Medical Transcription Discussion Forums:

• Main Board
• Job Seekers Board
• Company Board
• Word Help Board
• Classifieds
• Medquist
• New MTs / Students

General Discussion Forums:

• Gab Board
• Politics Board

I'm wanting to buy a house. I have 3 kids, 1, 2, and 16. I live with my Not-So-Darling-BF, 2 youngest are his. I have a purchase offer on this house and can get financing. The payment is 200 more than I wanted to spend. House is 5 years old, in town, right by my 16 y/o school. I have CC debt (about 9500), a student loan, a couple other small (less than 1000 bills).

I posted my dilemna on MSN Money message board. They all think I should rent, pay off debt, get a roommate, that I should build my emergency fund, save for the house, blah, blah.

Obviously I'm an MT, make 42k a year with 3 parttime MT jobs, one going full-time hopefully in the next year, and child support from 16 y/o which I will lose if she does not continue school after graduating.

I may have a renter, my brother, who would be good for about $350 a month, incl. heat, etc.

I feel so emotionally drained. My "BF" can be prone to violence, never hurting me or kids, but breaking the "house", he thinks he is "Mr. Wonderful" and always has that attitude...I could go on..I wanted to leave at 3 months of knowing him but got pregnant...to make a long story short...and I stayed "cause of the kids."

I'm not sure why I'm posting but I feel my next step is the psych ward. Financially I guess I can't leave and emotionally I can't stay as I'm going nuts.

I need advice or words of encouragment or something, anything....

I just saw ****of Cleveland Plain Dealer (newspaper) on C-SPAN.  She is a journalist who cares about people losing their jobs in the state of Ohio.  After hearing her on C-SPAN, I believe if MTs from Ohio would contact her about all of our issues regarding offshoring of our jobs, unfair pay for VR, our personal information going overseas, etc., she just might be the person to take up the issue.  She fights for the working man/woman.  She is a wonderful person.  She even said she would be glad to hear from people by telephone.  I think if enough MTs from Ohio contact her, she might help us all.  Her phone number at the Cleveland Plain Dealer is ****.  I couldn't verify email address from the web site but did find www.cleveland.com/schultz/ (I haven't tried this yet).  She is also a Pulitzer Prize Winner for her excellence in journalism.  I'll be contacting her.  I hope others do as well.

****Phone numbers are not to be posted nor other private information.****

My employer wants me to try using an ergonomic keyboard and supplied me with a Belkin model. 

I tried it for a couple of hours and despised it, so I switched back to my regular HP keyboard.

Has anyone else tried a Belkin ergonomic keyboard, and if so, did you find you had to literally slam your thumb into the space bar in order to have it work correctly? 

Since I don't like this one, I'm sure they'll want to order me another type.  Besides the Kinesis Advantage (which I think they would deem too expensive),  any recommendations for an ergonomic keyboard with a nice light touch? 

TIA, ladies!!!

I am trying to copy and print my ShortHand Dictionary (the list of expanders) and cannot seem to find the way to do it.  Can anybody help on this one.  By the way, Happy National Transcription Week!

TIA.

I am an IC.  Contracted with just 1 drs. office since they generate plenty of work.  There is another at home IC, who works there, too.  We have been backed up quite a bit lately, so they hired another IC to work prn.  My question to any other IC's out there is--Do you ever take family vacations?  How do you accomplish this?  Do you tell them your office will be closed for a week? What do they do about work while you are gone?  What usually happens to me is they punish me the week before by giving me extra work.  While I am gone, they just pour all of my work on the other IC and she gets backed up, and then when I returned I have twice as much work to do.  I feel like--why did I bother taking vacation?!  I get burned out prior to vacation, and after returning to work I get burned out again from trying to catch up.  I mentioned today that we need someone to cover when we, the 2 IC's take vacation.  I was told the other IC "never takes time off" with a smirk.  I felt like saying, "Well, I am sorry, but I have a family and a life and it doesn't revolve around this office!!!!"  Got any advice?  I am so burned out and need some time off!!!! 

I want to become more proficient in op notes and ESL.  Is there a company that would be willing to work with me so that I can learn this?  I am not a newbie, with over 6 years hospital/clincial transcription experience, but we have very few ESL and the op notes are covered by others.  This is something that I really need and want to exceed in.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks!!  Marceia

Is ExSpeech the VR software that has no footpedal and everything is done using specific keys on the keyboard?

Thanks

So I am losing 2 accounts to EMR December 1. Anyone know exactly HOW the EMR works.  I'm wondering is there still a way for the MT to be involved without losing the account?  I'm sure there are different EMR programs, but has anyone had experience with EMR?? 

One that's not 95% ESLs, steady workload, steady accounts, good communication, office staff who aren't rude buckpassers, decent line rate, no offshoring, direct deposit, flexible schedule, not having to do 50+ 30-second reports per day, and a platform conducive to speed.  I know it's not possible, but a girl can dream, can't she?  This is, after all, my Christmas wish list.  I never get what I want for Christmas.  Why is that too much to ask for?  It doesn't even matter anyways.  After Christmas, I QUIT MT!!!!  Burger King is just down the street, and they give food discounts.

1.  Are you living paycheck-to-paycheck?  Defined:  Missing one paycheck would seriously harm your basic living (housing, food, utilities or necessary meds/medical care).

2.  If you lost your job today, without warning, do you think you could be employed again within 1 payperiod?

3.  Do you have an emergency fund in case a loss of job happens?

My answers:

1.  Missing 1 paycheck would hurt but not devastate me.  Mising 2 or more, yes - it could be dire.

2.  Yes, most definitely.

3.  Started one and slowly building it up.

How many independent contractors here ever been stiffed by a doctors' office when you didn't have a written agreement?  Just did business on a handshake?  What did you do to collect payment or did you ever collect payment?  I'm being stiffed and know I won't take this sitting down.  I worked too long, way too hard.  Invoice is teetering 7K.  Any help/advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

A gal I work with once said her most important purchase as a medical Transcriptionist was her keyboards. I had never gave much thought to a keyboard, as my most important purchases focused on comfort (chair) and clarity (headphones).  I am now in the market for a keyboard and what she said about a keyboard has me real curious.  Is there something I have been missing?

So the question I have is, do you have a favorite keyboard (brand) and/or style (ergonomic), and why?  Thank you for your input!  

I am currently enrolled in the medical transciption course at my local college. For my final project this semester I need to interview a medical transciptionist. Is there any out there that would be interested in answering some questions for me. I would appreciate any feedback I can get. Thanks.

Who are some good female role models today? 

Two questions,

1. What sort of things do I need to have in place to be able to say I am HIPPA compliant at home?

2.  Can someone please give me the web address to MP Count?

Thanks

I am SO irritated.  Would you be irritated, too?  Just looking for some input, here. 

I am an independent contractor.  When I was hired, I made it very clear to the potential employer that I work on a 24-hour turnaround, less if told in advance that I am needed, but that I do not sit at my computer all day from 8-5.  I get my work done whether I work 8-3 or 10 PM until 4 AM.  (I work from home with children, and I do MT rather than use my degrees so that I can be with them.  This is why that was made VERY clear before I accepted the position.  I am not just sitting there waiting for work to come in.) If it comes in by 7 PM on Monday, it is back by 8 AM on Tuesday. That's my contract.

These are some things that have happened:

1.  The MTSO got mad at me one day because she emailed me in the morning telling me about some STAT jobs she needed done RIGHT AWAY.  Well, I had turned in my work from the previous day the night before, and I had signed up to be a chaperone on my child's field trip that morning. I was not on my computer until the afternoon.  That is what she understood when she hired me.

However, when I got on to work that afternoon, I had these angry emails from her wondering where her STAT work was.  When I told her why it was not done, she told me that I was EXPECTED to check my email every morning before I "go anywhere". I told her that would not have mattered, because even if I had checked my email, I would not have done the STAT work until I got back because of my obligation to my previously made plans.  That made her mad.  Frankly, my opinion is "tough noogies". My contract is my contract, and if I have no other obligations I will be happy to do STAT work.  But no, I am not going to put my child second to do a favor for her.  It's like the poster says, "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."  She's mad.

2.  I have a 99% accuracy rate. I consistently work weekends when the MTSO is behind.  I am an outstanding MT.  I work when I am sick, when my kids are sick, no matter what... I work.  Well, one day the workers in the street cut a cable, which took out my internet connection and my DSL phone. I did the transcription using my home phone line, which cost me an arm and a leg in LD charges, but I then had no way to securely email the files.  I let the MTSO know the problem and scrambled around calling until I found a friend not in my neighborhood who had Winzip and who had time to let me come to her house, use her Winzip and computer,and send my files.  My work was 3 hours late.  MTSO told me, "It's in your contract. It's not my problem what technical issues you have.  I need your work ON TIME.  Read your contract!"

How about my paycheck, which is CONSISTENTLY late because the MTSO doesn't get paid by the doctors on time?  I hear things like, "I can't pay you if I don't get paid." How about next time I say, "It's not my problem what financial inflow problems you have.  I need my paycheck ON TIME. Go take out a business loan using your phone system as collateral so that you have some operating capital, I don't care, but I need my check. The pay dates are in my contract. READ your OWN contract!" 

3.  Last thing I need to rant about today....  She called me one Friday saying that one of her MTs quit (shocking) and she needed help on another account.  I went into the account. No templates, no samples, totally flying blind.  I struggled through dictation for an hour with this doctor in a specialty I have no experience in at all, he has an accent I've not had to work on in years, it's totally new to me. In the meantime, my own accounts are stacking up.  I emailed her and basically said, very professionally, that I'd be happy to keep working on this other account, but my own are stacking up. Would she like me to put in my regular amount of hours on this account and then catch up on my regular accounts next week, would she like me to do my regular accounts first and then put whatever time I have left to the new account, etc.  She said that I needed to do the new account and then catch my accounts up over the weekend!

I told her that I was not available to work that weekend, so what would she like me to do as far as the options I had given her previously.  She was mad.  She said that for the good of the company, we all have to sacrifice, she will be working all weekend as well, etc.  Excuse me. The "good of the company"?  I have no benefits.  I have no 401K. I have no vested interest in the business besides the fact that I make a per line rate.  Sure, if she loses her business, I would lose my job... I would also have another one very quickly given my resume.  If SHE has to work all weekend so that the docs don't get mad, she should.  It's HER business.  What part of that is hard for her to understand?  Sure, if she had asked me ahead of time and said, "I really need your help. Do you have any time this weekend to work on this account?", she would have had a different response from me. But to tell me, "You have all weekend to catch up..."  I DON'T think so.  I am not a robot, I am a person with a husband and four children.  I told her I could give her three hours on the weekend put toward any account she chooses, but that no, I would not be working until it was all caught up. She was mad.

Needless to say, I am looking for another job.  But what is wrong with this woman?

I needed to vent.  If you've made it this far, thank you for listening!

I have Tips 'N Techiques in MS Word 97/2000 by Cheryl Flanders.  Does anyone know if the newest edition 2005 is that much different?  Any good MT websites where I can sell some used books?

Thanks,

Jennie

I fairly new to SR.  I've been MT'ing for 16 years.  I was wondering if there are any secrets to increasing production.  I use Dictaphone SR.  Basically, when I get into the report I do a quick read through and correct any formatting that needs to be done, i.e. bold and capitalize headings, put in paragraphs, numbered lists, etc.  Then I listen to the report from start to finish, editing as a I go along.

I was just wondering is there a faster way to get through a report.  I'm not sure if the Dictaphone SR report quality will improve over time, but right now it requires an extensive amount of editing and correction.  Sometimes it would be quicker to type the darn report!

Okay...so my friend just came into some money, not sure how but they got a few grand.  So with that money they bought a new truck which they really needed.  I was told by her that she had enough to go to school to become an MT which she has been thinking about for about 3 years now......well do you think she registered? No....she said that she is sending her BFF on an all inclusive trip to Mexico with $2000 spending money.  I just want to ring her neck if she actually did that.  I am not sure anymore because we not longer talk....because of differences. 

I'm sorry I am very flustered about what she is doing - even though I should NOT care anymore but when your DH is working his ass off 24/7 why wouldn't you get schooling to help him out?!?!?

I just get some decisions some people make.  I am glad that I decided to use my money for my schooling because I would never have been were I am right now.  I am truely truely blessed with the opportunities that are coming my way!

I have read on these boards many of the MTs leaving for different career choices.  Many for nursing or such, but are there any of us out there that has consider or is doing E-Bay sales?  I have dabbled in this.  I am wondering if anyone would like to e-mail me what they are doing and if they find it a nice change.

Thanks.

-Losing faith-