Many of us on the Company board are very disillusioned and feeling unwanted of late. nm

• Would it be worth it? - MT Texas
  • Thanks for your input - MT Texas
  • Another thought.... - Vivian
  • My opinion.... - Vivian
  • You will definitely make more than $9 and do try it PT at night just to see if you like doing it - I agree with both posters
  • Get a PT job at night, then if you like it and - sm - XXX
  • Now just try getting someone to respond to your resume and want to test you...nm - Ain't happening here
    • What?? - Not OP
      • Many of us on the Company board are very disillusioned and feeling unwanted of late. nm - No replies to many resumes
  • Agree, you can make much more - than that
  • $9 per hour?!? - EmptyMT

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When I graduated six months ago, I was full of hopes and dreams for a bright future as an MT. The closer I got to graduation, the more I read the various MT forums but found it hard to believe that so many MTs were struggling to find the right fit. Now that I have been working for six months, I understand better what those MTs are talking about. Despite the fact that there is such a lack of qualified MTs, there are very few companies willing to take on the task of hiring a new MT. From what I know and have read, most new grads are very eager and willing to work hard to learn the skills of the trade in the real world (versus the unreal world in school).

Those companies that I have dealt with and do hire newbies basically just give a newbie a job but offer no feedback, no guidance, no advice. There is a big difference between filling in the blanks a newbie leaves and helping a newbie become a well-trained MT. I supposedly had a mentor the first few months but cannot recall ever receiving any support from that mentor. On the contrary! I taught my mentor a few things about terminology and the BOS!

I have applied for a new job with a few companies but most of the time I receive no responses to my emails after they have offered me jobs even though they promise that they treat their ICs better because they are soooo honest and supportive! Why do they offer me a job and then do not get back? Is it because I want to know more details about the company, the platform, the pay, and the types of accounts or because they have filled the position and see no need to communicate with me any longer? Well, the lack of communication tells me to stay away from that company and that that MTSO has pretty low standards, which I want nothing to do with.

Where I am working now promises have been made and not kept. Pay is on time and no one ever bothers me with annoying IMs or phone calls. The only time my manager talks to me is when I address her with a concern or question. Pay is okay being not the lowest I have been offered but also not that high. Work has been slow lately due to the holiday season, I suppose. Honestly, I believe they have overhired and that some of the MTs there are working more than they should be, which leaves others with little to no work. I do my best to turn in error-free reports and research doctor's names, drugs, terminology, proofread my reports and sometimes relisten to them before turning them in. We can look at old reports, and almost every time I do that to look up a name or drug because I just cannot hear it well enough, I find multiple errors in those reports. Either drugs are wrong or a doctor's name or things like must written as mist or quiet written as quite, not to mention that once a Latex allergy turned into a Lasix allergy, and I believe because the MT at the time did not proofread, do research or pay attention to the story being told. Those are times when I ask myself two questions: 1. How can these MTs get away with so many errors and without proofreading? 2. Why bother to take the time to turn in an error-free report, which is slowing me down, while the others are making so much more money? I have no answer for question 1, but as far as question 2 goes, I do believe that it is worth the "bother" for the sake of the patient and because I take pride in my work. Until I can combine quality with quantity, I will just have to work harder and longer than those who are interested in production. I just find it hard to believe that I am the only one who has noticed this, and I am also surprised that the doctors have never noticed.

I am looking for a job where accuracy counts without going overboard. What I mean by that is that I am not "scolded" for a missing comma or hyphen. I am looking for a job where I have my own doctors I am responsible for. Working out of a pool works for some but not for me. Maybe down the road I will not have a problem dealing with 100s of doctors, but at this point in my career, I consider myself still at the beginning and would prefer to take smaller steps. I am looking for a job that has trained, skilled and experienced MTs that really know what they are doing and can answer a question with a firm answer and not "I guess." I do not have a problem accepting a lower cpl rate in the beginning if I receive training, guidance, support and dedicated accounts. I am not interested in an unpaid internship because after a very good education with one of the leading schools and working for six months, I am capable of producing error-free reports although at times I still have to leave a blank or two. That is where I need guidance and support because so far I just do not know how to fill in those blanks. My worst QA rating so far has been 99.96! I just do not feel comfortable working for a company that submits so many reports with errors in them!

After telling you all of this, this is what I would like to know: Are there any honest MTSOs out there that ensure that all of the reports have a 98% or higher accuracy? Are there any MTSOs out there that realize how much they would actually benefit by hiring newbies from the good schools? Like I mentioned earlier, I believe that most new grads are eager and willing and cannot wait to finally work. There is not only a lack of MTs, there is also a lack of qualified MTs. Why do not more MTSOs utilize this new generation of MTs that have a solid education? Why are so many MTSOs dishonest? Why do you promise one thing and do another? Why do so many MTSOs put up with the many doctors that dictate so poorly? Why do you not approach the doctors and tell them that they are endangering the patient's life by submitting such poor dictations? Don't you think that if all MTSOs put demands on those doctors, the doctors would have no choice but dictate clearly? If all MTSOs put those demands on the doctors, then they could not go running to an MTSO that accepted the lousy dictations. I intentionally left out the financial aspects of this conversation because this message is long enough as is.

I hope that plenty of MTSOs come forward in a positive and constructive manner. I accept that some people out there will disagree with me, but I do hope that those persons that choose to respond do so in a positive and constructive manner. I have noticed a lot of bashing on here lately, and I suggest to those who find joy in doing so that they need to apply their time and energy to making this profession a more honest and enjoyable one! 

I have a few things I need to get off my chest to all you seasoned transcriptionists as well as the hopeful newbies.

Let me just say this, and I'm not trying to be mean or tacky, just telling the truth. The fact that someone is a professional nurse, medical assitant, doctor's wife, husband of a doctor - or even a DOCTOR for that matter, doesn't mean that she / he can transcribe.  A person can memorize the Dorland's Medical Dictionary and still not be able to transcribe.  I've seen it over and over.  Before I started transcribing, I actually worked for quite a few different specialty doctors' offices, and thought that I knew it all.  I found out the hard way that I didn't know much at all. Acute care, radiology, etc., is another whole ballgame.  I suggest that any hopeful start out small like I did, working at a particular specialty to pick up some major lingo and at least take a course or two.  I also took a course at a local college in Physiology and Anatomy that was a tremendous help.

Good transcriptionists just aren't born in a day... I'm sorry to say. I worked in many physician's offices over the years and the first time I tried to do acute care, I actually cried and wanted to throw the typewriter (that proves how old I am) down the stairs.  And.., it's not just memorizing the words... it's knowing where and when to use them, how to understand the words that sound exactly alike and mean totally different things.  You must learn to understand doctors who don't speak good English, dictate from their cars with the windows down in traffic noise, talk into their armpits at the same time that their children are playing tennis in the living room and the TV has Playstation running.  This is not a joke.  These are the things we MTs deal with on a daily basis.  I'm seriously not looking to discourage anyone from doing this job - just trying with all my might to let you see what you are getting yourself into.

When I finally opened my own transcription service, I actually had a woman come in and tell me that her husband was a doctor and she could most certainly do this job - NOT!  A nurse from a major hospital came in and the same result - she couldn't do it.  The chances of just picking up the language and names of drugs, instruments, surgical techniques, laboratory values and the names of the lab tests... you name it... it just does not happen.

Did I fail to mention money?  We are all in the same boat... with 25 years + experience, having been a CMT for 15 years, I still make the same amount of money, .0825 cpl, but the worst thing is that after being in the business, I know how much the MTSOs are charging the hospitals and we are getting ripped off every day.  If I didn't love what I do so much, I would have to tell them all where to put their dictation machines.  I have tried ad nauseum to work for another company; however, they want to start me at the same rate or even lower. Give me a break.

Transcription services over-contract with hospitals and physician's offices with not enough MTs to the job... then, you get the MTSOs that hire too many MTs and don't have enough work to go around.  It's a constant battle no matter how you look at it.  For the most part, the management is bad....

I truly wish I had some answers to all these problems, but there are no answers. There is no glory in it.  We either love it and do it because we love it or not do it. Easy as that.  You know, do it or get off the pot.

I hope you all don't think badly of me, but I'm just telling you the absolute truth.  I could tell you stories that would curl your hair. 

I tried selling on ebay for years.  It was kind of a hassle.  Once I cleared the clutter out of my house, I had to find merchandise to sell.  There are a LOT of people out there claiming to be wholesalers, drop shippers or resellers who are nothing more than con artists.  I tried selling craft kits and books purchased direct from the manufacturers/publishers, but you just can't get a decent wholesale discount unless you buy in huge volume.  Plus, the prices on ebay were often cheaper than the wholesale price.  I used to go to yard sales late in the day and offer to buy their remaining stuff at a cheap rate.  I made OK money at that part of it with the collectibles and used books, but my house got cluttered up with other people's junk.  I also signed up for Avon and scented candles with the intent of selling online, but later I found out they had stinky rules about online selling.  Other people do it, but you can lose your account if they catch you.  And you have to sell a lot to make any decent money.  You're also competing with ex-reps who went out of business and are trying to liquidate their inventory.  Plus, I had nowhere to store everything.  It's a hassle finding shipping supplies, although you can order boxes and labels for free through USPS.gov and charge everyone for priority shipping.  Plan on driving to the post office nearly every day.  And keep good records on what you purchase and sell to figure your cost of goods sold for the IRS.

You might enjoy it.  Give it a try, but start out slowly.  Use as many templates as you can and prefigure shipping or you'll get a bunch of emails from people.

See all the answers under your question on the Company Board -- again, do not feel it is necessary and I am not along in this thinking.  The doctor is liable not us, we only transcribe what he says and he signs off on it.  Talk to someone else who works for Accuscribe and see that they say.  To me it is foolish.

You will have to do some research yourself and see what would be a good fit for you.  Try reading on the company board, do a search on whatever you want to know about.  There are way too many variables for simple answers to your questions.  (Besides, you are preaching to the choir, we all want the best)  Good luck.

Do you always answer a question with a question? 

I would like to respond to a post about new job listings on the company board.  Yes, it seems the same companies continually post want ads for MTs and yes it seems like these companies in question do indeed have revolving doors, but please do not blame the MTs or complain about them speaking their minds on the board. 

I left a very good MT job because of a paycheck that was returned for insufficient funds.  I say "good" because I loved the accounts and for the most part I was content until the pay incident.  It took me nearly a year to find what I had given up.  I applied for and accepted many jobs advertised here only to be very disappointed.  I asked questions up front before accepting and for the most part the companies lie to get you in the door. 

First company gave promises of working whenever I wanted.  Said there was always work.  That turned out to be nothing but "BS."  There was never any work unless I wanted to work overnight. 

I had two job offers at the same time soon after that and I accepted the one that promised 8 cents a line.  Well I never saw 8 cents a line.  Once again it was a sham.  First off they only allowed you to type a total of 9 reports a day until off hold.  You never get off hold (months) because no two QA people QA by the same standards.  They claimed to follow the Book of Style, yet faulted you for typing things as demonstrated in the Book of Style.  Once my paycheck was over a week late and I had contacted payroll 3 times and received no response.  Another time I was cheated out of pay (60+ lines) I informed payroll and they never responded nor did they ever pay me for it.  The final straws – one day I had called for work – by the way most times there wasn't any because the pool was dry, once again you gave a schedule as to when you wanted to work – yet work was rarely there – anyway there was a smart remark about still being on hold.  I have never been on hold more than 2 weeks with any other job in the past so it wasn't me.  I followed the Book of Style – seems like some QA people have never opened the book!  They only ever checked the ESL reports – horrible dictators by the way – what about all the other perfect ones?  I'm sorry but you can only do so much with bad dictators.  And when the company fails to pay on time I don't feel obligated to go that extra mile to leave zero blanks with and ESL doctor who makes my ears bleed!  Last but not least I received a paycheck without a signature.  Yep!  I reported it ASAP.  Big surprise no one in payroll that day.  They didn't overnight me a new signed check either.  I had to mail the check back and wait another week for it to be returned with a signature on it.  I left.  There was no advancing in h e double hockey sticks. 

There was another job that I tried while this mess was evolving.  I asked up front what type of platform they used because I dislike Emdat and Inscribe.  The person who hired me wouldn't say what it was but that I would love it.  Well, it was indeed Inscribe.  Also the contract stated I would be paid for spaces – I used my own counting software and discovered I was not being paid for spaces.  There was also a charge for typos in the demographics and according to my line counter the company didn't seem to be paying for the demographics as it was.  How can you fine someone for typing something incorrectly that she is not being paid for in the first place?  With this particular job I also asked up front "Would I have my own accounts?"  I was told yes.  Nope it was a typing pool. 

Moral of the story . . . if you don’t want MTs to complain about these jobs then please do not lie to them!  Pay them on time and treat them right.  I have found I cannot make money on a majority of the platforms out there.  MS Word is the only way to go for me.  I also thrive on my own accounts so please . . . when we ask if we will be assigned our own group of doctors again do not lie to us.  A typing pool is not what I consider to be my own account!

Thank you and good night.