Getting started as MT and looking up every other word?
Posted By: SuzieQ on 2007-01-21
In Reply to: purchasing mt equipment/filing taxes...& getting started, Help? - newbieneedshelp
You are kidding, right? I am so surprised. It takes quite a while, like 1 said above, to realize any $$$ from this. I had to stay in English as well as terminology books when I first started but I was being paid as I went along, just a basic salary and still over a year for training. I think you have wishful thinking. Have you read of any of these posts and what MTs are running up against in making a living nowdays- not only that but we are talking about trained professionals, not a newbie starting out. I think your rose colored glasses need a cleaning....With all the previous work I had done in hospitals, doctor offices, medical secretary, I was still not prepared for transcription. I, in my training year, used to go home each night almost in tears, the work was so hard, not what I expected. You are thinking about investing a lot of money, because it will cost a lot if the only thing you have is a desk, in a job which apparently you have no background on. Not a wise choice. If interested, why didn’t you start with a terminology course first? Your surgery experience (20 years ago) and the medical secretary do nothing really to prepare you for transcription.
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Thank you! When I started working in WORD ...sm
2 years ago I asked the same question and got no answer. My glasses need to be changed every 6 months since using WORD (OK...I'm over 55). thanks for the great advice!
My Word 2000 started doing this, and I
problem plus I had header problems. The header was staying huge even after changing my normal.dot. I tried MS help to no avail. The header problem occurred after opening an attachment from an e-mail from the company I work for with a header that was like 3 inches to accomodate a letterhead. This wound up changing every single Word document to a new header. I finally just trashed the whole shebang and started with another tower and am running XP with Office 2003. Good luck, but I still don't know what happened!
Microsoft Word.. The oold Word used to do this and I'm new to 2003 Word..nm
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If you picked the correct Word version at installation, if you pull up a blank Word page & do an inc
s
Sorry, but your schedule doesn't justify making up your own rules. Use the word board for word q
nm
I simply used the word as the point of reference. If I had referred to someone AS 'that word'
your read my post that said we are all just people no matter what color we are?
Info/help on open Word 2007 docx with Word 2003.
I have a friend who sent me a document with .docx extension, presumably Word 2007. I can open it in Word 2003; however, all I see are musical notes and highlighting, no text (this is a document with words and highlighting only, no pictures, music notes, etc.). I tried to open this with Notepad and only see the usual gibberish.
I know I opened another 2007 Word doc before and I remember seeing the converter load at that time but that was probably a year ago. Is there something that has changed that I'm not aware of?
Darn Microsoft.
Is any one running ExText with Word 2000 and EditScript with Word 2003 sm
I am interested to know if anyone is running two platforms with a different version of Word on one computer.
I am running eScription's ES with Word 2003 and want to run ExText but their version of Word is 2000. Has anyone done this or doing it now. If so, have you run into any problems.
I can't seem to get a straightforward answer from the Techs at either company. I can't just load ExText and jeopardize it interfering with eScription.
I am interested to hear any and all comments. Thank you so much in advance for any help!
it is attached to your version of Word. Open Word and it'll be on your tool bar. NM
.
I type the letter "l" in IT and the word cholelithiasis is my word selected?Why?
I want to get rid of this. Entered left again but it is still giving me cholelithiasis as the only word option to select from.
This is why I find this program crazy. Everytime I sit down for the day, there is a whole new experience with it!!! I have to stop and think before each word!!!
How do you make fields in Word Perfect like in Word? I'm drowning out here
in new keyboard commands, macros, etc. Thanks.
In the future, please post word questions on the Word board.
i
Can you use the Word autocorrects or only Smartype? What about the Word auto text? tia nm
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Word AutoText, AutoCorrect, and Spellchecker, and other Word features
I have just started working for a company that uses Word (my previous experience was HTML-based and had its own autotext and spellchecker).
I have never bought medical spellcheckers nor Instant Text, especially that I have learned a lot from posters here that one could use the autocorrect feature for long words/phrases/paragraphs/templates. I have heard of people saying autocorrect was not meant to be used for such.
I have been browsing some features of shortcuts in Word (using the Assistant), and have discovered that it has AutoText. I tried it by highlighting a whole document (canned procedured), then hit Alt+F3, assigned a code, and voila! I have a template that readily inserts into an open Word document by typing the code and hitting Enter.
Also, I have learned that I can insert empty fields (for variables in my templates like BP/HR/RR/Temp values by hitting Ctrl+F9, then when I have inserted the autotext for a template with such empty fields, I can readily jump from one field to the next (to fill them up with values) by hitting F11 (or Shift+F11 to go to previous empty field).
We do know that many dictators want us to type verbatim even for running sentences, so that I have found the Spelling and Grammar checker feature of Word quite cumbersome. I discovered tonight that I could use just the spellchecker feature by clicking on Tools > Customize, then under Categories, select Tools; under Commands, select Spelling. I dragged that onto my tool bars so I can do a quick spellcheck. Cool thing was, the previous documents I have made with new drug names, etc., which I have spellchecked using a non-Word program, were automatically included in its database (so I do not have to re-enter them as I begin to utilize this feature). Drawback: I could not make a shortcut key for this (have to use the mouse again!)
Then I made my OWN keyboard shortcut for autocorrect by going to Tools>Customize>Keyboard (click on button then another window appears), Under Categories, choose Tools; under Commands, choose AutoCorrect. Under Press new shortcut key, assign the shortcut you want (F key, Alt or Ctrl + desired key), then click on Assign button.
Well, that is all I can share for now. I have learned a lot from posters here, and I hope I have added some info, especially for Word users like me who can be categorized as average.javascript:editor_insertHTML('text',' ');
javascript:editor_insertHTML('text','');
Qa sent me 2 corrected report. One had hypenated word changed and other had same word
p
why on 1 computer for the same report would the word count be different in Word? (inside)
Like on 1 computer with word the document was 27000 character counts w/spaces
and the other computer (the one i type this account on says 13,000. How can there be such a difference with Word being the same? I am baffled.
Please post word questions on the Word board.
mm
Please post word questions on the Word board.
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Post word questions on Word board.
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Please kindly ask word questions on the Word board. Thank you.
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How do they define a word? Is it characters? Is it the MS Word definition
of a word? You can fit approximately 500 words on one page of typing. It's about $.055 per line, or $2.75 per page. It's up to you. It's not great, but you are a newbie. If you don't have any other offers out there, try it for a while to gain some experience.
Switching from Word 2000 to Word 2003...
Has anyone upgraded from W2000 to W2003? If so, did all your autocorrect entries and normals transfer easily? I would like to upgrade but don't want 2 lose my shortcuts and expanders! TIA 
Please post Word Help and s/l questions on Word Help Board.
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Word/terminology assistance goes on Word board. (SM)
Please use boards appropriately.
Moderator
Post word questions on the Word board.
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marking for Word Help questions on Word Board
// :)
A majority of the software used IS Word based, or do you just want to use Word by itself? nm
s
Word has its own excellent word expander in Autocorrect.
It reminds me of the old PRD
Are you trying to move your macros from Word on one computer to Word on another?
If so, try this....Go to microsoft.com and search for Word 2000 Supplemental Macros. When you get the article, it will tell you to download the small application. You will open the application in Word, and it will give you instructions on backing up the macros you already have. You will do this on the computer you want to move macros from. Once you have made a backup copy, email it to yourself. Go to the computer you want to put the macros on. You will need to download the Word Supplemental 200 Macro application on this computer also. Save the email you sent yourself on your desktop, and open the application in Word again just as before. You will select restore and pick the file on your desktop to restore to. The macro will do all of the work and transfer all of the macros into your new computer.
Now, if this is not want you wanted....... never mind.....
Post word questions on the Word board only.
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what version of Word do you have? Here's a link for Word 2002 -sm
This looks like a long and drawn out thing to do, but it's not that hard really.
When I did it, I checked and found that I had the support template already in the folder, so I was able to skip down to "Back up your AutoCorrect entries on source computer." It's named support.dot and is found here:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice10Macros
Just following the instructions closely, it was really easy.
If you don't have Word 2002, I think there are other methods avaialable.
Here's the link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269006
Can you transfer them from Word 2002 to Word 2003?
I was able to transfer mine from one computer to another when I had Word 2002 on both of them. Now I have a new computer with Word 2003, and have not been able to do it. The autocorrect has a different file name.
Now, regarding my use of the word 'nigger', I used the word as a point of reference. And, to
I had also said, before the thread got moved and deleted that we are all people and that color shouldn't make a difference. What it all comes down to is Dog Chapman is a prejudiced person and he got caught. What his son did was wrong, but it still doesn't make Dog Chapman right.
Regarding AAMT, I thought what one poster said about Dog getting paid 6 cents a line for being AAMTs "motivational" speaker was hilarious. And, what on Earth did having him as a speaker have to do with MT???? Again, I thought it was a tremendously dumb move on AAMTs part.
I dunno about Word 2007 but Word 2003
has AutoCorrect, which is probably what you're meaning. When you program a macro, it records your Keystrokes and actions and is more complicated than what you're needing.
In Word 2003, type the word/phrase you want (i.e., degenerative disc disease) then highlight it. Go to Tools, AutoCorrect Options, and your highlighted word should be in the "with" box. Type your shortcut (i.e., ddd) in the "replace" box. Click Add then OK. To use the new entry, just type what you put in the replace box (ddd). No other keys necessary. I would guess it should be about the same in Word 2007.
Hope that helps! Feel free to email if you have more questions...
Calculating lines using Word Count in Word
I have recently started a job where lines are calculated using the Microsoft Word word count tool. I think I read that you get cheated out of lines if a company counts this way. Is this true?
Word 2007, Word 2002, or 2003
How many transcriptionists have switched to these versions of Word? I am still using Word 2000, and it works well for me, but have been offered job with a company that uses Word 2007, and another company that will let you use Word 2002 or 2003. I am fighting this and am at the point where I just might not accept a new job because of this change. I can't imagine why they would want to change from Word 2000. Your opinions, please. Thank you.
In Word 2007, you can add Word count to the status bar.
Right-click the status bar and select Word count. Once it appears on the status bar, you can double-click it to bring up the statistics dialog box that shows characters. You can also find this option on the Review tab, Proofing group, Word Count.
getting started
If you live in southern CA, on the job seeker board Chronicle Transcripts is hiring newbies. I used to be a lead transcriptionist for them when they were located in my town. Nice people and you will get very good training from them. What I have found is the smaller trans companies usually are willing to take in trainees or medical trans school graduates. Also, the federal govt and state govt have medical transcriptionists..You can check about testing with the govt. Good luck!
I have a BSN and started doing
MT due to the world's most complicated pregnancies - just couldn't be on my feet. At first, the $$ wasn't so great - impossible to transcribe much with a baby in the house. Every year tho I have made more than the year before. My boys are now 8 and 12 - summers are difficult but not impossible. I periodically look into going back into nursing, but the hassles it would entail just aren't worth the $$. I work about 5 hours a day and will end up making around $28 K this year.
I am 33 now and started at age
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It's already started here.
Gas prices are up, groceries are up, other supplies are up. My brother is in construction and said that materials and wood prices have doubled in the past week. Our income is maybe half what it was just over a year ago because we've both changed jobs or had contracts end on us. We've had a lot of unexpected expenses recently that cleaned out all of our savings. Christmas is coming. School just started so we had to buy clothes and supplies there. I'm half-panicked here trying to find a better paying job than what I have now. I just really can't take a lot of time off for testing or post my resume because my current employer will know I'm looking for another job. Then again, I don't even know if it's possible for me to make more money at MT than I am now. I still don't see how people can do 250+ lph or make $30+ per hour. What do they have that I don't? Length at employment? More word Expander entries? A better account and platform?
when i started doing ASR
mgmt told me that 'down the road' there would be 'adjustments' in the pay for ASR, after people were well-trained and productive on it. I later opted out -- didn't like it at all. HOWEVER, if it is in fact so much quicker (as it was said to be) for the MT to do those reports, then it stands to reason that you would not be paid the same at the same rate as someone transcribing a report from scratch. I don't see what the problem is about the purported pay reduction. Just consider what you've been getting as 'gravy' and what you will be getting as fair. Then again, if you don't want to do ASR, then opt out.
Also just started with them...
:)
You started it now !!
nm
I just started a new job.
I was hoping this would be THE job. I told myself that this is the very last MT company I will try to work for. Unfortunately, I'm experiencing the same things at this company that I quit other nationals for. I don't know what to do. I'm tired of job hunting, learning new platforms, and trying to adjust to multiple account specs. I'm tired of being told that "we're different" or "we are the best" only to find that it's no different or better. I don't know if I should stick this one out in the hopes that it will get better or go get a job as a waitress. This really stinks with Christmas coming and bills to pay. I really wanted this to work. What else is there for me, though? I don't want to go back to the fulltime, nose to the grindstone, kids in daycare garbage. I really enjoy MT, too.
Started at 4:00 a.m.
Delivered newspapers, did MT for 4 hours, went out for a few last minute things, went grocery shopping, finished wrapping presents, finished crocheting my new grandson's baby blanket, cleaned the kitchen did the dishes and looked after my 2-year-old terror twin granddaughters for 2 hours before I finally called my daughter at 6:00 p.m. and said, "COME AND GET THEM."
I love them dearly, but they are 175% wired with the whole Christmas thing and I am just getting over the flu.
I know, I know. . . .I'm TYPE A all the way.
I can't believe I've made it this late. I'm going night night. 
Started out....
I started out with MT on a selectric II. We used carbon paper for copies and no more than 2 corrections were allowed per page (original was corrected with white out, the rest had to be erased with that special little typewriter eraser). I learned very quickly to be accurate and proofread as I transcribed.
We also had no Stedman's word books in those days - just Dorlands, a little red book called Surgical Secretary or something like that, Tessier's, and a couple of others - about 5 or 6 books in total.
We used to call pharmacies to ask for spelling of new drugs, called Surgery and Central Supply for spelling of new equipment, new dressings, etc.
I worked in a large teaching hospital. We had access to the doctors and more than 1 time I had an MD standing behind me looking over my shoulder while I typed his report!
STARTED OUT THE OLD WAY
I also took typing on a manual and one of my first jobs was transcribing in pathology with 5 carbon copies - yikes. I like my computer and so does my wrists.
To get started...
$450 bucks will get you everything you need to get started. Here is the item:
Transcription Kit.
That transcription kit comes with the digital recorder you can give to your client, and for you-all the software, foot pedal and the headset. That will be enough to get you on your feet on your own.
My dog started doing this (sm)
and I took him in for a UA. Two days into the script he stopped!
Sure, it's possible. We all started somewhere. sm
Get hold of some practice dictations, and then dive in! If you have the proper references and good skills to begin with, you'll do fine. Go for it!
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