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Clinic pay - Posted By: Betty

I'm thinking about doing some doctors clinics. What should I charge. I too will be picking up and delivering. Thanks a bunch!!

Anyone get bored? - Posted By: trish

Lately it is getting harder and harder for me to stay awake while transcribing - have done this for 20+ years and now have to take caffeine pills (even after getting 7-8 hours sleep) Do the same account every day, same work type (which I know I should consider as lucky), same long reports every day, very monotonous, nothing challenging and having a really hard time. If I complain the office staff will put be on discharges which will be even more boring. Used to get a mixture of short and long reports, now very seldom get anything short and am so bored - get up every hour and walk around 10 minutes or so - any ideas on pepping myself up?

Idea for new reality show - Posted By: Freaky Friday

I came up with this great idea for a new reality show called American MT:

YOU'LL LAUGH when you see the MT struggling to understand English speaking MDs who can barely put a sentence together, foreigners who can barely speak English, food chewers, side talkers, paper shufflers, sneezers, nose blowers, coughers, chokers and the like.

YOU'LL CRY when the American MT is faced with dire consequences such as eviction and malnutrition from the incredible shrinking paycheck and the amazing dwindling workload.

YOU'LL GASP IN HORROR as vital medical records are outsourced to strange lands to be typed by people who barely comprehend, write or speak the English language.

Coming this fall to a TV near you! American MT! You'll have to see it to believe it!

What do you think? Sometimes I kill me!

feeling like this mama? - Posted By: jus me

This should end all "3 Bears Stories"

Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table, he looks into his small bowl. It is empty. "Who's been eating my porridge?!!" he squeaks.
Papa Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl, and it is also empty. "Who's been eating my Porridge?!!" he roars.

Momma Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells, "How many times do we have to go through this with you idiots? It was Momma Bear who got up first, it was Momma Bear who woke everyone in the house, it was Momma Bear who made the coffee, it was Momma Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night, and put everything away, it was Momma Bear who went out in the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper, it was Momma Bear who set the table, it was Momma Bear who put the friggin cat out, cleaned the litter box, and filled the cat's water and food dish, and, now that you've decided to drag your sorry bear-butts downstairs,

and grace Momma Bear's kitchen with your grumpy presence, listen good, cause I'm only going to say this one more time.

"I HAVEN'T MADE THE PORRIDGE YET !!

Pet insurance question - Posted By: New dog owner

We just adopted a lovely little Lab mix from the SPCA and she came with a free month of pet health insurance. I debated whether to get it with our last dog, who turned out to have a zillion health problems and cost us a mint before we finally had to put him down at age 2-1/2. I'm tempted to keep this insurance on this new dog. It's really pretty inexpensive and covers 6000 different illnesses and situations including surgeries and accidents. Anybody ever had pet insurance and did it turn out to be worthwhile?

playmates - Posted By: marilyn

OK, it is 5:15 central standard time here - where are all my early morning playmates? I have to log on at 5:30 and usually stay on here until the very last minute, getting my adult conversation for the day. Have a good day everyone, and for those of you getting off the night shift, peaceful dreams, see you tomorrow!

CONGRATS to Susan P. of Harrisburg, PA on winning the Absolute Experience - Posted By: tapes & HPI book courtesy of M-TEC! nm

/

Spellex medical spellchecker and line count software - Posted By: aeades

Does anyone use this program. Is it any good. I have abacus right now that I have had for about 8 or 9 years and I really like it but I just upgraded to Word 2007 and I don't like the way it does the new count. It is a stand alone now instead of working inside Word and it does not seem to be as accurate and function as well. Also I have Dorlands electronic medical spellchecker and I really like it because it will correct things automatically that I misspell and stuff and it words directly in Word but it is not compatible with Word 2007. Does anyone have any advice on this or any software that is good and works with Word 2007?

Thanks

Autocorrect help please! - Posted By: me

Hi!

Everytime I add something to autocorrect it works until I close my program. When I go back into it my new entries are not there. Any suggestions? This is driving me insane!

IMPAC/eSCRIBE software - Posted By: Becky Muska

Any feedback from transcriptionists presently using IMPAC/eSCRIBE software would be greatly appreciated.

Need information about laptop computer for MT sm - Posted By: kady

Exactly what do I need to look for in a laptop. I have an ill family member which requires me to be more mobile. Ram? Hard drive? How many ports? Do you like any particular brand - I lean towards Dell, but am certainly not a diehard Dell fan.

Any tips you might have would be appreciated.

Thak you

Do employers not realize that a little explanatation - Posted By: wanting to work MT

low work volume would go a long way? Nothing special, just to notify us. Just like they expect to be notified if our schedule changes, it would be nice if they let us know about volume and if they were trying to do something to get us more work, etc. Rather, they let us sit here and wonder what the problem is!!!

If your hospital/facility could take MT back - Posted By: Mave

from the outsourced services, would it be interested in doing so? If you think it's Take Back Time at your hospital, facility, doctor's office, I am ready to offer them a proven solution to take control back into their own hands and create a win/win situation for hospital, MDs and MTs. It's Take Back Time!

How about you? If you could work for a hospital or facility without having a service between you and them, would you be interested? Do you have the proven quality and experience to offer a hospital? (Excluded: new grads, MT wanna be's, and trainees - this question is only meant for those with solid and strong acute care experience)

If the above scenarios appeal to you, contact me and let's talk.

help, adjuvant chemotherapy with s/l fury???? - Posted By: cant hear doc good.....nm

s

Microsoft Word Help Please -- New Template Setup - Posted By: OncologyMT

I have done this before and for the life of my I cannot remember how I did it. Can someone help me out? Okay. This new doctor would like heading and numbers under each heading. He wants me to tab over from the number to begin typing and the words to sort of "wrap" so that the second line would not return to under the number. I will try to show it here.

Treatment:

1. The patient will ____________________________

the rest of the sentence would continue under the words "The patient.

???going rates - Posted By: sara

Help!!! just been offered an OB/GYN doctor account. What should I charge?

So tired of these support-less techs at companies. - Posted By: Not my job

same ole answer- I don't know, not my job. What is their job? I can't work, I don't get answers, and it is their software. First answer when I call the office is call support services. Call support service and they say it is not their job. Who it the sam $ell's job is it? I can't work.

Guess these wonderful techs don't know that without us they have no job and it is possible to work without fancy programs with off the shelf software.

Has anyone ever had benign vertigo and - Posted By: question

had to go for therapy. If so what kind of therapy and was it successful.

What was it like? - Posted By: kyradmt

I know I've been doing this line of work for ten years, but to all of those who are truly veterans - what was it like in the good old days I've read about on these boards? Were the nationals at one time nice to work for? When did the good days start unraveling? Sign me...

Curious in Kentucky

Demo expander - Posted By: Abby

anyone know of a demo for an Expander other than "shorthand" demo?

Thanks,

Abby

Can an expander be created in Shorthand while typing the document? - Posted By: Sunny

Or do you have to get out of the document and make up the expansions? When you download it from the website, do you get any instructions along with the program? Any other info would be appreciated.

Ex-Text and Shorthand - Posted By: gloria brown

Does anyone have problems with Ex-Text/Dictaphone working with ShortHand for Windows?

Ex Text platform - Posted By: nan kessler

Could someone tell me a little about this platform? Are there many screens and a lot of demographic stuff? Also, is it true you can't use Google or email while you are using ExText?

Useful!!! - Posted By: nm

Was searching for a psych word and got it on this site. The psych section is handy and so is the rest of the site. Here's the link.

ms word 2003 - Posted By: KSM

Is MS word 2003 compatiable with Vista?????

Thought of the day - Posted By: PJ

I love thought's of the day as I get caught up in the crap of MT which I love some days and hate some days. Please take a moment to consider the following .

Today's quotation:

No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today,
enjoy the sunlight today, mix good cheer with friends today, enjoy it and bless God for it.

Henry Ward Beecher

Today's Meditation:

We read a lot of words written about our tendency to worry about the future rather than focusing on getting the most out of today, and this tendency can keep us from creating many beautiful todays that will help us to create a beautiful future for ourselves. Worry about the future often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy which can make it even more difficult for us to think positively about the future; all this can become a never-ending cycle that holds us firmly in its grasp.

There are concerns in our future. They have to do with work, living, money, and family situations. But they are in the future, not in the present, so we have choices to make. Do we enjoy what we have today, or do we spend this day worrying and fretting about tomorrow? Do we learn today and plan today for tomorrow, or do we stay obsessed with the potential bad things that will come around the corner tomorrow? Do we trust life and God that tomorrow will take care of itself (while still making creative and focused plans for it), or do we add stress to our lives by not having the faith?

It's often very difficult not to let fears and anxiety take over our days--they're very powerful forces. But the power they have is only the power we give them, and if we take back that power and keep it from them, they won't be able to make our todays miserable.

I have many gifts at my disposal today that I can enjoy. It's my choice whether I focus on them or if I focus on what may happen tomorrow. And if I use my intelligence and intuition to make productive plans for dealing with tomorrow's potential problems, then I'm making even better use of this today that I've been given.

Questions to consider:

What kinds of difficulties may be in your tomorrow? How much of today do you spend thinking of them?

How much does worrying about the future help it to turn out "okay"?
What kinds of blessings do you have around you today that you can enjoy fully?

For further thought:

We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working
with what we�ve got to make it as satisfying as we can. We can accept, bless, give thanks, and get going. Today, we can begin to call forth the riches from our everyday life. Procrastination has robbed us of too many precious opportunities. Call a friend for lunch, begin to read or even write that novel, organize your papers. Try a new recipe for dinner, smile at everyone you meet, sit and dream before a blazing fire, pick up your needlepoint again, act as if you�re grateful to be alive, scatter joy. Think of one thing that would give you a genuine moment of pleasure today and do it.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Anyone use Hijack This? - Posted By: RadGuy

Any good?

I just had an ESL doc who - Posted By: ugh

talked 100 miles an hour, whispered, mumbled, and had the phone entirely close to their mouth so I go that "lispy" sound the entire time. I need a vacation after that.

I don't get these "incentives." sm - Posted By: ??

Company is swamped with work right now (which is great for us), so they are offering an incentive this weekend...but the incentive only kicks in AFTER you've typed 500 lines. Hello....if you are that swamped AND you want people to work over the HOLIDAY weekend, shouldn't you offer the incentive to ALL lines types during that time?

Obviously not my call, but it just comes across as incredibly cheap.

Soothing music - Posted By: Janice

We all have some dictators that we would like to strangle. However, I find it very helpful to play New Age or other soothing music in the background while I do transcription. Not loud enough to disturb but just there to soothe my nerves when these dictators upset me.

Meditech line count - Posted By: curious

Hi all. I will be starting an account in Meditech and my previous experience is that it always counted by the gross line. Can this be changed to accommodate a 65 char. line?? Thanks!

DERMABOND or Dermabond? - Posted By: Sue

Stedman's surgery book says Dermabond, but Stedman's spellchecker says DERMABOND. Does anyone know which is correct?

How did you get your own accounts? - Posted By: SunnyMT

Hello, I was just wanting some advice on obtaining some accounts. I have 3, which all came by word of mouth/referrals. Does calling offices, sending out fliers or faxing info seem to work best? I really need more work and am interested in getting some tips from other IC's.

Thank you!

Lines per Megabyte - Posted By: Amy

What does this mean exactly? In the IC contract with my company, it says 7cpl or the equivalent. I know some of you might think that's beans, but I'm brand new out of school and need the experience if not great pay. Anyway, when asked how "equivalent" is calculated, the company states they have software that figures lines per megabyte. Well, I have MPCount, and when I switched the options to 7cpl and per byte checked, rather than extended characters, it comes up with a really piddly figure of like $2 for a report that figures $70 when using the extened characters option. I've got to be doing something wrong here. Anyone else get paid by lines per megabyte, and if so, is it really equivalent to the standard way of being paid by the 65 character line? I have yet to get a check to find out. That won't be until April 10. I'm anxious. Thanks!

Merry Christmas sm - Posted By: ej

Just want to say thanks to all you hard working MT's. I am constantly amazed at how sharp many of you are. I am an oldie will be 70 next birthday, but still working. Always loved transcription was also a Paramedic, but back prevented that kind of work. Anyway God Bless all of You. May the New Year bring prosperity for all of us.

Comments on Accutane? - Posted By: acne mom

My son's acne started when he is 12. He's 16-1/2 now and it's as bad or worse than ever. Started off trying various over the counter things; didn't work. Tried Proactive; didn't work. Went to a dermatologist who tried Retin A, antibiotic capules, antibiotic cream, steroid injections to inflamed zits, etc. Basically no change. We kept going back but it never got better and finally son refused to go again. The doctor had mentioned possibly using Accutane. The dermatologist said he had never seen so many blackheads on one person (said that in front of my son too, which I think was kind of poor judgment). But I was thinking my god - if he's the worst a DERMATOLOGIST has ever seen - geez!

Anyway, he has blackheads, whiteheads and bumps deep under the skin. The bumps you don't notice so much until he is in the light - sunlight or for instance the spotlight the dentist shines into your mouth - and then holy cow - they are everywhere, hundreds of them, each probably the size of a BB. The bumps are only on his face but he also has very bad blackheads, whiteheads and pimples on not only his face but his neck, shoulders, back and upper arms.

My son doesn't ever act like it bothers him at all but I'm sure it must bother him and I'm sure kids must say something about it. He seems to pretend they aren't there. My husband thinks he is just overwhelmed by the sheer number of them and the fact that nothing has worked so just ignores it.

I know Accutane can have very bad side effects but I'm wondering if in a case like his if we should try it anyway. I think I will make an appointment with another dermatologist although I KNOW it will be over my son's protest. He will try to refuse to go. He is the one who decided he wasn't going to the other dermatologist anymore. I think maybe I will try to find one that specializes in acne, if there is such a thing.

Has anyone here used Accutane or had a child who did?

Can RAM die? I put in more RAM last year so I should have 768 -- but it says 256 now- sm - Posted By: Laura E.

anyone have any ideas? I am positive after I put in the new card back in early 02/2005 it read 756. So if anyone had any insight or suggestions I'd appreciate it.....might explain why my computer has been a bit slow lately...we have also had a lot of power surges/outages lately, but I do have battery back up now (after it wiped my work out 2 x), maybe it got fried from that? TIA.

Is anyone watching Court TV and/or following case of 16-year-old who killed parents. - Posted By: Just curious

My satellite went out during sentencing and just wondered what her sentence ended up being. I was hoping life w/o probation.

How do MQrs on DocQscribe get their line counts? - Posted By: Thanks.

Is every office different?

drug sites - Posted By: MT

Does anyone have any good drug sites for ophthalmic ointments and drops? I always have a hard time finding these. TIA!

I use Instant Text and need to - Posted By: know how to save my glossary - sm

so I can put it on another computer. I tried a flash drive but it doesn't let me copy -- does that make sense? (it is installed on my other computer - just needing to copy my favorite glossary) I'm confused to say the least----any help? TIA

Font size - Posted By: southernbelle

I have read with interest the thread on font size. Now I know why one company allows you to transcribe in one font and then it gets printed in another - which is much smaller - which does make it harder to get your lines. I thought that it was me - but could not understand until I saw what was getting printed and counted, as to why it was so difficult to get a good line count when I had always done so in the past. Is this not in some way misrepresentation? You see what looks like a nice report and then when it gets printed it is so small that you can hardly read it - this also messes with the end of your lines and sentences - where if you make a hard page break on what is on your computer screen it comes up as something different on the copied version on the other side. All of the info offered was good and this is a good point to make when looking at work - especially if you are new and do not know anything different.

Computer questions - Posted By: Kira Sampson

Hi everyone - new to this board and fairly new to at-home transcription, although I've been a Transcriptionist for more years than I care to count.

I have a couple of computer questions - 1) Is there any way to convert files that are normally received by C-phone into wav, mp3 or other voice files? And 2) Is there any way to set up your computer so that your headphone is separate from your speakers? In other words, so that you don't have to unplug your headphones when you want to listen to music?

Thanks in advance!

EMR? sm - Posted By: Need some knowledge

I know EMR is electronic medical records. Does that replace or take lots of work from MTs? I have three doctors I do work for and they are thinking of going with EMR, will that replace me?

First-time new client - what to charge? - Posted By: Judy

After working for years as an IC for an MTSO, I have the opportunity to get my own client. It's one oral surgeon in a city of about 30,000. He has been typing his own notes to date. I am going to get him a handheld recorder and somehow figure out how to transfer files via an FTP and what software is needed on both ends (I have a ByteScribe WavPlayer already). We're still working out details - very casually at the moment - although I plan to put a written contract in place (any samples?). He will do printing on his end. What should I charge him and if per line, with or without spaces? Any ideas would be very much appreciated. As stated, I've only worked as an IC and so have no idea how much more the MTSO rate would be.

MS Word. Please sm. - Posted By: Just me

Will someone please tell me how to set up a "field" I think it's called in a template and then how to jump from one to the next to fill in what you need?

Example:

The patient is a * seen today for *, etc, etc.

Thanks for any/all help.

Regarding Word 2003 post from way below--sm - Posted By: None

To the person who posted a suggestion for correcting the non capitalization problem of Word 2003 from far down the list of posts, the suggestion you gave was SOOO correct!!!! Thank you so much! You have no idea how aggravating that was. I did what you suggested and the first thing I did was to uncheck the "automatically add words" to the exception list box. Then I started typing and waited for it to not capitalize a word. I went back into the exceptions list and sure enough! The word had been added! I deleted it and went to type the sentence again. It worked this time!!! I am SOOOOO happy. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! YIPPEEE!!! How can I ever repay you??

ICs in contact with others MTs from the same company - Posted By: HomeMT

Do any ICs working for a company have the ability to speak with other MTs at the same company? I thought if I could just talk to other MTs working on the same account as me, I would have a better understanding as to whether or not the account is difficult or if I just need more experience.

Anyone feel like chatting for a while? NM - Posted By: Leadfeather

NM

Question on moving 1 piece of furniture - Posted By: madhattie

I now live in Florida and have a 75-pound chest of drawers that belonged to my mother in the Midwest. I want to bring it down here, but I don't have a truck and my car is a compact, cannot two anything with it.

Does anyone have experience with this type of a small move? Would it be better to have it packaged and sent via a service like DHL or somebody? I would rather not entrust it to a moving van company.

Thanks for any suggestions.