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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Common practice?

Posted By: lilly on 2006-06-23
In Reply to:

Is it common practice now days to type 4 different accounts - 7 different work types in one 8 hour shift?  I'm experiencing this as a FT employee for a well known company - Other than this, the company is wonderful ....this has given me great experience, but my pay has decreased.....Do I need to suck it up and keep pounding away or look elsewhere?  Any advice appreciated!!! 


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RE: Common practice?
Suck it up. You really do not have a problem.
Is it common practice for companies to disable the cont.I function?

Does that necessarily mean anything?


Practice what you preach. Your a** has been on here all day!
;-)
Why not practice being French
here to see how you like it?  Try being snotty and rude.  Sneer and pretend you don't understand what people are saying.  Maintain a disdainful countenance, while dissing the USA.  Set fire to a couple of cars.  Demand 8 weeks paid vacation and then refuse to work anyhow. 
Not exactly defending the practice
First, I'm not a big fan of mandatory overtime anyway. I understand sometimes they need it, but after 40, there are some weeks where I don't even have another minute in me to give them.

I've also had the same thing with overtime...being happy because they're requesting it for an account that's semi-easy and I'm good at, and then logging on to find out it's the account from hail. I can't be the only one from that hail-storm to be working, and I can only assume they're not too backed up because they're not the ones looking for OT, so why oh why oh why must I type any of the Chennai Boomhauer in my spare time.

It must have something to do with different turnaround because I don't think my place assigns them. At least in theory, although I've not seen the spread sheets to prove it, it's first in/first out to me. I did ask them about this one other time I signed on for overtime at the slightly better place and got stuck with Hail Community Hospital. I was still eligible for the OT, but I'd have gotten probably double if I'd have been typing the actual account that needed the OT.
Free Practice Test

This will give you some sound files and practice tests - http://www.meditec.com/meditec-skills-test.html

Unfortunately, many practice this unethical behavior. sm
I worked for a company that sold out to MQ. A certain person took all of the names of the MTs with her when she went to another company, went after the accounts this company had, and tried to recruit the MTs for that account for the new company.

I asked how they go my name and number as I had never applied to this new company before - and I was told so and so worked at such company and we have this account now and you used to work on for such and such company....etc. I was shocked to say the least!

So, yes it does happen, and NO I never took the job and asked them to please not contact me again that I was not interested.

Nothing is sacred anymore - not even our privacy let alone the hospitals and patients!


its for Family Practice account
/
is there any type of practice test
you can take to help prepare for it or at least give you an idea of what's covered?
family practice companies
Does anyone out there know of any companies with good family practice accounts? 
Yes, hiring practice was right 'fit' for me
Imagine hiring someone just based on their resume and a phone interview. Aha, the catch? You have to pass a very rigorous 10-day QA process, can transcribe only 5 reports a day during that time. It is challenging, but well worth it at the end of that time. You decide if it's the right job, and they decide if you are the right employee.

Like I said, old school.
Does that include the overhiring practice of Transcend's
so none of us can make a decent living, or the miserable platform transcend brought with it?
Oh, I understand. I wasn't condoning the practice
of not paying for no work situations at all. Just commenting that MQ was not the only one to fail to do so.

Although I have never been out of work with either MQ or Spheris, should that situation have occurred I would have been all the more reliant on the other position's income.
I once had a group practice client, which included ...sm
6 physicians. The most irritating one was the doc from India who had been in the U.S. for at least 15 years (I know this because I went to school with his children), and refused to even work on losing at least a small part of his accent. He was so ridiculous, and each time I typed his work, I said to myself I swear this guy purposely works at keeping his thick accent just to irritate me! Interestingly, 2 of his partners in the practice were ESL (had only been in the U.S. for 1-2 years), and their accent was much less severe. These were younger docs, who in my opinion, made an effort to get with the program if they want to practice medicine here! I do believe that people can actually make themselves hold onto their accents. I have a friend who is from the south (She has lived near me in the SE part of the country for 20 years) and she continues to have a strong southern accent. She has not lived in the south since she was a small child. I tease her about it.
That is totally unacceptable business practice.

How different are internal medicine notes from family practice? nm
  
I had no MT training, either. Started at an Ortho practice, then to a nat'l. MT school is NOT a n
x
And yet YOU fuel the fires. Good grief, practice....
nm
With practice and expansion usage, you'll get there! Stop dwelling on the
s
Any place to get free practice voice files or does anyone offer testing that could be accessed w/o
x
Curious. Scrolling down yesterday and noted comment about unfair labor practice
suit possibly brought by an MT against a certain company.  I know this company only hires ICs - not employees.  Is this possible?  TIA.
Agreed. I also got a nice Christmas bonus working for a tiny private practice. sm
In a smaller office you're seen as an actual person.
It is a common
phenomena that QA is inconsistent in any company. One QA gives 100%, the next one gives 75% accuracy, and worse you can get 25%. They ought to standardize QA. Hey what about a QA checking another QA's output...hahahaha....to kinda bring them off their pedestals.
how common is it to not

hear back after resigning (with notice) ME/MT position? What do you do, send another note? Not say anything?


Thanks a lot,


Brit.


is this common?
nm
this is very common

I spoke with one person who was looking to incorporate VR into his business (his parent's business has been operating for about 15-20 years, and he is trying to upgrade them).  He said that doctors just don't dictate correctly for VR to work properly. 


I know that I had the same problem you had.  Did you also notice that the company pays less with Edit mode than typing, so it takes you longer to do to the work and you get paid less, and the company keeps more?  It behooves the company to keep the VR; it puts more into their pocket and less in yours, without them having to deal with the headache of making sure the reports are right.


That's more common than you might
xxxx
It's more common than you think.
My sister has a lot of medical problems, including hemophelia A. It is very rare for a woman to have this, but she has it none the less. Anyways, pharmacies have frequently messed up her medications. One time it was the hospital pharmacy after she had surgury. That mistake could have lead to life-threatening complications. My point is that these kinds of mistakes are more common than you think, and patients need to be very proactive with their care.
It is very common
From my recent interviewing process with a many companies, it is very common.  I am not meaning the templates that we individually create in our expansions but rather any charcters/heaings, etc. that automatically populate on the screen when you enter a job.  I personally can understand not paying us for those characters are technically we did not type them.  I just don't understand with the subtracting thing when we do not use them and have to delete them
I have common sense thank you
If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to do transcription for 15 years.  All I wanted to know was info on a potential new job switch. I once again apologize. I don't frequent these boards ever and was just directed here by someone else.
Sorry to jump in, but it really IS common
sense not to post account info or patient names.  Yes, the rules of posting are plastered everywhere, and any Transcriptionist of 15 years should know NOT to post private client names anywhere. So, you are arguing and looking more silly.
Try sbcglobal.net - it's a common ISP.
I think it's a typo.
Again, there is no such list that is common to
MTSOs that I am aware of. What one company might do, I have no idea. From where did you get the idea that I am the Merriam Webster of the MT world. I don't believe I said it. I gave you the facts as I see them and as I know other recruiters see them. Some of us wish there were a list, but no there is not.

What one private MTSO might have said to you definitely is not something that is common to all MT services. If it is, to be honest, it would not really be legal or fair.

An MT working for one company might not be a good fit for a number of reasons yet be a perfect fit to another.

No one here proclaimed to be any Merriam Webster of the MT field, but you sound like you think you think you are the MW of the hiring industry. You just do not have the facts apparently at all and from what I am reading, you are basing your assumption on a statement that was made to you and by what one MTSO posted here at this site.

One thing I have learned is not to trust everything that I see here or on any other MT site. What I know is what I know to be fact or let's put it this way, what is fact as it pertains to my company and what I know to be fact from several others.

So, if there is a list, it is not common to all companies and if it were, it would not be legal.

I know there are some companies whose idea of ethics rate right with the potty and if this type of thing is done, then that rates right with the potty because there are quite a number of reasons why an MT might not work with one company and that very same MT might be gold to another.

Fair is fair and in that arena, I have not seen too much going on that is not fair to the MTs. If it existed, I certainly would not be doing this job. I will not do anything that I feel is not proper and that would be something I consider improper.
Not common, and not productive..

I also worked for a well known company until last November when they were gearing up for their GREAT changes at the beginning of this year.  I went from having my main account that I had typed on for five years, and one backup account that I was also very familiar with, to having six accounts and almost no work on my former primary account.  I was unable to produce the minimum line count, and they never gave me any time to learn the accounts, training pay for new accounts (yes, they used to do this), etc.  After the first pay period I didn't make my minimum line count, I got bumped to statutory status and my benefits were gone.  I had to find another job.


Working for another national would be my absolute last resort if anything happened to my current job situation.  If people don't know who you are, it's easier for them not to care about you. 


 


 


 


Well... it is common knowledge
that the whole QA department is the laughingstock of the industry. What a joke... unbelievable. They wrote the book on inside politics. You never get promoted with this company unless you are in the right clique. Truly the blind leading the blind. Coordinators aren't even that bad. QA department in a league of its own. Now that I'm gone I can look back and laugh - really laugh. LOL LOL
Don't you think this is pretty common?
I haven't really found a company out there that doesn't hire whackos that may not even be MTs for management positions. Now Im not saying that they are all bad, but it does happen. There is often very little communication and a lot of misleading. Like the scenario of everyone starts at 7.5 cpl base pay, some of these are making this, some not. MT 1 comes along and makes 10 cpl, and then MT2 makes 8 cpl. MTs have got to be the most poorly treated of all employees from every line of work there is out there.
How common is Pay Period at net 30?
Was made offer to start with a company, have to work 30 days, then pay is net 30!  That's 2 months without income.  How common is this?  I  know they're are not going to pay until they get paid.  Yikes!
common sense
tells me that my creations of Expanders are my own; the program may belong to the company but i feel i have made them and they belong to me. Granted, legal eagles may have their own angle. However, if i am moving from job to job, i'm not stealing, as i am not taking anything other than the generic word combinations i have created myself, not company secrets etc. Regardless of your opinion, if i have spent 10 years creating a file, and can move it with me, it is going!
This is getting silly now. Please use your common
Volunteering is not illegal in and of itself. Let's see, I could volunteer to bake donuts for a PTA cake sale. But if I volunteered at home to bake donuts for the local bakery to sell daily, that would be illegal. Bakeries are regulated and have to meet rigorous health dept codes, etc. If you're a putz, you can volunteer to transcribe for an MTSO, but again, it has to be set up professionally, and NO I am not sure that it is legal to work for free. I can't go into ShopRite and volunteer to work for the day stocking shelves. What if something happened while I was working there? Slip and fall? It just isn't legal. Then you compare volunteering to an internship program. Apples and oranges. Of course, an internship program is a different entity and whoever was running one would already know all the legal guidelines and have them in place. But, NO you cannot transcribe medical records on a volunteer basis while someone else farms you their work on an informal basis, while they get paid for it, submitting it to someone else who hired THEM, not YOU, to transcribe it. Its called subcontracting, and its a legal matter, not like volunteering to walk somebody's dog for them while they are on vacation. Please, please consider our career a profession.
Not sin, just no common sense
Nobody wants to work 7 days a week BUT to think you are going to start the job and work M-F and NO workends is a bit ridiculous and IMHO, ignorant. Work Five days a week can include Saturday and Sunday, you just don't want it to. What makes you think straight off the street you don't have to work towards anything; the better hours, the better dictators, the best pay?  Those are the perks of working some place for awhile, not what you are entitled to straight off the street.  Like I said try doing that at any other job or company and you will get nowhere.  Why is transcription any different? 
I know. Is it too much to ask for a little common courtesy!
Many times I ask myself why I stay in this business because I feel it is one of the most under-appreciated, disrespected professions to be in. I don't understand why they don't have a whole course in med school on transcription practices.

I mean come on - have some common decency. How hard can it be! Is it too much to ask for:

No loud noises in the background!
No shuffling papers!
No saying 2-3 words and sitting there for 30-45 seconds!
No ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh!
No repeating yourself over and over!
Dictate ALL of the dadgum demographics!
Spell unusual names of people and places!
Include first names of physicians (especially when you know there are 3 doctors with the same last name in your hospital)!
Say diagnosis for 1 and diagnoses for more than 1!
Don't have a several-minute conversation with someone while dictating!
Say who you are!
Don't mumble!
Speak clearly and at a regular pace!

People hear what we do and think it's so easy! NOT! We are definitely underpaid for the crap we have to put up with!!!!

Okay, I'm done venting (for now) LOL.
That is another common comment
I spent years, since 1973 to 2002 working outside the home, yes never got to work at home until outsourced. Why would I not be really happy now- plus the fact I no longer have to work long, long hours, 60 plus an hour when I had family I had to provide for and not working the rest of my life away in itself is a very big plus.
Anybody with any common sense would read that .....sm
And know it is somebody that has not had their fill of immaturity saying things that are not true.

I for one have watched whoever this is posting unforgiveable posts on this website and I can tell you, they have no integrity. It demoralizes our profession and they really should find something else to do. A lot of single parents depend on transcription to pay their bills and feed their kids and when they have to be subject to the kind of stuff that has been on here, it takes away their whole support system, which all of us need.
common sense prevails .. ?

Reading and understanding your frustration and not having a thing to do personally with Cymed save for hiring two people from there who never did much work for us before I had to let them loose, I would say to give it a try and form your own opinion.  A lot of personal problems are laid at the feet of offshoring and I think that you need to form your own opinion.  It doesn't take that long to find out what working for a company will be like and you have not given up an opportunity that might work for you because you listened to others.  Ask the questions that concern you and really listen to what they tell you.  Good, productive MTs are working and no matter what .. you will never know if you don't try it yourself and see where it leads. 


Use your expander for common phrases.
Then all those phrases are correct. But you need to look back and make sure what you expected to expand did, so you are constantly checking back even as you continue to type.

My mentor made me do it, and it works.
That is totally normal and common.
x
One common theme from so many posts below
regarding any transcription company - as MTs, we are not the company's friend. Even if you work for a small MTSO with 1 owner and 2 MTs, when it comes to business, you are not friends. A business owner is in business and will make decisions based on their business - and if that means a decision that will benefit them while not benefitting the MT, its still their right and 9 times out of 10, the owner or company is going to make the decision that serves their own best interest. With all these companies and rumors and dark whisperings of offshoring, losing accounts, whatever - Yes, figure that its true and make your decision as an MT based on YOUR needs - your family, your situation and bag the emotions forever. I think in this industry that is a common issue that allows MTs to be taken advantage of - perhaps because we are remote, we are so trusting and/or naive. We don't want the rumors to be true, we don't want our account to be lost, we don't want change. Again, having done this for 30 years, looking back, every rumor was true, every horrible thing did happen, and yet here I am and I'm fine. But I suffered terribly years ago when I stupidly believed that each MTSO was my friend and cared about me and my family. That was my only mistake. Once I dumped that emotional baggage, I've been fine. Keep informed as best you can - read different boards, compare messages - if the company has stock, watch the stock, sign up for Google alerts - whatever you can do to keep informed. When you learn something important, keep it to yourself and make your moves. Why warn 30 other MTs when an account is leaving? Settle yourself first and then give warning - chances are no one will believe you anyway! Remember - the messenger always gets killed with the message! But we must all toss emotions aside and never, ever combine feelings of friendship and that sort of loyalty with MT work. Never. Just check out the Main Board - how many poor women have posted about working for a friend, and getting stiffed for $$ in the end, or how many MTSOs have hired friends only to get taken advantage of? It just doesn't work, and don't take it personally. Business is business. We want to be considered professionals, we need to act like professionals. Its a sad state of affairs but reality in the USA that employers are never our friends. Period.  
Its common when a company supplies
The two I've worked for that supplied computers monitor usage and especially monitor if you're using it for any non-work related surfing.  They also reserve the right to come on remotely and check your system for any problems, security violations, unauthorized hardware/software additions, etc.  It is their property so I guess they have the right to say how and when it gets used.
It's common policy. If you want pay, go inhouse or
Usually, you get holiday differential if you work a holiday but workers paid piecemeal production don't get hourly compensation for work not produced, unless it is their own earned PTO.


they lack common courtesy
unfortunately
Speaking of common sense...

I already told you they do random audits on QA staff. Why are you still griping about this?