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It takes a long time to become familiar with

Posted By: MQMT on 2009-03-17
In Reply to: Why would you think ops might pay more? - Love ops

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.


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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. 


 


 


Ask if you can come off. Since June is way long enough especially when you're familiar with the
s
I hope I hang in long enough to get familiar with account
mostly not medical error, this doctors wants it this way, that doctor wants it that way, and with a base of 700 doctors, that's hard to remember. You can add headings, then when you add heading, they delete them... next time, I don't add heading and they add it... suppose to type names as dictated (if spelled), otherwise type "the patient"... next they correct it and put "the patient" where I typed the name, etc.   Does one EVER get used to all the rules/regulations?
Maybe they will. Give it time. It takes time to set up links.
OSI, Precyse, etc tell us more.
Agree with pat..takes too long

I'm a member of NFO and after about three months I have about 970 points, and you need 1,000 points for just $10.  I only receive about two invites a week for surveys, don't know how to get anymore than that.  I'm also a MyPoints member.  I usually just get the 5 points for reading the message and never buy anything, so it takes a long time to get points added up for me.  Maybe once a year I do redeem them for about $20 worth of gift cards. 


The people who advertise that you can do the surveys in your spare time and make all this extra money make it sound like you can just log on to a site and they are sitting there waiting for you, and you can do as many as you want, all day long, for as much money as you want to make.  Wouldn't that be nice! 


I have never heard of or seen the car advertising thing except on cabs and public transportation, oh, and of course delivery trucks and cars. 


I don't know how long it takes YOU to go to the bathroom...
but 40 minutes sure is enough time in 8 hours...give me a break...
Your settings are definitely wrong if it takes you that long.
Go to File/preferences, and reset the Pause _ msec after ___ Keystrokes to Pause 1 msec after every 25 keystrokes. You will see an amazing difference in the speed of the program.
I guess, as long as nobody takes a look at the demographics, it's o.k...nm
nm
As long as it takes to post on here, google came up quicker
nm
As long as it takes, to quote good old Dr. Phil!

You're both worth it - go for it!!


How long would you say it takes to get a decent grip on them. I do have samples already I have read
over and they arent hard but I havent heard the voices yet.
Good answers and becoming a skilled MT takes surprisingly long, but SM
although 5 years may be about average, there's an old saying about how some people have 20 years' experience and some have one year repeated 20 times. If you want to cut that 5 years down VERY substantially, work full time (a conscientious full time, not just slopping thru the day) and push for new work types and accounts as woon as you've milked the old ones for all you can learn from them. Plus, a reality is that availability of the Web as a resource now helps people function at a much higher level earlier than previously.
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. 
And have several grills with volunteers to man them. Piggy takes too long to cook! People will show
s
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.


No, not really. Do you realize how much time feedback takes. nm
x
It's been a long, long time since I've used a C-phone, sm
but I do think jobs can be paused.
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
Do you ever feel as though this job takes over your life and you have to work all the time in case
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.
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 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
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.
I had a problem with this for a long, long time sm
I have always worked days, like from 6-3. Over the last few years, it didn't matter how much sleep I got, I became real groggy between 7 and 11. Really shoots the day. Talked to my doctor and he said my blood pressure pills were the culprit but he refused to change me to another brand or dosage since I have multiple aneurysms (2 in the brain). My BP has been stable for a long time and he wants to "keep it on the low side". I tried taking them before I went to bed instead of early in the morning, but then I had headaches all day. So, I am changing to a night shift for a few months so I can sleep when those pills kick in and so far it is working pretty good. I stay mostly awake during my shift and die when I hit the bed from 6 am to 10 am, then I lay down again later in the afternoon for 2-3 hours. I still get 6-7 hours of sleep, it's just split up during the day, plus I am mostly awake now when I sit down to type. I don't have to deal with the heat in my office, either. It tends to warm up real fast in here with the south sun on the house and 2 pc's running all day, even with the air conditioner on.
Way back when, a long, long time
ago and in a galaxy far, far away, I had my own accounts also and some years cleared $75,000.  Yes it can be done, but you need to have your own accounts.  Also lots of delivery, and other duties involved.  I work for a large national now and make much less, but I got tired of accountants, having to deal with hardware problems, deadlines, driving deliveries, printing, printers, etc.  So I decided to simplify my taxes and stay home and just type.  Don't have to worry about computers either, because the company will just send me a new one. 
I've been doing this a long, long time...

I used to make $70,000 and up a year and did so for most of the late 80s and 90s (one girl used to make six figures a year working 7 days a week!)  Because we were making more money than the supervisors and Medical Records Directors in hospitals, they began to switch to transcription services which were sprouting up all over the place.  Plus AAMT came into existence and even though in the beginning it claimed it was to fight for transcriptionists (although assured us it was NOT a union), they eventually morphed into an organization that was more management friendly.  They developed the "guidelines" and the 65-char line.  That was the beginning of the end for those high-end wages.  Then all those mickey mouse transcription schools popped up, and now outsourcing overseas.  YES, we're complaining. 


Been in this biz a long, long time, 30+ years and....sm
I love/loved MTing. However, things have changed so much during these years. The job definitely gets easier; don't have to look up much, can decipher ESLs much easier, in other words, you get pretty comfortable with things and you have confidence in yourself. The more experience you have the easier the job, but....

I actually made more money 10 years ago!! We didn't have speech recognition and you actually got paid for headers/footers, demographics, carbon copies, etc., you got paid for what you did fairly; today, I am not so sure.

You will feel burned out at times, but that passes and you find you like your job again.

Good luck to you!!
A long, long time ago, I was going thru
a really bad time emotionally and physically. I was suffering, and my transcribing suffered. I assure you - if you are to the point of not paying your rent, literally, and needing food stamps, there is something else going on in your life than current transcription rates. We are all in this industry and many are thriving, most getting along comfortably. If you are literally to the point of food stamps, you honestly would be a fool to continue. I blamed it on my job, on my line rate, on everything but the honest truth that I was ill and was NOT working as I should or could. It is a really sad thing that you keep spreading this propaganda that MTs in our culture are doomed and now destined for food stamps. Food stamps are not something to toss around lightly, as you would know if you ever had to use them. Please let's not be quite so dramatic. Again, if you are really in those dire straits, you really need to face that MTing is not the fit for you, personally, and do something about it rather than blame our industry. You dwell on the past, but we can't do that. While you may have made other wages 20 years ago, may I remind you that we were pounding away on IBM Selectrics using layers of paper and bottles of white out, going crazy trying to rewind tapes over and over to get that dang word, with no idea what an Expander was. Technology is fantastic. Things have changed, but things are still great in this industry, and in this world. Those who change and can adapt will be fine, but you need to recognize that most of us are not ready for food stamps.  
long time - nm
nm
long-time MT
I MUST do it this way. I don't trust myself otherwise. I've transcribed on typewriters, etc., and I just don't trust my eyes anymore. I'd rather take the cut in pay than trust my own document to be error-free. I also must read the report OUT LOUD to myself, otherwise I just don't catch the mistakes (grammar, etc.). We're talking some 4 and 5 page reports/documents the docs are transcribing, so I have to heavy proof myself. It's just that way anymore. I'd rather do that than some VR machine doing my job!
Yup, and have been for a long time (not me). nm
x
Did take a long time to get used to it? sm

And, I must confess to a bit of stupidity ....... the description talks about foot switches or whatever -- what's that about? 


Thanks for sharing! 


Now that was a long time ago

wow that's a long time on QA (m)
My daughter was a newbie, went to work for a company and does only private offices. She was off QA in a very short time.

I think you could ask when you might be off QA but if they want to QA you, let 'em. Who cares?
THANK YOU! A long time ago I
somehow shrunk my font using the internet, but had no idea how. It stayed that way. I can barely read certain pages. It is now fixed. Thanks! :)
I have been at this a long time

I try to encourage new MTs to learn as much as they can from their experiences.  The reason that companies do not hire new MTs is because they worry about production and having to utilize their QA staff.  I know it is a catch 22, but that is why it is best to try to work on-site for at least a year to gain some experience.  Most companies require a certain line count each and every day, which can be tough on a new MT that has to research and look things up.  I'm with you, not against you, and wish you all the best.  With anything, take the good advice and leave the bad advice alone. 


That is how it was for a long time, then someone
came up with this and we all got scr#wed. That's where the pay cuts started. Then came the slave labor competition (overseas workers who can't speak English to save their lives but apparently good enough to type our medical records! But ever read any? LOL) and speech recognition (so easy even a computer or data entry person can do it! Again, ever read any?). Bottom line is this is no longer considered a profession and nobody gives a rat's behind about the quality of medical reports as long as they're done quickly and inexpensively. But I guess that's what happens when a bunch of suits are in charge that wouldn't know a salpingo oophorectomy from a slapping pooperectomy (stole that one from an ASR Editor on this board - HA!) It's pretty scary, isn't it?
A long time ago I did

I was working for an attorney and he wanted me to get into court reporting so I would be able to travel with him as his private court reporter in his cases. I checked around and there was only 1 school in my state. It was a 3 year course and cost $10,000. Of course, I had to say no, as I couldn't afford it.


I had also checked at our county courthouse for transcribing the tapes and they showed me the ins and outs. For a job there, I didn't need schooling, just the smarts, was told that type of job is solid once you get in the door, but not to depend on it (waiting), as nobody quits. They retire...and the girls I talked to were my age, so that bummed me out, too. Gave up that idea, too.


MT was my 3rd choice. It's okay, but too stressful anymore.


 


That's what i use too (v. long time MT)
x
been doing MT for a long time!!
I still love the world of medicine and the language of medicine. I think if you don't have that love for it, you will not be able to suffer through the highs and lows of this field, and there are plenty. I am in my 16th year and have done everything from MT to QA to teach, to supervising, and I still love to sit down and transcribe. If you have a good company or a good hospital to work for, there's always plenty of work which makes for the ability to make plenty of money. You will get faster and faster as the years go on, and if you don't have a ShortHand program yet, get one. You'll never make money without one.
it has been a long time since I used sm
a C-phone (dictaphone) and it seems to me that the setting depended on what the platform had set up or something. I know I had a couple different accounts and depending on which one, the setting was different. I can't remember either one right now though.

Depending on your C-phone, sometimes you can go on line and do a search for an owners manual for that particular C-phone.

Sorry I can't help further!