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Things in this field have changed for the worse over the past years.  Salaries have decreased, yet expectations have risen.  Benefits are contingent upon production, yet a good share of the time production can't be met due to complications outside of the MT's control.  When it comes to taking the losses due to changes in the field such as offshore outsourcing and technologic advancements, it isn't the clients or the service owners taking the major hit.  It's the transcriptionists.  Yet AAMT has done NOTHING to help the transcriptionists in general.  In fact, it has gone out of its way to PROMOTE offshore outsourcing and even to change some of the guidelines in the newly published, amended BOS to accommodate voice recognition and other technology geared to replace the MT or relegate transcription to other forms labeled "editors", which in reality involve retyping whole reports or major portions of reports at a cut in pay, of course. 

All anyone, newbies included, needs to do is to look at the history of the medical transcription field, see the changes, and then see how much AAMT did to promote the worth of the Transcriptionist in this country.  The depressing message isn't coming from those speaking against AAMT, it is coming from the consequences resulting from the actions of the AAMT.  One fact alone can depress a newbie, and that is to look at the average line rate in 1995 compared to the average line rate now in 2005.   Thank you, AAMT, for promoting that.

Old company, let me go before two weeks was up.  New company, said they were having trouble getting me set up and my equipment ready, but they would pay me while I waited.  It's been a month, still no check from new company even though I was told it was "in the mail."  I have no income and am at a loss. 

I have a signed offer letter from the new company, contracts, etc.  I applied for unemployment, but old company is saying I quit and technically I am currently employed with the new company!  New company is not returning calls or answering email.

What should I do!?!?!?!

I started sending my resume out today, but the process of getting a new job will take at least two weeks and I need money now to catch up on what I'm behind!

I've got to get out of MT one way or another.  Only have 2 years of college, majoring in English.   What qualifications skill-wise are needed to do medical ultrasounds?  Would this suit an ex-MT well? 

I'm 58, would have to keep working full-time and going to school just part-time, so it would take a while.  If I started now, I'd probably be in my early 60's when I got certified as a tech.  Can a more "mature" person do this job, or is it only for young people?  Any ideas what this kind of an education might cost?

I'm also interested in court-reporting, but I'm concerned about working at it for years, and never achieving the speed required to become a CR.   Also, most CR's are independent contractors, I'd rather be a salaried employee.

Any feedback?  

Does anyone know of any desktop search engines that will let you use a keyboard command to get to the search taskbar without opening the whole desktop program or mousing to the taskbar, other than Google Desktop? 

I can't use Google Desktop because it doesn't search all the directories in the C: drive.  It only searches the main directory. 

I just received my new Data Hand keyboard and am starting to use it.  I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has used one of these.  Thanks.

About 180 EarthLink employees in Atlanta will lose their jobs as the Internet provider completes a move to outsource customer service and technical support telephone lines.

EarthLink cut 1,300 call center employees in 2003 and another 1,300 in 2004 as it began farming out the work to call centers in India and the Philippines.

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The latest cuts eliminate the use of EarthLink employees to handle customer calls, said spokesman Dan Greenfield.

The job cuts will take place between August and September. Greenfield said EarthLink would provide severance pay based on seniority as well as assistance in finding new jobs.

EarthLink will be left with 1,020 employees in Atlanta and 1,800 nationally.

Using overseas call centers instead of American employees saves money, the company said.

When the plan to use outside vendors was first announced, Garry Betty, EarthLink's chief executive, said the company was "making hard decisions that are necessary to ensure the ongoing viability of our company."

On Monday, Greenfield said that the latest cuts were needed "to allow us to compete in a very dynamic marketplace."

The overseas call centers handle both customer service and technical support questions.

I have just about completed one of the two long-term MT courses.  I have begun to look for jobs and find that even with the course training I am still such a rookie.  I have found a few short-term jobs but really need full time soon.  I am wondering if there are any small MT companies out there that would consider hiring me (I will work cheap to learn) and mentor me until I am competent?  I understand that some take a cut from your line rate to mentor and I can live with that.  Any feed back will be appreciated.

J

I had posted earlier about a manual for the Straight Talk System 7120.  If anyone has a manual, please let me know.  Apparently someone responded but now I can't find the original posted message.  Thanks!

Time to start my day and dinner but bored with the same meat choices.  I cook for a shrimp and steak spouse.  He would probably love lobster too, but I am not for cooking anything while it is still alive.  I could eat fruits and vegetables (salads)  all day long and be perfectly happy with that.

Thanks for any ideas and if you can't think of anything, that's okay too.:)   Have a wonderful productive day!!

I posted awhile back in January about needing hearing aids.  I was diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss back then and was sent for an MRI, which was clean.  I was told the next step would be hearing aids.

I had been having a lot of blanks through work and let the company I am an IC with know what was going on.  I received an e-mail today telling me not to turn in more work until they have a copy of my hearing test.  I am not sure what that means. 

Honestly, with the amount of blanks I have had, they could have let me go for not hitting whatever percentage of accuracy required. 

Anyway, I am just looking to see if anyone else out there has had to get hearing aids and what type they use that works best with being an MT.

Thanks for your help!

On the job board there have been several postings for IC positions paying 8 cents to as low as 6 cents.  Are there really MTs that accept this?   When they accept this, do they understand the expenses that they will incur?  Some say setting your own schedule is worth it but these positions are set schedules.  They say they are not but if the work is not done during that time, it goes to someone else.  I personally, would not take less than 10 and even that is low.

Not much to many maybe, but my husband still surprises me sometimes.

He works 3rd shift as a dock supervisor at a local shipping company that's only about a mile from our house. He doesn't like to think of himself as "supervisor" because he's always been a team player.

Because they load trucks to ship out the next morning, he had the night before Thanksgiving off, but had to go in at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. "Lunch Break" is right around midnight and he found out that one of the younger single guys hadn't had Thanksgiving dinner because he had to stick around to go to work instead of going to visit family.

So I hear a bit of commotion in my kitchen around 1:00 a.m. and find that  my husband had brought the guy to the house and had warmed up Thanksgiving Dinner for their lunch break.

Now isn't that just too sweet?

Of course they left me the dishes, but oh well.

I started on a new platform about two weeks ago and am finding it HORRIBLE!

I normally get between 130-170 lph, depending on dictators.  Today I worked four hours and had 200 lines

It is a word-based platform.  To put in a QA marker you put in spaces, highlight them change screens, use the mouse (no shortcut keys) click add, save, and then back to your screen.  To remove a QA marker, you have to change screens, use mouse click on QA marker number, and then click delete...  You also have to do this to look up or edit doctors, patient info...

In all honesty from anyone who has worked on such a platform, WILL I GET FAST ENOUGH TO KEEP MY CHILDREN FROM STARVING?

Thanks in advance

It's a 4-mm s/l Schebolamine liposuction cannula.  He says it twice.  I can't find anything like it ANYWHERE.  Can someone please help? 

Thanks,

Sue

Hi all.  I have been an MT for 10 years and took a skills test for a national and FAILED. 

Oh my goodness, talk about a slap in the face!  All I know is they require 90% accuracy and apparently I failed that. 

It has me questioning my skills at this point.  PLEASE tell me others of you have had this problem!

Thanks

Would anyone be willing to give me the ballpark range for what contractors charge their clients in Florida.....like 13-15 cpl.  Also anyone from California with the same information?

I am just starting out and I don't want to low-ball anyone!  Thanks!

I would like to take a part-time in-house MT job.  Unfortunately, there a few jobs out there.  The local hospital has an ad for a full-time MT position.  I had applied there many years ago and withdrew my application.  The pay was quite low and the hours were not flexible at all.  For example, one hour for lunch meant one hour for lunch! 

I wondered if I should apply and tell them I am only interested in part-time, not full-time and see if they are interested.  Or should I just assume that they are still very rigid in their thinking?  I don't want to waste their time or mine but really would like to go in-house a few days a week at this point.

What do you think?  TIA

The poster has been banned access.  If you see ads that I miss, please post the link to the post under this message -- it is much quicker this way today.

Thank you for all your help and Happy Thanksgiving!

Moderator

Do you guys think the trend is starting to reverse itself ?  Im sort of, kind of, starting to hear about unhappy hospitals / doctors lately - who miss our on-the-spot turnaround time. 

What are your thoughts on this topic ??

Janie the homebody

This is only the second month that I have had this account but they thought that their bill was a little "high" as the doctor does not feel that he should pay for any lines that I have in a template or if the physical is mainly normal and so I have a normal template, etc.  I told them to try to find somone else that was cheaper that gave them the service that I did, with the TAT and quality.  This is a doctor that loves to rib off insurance companies and morally I have been debating about doing this account but felt someone had to do it.  But I told the NP/OM that with the time I spend in delivery and pick-up, paper, etc. I need to make this much per hour and that is about what I make.  This is the first time in a long time I have really stuck up for myself.  She said that their last Transcriptionist had been charging $5 a page and  I said fine I would compare that with my lines but it would be with 1" margins all the way around and a 12 courier font to define "a page" and low and behold it came out about the same as with my line count.   Anyway I am sure that they will begin to look elsewhere and that is fine, I wasn't looking for an account when this one came my way and so somewhere else there is something else.  But it made me feel good to stand up for myself and believe in my skills.  

LARNIX PHARNIX LARNIX PHARNIX LARNIX PHARNIX LARNIX PHARNIX

Why can't you just say larynx and pharynx

Ok, I feel better now.

One ARNP on my account is absolutely the most aggravating person!  Obviously she rants all the time because we've gotten memos saying to be extra careful with all her work because she is the "squeaky wheel". You have all these particular things to do to hers for 8 lines, 9 lines, etc. etc., reports taking about 10-15 minutes to be sure everything is done right.. for 8 lines, 9 lines..and so on. .Very frustrating. But then, half of the time, she doesn't even give the name of the patient. So we are to be "extra careful", but she can't even remember to dictate the patient's name!  Very frustrating!  Nobody's perfect. We all get in a hurry, but only THEY can make the mistakes!  Thanks for letting me let off steam..

and why?  What do you like about it?  Also, what is the worst?

I really like EditScript 8 & although it isn't perfect, I like the fact that I can access other reports on the same patient/same dictator if I need to verify something (although I never trust it 100% lol)  One thing I don't like is that I can't use my Expanders (or maybe I can, but don't know how to go about it?)

I don't like ChartScript, as I don't think its very user friendly and those old DOS-based antiquated systems were for the birds!