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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Okay, I'll bite and respond but I hope it isn't over your head

Posted By: actually trying to help on 2006-01-11
In Reply to: Smartype - please read and help !! - no clue

Here is what I did. I've had ST for years. I got the updated Stedman's ST. I don't know if you have the comuter skills to do this and this is why I am concerned you still think it's over your head or I'm not trying to help.

All the words in ST are also in the spellcheck. If you use ST, the words on put on your document from Smartype are spelled correctly AUTOMATICALLY. The Stedman's ST was overhauled in 2004 and has all the medications and surgical terms up until then. Now, if you want those words in your own spellcheck without buying their spellcheck, you can add the ST words into your dictionary in two ways.

The first is as you type and spell check at the end of each report.

The second is to convert the ST program into a text file (please go to productivity board for help doing this if you don't know how). Once it is in a text document, run your spellcheck on the entire document and add all the words at one time to your own spellcheck. This may take 2 full days of doing nothing else as the text file is huge. Also, you would need to take out any abbreviated forms first (anything where xxx=xxxxxxxx) so you don't add abbreviated words to your spellcheck. That takes another day's work.

Now, to update from 2004 to today, go to prescribing reference, register and copy all the new medications from the last 2 years onto a blank document, run spellcheck and add those to your spellcheck.

Now go to the Stedman's web site and sign up for the 30-day free trial and letter by letter copy their surgical word list onto a blank document. Run spellcheck to add those words to your spellcheck.


So now ask yourself, if it takes me 5 days to get a spellcheck I didn't have to pay for, how much income did I lose, how much time not getting a job did I lose and was it worth saving a few bucks?

Your choice. I've been around the block a time or two and know that trying to cut corners on how you earn your money isn't smart in this business.


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I'll bite....

1. How long have you worked as a medical transcriptionist?


18 years



2. What certification have you received?


Just medical secretarial certificate and Microsoft applications though a local hospital that offered classes on-site.



3. What attracted you to pursuing a career in medical transcription?


The money.  It paid more than the unit clerks at the hospital.



4. What type of environment do you work in (i.e. from home, physician’s office, hospital, other).


Home currently.  Hospital for 17 years (benefits were not that great and hourly pay was awful.)



5. What do you think are the most important skills a medical Transcriptionist should have?


Speed of typing.  Good ears.  Able to stay in an office chair for lengthy periods of time.



6. Did some skills come naturally to you, while others required more practice?


It all came pretty natural once the money started rolling in.



7. In addition to transcribing medical reports, do you engage in other forms of business writing while on the job (such as memos, proposals, or progress reports, etc.) to clients, coworkers, or supervisors? Please explain.


All of the above.  I have my own clients.  I have written plenty of e-mails.



8. What do you think is the most difficult aspect of medical transcription?


Transcribing a specialty I am not familiar with or am not particularly fond of, but one's gotta do what one's gotta do.



9. What do you find to be the easiest aspect of medical transcription?


Cashing my check at the bank.



10. As a medical transcriptionist, do you often need to collaborate with others to ensure that all the information in your reports is correct?


Hardly ever.  After 18 years, I pretty much got it down pat. 


This is not really meant to be funny; just another honest opinion from a fairly young MT that's been around a long time in this business! 


Okay, I'll bite because I'm curious too - sm
I work 8 hours a day, sometimes a little less, do an average of 2000 lines per day. Depending on how many days in the pay period, 20000 to 22000+ lines per pay period.

Don't know what is above average tho.
ok, i'll bite, where do you live that you need
x
I'll bite. You did install on your new computer,
right? Because that alone is a monster problem....
OK, I'll bite -what on earth does the East Coast have to do with it?
Please enlighten me!
Thanks, I'll be transcribing too so I really hope it does
Thanks again.
Great ... I hope you'll post and let us know how you like it! :-) nm

As for wrapping......that's another ball game (hope to do it all tonight, we'll see). - nm
x
I'll be here! Good luck tonight!! Hope you have work
galore!
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I type for cardio docs. EVERY patient has been a smoker or continues to smoke. Hope you'll quit
s
Ooops, sorry. My last post said "head head." I meant "her head." Sorry.

VR has taken a bite, but
a really good radiology MT can save the radiologist a lot of time, especially if the MT works in-house. Both radiology jobs I've had, a good bit of the quality control I have done has been making sure orders were correct and figuring out left/right discrepancies, etc. I can only imagine how many errors go out if the MT doesn't have the paperwork in front of her to check for tech and radiologist errors. I fix problems all day long, and VR can't do that.
I probably shouldn't bite, but (sm)
Almost $30,000 (including July SE bonus).

Medquist.

Shift differential.

Incentive bonus (over 17,000 lines/pp) met 50% of pay periods.

Quarterly bonus for SEs (at least $500 per quarter).

Work 40 hours per week, sometimes more if I work an occasional weekend.

Two kids at home, over 17, but neither drive (boo me).

No husband or boyfriend.

I have as much of a life as I want.


Bite your tongue!!!!!! LOL. nm
.
Spider bite?
Has anyone every been bit by a spider? Isn't an ER doctor suppose to be able to identify a poison spider.  I got bit yesterday on the left thumb.  I would not have worried about it if was anywhere else or the fact that I was alone with no wheels.  My husband had just left to go to a ball game.I called him to tell him that I had just been bitten (He hates spiders, he had been bitten by one and spent two weeks on crutches).  He comes home to take me to the emergency room along with the dazed spider.  The doctor could not tell what kind of spider it was.  My husband had looked it up on the net and it seemed to be a brown recluse.  The ER doctor said there was really nothing to do except give me a Benadryl (I never take medicine or go to the doctor) and antibiotics to take if I see an infection starting and kept me for 30 minutes in case of a reaction.  In the meantime, my husband (a science teacher) goes to his classroom (school is next to the hospital) to put the spider under the microscope and do more research on the spider.  As it turns out, the spider was not a brown recluse but a brown house spider often mistaken for one.  The only way to tell the difference is the number of eyes.  LOL.  Anyway, I felt so foolish and because taking the Benadryl was out like a light the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Wasted the rest of my day. 
DSM-IV is about to bite the dust and the DSM-V is on its way. sm

And shame on you anyway.  What psychologists do, how they do it, what they call it and how they diagnose is not always consistent with medical diagnoses.  The ugly word "retardation" is only one example of this.


I'd like to see you find a doctor and a psychologist who can agree on the differences between situational depression, major depression and recurrent depression, and how they should best be treated.  An MD wants drug therapy.  A PhD wants psychotherapy.  When you have a certain type of hammer, everything looks like your special kind of nail.


I am finished with my shift and I come in for a visit, but I am not on here all day complaining about doctors or bashing my fellow MTs.  Glad YOU don't have a job that takes your time and attention because YOU could not be on here all day to stir the pot.


I would probably bite the bullet this ...sm
time BUT I would make it clear that next time I would not. I would tell them that they have to let you know which patients have already been done. You have no way of knowing.
Too bad we can't have that sound bite..the CB teacher one! LOL
.
Dogs don't usually bite because of a health problem. sm

Most dogs bite out of fear.  Dogs also bite because they are establishing/maintaining their place in the family pack. These are the two most common reasons dogs bite. I would never trust a dog that you have raised.


If I was a dog over there, I would bite way more than 360 people. Dogs are smart and they know they
s
Yes, they bite..and scream like children. CREEPY!!! EEWWW!! LOL
..
Bethany Hamilton..surfer girl who lost her arm to shark bite. nm
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I hope this applies to companies like Medquist. I hope there
isn't a way they can get around it. I REALLY hope.
I know...respond....nm
nm
How did you respond to that
utterly ridiculous comment by a very, very stooopid, stoooopid person posing as a recruiter (or owner, whatever)? 
I was trying to respond to both you and the poster

" a good MT should be confident enough with her knowledge and skills to not want or need anyone's pat on the back.  If you can't do a good job without a baby sitter, perhaps you should consider another line of work."


Its a bit silly to judge someone's work based on the fact they just want a little interaction with their supervisor, i've been doing this long enough, and just saying I know my stuff.  One does not have to do with the other!  You guys go far in left field for an insult.


Absolutely would rather respond to
than a company that did not.  I don't want to waste my time.  I applied at 2 in the past and after going through the hiring process, did not offer me what I wanted as they said they could not afford to pay that much and only paid a certain CPL.   Wasted my time. I will not apply now unless I know before what they will pay.
Will normally only respond to the ones that post pay
The hiring process can be so lengthy.  I am not going to go through all of that (submitting application/resume, testing, interview, and sometimes verbal testing and phone interview) only to find out in the end they aren't going to offer me the money that I'm looking for.  I want to know what they are offering up front so I don't waste my time and they don't waste theirs.
okay, I tried but I couldn't help myself, I have to respond
let me get this straight - you spent 5 years in college, are an engineer and because you can type fast you want to get into a field where you might make 20,000 the first year - but it is rather laughable that you think typing is all that is required here - when most of us who have been doing this for 20-30 years are doing good to make 30-40,000 a year and are afraid that we won't be needed much longer because of computer (as an engineer you surely are familiar with them) technologies such as speech recognition and offshoring to India where the work is cheaper.  Now after you finish training - which you will need - a lot of us will already be out of jobs - do you really think this is a viable option for you?
Thanks to all who took the time to respond!

I agree that one can do great things with virtually any expander--even with just casual use it pays for itself within weeks.  I am at the point of relying heavily on SH8 due to arthritis (400% productivity gain, heavily nested WordVBA macros, etc.) and am always eager to learn about other programs, but $150 and no free trial is a hard way to learn.  Anyone know if InstanText can handle "code" (like WordVBA macros) in the Expanders like SH8 can?  Again, thank you all for your thoughtful responses. 


Yes it goes to the company. If you respond to
any post the e-mail address is hidden. 
Did anything become of that meeting? How did they respond to you?nm
nm
I don't respond negatively to someone asking for help . . .
whether they are asking for something that would be incredibly hard (i.e. finding a job where you could work between diaper changes, naps, etc.). However, he could find something that has a split shift or like a 10 hour window to get 8 hours of work in. There are options out there.

In regards to someone posting about wanting to work around their child's schedule? I would respond the same way. I would try and help.
that was going to be 'question them up-front' and see how they respond..(nm)
xx
Well duh, to see people respond, wouldn't you think? nm x
x
Yes, I tend to only respond to ads that list how

I do not respond if it says competitive salary.sm
That to me means 6 to 8 cpl. The company I work for now had no pay range listed, but said excellent salary. Turned out it was. Paid by the minute now and making much more than I was by 65 character line.
Just delete them, never respond. Its a scam. nm
nm
I am not the above person , but thought I would respond -sm
Word is Microsoft Word, there are different versions out there. Since your computer has Windows 98 on it (you don't have to look for it, if you computer turns on and boots up, at some point Windows __ will come up whether is is 98, 2000, XP)-- you can probably only use Word 97 or 2000. The other versions won't work on Windows 98 I think. As for installing it, you can do it. It is very simple, the CD (I hope you have a CD drive) will walk you through the whole installation process. Just to a "typical" install and you will be fine. You may have it on your computer already of course, it generally came on most computers. If not Word you may have Works, which I think will work too, just need to save the files as "documents" with the .doc suffix. -----------As for gross lines, that is just a method of counting lines, a "line" is any line in the document with anything on it, one word or 20 words, would be considered 1 line. So it can be a nice way to get paid, if the doctor just does not do blocks/paragraphs. Some people even charge for the blank lines but I think that is going too far personally. But if the margins are wide (1"), and the type is small, i.e. less than 12 point, then its not so hot. So if is 12 point type and not blocks of paragraphs, a sample would help you figure it out, then I would just at .13 a gross line. Good luck.
Now just try getting someone to respond to your resume and want to test you...nm
s
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to respond..sm
I thought I was on the right track, but I've only been an IC for five years and have never had my own accounts. I passed on your opinions to my MIL and hope she will listen. I'm leaving to go to California in a couple hours and there is no way I can do it personally, so I hope and pray she does. We really need the account.
can't respond because mailbox is full

what part of please do not respond to that perp

did you not understand...if you respond - you feed the troll - as you can see I reported all posts and 90% of his have been removed....



How do I respond to ads on the job seekers board?
This might seem like a silly question but do I just send my resume using the 'apply now' button or can I and should I also send a cover letter with it?   Does it need to be in plain text?  Thanks
Anyone know why an HP all-in-one printer would would intermittently not respond? sm
Only about 1-1/2 years old.  No new software installed on computer.  Should I uninstall and then reinstall?  I can't track any certain document/reason why it does not respond.  Thanks.
Why it's the poster you like the Amen! posts you respond with.
Why not admonish this poster for "negativity"?   I'm bored with your game now.  You have lost all hope of following a train of thought, yours or mine.  Besides, I think you have multiple personality disorder.  Not that I know that but I suspect that.  I'm going back to work to let you and all the MQr, MQMT and MQga?? battle your private battles that have somehow become public because you have delusions of grandeur.
I would rather not respond to your questions, as your tone seems a little angry
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