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I did in the past, got burnt out very quickly. sm

Posted By: MT-IC25 on 2007-08-14
In Reply to: Two f/t jobs - Can't keep up

It is very difficult to do. I lasted about 5 years working 16 hour days, and by that time I was exhausted, stressed out, and my financial issues never disappeared.

It really is not worth the money to do that to yourself in my humble opinion.


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I am in the same boat. I think I am way past burnt out though.
I need serious help! I can't pull it together to save my own butt right now. Sigh.
chiefly British past and past participle of SPELL
nm
Maybe you can get un-burnt-out by 1 or more of these:
Maybe you can get un-burnt-out by 1 or more of these: Read trade journals (AAMT, Advance, Plexus, even nursing or MD journals); read up on the lastest stuff at related websites; watch some of those live ER or reenacted ER TV shows; watch some of those surgery TV programs; if you have cable TV check out health-related programs; be a volunteer if that's your kind of thing & offer to do some transcription for a nonprofit clinic for the poor (helping others is a known cure for burnout); change your work area: wallpaper or paint, or a new desk, a desktop fishtank or fountain, a CD player for some non-distracting music.
Burnt out...what do you do?
What do you do when you just can't take it anymore? I feel so burnt out in this field right now, but Im kind of stuck here at the moment for personal reasons. What has helped you get out of that "rut" when you feel burnt out?
Burnt out

Hi Everyone,


I am not coming here to sound like I'm whining or complaining, but I am just completely burnt out, stressed, and an emotional wreck and need advice because I'm sure we've all been there.  No one understands our jobs.  I'm definitely not trying to say I have it *so bad and worse than anyone*  because I think we all have it exactly the same.  What do you do when you get burnt out like this?  Would it be a good idea to just take a *break* from transcription for a while? 


I have been doing this for 3 years and just can't seem to get ahead.  My motivation is there (most of the time) but my line counts just aren't.  Most of the time I am making less than minimum wage.  I struggle through 60 minutes of dictation, only to have a piddly 400 line count after about 8 hours.  My doctors seem to like to spout off partial or wrong company names that people work for (completely irrelevant to the report), activities, job titles, work equipment, street names (of all things), school names (out of state), impossible to find without at least 20-30 minute doctor name searches as much as they can (always mispronouncing or an out-of-state doctor because my accounts are basically on the border between 2 states).  Join the club... I know.   I definitely love transcription and who I work for..but I am just incredibly frustrated at my paychecks along with the amount of time and effort spent on a check amounting to $200 every 2 weeks.  I am always working/at the computer "on call" on my days off...as most of us are. 


I do have a daughter at home who has become VERY demanding (she is not the reason I decided on this career; I have a huge interest in the medical field and didn't want to be a nurse or secretary, anything like that).  She is in preschool, but my work has been coming later and later to the point where I have no choice but to do it while she is home.  Talk about adding to my stress. 


I actually just let it all out last night.  My eyes are all swollen today from bawling last night.  My husband asked *are you done yet* after me only trying to vent my frustrations to him for like 2 minutes (that just set it all off) - and was fed up with me and told me to *just quit because I don't want to work* that phrase skyrockets my blood pressure.  He doesn't get it.  The transcriptionists work is never done and we never get away from our jobs!! 


He is never home due to his job, which he loves and says is a cake walk.  To be honest, that actually makes me jealous and even more irritated.  I just wish he knew for one second what my life was like!  He has a 2 hour commute, gets the GI bill every month, and loves to work overtime and trust me he makes enough for us all to get by smoothly.  Still, EVERYTHING is on me...EVERYTHING...on a constant daily basis.  I have 3 dogs, 3 cats, 3 goats, and a daughter to take care of, along with the house, cooking, and all of the chores that go along with it...which I wouldn't trade for the world, don't get me wrong, I just feel like I don't have the time for anything other than my job and my daughter's attitude is really starting to reflect it and all of my family sees it, just not my husband. 


What gets me is...he and his parents can and are 100% willing to pay SOMEONE ELSE to take care of my daughter and do MY JOB with her...yet, here I am struggling to do a million things at once and only coming out $100 ahead of preschool.  Would they think about paying me?  Lol, I highly doubt it..and in fact when I brought it up to my husband last night, he laughed in my face and called me crazy.  Well, what is so crazy about it?  I taught her everything she knows!!  Yet his parents will still comment on what a great job preschool is doing for her.  It is the pressure from his parents (who both happen to be school teachers) and my husband would never go against their decisions.  Don't get me wrong, I would never expect/want to be paid, lol...it is just a hypothetical situation.  If it is good for someone else, why can't it be good for anyone else?


I think that was actually the start of my frustration..when he started his new job because he got lazy around the house and with our daughter!  When he gets a day off though, you better believe it's a day off!!!  He does whatever he wants with his buddies or whatever, while I sit at home and deal with the same things when he is working.  When he gets home from work, he has the nerve to ask me *what did you do all day* because my paychecks dont REFLECT the amount of time that I am actually in here working my butt off...and neither does the mess of my house. 


Any ideas on what I could tell my husband to help him understand at least partially what I, we all, go through in this field without him basically telling me to shut my mouth because him not listening to me is really getting old. 


 



Burnt out....sm

First of all, you sound like you need a hug, but I couldn't find a smiley for that, so here is a cheers!  


Maybe you just need a change of scene? Would it be possible for you to find an MT job outside of your house in a local clinic or hospital for a few hours a week? You might even be able to make more money doing less hours outside of the house.   


Husbands can be so irritating sometimes.


Burnt out
Hi,
I would send him a copy of this post you made, maybe seeing it in print will wake him up.
Also I have been transcribing for 20 years and have found HEAVEN with this program. Watch the short video at www.teamresult.com and e-mail me if interested, I will then call you.

manzotravel@gmail.com
Burnt out and under appreciated
I can relate. My income is decreasing, my hours are increasing. My son is making more as a security guard at the local casino. I'm so tired at night I can't do anything. I think we all need vacations, if we could afford one.
lol, usually these people are so burnt out (sm)
they are getting hit from every end. i usually pick up my work and skidaddle out of there. you usually meet the in-house employees eyes and they got their claws out. lol
I feel your burnt pain!
I have been feeling this way for years. Sometimes I think I need straps on my chair to keep me in it! My mind wanders and my focus is not there and sometimes I am just down right mad at myself for sticking with something that makes me so miserable for so long. However, there are other opportunities out there to make money. You can do it!! I have some ideas for you, but you need to e-mail me. Keep an open mind and open eyes and something will come along that may help make you feel better. You may need some aloe-vera for that severe burn, though! I will send some prayers your way..keep your chin up, you can do it.
Burnt popcorn will linger for DAYS!
nm
We are quickly becoming ...
a Christian version of the Islamic Republic, where religion is an integral part of every aspect of life. I'm not sure what you are saying here. I would have no problem typing that if it was part of the dictation in a medical report, but I would find it very inappropriate if my employer said that or I was asked to participate. If I want to pray in public I'll go to church or an AA meeting.
Over 100. Burnt my bare feet on concrete. Plants are dying.
dd
what is this WE thing? this country is quickly
Run by a dictatorship, by religion and greed.  WE are not rich.  We live in a country run by the rich, who got that why taking money off of our labor.  Look at India, divided between rich and poor.  The rich have houses made of gold, the poor live off 15 dollars a month.  Our dictators do not have gold houses but they have deep green pockets.
Learn a lesson quickly...
After 8 years of loyalty, I can tell you one thing for sure loyalty gets you no where.
QA editors adapt more quickly, but anyone can....
do VR if they are a decent MT. You're basically listening to the voice, making changes. If you know your stuff, you're fine, i.e. knowing the difference between "your" and "you're."
Get some liquid Benadryl in him quickly and
People can develop allgeries suddenly and for no apparent reason and it's much easier to deal with when you have your senses about you than wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of his gasping for air!
And editing 100% VR, we wil quickly lose

How to quickly number med lists?
What is the quickest way to number a medication list? We have to number all of a patient's medications in a vertical list (voice recognition). - very time consuming - slowing me down. Any MT's found a fast way to number medications and put in a straight list on left margin QUICKLY? This is ridiculous. The voice recognition correctly or incorrectly gives the medications, but it is very slow numbering them and putting them in a vertical list -and we are required to do that. Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks. I thought it might be good when you needed to get through quickly. NM
nm
I love mine, adjusted quickly.
But don't spill a latte in it...and the dishwasher trick doesn't work for it. I had to go out and buy a new one...and ergonomics are getting hard to find in my area!
Oops. Hit the send button too quickly.

How long before the person asking if you "want flies with that" will be from another country?


I can also understand why someone would move to another country to work because of economic reasons.  We're approaching a time where the cost of a gallon of gas may be higher than the hourly minimum wage.


Seek medical attention quickly.
It could be an allergic reaction. 
I'd grab it quickly. W/o spaces you average about
15% less - so that is an excellent rate - good for you!!
But why sign it to put the past behind? The past should have

It seems that they dredged up the past by wanting the release signed to keep them out of trouble for unfair employment practices.  Usually when a person ends the working relationship, they give formal written notice, the company accepts the notice, and the employment is over.  Smells pretty fishy to send a termination agreement and, oh by the way, sign this release.  LOL


No you can't survive on sex and chocolate but will die happy probably pretty quickly.
It would be a bummer to watch Johnny Dep get old and cranky anyway.
I am very real, thank you. I work quickly and efficiently. I know the terminology and when I come
across something I don't know I do my best to reference until I find it. If I absolutely cannot find it, I will send it to QA. The same goes with something I can't understand. I will listen several times and if I still can't understand it I send it on to QA for their help.
Tax guy told me because of nature of job and way computers outdate so quickly, could get new one
:+
XX,, I promise you can double that typing speed quickly SM
then triple it, and eventually quadruple it with an Expander used right. You're doing something wrong, but I assure you once you know what it is you can correct it easily and immediately start seeing the benefits having your expander do much of the typing for you.

To begin with, though, most of your increased speed is going to come NOT from inserting blocks of text standard for one dictator but rather abbreviations for the individual words, phrases, and headings you're constantly typing anyway.

For instance, I type RPSV for "reports that." It wasn't hard to remember. Variations of "report" are used constantly, so RP became report, RPS reports, RPG reporting, RPD reported. V is "that." AO is "also" for me, and F is "he", so "he also reported that" becomes FAORPDV and "he also reports that" becomes FAORSV. This is the first time I've seen those on paper; you don't memorize the long forms, just string together the constantly used short ones. Amazingly quickly your fingers remember (muscle memory?) so you don't have think about it.

Smartype is probably not the best expander but fine to start on since you have it. Later on, better programs have conversion programs that will allow you to move your abbreviations to that program.

In the meantime, go to productivitytalk.com and start reading and asking questions. If you wish, you can import a whole ready-made dictionary compiled by an MT abbreviations.

But you could also take another tack for now just as a trial. Instead of trying to use Smartype's abbreviations, if that's what you're doing, enter just a handful of your own that you can get very familiar with. I love these that I use and am happy to pass them on to anyone who wishes to try them:

Make T expand to "the"
F expand to "he"
G expand to "him"
K expand to "she"
J expand to "her"
T expand to "the"
B to "but"
Q to "who"
R to "right"
L to "left"
F to "for"
D for "and"

That's more than enough for now. If you do this, I think in a couple of days you'll be loving how a quick tap of the finger drops in all these little words so much that you'll eventually become addicted to abbreviating everything in sight--and to watching your scores on your speed tests rise and rise and rise... Best wishes.
same way in nursing - men in nursing make more on average than women in nursing and quickly
move into management. Just what we needed.
Have gotten as much as $3,000 in the past.

The hospital I worked for for 28 years (as a medical lab technologist) always gave us a Christmas bonus. This ranged from $3,000 one year in the 80s down to an orange (yeah, a piece of fruit) and a calendar a few years later. It usually averaged, though, around $200 or so. It always depended on the hospital profit for that year.  


The clinic I work for now gives us $100 and a really fancy dinner-dance party (that I don't ever attend).


I have used it in the past
I had it before I got DSL.  Never had any problems at all. Lots of local numbers to call into.  Never really had problems getting bumped off.  Never had problems with busy signals.   Just was really slooowww  (as is any dial up).  I paid a few dollars more a month for the "accelerated" version.  It was supposed to be faster, but I didn't notice any difference.    I would definitely recommend it as far as dial up goes, though.   
I have done this in the past and have just taken another
full time position with another company.  If you are motivated enough, then go for it.  The only advice I can offer is if they are both full time jobs with full time line requirements not hours, when the first full time job picks back up, are you going to be able to do both jobs full time?  That is the only problem I had but I was able to do it just fine. 
his past was his past........if you...sm

If you have never learned in life that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a *gift*, that's why we call it present...and to forgive what was years ago and condemn him in his 60s and continually name-call him, such as *perv* - you apparently have the personality disorder.


Everyone is entitled to their opinion, just as I am.....so like I said - go into the mirror.......and become introspective before you name-call....


oh, and your history is 100% perfect?  Oh, I get it - you have no faults from the past or prefer to point out everyone else's faults or past. 


'tis all in the attitude.......


My past
Hope my "name" doesn't bother anyone, but I just couldn't help but post.

I can relate to how you are feeling about your friend. I suffered from secondary infertility (I had a child but when she turned 2 I started trying to have another and couldn't). I found a web site where I could post and formed many friendships. Most were women who had NO children. My heart went out to them.

The web site is
www.INCIID.org if your friend wants to check it out. I have formed lifelong friendships with several I met on there.

End of my story is that after 9 years of fertility treatments (torture!!!) and 2 miscarriages along the way (worse than torture!!!!) I finally went the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) route and got my twins. My family is now complete. It was a very long, hard haul though. So anyone considering fertility treatmens should keep that in mind. Emotionally and financially. To consider taking out a loan for $15,000 for a one-shot deal at IVF was excruciating. Especially after my doc only gave me a 10% chance of it working.

Sorry, I didn't mean to write a book. I just want to be a source of hope for someone who is going through infertiltiy and miscarriage. It has scarred me, that's true, but these babies make up for the pain of those years. Wishing your friend the best!
I have in the past. I have to
change the covers frequently. If you run out, just rig covers made from clean, soft, thin cloth or Kleenex. I wrap the tissue around it, cut off excess, and secure with small rubber bands. Aaaaaah!

Lots of MTs have ear problems. After showers, dry out ears with an astringent on a Q-Tip, being very gentle. You can even hold 2 Q-tips together to make them too large to accidently jab too deep. Dry out excess astringent with dry ends of Q-tip and don't put on headphones until air-dried completely. If skin is oily, you can use wipe the entire ear and behind with witchhazel to normalize the ear skin and avoid irritation. I can even use alcohol or 2% salicylic acid on my ears. Feels great to oily skin.
I have seen this in the past also
I did training for the small service I worked for, and have worked with new grads all the way up to 20+ years' experience and had a very different focus training each. The older MTs (exp. not age) who had received no QA did have trouble adjusting sometimes; some were more demoralized by it, no matter how kindly it was delivered, and some would get angry and say things like "I've always done it this way and no one has complained." And some had difficulty with the computer programs we used, more so than the newer MTs. I would think that latter problem would be even more pronounced now with all the fancy software out there.

So I think I get she's saying, but on the other hand, I don't think it was too smart or tactful for her to say it and be quoted for it! I've always thought you need a mix of MTs for a healthy environment, newer and "older"!
How do get past the
frustration of KNOWING QA changes are incorrect?  Working at Chronicle I had one good QA person I was dealing with and would send me what they call a comparison report.  Then when I typed on a different shift and asked for a finished report I noted that many of the blanks I had left were still there BUT there were also things changed that I KNOW were incorrect?  As an MT, are we within our rights to question QA changes and also the experience level of the QA?  Viewing the particular changes made in my instance, there is no way this QA person carried any kind of experience. 
There have been some things with others in the past

In fact, he's estranged from both of his children, one son and one daughter, they actually hate him and have written nasty letters.  The daughter is completely insane, does drugs, married about four or five times, a thief, but nothing has been brought up about any sort of abuse.  His other daughter and I have talked.  She said that her mother growing up was very suspicious of her and her father's relationship.  Actually accused her of leading him on, or teasing him, and something happened where she caught her naked and him in the same room and got mad at her.  The daughter swears nothing was going on, but who knows, we didn't know him back then.  So it ruined her relationship with her mother. 


He has my family fooled that he's this great wonderful guy, yet his own family wants nothing to do with him.  Thats why bad mouthing him, I would be ostracized.  They all know he's slightly perverted, but its accepted.  Thats why i'm wondering if i'm blowing it out of proportion.  All I know is that its changed and i'm extremely uncomfortable.  Being too specific about what he's said is too embarrassing to even mention to them. I don't even want to make eye contact with him. 


that's a blast from the past

I remember that term from years ago.  


I did a Google search and the closest I got was a Maxwell Sweetheart retractor: http://www.snowdenpencer.com/snowden/dspcatalog.nsf/b7e010000d3e8e708525666e004dfec2/0174ad87011670c085256673005b0e34?OpenDocument


If you read the first paragraph, it's referring to the shape of the blade ... so my guess is if you can have a heart-shaped blade with a retractor, why not with the tenaculum.


She has been referred in the past - sm
by social services, that's where they hooked up with her current psychologist.

It's a rural area, not much to offer, so they are looking further away from home now to find the right person/people for counseling.

Should also mention that SS dropped the ball on more than one occasion when it comes to Tater and her younger brother (different father.) Tater's mom has also relinquished custody of the baby brother in the past couple of months. Just handed him over without so much as a "how ya doin" to the boy's father, who is also the same guy that she had tossed in jail for domestic abuse and has a standing no contact order against. Some mother.
I never had any problem in the past..nm
/
living it for the past 2.5 yrs---
my ex quite working a legal job so he doesn't have to pay support.  my 3 yo son was able to get insurance through the state but it was very hard to get (and didn't keep it) they don't cover that much. the state keeps rewriting the laws and cut benefits each time.  I'm an ic and have my own health ins for my son and myself. I'm robbing peter to pay paul right now and probably will be for a long time.  we're doing without a lot of things so that I don't have to take a job outside of the house not to mention that I couldn't afford full time child care.   I would try getting extra side jobs so that you could stay home.   I worked 3 jobs for 2 years and went down to one job that promised full time work a couple of months ago and needless to say they haven't kept up their end of the deal-as usual-so I'm looking to pick up at least 1 other job.  the peace of mind knowing that I'm here and flexible, especially if my son gets sick, isn't worth trading right now.
did in the past but does not do drugs...sm
I wish he'd come in here and sue your arse...for that post
Felony in Past
I've just completed an MT course and am now looking to get hired.  I have been turned down by a couple of companies because I have a felony in my past from 1995.  Can someone who has a felony every get hired to be an MT or have I wasted my money and time?  If it is possible to get hired, any ideas on which companies I should try.  Thanks in advance for anyone's help.
felony in past
 A lot of people in the medical field are very self-righteous and judgemental as well as hypocritical.  Apparently this is not a field to go into unless you're perfection like they think they are.  Sorry if this upsets some people on this board. 
felony in past
i am inclined not to think that "Anon" and "anon2" are the same person. i have reread both, and the two have very different styles. i think "anon2" is just commenting on "Anon's" reply posts, but that is just mho. incidently, i did not take anything amiss in the posts. i thought several of them were quite compassionate.
That is how I have been doing it for the past 2 years -sm
My husband has 2 exemptions, but Married as single, so it is taxed at a higher amount. Covers my taxes (so far) and we still get about $1400 back. I plan to pay some taxes though this year via the electronic Federal site. Have not started yet though as finances are tight at the moment but plan to get on the stick by June with any luck and pay in a couple thousand.
Sorry, I can't get past the teeth..... : > lol
x
passed/past
/
Yes, here too, for about the past 2 hours..nm
/