, Executive Vice President Accreditation and Certification Operations, JCAHO, follows Dr. Cossman's screed. The only thing I can say about it is that he makes clear that unannounced surveys will be forthcoming in 2006. Oh, joy!

A lot of the press in the past few days has been discussing issues such as oversight, accountability, and clearly expressed legal authority. JCAHO operates without any real semblence of these niceties, and does so with all the subtlety of a bureaucracy run by Darth Vader. Watching hospital administrators lose bowel and bladder control the minute a JCAHO inspection is brought up has always reminded me of Vader's underlings wilting in his presence --- and for good reason. Without the JCAHO seal of approval, they cannot operate an otherwise well-run, caring facility. The organization, as it was originally intended, was designed to ensure a basic level of safety for all hospitals. It has now become yet another "certifying" agency which must come up with new "critical" problems to fix in order to ensure its ongoing existence (those of you who have gone through the most recent mental masturbatory experience of banning QD and QID in orders know what I mean). What is most galling to me, however, is that hospitals must fork over a hefty sum for these frequent torture sessions, and the inspections are done not by practicing physicians or nurses, but by folks who long ago gave up the difficulties of actually caring for patients for the safety of a clipboard to hide behind.

Maybe I have my metaphors mixed up --- JCAHO comes in like the Death Star, but leaves no room for different institutions to solve problems in their own way. The JCAHO mantra can really be translated as "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" As a result, I suppose JCAHO is really The Borg.

looks like a good place for new transcriptionists to get good information and word help. Hope to learn the lingo soon.

Anybody ever work for Northern Counties Secretarial Services in Minnesota in the 90s? Used to be what seemed like a great company, but in the end, they did a few really good MTs dirty.

I worked as a hospital employee, then IC for quite a few years. Everytime I asked about employee openings, there were none. I would always be out of work for 2-3 months in the beginning of the year. I finally quit and got a job with a national. The hospital couldn't keep up on the work and asked me to come back and work weekends and days I did not have anything else to do (that's a joke!).

Now I understand they are going to hire another FT MT. I want to apply mainly because of the health benefits, as I am paying $600 a month now.

I love working for the national but now my problem...I still feel loyalty to the hospital. I don't know what they are paying yet or what the hours would be and don't even know if she would hire me full time.

I know I should take into consideration the benefits, etc. and compare it with the national, but the work at the national company is so much nicer with regards to the doctors and program they use. The hospital has a lot more ESLs to contend with. The only problem with the national is that I have a hard time getting my production and a lot of days, I get really stressed out.

What is the going rate of a in house MT in PA? I have 10 years acute care experience. What could I expect to be offered? Thanks in advance for your help.

I am looking for some reputable websites for info regarding the CMT exam that also include study material. Any info would be greatly appreciated :)

I have never done any editing, just transcription. I have been doing transcription for about 19 years. Can someone tell me about VR editing. Is it time consuming, can you make any money? How is it different from QA on transcribed reports, or is it different? I may have to do this shortly and want to know what I am in for.

My computer is bogging down terribly causing keystroke screen appearance delays, input hesitation and delay, and lags in moving anything on screen with the mouse.

I use Instant Text and when the continuations go into the screen or if I cut and paste from Wordpad, the Keystrokes are randomly lagging / hesitating for seconds before they appear on the screen.

This is really frustrating. It is difficult to type cause you don't see what your typing appearing on the monitor.

This only happens in Meditech. Not in Wordpad. And it occurs at 3 PM or about that time after I have been typing since 8 AM

It is so bad, it is impossible to do a report. I did a search and found similar problem but no solution except that "Citrix and Meditech hate each other."

Comcast is my ISP. Help Desk increased speed on the VPN but that seemed to only make it worse. Has anyone experienced this and then fixed it?

When I saw an opportunity to transcribe book manuscripts just a few hours a month, I thought it'd be a nice change from the usual MT. But I have NO idea what to charge. I've asked the woman to go into more detail, and this is what she gave me:

"The projects are anywhere from 3 hours - 12 hours of an author talking his book. A variety of subjects ranging from body building to business strategies. I have the document format set up. Most of the projects are 1 hr of audio = 2 1/2 hours of typing."

I'm so hoping someone here knows something about transcribing book manuscripts or can give me some ideas on how to figure a good rate. Please help - I need to get back with her today). Thanks much.

I am posting a tech (nonwork related) question on the gab board ... any help will be appreciated!

is it worth buying the latest 2004 stedman edition vs. a 2002 edition. I debating on getting one for the GI and GU book. Wondering if a nephrology transcription can let me know if there's such a difference among the two. Thanks

Does anyone type in the Bayscribe platform? I work for a national who are switching to this and I have never had any experience with it. Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks

I just moved to a new neighborhood last month. There is a family of 5 kids in the neighborhood that have been playing with my kids, and they are very sweet kids. They are really good kids, never in trouble, and it is very endearing how they look out for one another and never fight with each other.

However, these kids come over every day, and they constantly ask for food, money, toys and Band-Aids. They always want to borrow my son's bike or scooter, and they all ask for food daily. My kids say they have a lot of food at home.

At first I did let them borrow some of the toys, but it quickly got out of hand. I sat the kids down and told them that they were not allowed to ask me for food or money, that it was their parents responsibility to provide that. I told them that if they were hungry they had to go home to eat. They were good for a few days, but went right back to asking again. I also told them that they could not borrow any more toys or bikes.

Today their mother told my kids that they were "mean children" because they didn't know how to share.

I'm livid. I want my kids to take care of their things, and they can't do that if these children constantly borrow their things. I also don't think "sharing" is a life skill they need to learn. You certainly don't see adults sharing their trucks, boats, jetskis, etc. I think it is more important for kids to learn to take care of what they have, not share it with the world.

I feel like I need to talk to this mother, but I'm not sure how to say it without being confrontational. Any ideas? Am I out of line on this one?

I really didn't understand the breadth/depth of this issue until now. Guess when I worked at MedQuist, I just went along my merry way knowing that, as long as there were human beings, there would always be transcription. I liken this currently to what's happening in the world...global warming, Iraq, immigration, weather and on and on and on! I am now living back in the Midwest, having returned from the desert southwest (you don't know what immigration is until you've lived in that part of the country!), but everything is changed here as well. Now, I have no excuse not to blame it all on ageism!

By the way, I also saw a site about legal transcription, billing, etc. being outsourced. Pretty soon and if this continues at its current pace, we may as well pack up and move overseas because that's where all the jobs will be.

I got approached about possibly doing the transcription for a local doctor office - 4 doctors. I have DSS player and they have used DSS system before, but how would I get the files from their computer to my computer. Could they load them into a folder and then winzip them and sent to me? Is there an easier way?

I know this was discussed before. I had no idea then I might get this opportunity, so I didnt pay much attention to the post.

If this post ended up here twice, I apologize. I didn't realize that I had to validate my email address first.

I just found this board the other day and so happy I did. I have been reading alot about VR and editing on here and I have a few questions if there is anyone out there willing to lend an ear.

Unfortunately, this is not my first time where my account turned to voice. Lost an good account years ago to it, and VR has reared its ugly head yet again only now, we are keeping our head afloat because they still want us for editing purposes. I'm not a happy camper because my salary has been cut, literally in half (that in itself is a long story - we had to lower our price to save our necks). Needless to say, its tough beyond words and I'm so depressed. Trying to think positive in saying that at least I still have a job, but I don't know whether to think I'm getting the short end of the stick. I'm paid per report, not per line on our system. Some reports I'd say it is fair, but for the long, long, involved studies - no way. I would make more selling popcorn on a corner somewhere. I have hesitated to look for a second job only because I wanted to see where this would lead me, but I'm thinking it doesn't look too promising. :-( Can you share any experiences you had with VR and if it ended up lasting longer than you expected? Is getting paid by the report not the best way? I like where I work, I like my boss and I like the hours that I have - all of which play a major part in any decision (add that to three small kids and you've got yourself quite a dilemma). Any help you can give would be so much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Guys, help me with something because obviously I'm missing a crucial piece of the QA puzzle somewhere. How is it that QA folks who are PAID both more money than us and also sometimes on an hourly basis (and justifiablly so because of their presumed higher skill level) to fill in blanks GRIPE and COMPLAIN when they are called upon to do so? I simply don't understand, especially when there are obvious issues with the dictation, i.e. bad sound file, low voice volume, ESL's, etc. (I'm not talking about a situation where an MT may not have given his/her best effort to the dictation [which I don't think at all is as prevalant as some of the prima donnas would have us believe]). What did they think, that they were going to continue to do the same job as the rest of us but get paid a premium just because they are who they are?

And I'm not at all speaking in reference to those QA folks who are a blessing to the industry in terms of their talent, the nature of their feedback, and their mentoring capacity. I'm sure, though, that many of you recognize the kind that I am speaking of.

A clue: If you don't have the patience to fill in blanks and give constructive feedback, then please ... DO US ALL A FAVOR and stay an MT. The majority of us give the best that we have to each and every one of our dictations, but sometimes we reach an impasse with a particular chart that requires only a second listen to put together a quality final product and get it back to the facility. We don't need the stress of your nasty, superior attitude and sometimes not-at-all-helpful feedback.

I was given a universal registration key for a free hosting account by a friend of mine (don't worry- it's a public key). I signed up and am now using the FTP feature of the account for one of my clients. Thought I might share it with you. It's a fast server and doesn't have any ads, either.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any call in dictation systems that do not utilize an FTP site to access the dictation. Is there any other way to access dictation using a system of this type.

I have sat here in my little chair and quietly typed all day without a peep of protest. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, I can hear the river tide, and....and....and......I have to get outta here! Just for a few minutes, I'm going to go dip my toes, catch a couple rays of sunshine, and watch the kids play. Actually, I think I'm going to play with them!

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who says what he REALLY thinks about the JCAHO. Funny, I found it on Google when I typed in JCAHO and q.i.d. since I wasn't sure what to do about q.i.d. ........

The Death Star of American Medicine