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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Been there, done that many, many and yes, many times.

Posted By: Patiencep on 2007-11-08
In Reply to: I HAVE GOT TO VENT THIS BECAUSE THIS MAKES ME SO MAD! - mt

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hit left Shift key 3 times, then right Shift key 3 times -
nm
different times
Question to a long timer. I have been transcribing for 15 years. I have been with one hospital for 10 years. I recently added a part time national using the same equipment and same format as my original account. For my original account I average 15-20 minutes an hour. After a month with second account, I am still only at about 8 minutes an hour. They do have a lot of ESL but so does my primary account (just not as bad, even when I first started them). I'm suppose to do a certain amount of minutes for this secondary acount, thinking I could do it in 2-3 hours a day, but I just can't reach my goal and I just do not have the time to work any more hours. Any advice?
Too much, several times a day.....but usually only for a
xx
End of times?
Does anyone think this unusually hot weather in practically all parts of the U.S. has anything to do with Bible predictions?
Can be done..but at times it can't...(SM)
I am never amazed at people that are in "awe" over the fact I work at home, which of course to them means I can keep my kids there and save tons of money on daycare. I have had countless people that have never touched a keyboard ask "So how do I get started doing that so I can stay at home with my kids?"....sorry..butI can't help but just giggle inside..much in "awe" of their cluelessness.

I did this job for years in house before ever finally being able to work into an at home position. I worked in house with my 1st child and was of course broke...so needless to say he was in daycare as early as they would take him. About a year and a half ago I had my 2nd child and really milked this one for all it was worth. Wanted to keep her home with me as looooong as I possibly could. I made it to 5 months and honestly, should have probably stopped at 4. The age of your child makes all the difference in the world. When she was a very young baby and slept most of the day..yeah it was fine, worked out really well. But the older they get..the more they are aware you are there but not paying them 100% attention...and the harder it starts to get. He's 19 months old now..and even if the daycare is closed for a day that I have to work we end up having to send him to my mother in law's house for the day..it's nearly impossible to get anything done with him here. He sees mommy sitting here staring at this screen and will bang on the keyboard, stand here and scream for the attention he wants to be focused on him instead. At this age..keeping him home is not a good thing. My oldest child now is in grade school..days out of school..he's fine to stay home. He can play and entertain himself and needs nowhere near the attention the baby does. If you have a schedule that you can work a couple hours here and a couple hours there and late evenings after bedtimes, then you might be able to make it work out fine. I'm an employee, not an IC...therefore I'm required to work a set schedule and keep up a required amount of production...cannot be done with a lil one interrupting that on a constant basis. Look at your schedule..look at the age of your child..look at your obligations/requirements to your employer. It can be done in some situations...others it cannot. Be realistic...be fair to your child's needs when considering this as well as yours and those of your employer..it's a whole big picture to consider. Best of luck in whatever you decide to do :)
I can't tell you how many times

feeling a touch or carress on my arm and it turns out to be a stray hair dangling from my head being blown by the fan.  I guess working remotely plays tricks on us once in awhile?


Trying times
I am in the dead center of Mississippi and after I got of church I saw cars with tags from the costal countiescoming through town.    We are in the hills and will receive 75 mph gusts.  This is serious.  New Orleans is under mandatory evacuation.  People without cars are at the superdome.  The casinos locked up Thursday.  Traffic has been one-way on the highways since noon Friday. I-10 and I-49 to get off the coast.  There are no hotel rooms in the state as of Saturday night news 10 PM report, as far as Grenada, MS (that's about 250-300 miles from Biloxi/Gulfport area).  They were good about emailing each other about vacancies.   The President has mandated that MS/LA are under a state of emergency.  Katrina is headed straight to the Big Easy.  If Katrina does not change course, there is going to be unbelievable losses in the New Orleans area.  Let us share our thoughts of faith and reflection with the people in these low lying areas.
Old times?
I am 79 years old and teach my grandchildren that peep is bad and nasty word. I don't like coming to this board only to find your nasty words. Being 79 years old, I know more than you will ever know and I KNOW what peep means. You are just being down right gross and yuck!
times 3 or x3? Which is okay? nm

Thanks.


 


8 times....
/
NY Times......sm.......
TheNew York Times" hspace=0 src=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif" align=left border=0>




January 2, 2006


States Take Lead in Push to Raise Minimum Wages




Despite Congressional refusal for almost a decade to raise the federal minimum wage, nearly half of the civilian labor force lives in states where the pay is higher than the rate set by the federal government.


Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have acted on their own to set minimum wages that exceed the $5.15 an hour rate set by the federal government, and this year lawmakers in dozens of the remaining states will debate raising the minimum wage. Some states that already have a higher minimum wage than the federal rate will be debating further increases and adjustments for inflation.


The last time the federal minimum wage was raised was in 1997 - when it was increased from $4.75 an hour. Since then, efforts in Congress to increase the amount have been stymied largely by Republican lawmakers and business groups who argued that a higher minimum wage would drive away jobs.


Thwarted by Congress, labor unions and community groups have increasingly focused their efforts at raising the minimum wage on the states, where the issue has received more attention than in Republican-dominated Washington, said Bill Samuel, the legislative director of the national A.F.L.-C.I.O.


Opinion polls show wide public support for an increase in the federal minimum wage, which falls far short of the income needed to place a family at the federal poverty level. Even the chairman of Wal-Mart has endorsed an increase, saying that a worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford to shop at his stores.


"The public is way ahead of Washington," Mr. Samuel said. "They see this as a matter of basic fairness, the underpinning of basic labor law in this country, a floor under wages so we're not competing with Bangladesh."


The minimum wage has been the subject of fierce ideological debate since it was first established in 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Business groups and conservative economists have argued that the minimum wage is an unwarranted government intrusion into the employer-employee relationship and a distortion of the marketplace for labor. An increase in the minimum wage, they say, drives up labor costs across the board and freezes unskilled and first-time workers out of the job market.


"Increasing the minimum wage is a bad move economically, philosophically and politically," said Marc Freedman, director of labor law policy for the United States Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Freedman said that any minimum wage set by the federal government was completely arbitrary and did not take local labor market costs into account.


According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, about two million American workers, 2.7 percent of the overall work force, earned the minimum hourly wage of $5.15 or less in 2004, the last year for which such statistics were available. Those workers were generally young (half were under 25, and a quarter were teenagers), unmarried and had not earned a high school diploma. About three-fifths of all workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage worked in bars and restaurants, and many received tips to supplement their basic wages.


Advocates of an increase in the minimum wage said that inflation had so eroded the value of the minimum wage in the last nine years that it was worth less today in real terms than at any time since 1955. They also cited studies that found that raising the minimum wage did not cause job loss, as opponents argue. According to these studies, employers can absorb the higher labor costs through efficiencies, less employee turnover and higher productivity.


Tim Nesbitt, the former president of the Oregon A.F.L.-C.I.O., said that despite having one of the highest minimum wages in the country at $7.25 an hour, Oregon had had twice the rate of job growth as the rest of the country.


The 2006 battle over the minimum wage is expected to be particularly intense in Ohio, one of only two states that have a minimum wage below the federal level (the other is Kansas). The minimum wage in Ohio since 1991 has been $4.25 an hour, which applies to small employers, some farms and most restaurants. Workers at larger enterprises are generally covered by the federal minimum wage.


Efforts to get the Republican-run General Assembly to consider raising Ohio's minimum wage have gone nowhere, so labor groups and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, an advocacy group for low-income individuals and families, are planning a ballot initiative to put the issue to a popular vote in November.


Tim Burga, legislative director for the Ohio A.F.L.-C.I.O., said that 92,000 workers in the state made less than the federal minimum wage, some as little as $2 an hour. The proposed Ohio Constitutional amendment would set the state minimum wage at $6.85 an hour, indexed to future inflation, bringing an immediate raise to as many as 400,000 workers.


Former Senator John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, said in an interview that he planned to help organize the minimum wage campaign in Ohio as part of his national campaign to alleviate poverty. He called the current minimum wage a moral disgrace and a national embarrassment.


"My view is it should be $7.50 an hour, and I can make a great argument for it being a lot higher than that," Mr. Edwards said. "This is a perfect example of the Republican leadership in Congress, combined with the powerful presence of lobbies in Washington, thwarting the will of the people."


Leading the opposition to the initiative will be the Ohio Restaurant Association, which like its parent organization, the National Restaurant Association, closely monitors and vigorously opposes efforts to raise the minimum wage.


"Restaurants are a low-margin business," said Geoff Hetrick, president of the Ohio Restaurant Association. "A number of marginal operations which are more or less on the ragged edge right now might find this to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, especially in northern Ohio where they've had a significant loss in manufacturing employment that's taken a lot of disposable income out of the economy."


One of those who would be affected by the proposed minimum wage increase in Ohio is Rick Cassara, owner of John Q's Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland. He said that while all of his 55 employees currently earn more than the minimum wage, he opposed a mandated increase because it would drive up all of his labor costs. "It exerts upward pressure on all wages and prices," Mr. Cassara said. "If the minimum wage is $7 and I have to pay $8 or $9 to hire a dishwasher, then the cooks are going to say they want more. How much can I charge for that hamburger?"


Another small employer, Dan Young, owner of Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs, a working farm and restaurant operation, said that more than half of his 300 workers were high school and college students, many of them in their first jobs. He said he paid many of them $5.25 an hour, just above the federal minimum wage, but most quickly won raises or earned far more than that in tips.


Mr. Young said that if Ohio enacted a Democratic proposal to raise the state's minimum wage by $1 an hour over the federal level, his labor costs would go up by $250,000 a year or more. "When you do all the math," he said, "I'll have to figure out a way to hire fewer workers, or raise prices, or both."


In 2004, voters in Nevada and Florida approved ballot initiatives raising the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, in both cases by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Nevada voters must vote on the measure again this year because it is a Constitutional amendment, but proponents are confident they will prevail. Lawmakers in California, which already has one of the highest rates in the nation at $6.75 an hour, approved a bill last year to increase the wage to $7.75 an hour in 2007, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, the second time he has rejected such legislation.


Mr. Schwarzenegger said then that he believed that low-wage California workers deserved a raise, but said the legislation, which contained automatic increases tied to inflation, would be too costly to employers.


But aides to Mr. Schwarzenegger said late last week that the governor would propose a $1-an-hour increase in the California minimum wage in his State of the State address this week. If approved, the proposal would take effect over the next 18 months and would not have an automatic inflation adjustment, the aides said. The move appears designed in part to pre-empt a ballot initiative that would raise the California hourly rate an additional $1, to $8.75 an hour, and include annual cost-of-living increases.


Inflation indexing is also an issue in Oregon, where the minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour and adjusts every year for inflation under an initiative approved by voters in 2002. Each year since passage of that measure, the Oregon Restaurant Association and other business groups have pushed legislation to cancel the indexing provision or to exempt some workers from the wage law, but have so far failed. Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski, a Democrat and former labor lawyer, has vowed to veto any such measure that reaches his desk.


do you mean how many times you use them? If so sm
go to help, the statistics, and it will tell you how many Keystrokes you are saving
I got through a few times at first (sm)
I got through maybe 5 or 6 times at first but now I can't get through.  I'll keep trying though. 
I think it happens to all of us at times.
The mind can trick you sometimes and you don't even notice and read it correctly. Sort of like this...

Aicordcng to a rescareh at Cambgidre Unsveriity, it dosen't mettar in waht oredr the lteters in a wrod are. The olny imptroant tnihg is taht the frist and lsat letetr be in the rihgt pcale.

The rset can be a ttoal mses and you can stlil raed it withuot porblem. Tihs is beuacse the hmuan mnid deos not raed eevry letetr by itslef, but the wrod as a whloe.

Pretty amazing, huh?
Yes, but how many times...
How many times where we have seen somebody with loads of $$ (and many times the head of a company) in trouble for embezzling or something? I don't hear too much about lowly employees stealing.
most times I just cry lol
There is no way to change them - My local doctor who I transcribe for was that bad - so I sent him a verbatim report and explained to him that I would be billing him for verbatim but would send him the cleaned up version - he saw that I made him look better and how bad he was and he increased my rate - but then again he is my personal doctor as well. for others - I moan and groan and my kids think I am nuts talking to a screen.
At times such as these, I
repeat the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Not a whole lot because a lot of times
QA has a better connection than the MT.
And you know, he did it several more times plus
a few expletives thrown in whenever he got frustrated with the information he was sifting through in front of him. He must have been distracted or in great GI distress, because he also said "Past Medical History" at the beginning of the each and every paragraph he dictated. I guess he is having a worse day than I am!
How many times sm

have you been asked "how do I get into that? "  "I can't type; does that matter?"   My husband has come home from work I don't know how many times telling me that so and so's wife is going to call me because to find out how to "get into that."


 It doesn't help when the doctors call us "typists."


Often times...
climbing the MT ladder means changing MTSOs and/or accounts.  There is most definitely a ladder to be climbed, but one has to search for it.  And it is not correct to assume that no one in this business gets raises, as there are some who do.  In this business, it is best not to compare yourself with others, as there are too many variables to make sense of it all.
There are times when -
my back up on the foot pedal puts it at exactly the right place to isolate enough of the sound to make you hear the word differently. It's by far not an exact science, but sometimes doing that in conjuction with truffle posted below can be helpful. Not much, I'll admit, but every possibility can help.
I have had to do that a few times..
my neighbor up the road says but you never get out much.. I get out, run to the store to pickup milk, bread, necessities, go do the Walmart, grocery shopping junk usually once a week.. We have to go to the pool place almost every week right now as we didn't buy the big bucket of junk at the first of season.. We have enough family "get togethers", plus I get out & go to church.. I'm not a big fan of traveling.. not much on staying somewhere that requires me to sleep in a strange bed.. I like to be in my bed at night. I think I might become a hermit.. LOL.. oh well, each to his own is right..
that neighbor of mine since I've been working going on 3 years now at home, has made the comment that she wishes she could do something like that. She works at our local hospital, when she tells me that I said well, go take some classes, but then I also tell her she wouldn't like it because she don't stay home when she is home..
another big plus, we're not out the gas to go to work..
had it done 3 times - best thing I ever did SM
I had 3 things against me - astigmatism, large pupils and 20/400 vision (glasses since 3rd grade). I could wear contacts, but gave them up after pregnancy. Got the wavelength laser; first time I saw 20/40 (first procedure). Waited and had only one eye fixed to 20/20 for monovision (second procedure; I'm older and they wanted to see if I could skip reading glasses). Worked fine but absolutely hated it. So went back and had the 20/40 eye fixed (third procedure) and I can see 20/20 (really 20/15 but hey...). That was 2 years ago.  Took my driving eye exam and passed for the first time EVER.  So if I can do it THREE TIMES and still rave about it (and I have a low threshold for scary things), well, it has been without a doubt short of having children/marrying my hubby the best thing I have ever had done. LOVE IT!!  Do your homework and get someone who has done the procedure many many times...you can pay more or you can pay less, but you want experience!!
Been told that many, many times
So many people have thought they could do my job. It seems I could explain why it takes quite a bit of training and experience to type at home but the very best thing was to have them listen to 20 seconds of a report. That was the end of the their fantasy!!!!
It would be x3 or 3 times if stated
that way.
I got that wrong so many times at my former
in house job that the doc I transcribed for one day just came out and stuck a post it note on my computer showing me which was which.  I had to look at it every time and I'm sitting here right now thinking. I don't have my post it note to refer to anymore. :)
There's a sign o' the times, eh?
//
I have vacationed all over several times (sm)
throughout my life and really love it there!  We have discussed it more seriously lately and, for personal reasons, would like to relocate.  You know anything about it...live there??
RCL is the best! have cruised 8 times and sm
always return to RCL for best service.
Sign of the times
Both Mary Kay and Avon have great eye products. Try ebay for a great price on them. You might even find a sample--I know there were samples of Mary Kay's Eye Creme at one time.
Happened both times
Happened to me with both my pregnancies, just some light spotting about a week after my period was due. Freaked me out the first time, the second time I just ignored it! I had no cramping, so my midwife said just to keep an eye on things.

Hoping everything is fine!


It has been viewed over 200 times.
/
This has been posted many times. You can get your
own plan through a local insurance company.  Go through the yellow pages and look for companies that advertise they offer health insurance.  Call several.  I did this years ago. I called 6 companies, all offered the very same coverage with the same carrier, yet the premiums varied as much as $200.  If it is just you BCBS supposedly has an affordable plan, increases significantly for family though.  If you have pre-existing conditions you'll have a problem though.  
ur welcome...has happened to everybody at times..sm
glad that corrected things! keep smiling!
yes, several times, several puters, sm
My work is STILL done on a Lanier VoiceWrite so I don't rely on the puter for dictation sound quality; however, I'm a music buff so I am finicky about sound cards, and yes, they can make a profound difference.

A lot of this depends on your tech savvy as well as the actual machine you are working on. You will need to at least remove, if not simply disable, the resident sound card (see your manual for how to do this... if you are new to this, my explanation wouldn't be useful to you). Sometimes the sound card is built into the motherboard and can't be physically removed, so you just have to disable it. If it is a separate piece of hardware that's plugged into a slot, then yes, you can yank it out. Take a look at your manual or ask a geek friend. ;-)

Before you do that, though, go exploring in your computer and see if there is a way to tweak the settings of the present sound card. You may be able to play with an equalizer or something (bass and treble settings) to perk it up a little, and that may be good enough, or may not be... just depends on so many factors.

HTH
I applied 2 different times
The first time it took awhile and I finally gave up on them (around a year ago),but this time they didn't take long at all. I have been there only a couple weeks, but they seem to make the effort to give their current employees the work they want and try not to overhire. I know that some people on here have just been hired so they may be busy with training to. Hang in there!
I have asked this many times
but because I do not understand what they are saying and am looking for a step 1 do this, step 2 do this, etc., so I it is clear to me. I know I am probably the only one out here with this problem of not understanding how to do this. Thanks for any help given.
Think this is a sign of the times
and you will find in all walks of life - this is just not MT related. It is a different generation - you just have to fix what you can, accept what you cannot and move on. I'd rather not have my burgers made by guys with long hair, tattoos and rings in any and all orifaces but what choice do I have? I'd rather call customer service and get an American rather than an Indian..... accept it for what it is is how I handle it.
How often do you need to do this - I would have to do it several times a day. Wish I knew why it ha

Linksys tech support no help. 


Some more that I have used oodles of times.

These are links that if they were in book format, they would be well worn and dog-eared, know what I'm sayin? ;-)


Chemotherapy drugs:
http://www.chemocare.com/bio/


Medical tests, signs, and maneuvers:
http://www.cagworld.com/Resources/Medical.asp


Cancer staging:
http://www.oncologychannel.com/prostatecancer/stagingsystems.shtml


I call this the "everything" site:
http://www.gideononline.com/content/taxa.htm


I've done this many times (sm)

My hubby used to travel around the country a lot for his employer and we used to stay in places from anywhere from a few weeks to as long as a year.  We used to just make sure that we stayed at one of the business-friendly hotels, i.e. the ones with high speed internet and a separate work area.  If it's going to be long term, try to get one of the suites if you can, because you'll be surprised at how quickly cabin fever can start to creep in when you're working out of a hotel room.


As far as the C-phone, other than being a pain to lug around with you, just plug it into the hotel's line, but do NOT call out directly.  Most hotels will charge their guests an arm and a leg to make anything but local phone calls.


What I did was to get an account set up with onesuite dot com (very reasonable low cost prepaid minutes), and I would use that to call out with.  Just make sure that your hotel doesn't charge for making 800 number calls, because an 800 number is what onesuite uses.


Many hotels do not charge for outgoing calls to 800 numbers, but be aware that some of them do.  In which case, neither onesuite dot com or a prepaid calling card will work.


All in all, the only real inconvenience of it all was having to dial all of the numbers, PIN numbers, etc., that were associated with using onesuite or a calling card each time I called out to connect up.


If you have any other questions, you can email me if you'd like.


Yep, I mentioned my other job quite a few times
I work for an insurance company doing accident transcripts. In fact, that's what I'm doing tonight.
Yes. We have 3 logged in at times. nm
 
Talked about many times
There are ups and downs to both sides.  I have my own accounts have been doing it for 20+ years -- cannot believe it.  Start small even with tapes, I still do nothing but tapes, and printing and delivery.  I have small clinics, two doctor clinics, 3 of them.  I do not charge as much as the others but I charge gross line and so I think it all works out to be about the same.  I can make up to $50 to $75 an hour at times.  But average $40.   That includes throwing in the time for printing and delivering so that is my average.  My accounts hae been with me for 8 to 20 years.  I stay with the tapes as it is easier to not be undercut.   But again start small, send out flyers, brochures to doctors, clinics, podistrists, psychologists, chiropractors, etc.  You have to be persistent.  How many people look at a house before there is an offer.  I used to do mailings about every 3 to 6 months when looking for a new account as you have to be at the right place at the right time when they need someone.  Cons  --But then remember, there is no one to take your place when you are sick or your child is sick so do not over extend.  They might be understanding the first time but when it happens often, they are not.   Vacations need to be planned out, I take a couple of long weekends, 4-5 days rather than a week at a time.  It is hard to get someone to cover and be dependable.  It is your name and reputation out there.   Your work will always be there in your home, sometimes you just want to run away from it.   But the pros are there also.  You can make good money, you can make your own hours as long as the work gets done.    It takes time and persistence and start out small so you can build a good reputation.    Good luck. 
I have installed it at least 3 times

due to computer problems where I've had to dump my hard drive and reinstall everything. 


I don't know if you are talking about disks that you bought or disks that came with a new computer. 


I've done it, many times...sm

I know after 3 days if the job will not work out.  Let's face it hon...we need to make MONEY and if I see the platform is ridiculous, NOT MT friendly and is a waste of my time, poor training, training done by someone who is NOT a MT and has NEVER worked as a MT....HUGE RED FLAG!!!...That means that the company probably just wants "fingers" to type and type and type.....One company who is always hiring on the boards....I gave it a while, and today I was offered a nice position with someone I used to work for!!!!! it is awesome!!! and I quit that other hot mess today.  Good luck!!! Don't feel bad if you quit...hey, we gots to make a living here. with the economy and everything being so bad...you have to look out for number 1 and your family.


Oh yes, I'm spending 3 times as much it seems.
I have been trying to make up a menu for each night and trying to include the cereal/bagels whatever for kids in the morning and buying only what's on my list.  It did help, but I've only tried it twice.  Another good thing is it's in and out as I buy it because I truly believe that the meat in the store has just sat there since no one is buying.  I'd much rather go twice a week (it is across the street) than go only once a month and buy "old meat."  I'm not a big fan of frozen fresh meat anyway; it seems rubbery after it's been frozen... 
No, a million times no.
They have certainly not done thier best as advocates for MTs. They've done thier best to do whatever it takes to make them more money, not us - especially the part about the visible characters only - that one really got me riled! I have since dropped my membership with the AAMT or whatever they call themselves now, and let my acredidation lapse - it never helped me get a job anyway. Actually, I was turned down for several because with the CMT after my name, I was "overqualified." There are so many things they could have done as an advocate organization for MTs, first and foremost making sure that transcription of American records stayed in America. Then they could have worked with the MTSOs to advocate for fairer pay for MTs, keeping up with inflation, etc so that MTs could actually make a living doing what we do. I think that anyone in the AAMT/AHDI is so far removed from the career of an MT that they really have no idea what it's about anymore - kind of like the government, but that's for a different board =)
Yes I tried it many times. This is so frustrating. nm
:
The old standard used to be three times the sm
length of the dictation is the typing time so 30 minutes would be 90 minutes. I'm not sure with Expander programs on one end and then horrible ESL and sometimes horrible audio - what the "standard" is now - I definitely struggle with it though :)