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Do you ever feel as though this job takes over your life and you have to work all the time in case

Posted By: MT on 2005-07-14
In Reply to: I know...Trust me, I WORK HARD when I work! lol nm - Busy MT'ing

there wont be work and you just keeping working and you cant get away from it and it gets to be no fun anymore. I am having a problem with that. Is it from working at home or just getting obsessed or what. I hate this. I feel like I am losing my life to it.


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    Tell him you have reviewed the time and expertise it takes to do his work, versus ... - sm
    ... the amount of revenue his practice generates, and being a prudent businessperson you don't wish to undervalue your services.
    And if I fight every low-life who cheats, I won't have time to work.
    i don't deal with anyone without references when it comes to work. i learned my lesson and have moved on. i leave you to fight the battles of the downtrodden.
    I feel like I work all the time too and my kids- sm
    are always asking me if I have to work (usually I do). Lately though I have started trying to go to bed by 10 and get up at 3, work from 3am-6:30am, get them off to school, then I have all day from 8-3:30 available to work. Then be free for them after school and work again after they go to bed if necessary. I am still not disciplined enough though and work more than I should, i.e. surf the internet, come here, etc. Waste time in other words. So if I can "stay" on my butt and work consistently I can average 16 minutes of dictation an hour, which is good for me. All I can say is try to set up a schedule adn stick to it. I keep meaning to write one up, but have not as yet myself (did this for college and hung it on my wall), so maybe your post will inspire me. Good luck.
    It is if someone has no life, which is clearly the case here!
    It's actually quite sad, making up fake MBA's and high-rises in Chicago, while posting to an MT website! Delusions of adequacy at its finest!
    Maybe they will. Give it time. It takes time to set up links.
    OSI, Precyse, etc tell us more.
    If you feel you need to be seen at ER, go. It will just make your case stronger. nm
    :+
    No need to feel badly for me - feel badly for an adult who has no control of his/her own life!
    I hope these people didn't produce any daughters! Bad, bad example!
    I feel like that a lot. I get stressed out a lot and life just seems to overwhelm me.
    Sometimes I feel like running away or something. I had two friends pass away during this time of year, plus I lost a baby right before Christmas. It seems like DH and I argue more this time of the year and the kids act up more. The finances stink, and there's so much pressure because of the holidays. No matter what plans we make for the holidays, somebody always has their nose out of joint over it. We don't have enough money for Christmas this year either. I've been trying to take on extra work. I didn't even see the kids all weekend because I was working.

    Anyway, when I feel like this, it helps to vent even if it's just to my computer. I keep a password protected Word document for a diary. I listen to soothing music, take a long bath, bake something or read a book. I walk around the house and make a To Do list of everything that's adding to my stress, then I try to tackle one thing per day. Baby steps. If you try to do it all at once, it will overwhelm you. Sometimes I bribe my kids to help with the housework. They have daily chores, but we all pitch in together and get the "big chore list" done, then we can watch a movie together, play a board game, or eat at McDonald's.

    What are you doing to take care of yourself? You need a little pampering, too. If I lived near you, I'd stop by and help you with your housework or watch your kids so you could nap. I'd bring you a gift bag full of bubble bath, stinky candles, herbal teas and chocolate. You sound like you could use a {{{{hug}}}}. Take care of yourself.
    It takes time
    It probably seems like it is not worth it because you are new.  No other account will be easier and probably harder.  So you have to stick with it, get a good Expander as since you have the same doctor you should only be actually typing about 2/3 of what he says and probably more like 50%.  Use your autocorrect if you don't have an expander.   You don't say how long are your lines -- what side margins and what font are you using?   I have helped get newbies started and always paid between 7 and 9 depending on how much clean up work I had to do.  Again, it will take time and practice.  Don't give up.  Though 6 cpl is a little low, if it is still  65 character line, in time you should be able to get 200 to 300 lines per hour which is not bad and once you get him down good, ask for a raise.  But you have to get your speed up.  You have an advantage of having the same doctor and so listen for his common phrases and put them at least into autocorrect so you don't have to retype them.  If he doesd any x-rays or procedures, make templates.  Anything to save him time.  His exams, put into autocorrect, etc.   Are you an IC or an employee???   Good luck. 
    IT TAKES TIME to get a trial going.

    Here is a link regarding the lawsuit from FEBRUARY, 2005 for which you will need Acrobat reader.


    http://deflaw.com/medquist_add.pdf


    Here is MQ e-mail which was followed up by hard copy in US mail regarding MT lawsuit. 


    July 14, 2005



    VIA Electronic and U.S. Mail



    Dear Statutory Medical Transcriptionists:



    We would like to thank you for your continued service and support. We know that the key to our success is the people who work so hard for our customers everyday.



    At MedQuist, we are determined to become the medical transcription provider of choice for statutory employees. Over the past several months, with your help and input, we have been working on developing a pay plan and comprehensive benefit program that will enable us to set the standard in the industry. We recently announced significant changes to our benefits program for full time employee transcriptionists and within the next few months, MedQuist will be announcing a new pay plan that will address the feedback we received from medical transcriptionists in response to our survey on pay issues.



    As you may also know, MedQuist is currently responding to a lawsuit brought by three medical transcriptionists that was filed in response to certain publicity surrounding MedQuist's billing practices involving the AAMT billing unit of measure. MedQuist takes all allegations concerning its pay practices very seriously and will seek to address any concerns raised by the lawsuit. While we believe that the claims raised by the three transcriptionists appear to lack merit, we are diligently working on addressing this matter in order to best serve all of our valued medical transcriptionists.



    To enable us to fully and appropriately respond to this, as well as other lawsuits currently pending against the company and governmental investigations, our lawyers from Winston & Strawn are required to collect documents. To ensure that you are completely informed about the materials they are seeking, we have attached a memorandum below regarding MedQuist's document retention and collections policy. Please review this document as soon as possible.



    Once again, we would like to express our deep appreciation for your continued patience, cooperation and service to the company.
















    Very truly yours,


    Frank Lavelle


    President



    Enclosure


     


    The lawsuit is VERY MUCH ALIVE AND WELL and as some of the more sophisticated posters realize, it takes time for DISCOVERY allowing both sides to attack and defend their position.  And MQ stock is STILL delisted as not even MQ can figure out cooked books based on illegal billing for which ANOTHER lawsuit is STILL pending against MQ by the clients.  And as the MQ stock remains delisted for cooked books and illegal billing the shareholders in MQ stock have YET ANOTHER lawsuit still pending. 


     


    I agree with you. It takes time to get the

    kind of help in there. They have one road open. Everything is flooded. There is no airport to land at. Gas is scarce. 90% of the gas that came from that area is no longer functioning. Cars are being stolen from places just to get out. Thugs are shooting at helicopters trying to evacuate critically ill patients. You've got groups of thugs shooting everything up and steeling anything and everything, but they don't realize mostly everything they take will have to be left behind.  Everyone wants help now but it takes time to put together a plan of these proportions. Nobody was prepared for this because they didn't think it would happen. You have people commandering vehicles with guns for their own use that are being brought in to help evacuate. The only boats you see are very small ones because the big ones can't come in and work. The water is not deep enough.


     A lot of people stuck there are making the situation worse for everyone else because they are helping to put off rescues that can happen by shooting at vehicles, shooting at police officers, setting intentional fires just to get the police over to the fire so they don't come chase them for looting or terrorizing others. You have idiots walking around with AK-47s down Canal Street.


    Shephard Smith described itbest the other day. Made me think too since I live in Fla. The day after a hurricane you hear chain saws going, you have people cleaning up, you get out there and assess the damage. They could not do that because for them in NO it was not over. The floods were getting worse and rising. There were no people assessing damage, no chain saws cutting down trees, no power trucks checking out downed power lines just because they couldn't get into the city. Everything is blocked. The closest city to them that has power is 90 miles away. That means no gas for them. Yes, they're bringing buses and stuff but it's very slow going. Trying to figure out how to do everything and coordinate everything w/o communication to others is very hard.


    One of the guys in the news conferences said yesterday that he spent 18 months at ground zero. They are looking at being in NO much longer because that is much more damage than what he saw at ground zero.


    I do it the same as you...takes a little bit of time but worth it. nm
    t
    Honestly, it takes time.
    It took me almost 6 months to completely adjust to 3rd shift.  I have been on 3rd shift now for 7 years and could not imagine ever working any other shift.  Just a few suggestions that took me a bit to figure out.  Call your family and friends and tell them not to call you during the daytime.  If you have a cell phone, use that as an emergency number for emergencies only, i.e. kids, family, etc.  Turn off the ringer on the home phone completely or turn on music and a fan or whatever to drown out the noise.  Room darkening blinds will also help filter out the light.  Good luck.
    because it still takes too much time to train
    it may be that they don't see potential in your work, i.e. poor grammar, accounts have too much ESL, etc.
    Time it takes to type...
    Approximately how long does it take to type, say, 5 minutes of dictation?  Or 10, or whatever?  Just trying to get a feel for if I'm in the ballpark.  Thanks!
    It takes a lonnngggg time to get paid.

    You get paid for work you did a month ago.  Paychecks were short.  No answer when questioned about how they arrived at their line counts.  Advertise holiday bonus and $1500 bonus for acute care - do not know of anyone who got one.  Probably just management cronies.  They have great accounts but it is difficult to get lines.  All the work is straight type with lots of looking up because they have teaching facility accounts, so it is difficult to set up templates.  All the better work I am sure goes to preferred MTs or farmed out elsewhere.  The platform is not transcription friendly, lots of looking up and spreadsheets, and they do not pay for headers and footers.  They also micro management big time. 


    You have no idea how much time it takes to run this board! (SM)
    Hindsight is always clearer!

    You are right - they will get the message sooner or later!

    Goldbird
    time it takes to hear back

    General question for you all. I recently applied with a company that took a month getting me through their hiring process only to be told that one of their accounts dropped them so they could not hire any more MTs. Now I've applied somewhere else and interviewed, a company that sounds like a great company, but it's been about 7 days since the interview and have yet to hear back. I interviewed with them last Wednesday and was told that I would hear back one way or another by the end of last week. I sent a follow up email yesterday and have not heard anything. How long do these companies typically make you wait before hearing something back? How long before I should give up and apply somewhere else? Thanks.


    You don't want to record, takes a long time and unless you

    are making big $$ you won't make any money.  Also, if you forget to rerecord header info you're out of luck.


    You can get an adapter from Radio Shack for about $15 and rerecord to a cassette player, in which case you'll need a transcriber, or record to your computer and I'm not sure how that is done.


    As I stated last week when you asked this question, you need to look into digital phone service, something like Vonage, or most high-speed internet services also offer it. 


    You could also buy prepaid phone cards at Sam's Club, where they are fairly cheap, but you're still talking about $100+/mo.   My digital phone is $34.95/month and you can keep your landline or switch it to digital, which is what I did. 


     


     


    No, not really. Do you realize how much time feedback takes. nm
    x
    It takes a long time to become familiar with
    all of the surgical instruments and equipment in operative reports. Most of the time if you do operative reports you usually do all specialties, and each specialty has certain equipment that they use. It just takes time to learn.
    In my case, I have been an IC for a long time
    addition.  I asked my tax guy if I needed to report the Avon income, and he said as long as it was not more than $500.00 then, no I did not have to report it.  My tax guy is a professional and has his own business.  He is reputable, and a lot of his clients are state police officers (just to give a little background).  I do not do my own taxes.  No offense to Patti, but she has stated before that she does do her own taxes, but just uses the previous year as a guide.  My tax guy goes to seminars and forums each year and also sends a letter each year with all of the new tax laws with instructions on how to prepare for our meeting when the time comes.  My advice would be if you are not sure, seek a "tax professional" not a message board forum for the correct tax information.  I am not so sure that any of these posters are actually "tax professionals", they are simply independent contractors who do their own taxes.  I would definitely take that into consideration when reading these posts. 
    Oh it is a lot of extra typing that takes time which I don't get paid for! nm
    nm
    In the time it takes her to ask you if it's urgent, she could have just answered your question! n
    x
    And then sometimes they want us to delete unused headers, which takes extra time, which we don't
    X
    The FUNNY thing is that in the amount of time it takes for them to post a message
    x
    That is a long time for Bell's to linger. Usually, at least in my case, 6 months max.
    I took antibiotics and it cleared up in about 6 months. You have some type of nerve irritation and probably the herpes triggered it. Are you taking anything?
    SO the little one takes up your time yet you have time?
    LOL
    Agree! I hate Daylight Savings Time. It takes me a good two weeks
    to get myself and everybody in the household adjusted to the time change every six months. If the farmers need to get up earlier, let 'em! That doesn't mean I should have to, also! DST has definitely outlived its usefulness. I stay up later and get up earlier in the summer, but go to bed earlier and sleep later in the winter. It's like my mind and body are tied to the sun, not the clock. I never got an extra hour of sleep last night anyways because the neighbor's stupid dog barked from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.
    Not me, I have a life with no time for such stuff. nm
     
    If you have the time to get down and dirty with some low-life bad debt,
    As for me, I live and learn. Ever hear the phrase cut your losses. The more time you spend chasing down a bad debt the more loss you incur.
    5 yrs is a long time for monitor life......n/m

    Someone I work with takes an AWFUL lot of
    x
    I would be 43 and have no life at this time and wish I was making decent money, but not ;0( ...NM
    NM
    Time to switch careers. I did and life is much less stressful.
    x
    Not upset - everyone makes bad choices in their life at some time or another. sm
    No one is perfect. Hopefully, someone will give you a chance and your money and time won't be wasted.

    Good luck to you!
    Your daughter will be better prepared for life by having a part-time job now. sm

    Meanwhile, her BF will end up feeling entitled to everything she wants because she's being spoiled now. Hopefully your daughter will continue to work because she enjoys it...the money, the responsibility, the feeling of being a little grown up. Maybe it'll rub off on her BF. If not... well, rest easy knowing your kid is doing all right.


    I do the same thing now and then, have a glass near the end of my work, usually takes me an
    I find it relaxes me a little and I type a little faster, but I certainly don't do it on a daily basis, maybe Friday or Saturday night when I am winding down. As for the open bottle, get a vacuum system for it--rubber "cork", then pump the air out of the bottle, it will keep for a LONG time, no more tossing of flat wine. Works great!
    Anyone really know if allocation of work takes place

    I wonder if anyone has true knowledge of work being allocated to a particular MT or MTs.  Supervisors possibly who have done this or have witnesses this could you please tell me if this occurs or if paranoia is setting in? 


    It seems to me that this is wrong for important reasons that could stand up as an issue for being reprimanded by anyone who does it.  It is taking money out of one person's paycheck and putting it in another, after all, how sleazy is that???


    This is a medical transcription business.  We should all be accountable.  What are we, working for the mob??? 


    QA takes great concentration, like MT work..NM

    I work 2 jobs, one FT that takes care of
    my taxes (I have extra held out), and also as an IC.
    The testing at the hospital I work for takes 2 hours. How else would they sm
    know that you are a qualified transcriptionist?
    I just took 2 IC jobs, just in case one runs out of work
    I have the other. I am starting with one that is great in NC (have friends there), and it does have the contract, but I contracted at the less amount so if I do more that is great and then I can get the bonus. The other one out of ME is also wonderful, and neither have restrictions on schedule just want to know about what you will do every couple of weeks and if you have something come up they are still flexible. After taking a week or so to decide, and seeing as well the notes on here about lay offs elsewhere, I decided to do the 2 IC, and also will probably volunteer at the local library, and sell on e bay last (too much work LOL). Good luck to you, but if you don't need benefits because someone else can provide them for your family, I'd personally go with the more flexible status than promise my whole life away to a large MTSO and then fear the threat of taking benefits away or sudden layoff. That is just me. And after a lot of thinking about what I personally value. My family and my paycheck to support my family. Good luck to you.!
    get a life, this is extensively documented. Pick up a book some time, ignorance

    I have to agree that cherrypickers will be out of work when VR takes over, since the harder reports
    Even when I worked inhouse and had the opportunity to cherrypick, I didn't. Even now, I am finding out that ESLs are probably easier than than some of the American doctors in the long run, because they get down to business and dictate their report. Most times, they say the same thing over and over. Learn the doc, know his quirks and bang, you are done.
    Then you would have no life at all except work, work, work if you did that. I wouldn't do it. nm
    .
    Couldn't work any other way. I love being portable, and the equipment takes up so much less room.
    nm
    Life does not revolve around my work now
    I work less and don’t have to have as much.
    Sounds like my work life...
    I hear you loud and clear! This sounds just like my job too, so I know how frustrated and unappreciated you feel.  Hugs to you my friend!
    I wouldn't use lower case. I'd use upper case. Don't worry about it. nm
    x
    Thanks, just trying to get a feel if it is worth my time or not.
    Some platforms are money makers, and others are not. This one may not be.