Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

I have done both and prefer IC because I can write

Posted By: IC on 2005-12-28
In Reply to: Pros and cons of IC. - js

everything off. You have to be very diligent about receipts and setting aside tax money though.

The only real difference in pay between the two is 7.25% for social security (self employment. You have to put aside the taxes rather than have the company pay them for you but either way, that tax money comes out of your check not the company's pocket.


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

I prefer books. I'm kinda old school. I like to be able to write new terms in my books. I do

have Stedman's Medical Dictationary on CD and I do use it quite a bit, but that's more because the actual print dictionary is so darn heavy to pick up and look a word up!


Buy if from your husband. Have him write you a receipt. Write it off completely or
depreciate it over a few years.
I prefer IC . . .
simply because of the flexibility. I don't want to feel chained to my computer. To me, one of the reasons to work from home is the freedom it provides. I also find I have a lot to write off at tax time and have never had a problem tax-wise. I don't need the benefits and don't want the company control that comes with being an employee.


Neither...I prefer
my taxes to pay for defense of this nation, protection of its citizens through federal regulatory agencies, police, fire and emergency rescue programs, libraries, public schools, educational assistance for anyone who needs it, assistance for those who cannot help themselves, drug and medical research, paved streets, streetlights, utilities, assistance for new business startups, and few other oddities.
How would you prefer - sm
Wondering if you have any suggestions for a better way? What would make it easier for you?
ME vs MT WHAT DO YOU PREFER

and why.


 


I prefer only the ................NM

I prefer
by far short reports.  Doing long reports, well, I just feel like I'm being held hostage, KWIM?
I much prefer sm
to work for a company and let them hustle up the work, provide the system and equipment, and get paid by the line. Maybe if I were 20 and not 60, but I find that by getting your own accounts, you lose a lot of money.  I prefer transcribing fast, and being paid for just that.  No setup.  No delivery or pickup.  No office managers to deal with.  Pure profit all the way.
I prefer IT.
xxx
I just prefer it.
There is so much wrong information out there that I like to look in my books first. I also hand write in "sounds like" in there so I can find oddly spelled things. Plus it is a business expense. ;-)
Most will prefer DSL for
security reasons I believe and specifically say "no satellite". It is one of the downsides of living in a beautiful rural area.


I prefer...
Quick Look Drug Book but not actually the book, the CD version, that way you do not have to get off computer, grab book, and manually look up the med you need. You just click on to get into the information, type in name, or a version of it, and it automatically pops up with everything you need to know, including what it is used for, and doses applicable...so much quicker.
I prefer my ESL
over the English speaking mush mouth one that sounds like she drunk when she transcribes or the one who talks so low I can barely hear him with the sound on as high as it can go.
Myself, I prefer sm

Stedman's surgical equipment book.  The Surgery Word book is pretty well useless, but the equipment book is fabulous.


I have had a Tessier's and I gave it away, found it completely useless.


I prefer it
I cant sit for 8 hours. I have to break my work up into 2-4 hours at a time.
I prefer In-Hock Rd.
dd
I certainly prefer Word but......
I have become accustomed to it. It is not too difficult to learn and overall I don't feel a bad program. I have used DQS as well and I think Emdat's InScribe offers more options from what I see.

My biggest complaint is the spellcheck. I copy/paste and save all my reports in Word and spellcheck in Word as it catches errors that InScribe's spellcheck does not.

Also, I do not use their Expander - I use Instant Text which I love.
I also prefer in-house

... but I am doing radiology.  I worked at home doing hospital work for 4-5 years, and it wasn't interesting enough.  There wasn't enough variety for me.  I could see problems that I would be sooooo good at fixing if I was working in-house, but there was no way for me to have an impact on quality issues working at home.  I now get to improve the referrer database, look at the future schedule to look for missing referrer names, work with schedulers, techs and radiologists, and just do lots of little things that really add polish to our business, and are very satisfying to me. 


To each her own. 


I prefer VR, MTg for 28 years....nm

thanks but prefer programs not from...

She does prefer that I type in EMR
but said she we would discuss what would work best for both of us. Thanks for the info, that was the kind of thing I needed to know.
I prefer the CD. I can travel with my
job and used a laptop.  I am able to have all my references available because I have them on the computer.  Stedman's only allows 2 downloads though, so if you are one who may have lots of computer issues where you will need to reload your computer a coupld of times a year or if you  might want to resell then CDs wouldn't be the way to go.  The books you can find used on the classified board.

You can use www.drugs.com as a drug reference.

There aren't a separate set of books for clinic work, but I would recommend a book called Sloane's Medical Word Book by Ellen Drake.  It is a large book with all the specialities and while obviously not as thorough as the Stedman's books, the terminology used in clinic work isn't as technical as acute care and will probably be good enough for you.   I haven't looked at Stedman's lately but they may have a similar book. 
prefer books

I prefer reference books, as all my work stays in one spot in my office.  Have tried the CDs in the past but didn't care for them.  I can understand wanting the convenience of having everything on a laptop since it sounds like you move around frequently.  Guess it depends on the work sutation.


I prefer ESLs

I personally prefer an ESL to a native English speaker any day of the week.  At least I know with an ESL, I am dealing with a tougher ear level, a level not many folks can do or are willing to do, and 99% of the time, they happen to be the best dictators out there, they don't rush their dictation or speak half-thoughts/utter a sound that means 10 words, they do their best to speak clearly...all I need to do is learn their accent and clean up their grammar. 


I have only 1 current ESL who speed talks with a thick accent...Just 1 of out say 50+ that I handle between 5 acute care accounts.  I handle a lot more ESLs than that due to the logistics of 3 accounts being major city hospitals, but I didn't want it to seem an inflated, BS number. 


In the long run, my willingness and desire to deal with ESLs allows me to build my ear skills further.  When it comes time to job hunt, that little line on my resume, Heavy ESL experience gets my foot in the door to show what I am able to hear and do, making me a bit more marketable.  Don't get me wrong, MOST ESLs I can handle.  Russian accent still leaves me saying WHAT?!?!  but hey, at least I am willing to try to step up to that battle to conquer and learn them.


I worked for a company that NO ONE wanted to transcribe the 52 ESLs.  I kid you not.  The TAT on those files was disgusting.  MTs would actually refuse to transcribe them.  I took them on, they became my primary workload, my preferred work.  I'd log in for the day, my supervisor would ask me what I wanted for "breakfast" as she read me off the list of who she had.  I had the freedom to choose back then, and let me tell you, it was CAKE, I was loving it and laughing all the way to the bank.  My queue for the day was set with just about 120 minutes of assorted accents, my daily line requirement, as a part timer, exceeded the full-time requirement.  I never ran out of work, I never NEEDED to worked late, never felt pressured, and didn't have to worry about leaving a blank, for it became clear to my supervisor/QA/team leader, as well as the CMT/owner, that if I couldn't get that blank, there was no way they could either.   I took care of my supervisor/QA/team leader and she took care of me, we were in a win-win situation.  But, that job is gone now, as the company folded and closed its doors.  My comfort zone is gone.


Currently, I work for 2 nationals.  They do not filter and distribute files broken down between ESL and native English speakers.  I pull my daily workloads from a pool, so I never know who I will end up with.  It's in my own best interest NOT to shy away from an accent.


I prefer the CDs but use the books...
because I can pass the books on to new recruits who may not be able to afford a lot of new reference materials right off the bat.
Getting into QA prefer hourly
Do you know which MT companies pay QA by hour? Also who would be willing to train a QA person. I have been an MT 10 years and would like to get into QA...I have excellent editing skills and have worked in-house, IC, home-based employee and have an associates degree in science (pre-nursing classes).
I actually prefer the variety to doing the same old - sm
thing day in and day out. The downside, of course, is that you don't get the line counts, what with all the research, backing up & listening again to the difficult dictators, and not using full-page templates because every report is different. It took a long time to get to the point where I was comfortable with this much variety, and now actually enjoy it. Unfortunately, the average MTSO's pay scale doesn't reflect that. So I guess there are 2 choices: Be bored to tears and make more money by mass-producing 'McDictation', as I call it, or be mentally stimulated, and continue to learn, doing harder accounts, but making Third World wages.
I'm with you sister; I'd much prefer using my pc
rather than any company provided one. We are not children here, but professionals. I need to have a watchdog hovering over my shoulder documenting every single site I click on to keep as ammunition to eventually fire me for misuse of their pc.

I've seen the pcs these companies provide for their employees -- like they are doing them such a big favor. BULLSHID! The pcs are refurbished pieces of junk, which they deduct a rental amount from your already poverty-striken paycheck. Nationals: Keep your pcs -- they are worthless pieces of crap.
used to prefer stethoscope
but now find i just don't want anything inside my ears at all -- didn't want to mess with batteries, so found (on ebay) some Bose over-the-ear kind. Very good sound, very comfortable ear cushion, long cord, great swivel ear/headband part and they passively block outside sound very well.
If IC, use which ever you prefer; most of the Nationals
xx
yu arr sew write!
I gess yu tolt me.  I best be gittin on bak 2 the trailer.  Eye dun bin tolt awf bi a jenyus!  Yu gut me!  Tak to ye after a spell Mrs. Frank.  Buy now.  Doen't choak awn awl that venum, now, ya hear?
Why would you write someone up
gee that is very encouraging, I have been disciplined even with my current job when I was in the mentor program but not written up !!!!! That style of company is not for me, I should have listened to the posts of how they are sweet and than watch out... I'm sure a lot of people are happy with them they seem to have a lot of employees
I just had to write this....
I am now one week free from my best friend is what I like to call smoking.. This was difficult to give up and for the first time in my life I sat in a nonsmoking section at a restaurant yesterday, I can run a mile, I am alert and awake and feel good, my skin is actually looking younger.  I have attempted to quite many many times... The conclusion to this was its my body, I control my body, cigarettes do not control me, I control me, God gives us one body enjoy it, take care of it, REMEMBER ITS YOUR BODY... Sorry if this offends anyone I just needed to voice myself for I feel free for the first time in my Life....
Do you write down your (sm)

job numbers.  How do you keep record of work completed each day?


They need to write one about MTs
Synthroid 25 mg --hello? I have to change that one all the time. Or how about clonidine for anxiety? Or one of my personal faves respiratory rate 70, heart rate 16...happens all the time. Ladies give yourselves a pat on the back for fixing and "spotting" all of THEIR mistakes!
to write or not to write
I have always put on my resumes that I have the ability to transcribe foreign accented physicians and never had any comment made about it, so guess it worked for me.  The QA part, would state as you suggested, experienced in quality assurance....would look oh so pretty on the resume by all means.  Good luck.
You can write off anything you want to, you just have to
be able to document it if you get audited.  I would have DSL if I didn't need it for work and my whole family uses the internet so I can't in good faith write it off.  Even if I wouldn't have it if not needed for work I'm sure you still use it for personal use. 
Why you should write it down
The purpose to keeping a log of everything you do that is not actual transcription, i.e., is not typing to generate lines, is to show you how much time you spend not-working.

This can be a considerable amount of time. It's important to get a handle on it, though, because it goes a long way toward showing you where you can become more efficient.

Awareness of the "not-work" time -- I hesitate to call it wasted, because some of it is purposeful, even if it doesn't generate income -- is necessary if you are to control it.

Nearly everybody pops up out of the seat if it is a difficult dictator. When I code something difficult, I jump right up and find all sorts of errands to run. It's much easier to stay in the seat and stay focused if you are aware that you keep leaping up to run around.

Even taking a sip of coffee takes a few seconds. Looking away to the TV takes a split second here and there. Answering the phone takes a couple more. Pretty soon it's a whole minute, then an hour. If you have one hour a day in non-income-generating activities, if you made $10 per hour, you'd lose $10 a day, $50 a week, $200 a month, $2400 a year. Double that if you made $20 per hour.



:)
Tax write off

Anyone know if we can write off our losses in the stock market last year.  I have no clue as I have always made money.  I sure my accountant is busy or I would call him.  Just curious, as my hubby took a big hit, should have listened to the bunionmeister.    Listen next time hubby. 


We should ALL write them &

tell them why we don't want to be members.  Seriously - although the following quote comes to mind: 


I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member - Groucho Marx


you say that like there is something wrong with that - prefer them to bulldozers.nm
:)
i hear ya. I prefer being tucked away
Nonhostile, nonstressed, maybe just a little goofy.  I think we lose our thick skin working alone for so long.  I start college next week, I better find some people armor.
I prefer non-Southern accents

I'm from the south but lived out of the area for several years.  My favorite accents are Northeast and MidWest.  For a while I did MT for a hospital in rural Alabama where a resident from Cuba was working.  He had acquired a number of southern altruisms that cracked me up with his thick Hispanic accent.  I'll never forget when he treated an elderly woman who had received a rattlesnack bite to her foot through her "teenie shoes."  (if I hadn't been from the south, I wouldn't have known he was referring to "tennis shoes!")


Once my dryer needed servicing and the repair man came out.  After talking for a while I asked if he was from somewhere near southern Russia because of his accent.  He got so excited that someone knew the geographic area of his origin!  He was from a tiny little country bordering southern Russia!  (one of my neurologists was from Russia).  I love to try to place someone's accents


d~ 


Which do you prefer, Shortcut or Shorthand (sm)

I've always used Expanders already built in to program, but making a change and need to purchase an Expander (Word-based platform).  So I don't know much.  Please enlighten me.  Which do you prefer?


Thanks, guys :-)


I don't want my own. I had one before but I prefer hospital radiology and like
having someone else worry about time I need off, vacations, getting paid, etc. I won't go on my own again.
I prefer book for drugs.
I use the Quick Look Drug Book and it has worked well for me.

Google is where I start my search for other medical info and it has been remarkably useful - may even discontinue purchasing more books.

But the drug book will not likely be replaced as it also has the generic and dosage information right there, which I have needed on many occasions; it is faster for me to use the book. Just a personal preference.
I also prefer the internet because it is always updated
I like rxlist especially if I need to verify the dosage or preparation, look up s/l.
I like healthdigest because I can look up drugs by their first letter/s, or look up drugs by typing the indication (hypertension, hyperthyroidism, cancer) or the route (rectal, vaginal, topical ophthalmic) in its search engine to see the possible drugs there (if s/l or first letter/s are leading me nowhere). I like americarx.com for OTC drugs. Drugs@FDA is also a good reference. PDR Health (gettingwell.com) has categorized its drugs into Rx, OTC, herbal, and nutritional. There are tons of other drug sites which you will find useful just by using the google's search engine.
I prefer standard typing...
I cannot stand a new account to VR. Such a waste of $! The system tries to learn the doc and you have to retype the entire report. When the system knows a doc well, it is a piece of cake though. Especially when the system knows an ESL doc....now THAT is amazing!
I prefer pie here, too. Always have birthday pie, usually two kinds.
:+
What monitors do you guys prefer?

Hi all!!  I am new here and am getting the feel of things.  I was wanting an opinion.  I am looking into buying me a new monitor and looking at LCDs.  Which is better on the eyes or which do you prefer and why?  I have been told 17" is better because 19" stretches things to make them fit.  Any advise would be appreciated. 


Thanks,


Cindy