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Sage advice. Consequences would result in being out of the loop

Posted By: On the job on 2007-02-15
In Reply to: I think I would - clhmt

But I can live with that.


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Sage advice. IT isn't priced out of the budget.
Thanks!
Decisions and Consequences

We each made our own decisions to get us into our current situation - in every aspect of our life...married, single, living together, divorced.  Only those who have lost their loved one had no hand in that particular situation.  We each made our own decisions to get us into our current job.  We each make our own decisions to stay in our jobs or move.  We each make our own decisions how to spend our money, how much to make (yes, you can make more with more work or better paying jobs, etc.), how much to save or not.  We each decide what kind of personality we want to have, how we want to treat others and sometimes we even learn how we want others to treat us.  We know exactly what we are doing when we make decisions on actions ... Let's stop knocking each other's decisions. 


Consequences - We each DID in fact choose our consequences by our actions or lack of .. but sometimes we did not know exactly the consequences we would get, for whatever reason.  Let's be compassionate toward each others consequences.


Every single one of us makes mistakes -- have, do, and will.  Let's be supportive and compassionate and tolerant -- doesn't mean we have to jump for joy or be falsly nice, but be compassionate and show tolerance for opinions and situations that we are not familiar with (and sometimes that we, in fact, ARE familiar with).


There's too much stress in this world for us to be in such a hyperexcitable state, ready to jump to conclusions, willing to inflict insults and wound others.


I, for one, will certainly start by apologizing for anything on these boards that I have personally written that personally insulted anyone.  It was never my intention to do that.


Let's be a more refreshing, energizing place to visit instead of what we have been over the last few days and/or posts!!?!?!??!!?!  


I see this as the unintended consequences of women's........
liberation.  It's been a wonderful thing in many aspects of a woman's life and who the heck wants to go back to the old days regarding the treatment of women and our freedoms, but one of the unintended consequences has been a generation of men who don't expect that THEY should support a family alone and fully expect their wives to contribute equally.  Yet, at the same time the men have not jumped in there with the housework and childcare.  As a result, women now have the honor of providing for their family AND having husbands who also expect June Cleaver to have the house clean, the kids taken care of, and to have "the little woman" available at their convenience.    What are ya gonna do?
I hate sage. My mom used to put it in her
Thanksgiving dressing.  She finally stopped though because I couldn't stand it. 
Bottom line, in the loop. nm
x
Intergy by Sage....software
Does anyone know anything about this software program?  It's called Intergy by Sage, administrative, financial, and clinical systems.....  A doctor's office has changed their dictation system over to this and I am going to have to learn it.  Is it easy to learn to use?  Any information?  Thanks very much.
You're certainly out of the breast pump loop. LOL I used an
x
"Looped with a vessel loop" is correct - I hear this ALL the time. NM
xx
Just painted my a nice sage green with white trim..sm

And of course my pics of Johnny Depp to motivate me. 


I did exactly what you did and had the same sorry result

I came down with repetitive stress injury after typing for hours each day for years. Now after an hour of typing my fingers are sore and stiff. I went to DNS for the same reason, did the Know-brainer, got the excellent mike and trained the a** of the thing - after months, I still could not get any production out of it. I can type circles around the thing-- except I can't type! Furthermore, the thing is so touchy, requires frequent re-boots to get quality production, and I would have to redo my dictationary every three months because of a **known** glitch in the system. Then the thing has to hear the whole sentence and think to make sure it gets context right-- you are dictating the next sentence while it is posting the previous sentence and you're trying to do both at the same time. hated it.


VR done by other companies uses the Dragon platform but then changes the software so that edits are easy - not the bulky, slow, fingers off the keys editing that DNS has. Our hospital had the radiologists go to Dictaphone's Powerscribe and in 30 days they were doing all their own dictation without ANY editing by MTs. So depends on the platform. VR definitely works.


what is the result if you make the same
checking on a free AV?
As long as your end result is verbatim, it should be up to you how you get there! nm
..
Actually, the testing is a direct result of...SM
all of the schools and training programs out there that don't begin to teach a person what they need to know to be able to do this work. People come out of the training programs and think they are ready to go to work, but in reality they haven't got a clue. The only way to weed through these people is to require testing to be sure the person being hired can actually do the work. That's the long and the sort of it, in my opinion.
I agree I learned more as a result of the
I never worked on production back in the olden days, though. I was always paid hourly at my in-house positions. I never received production pay until I went home to work. It's a whole new mindset, and I believe wholeheartedly in using whatever tools are at my disposal to increase productivity. However, I'm very glad to have learned the old-fashioned way, too.
And the result is like a Catch-22. Clients/MTSOs

so they turn to alternatives like offshore or VR.  But they don't look far enough to see that the root cause of not enough experienced MTs is because the experienced don't want to stay in a sinking ship.  I think they feel that using the excuse that lack of experienced MTs validates them turning to cheaper alternatives, which in turn, makes the ship sink even further.


Think it's a result of that darn "vote-for-the-worst" sm
group that is skewing all the results. Wish that site could be abolished.
The result of MTs' efforts to make a living wage are (sm)
And of COURSE we don't want less - we DO want more. That goes without saying. But you see - the type of verbal attack that you and other "Debbie Downers" like you launch every time an MT says, "Wait a minute... maybe there IS something we can do is so typical of the type of thinking that holds not just MTs, but women in general back. I have already checked and made sure my doc's MTSO doesn't offshore. If that changes, my ins. (which is just your average, run-of-the-mill HMO) STILL allows me to go to other providers. If you "don't have many options", have you ever wondered WHY? Could it be that you keep SETTLING for less and less? And could it be that other MTs, when they read the gloom and doom in your post, will think THEY have to settle, too?

As for pulling other endeavors out of other nations, hey - there are quite a few that I think others would LOVE to see pulled out. Such as tech help for just about everything from your PC to your cellphone being sent to places where they can't understand what you're trying to tell them, and vice versa. I have a friend with a Masters degree in software engineering who is working menial jobs right now in order to pay the rent, while he looks for a job in his field that is a full-time, benefitted position, rather than as a part-time IC with no benefits. He says even the part-time jobs are getting hard to find because so many employers are sending EVERYTHING out, including part time.



The old, "Go ahead and try! Why don't you quit MT? Oh, boy - more work for ME!" song and dance may fly for a while, but why sit back and seemingly enjoy watching your profession go extinct, when eventually it WILL affect you, too? Do you really want to sit there all day as an "editor" and stare at work typed by other entities? How boring is that? Where is any ounce of creatitivity? At least when you transcribe, you are producing something of value, and can take pride in it. And at a lousy 3-to-6 cents a line, where is the pride in speech-rec or editing work?




Anyone had a positive result of posting a resume through this site?sm

Once again, I am on the lookout for another service because work load is starting to slow down.  Quite frankly, I'm a bit scared!  We had no work for many days starting about this time last year, and it looks as if that cycle is starting again.  I was just wondering if anyone would suggest I post my resume here.


 


This board's image problem is the result of complaining MTs.

--should become the new logo.


Once had an ESL cardiologist who dictated every lab result done during hospital stay
and even the normal ranges for each test!!! 45 minutes long and of course it was a PRIORITY/STAT.. yeah right
If you google the phrase "Letterman sign" it is the fifth result listed ... sm
It seems to be the same thing as the Terry-Thomas sign. It was new to me, too.
Offshoring to India is the direct result of declining quality

being produced by American MTs.  The declining quality being produced is the direct result of inexperienced, under-educated MTs being churned out by these online MT schools.


How common are server issues and other technical problems that result in downtime? (sm)
Do you get compensated for your downtime?  I'm thinking of going to work for a national, but I've heard there are a lot of technical issues at these bigger companies.  True?
If Joint Commission audits and finds "patient care" errors it can result in very...
...serious fines and repercussions. 
I know hoop earrings, what are loop earrings?
NM
Advice to YOU..1st learn to spell before insulting poster and trying to give advice...sm

Sound advice from a fellow MT if you want advice or support (sm)

I have been an MT for over 10 years.  I also am getting burnt out, tired of my job, day in day.  However, I do love transcription and make excellent money at it, have grossed over $50,000 per year the last 5 years.  I decided to go back to nursing school and am very happy with my choice.  However, over these 10 years of transcription I have had my ups and downs.  My biggest issue with being at home working is lack of socialization, being home day in and day out with just the kids and the animals really gets to a person, sure hubby is home at night and thinks working from home is the easy life, thus the return to school and boy has my overall enjoyment of life changed once I realized I was the problem, not everyone else and I needed to find myself again.


Anyway, my biggest advice to you three-fold:


1.  Get into counseling for yourself, find out who you are and what your needs are, whether or not you think you need to, I sense you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone other than your family to talk to that can be nonjudgmental to your feelings and needs.


2.  If you're only making $100 after you pay preschool you can either keep doing it and be miserable, or quit because you are lucky enough to have a husband who can support the family without your income. (See how fast his mind changes just by losing the income you do have as to whether your job means anything.)  Or look for a different company or office that you like more and are more productive if you really want to do transcription (lots of fish in the sea as far as companies).


3.  Find a local "mom's" group where you can get out and socialize.  MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) is an excellent one that is nationwide, they have a website.  Also Mom2Mom is in a lot of areas.  They provide a once a week time for moms with kids the same age to get together, socialize, (some offer spirtual guidance some don't) and each week a different mom takes a turn watching everyone else's children at the facility that hosts it so the other moms can talk about things they have in common.  Every stay-at-home and work-from-home mom needs to socialize with adults, without their kids, or they will have a nervous breakdown eventually no matter how much they love their kids.


Sorry so long but it does get better but you have to take the first step at making yourself happy.


my advice
would be to get an MT job that pays by the hour until your experience and accuracy come together well.

I believe that MQ will pay by the hour until you reach "production" -- but i am not sure if there is a time limit on that. I believe i've seen where other companies do this also.

I admire your refusal to quit -- i believe that is one of the essential traits of a transcriptionist. Hang in there. Very little worth attaining comes easy, you'll make it.
Need some advice

I know this isn't MT-related, but it has gotten me so upset that I can't work, so maybe it is MT-related after all.  Anyway, if anyone has been in this situation, can you please tell me how you successfully handled it?  My son wanted to go away for the weekend and asked to use my credit card to secure a hotel room.  We went online to Hotels.com and found a nice place.  I put in my credit card number and was given a room confirmation.  I then received an e-mail from the hotel telling me there were no rooms available.  I called the hotel and they told me I would have to address it with Hotels.com since they were the ones with my credit card information.  I called Hotels.com and they told me that my card had been swept for the entire amount of the stay ($276.00!) but since there were no rooms available, the money would be credited back to my account.  I got my credit card statement yesterday and they only credited back $71.00 of my money, causing me to incur and over-the -limit fee of another $29.00.  I don't know where to turn to get this problem resolved.  Do I call Hotels.com and ask them to reimburse my over the limit fee?  Do I call my credit card company and tell them that it was Hotel.com's fault for hitting my account for the whole amount when they said they weren't going to?  If anyone has been through this kind of thing before, I would really appreciate your input.  Needless to say, I will NEVER use Hotels.com ever again!!  Thanks in advance for your help!


 


Well said! I will take that advice.

Here's some advice from another old MT
Give Medquist a try. I know there's a lot of controversy surrounding MQ, but there is a lot positive about the company, too. The transcription platform is very, very easy to learn and quite MT friendly. Set your boundaries about the number of accounts you are willing to do right from the beginning.

You will never have to worry about not getting paid on time. If you need no benefits, go with the statutory employee status. There's flexibility with that.

There are apparently many MQ haters on this board, but there are many more who are happy with MQ. They just don't happen to spend a lot of time posting here.

Whereever you land next, may it be a great fit for you. :)
Need advice, please --
My 15-year-old niece has confided that she has met a boy through an over 21 chat room and has been emailing him (supposedly, he is 18). He has been to her house, and her parents have met him and they think he is a nice boy, but they have no idea how they really met.  I have serious reservations about this and feel I should tell her parents, because even if this one is very nice, he is still too old for her, and what about the next one? 
Advice
Learning a secondary account can be challenging but it also makes you a more well-rounded transcriptionist. The more accounts, the more doctors you work on, the better off you are in the long run. If its hard at first, work that much harder to learn it. You can't have to much experience!
Need advice

I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice to give.....I have been debating changing jobs.  I currently make $15 an hour doing transcription in office.  The delima I am having is that the whole reason I started doing transcription was so that I could work from home.  I have been doing transcription for 4 years and my job is really easy and I am happy with the money, there are however other down falls with the company and I am not able to have the flexability of working at home, therefore dealing with the stress of not being able to always be there for "home" things.  I have three school age kids, and they are all very active.  My question is....Do I have a chance of finding anything else working at home or do I just try and suck it up where I am at???   I really have not started looking, so I am not sure what is actually out there.  I hate changing jobs, but I also don't want to settle. 


Just need some outside help and opinions! Thanks, KL


RE: Need advice
Don't forget your taxes. You can really wind up in a mess if you don't get on top of that right away.
Need Advice! What would you do?

Want opinions about something which has come up at work and need some advice. I am the lead Transcriptionist in a department with three other people.

Last year, one of our physicians in the practice was fired and rejoined another practice in town. He currently has a lawsuit against the company about the firing.

Today, I saw letters typed by one of the girls in the my department for this particular doctor. (because this patient switched physician groups). Apparently she has been working for him on the side since October of 2004. I am not sure if she is still typing for him or not.

My question is this, would this be something you would bring to the manager's attention, talk to my coworker, or just let it go.

On one hand I feel she is being dishonest and not loyal to our current company. I do not know if she is saying anything about our practice to the other doctor or not. Also at looking at the letters, she set them up exactly the same way we do. Isn't this considered a conflict of interest?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!


Re: Advice - sm
My question - is she using YOUR company's equipment to do this typing? Is she doing it on YOUR company's time? THAT would be a NO-NO to me, along with the other points you mentioned, it doesn't seem quite the kosher thing to do.
Thanks for the advice!!! nm
nm
Thanks for the advice!
That does sound reasonable. Anything to get my foot in the door would be helpful.
need advice

I worked for a multispecialty medical center for 6 years that shut down and sent all transcription out to a service.  I got a job with spheris.  I love the company itself, they are great.  But the problem is money. This is my first experience with production pay. To make what I made by the hour, I would have to produce 1500 lines a day. I am now producing about 1000 a day more or less, depending on how much research I need to do, if my cable or power goes out or if their server goes down or is slow.-- I do ER, consults, admit and discharge summaries,  no operative reports. Cant really use a lot of expansions, only for simple phrases or individual words,  no macros, mostly straight typing. I figured once I got used to their system and compiled all my provider samples and got my Expander glossaries pretty much built  I would improve, which I have, but I really cant see myself ever doing much more than 1200 a day, and that would be with no "P" breaks. I am still having to stop multiple times during the day to enter drug names in my drug glossary so I dont have to look them up all the time to see if they are generic or brand names-their spell-check doesnt have automatic caps, which is another problem for me because I am having a hard time training myself to hit that shift key, I am constantly entering text into my expander.  The terminology is not a problem for me.


I am reading that a lot of you guys are doing 400 lines an hour.!!!  My previous job didnt have a word expander, so I know I need to utilize that better. How do you do it, what am I doing wrong, what can I do to improve, do I need to just forget it and apply at Home Depot? I LOVE transcription!!!!


Looking for advice
Hey, anyone in the Portland/Beaverton area I could speak to about the "real deal" in MT work in the current environment?   I'd really appreciate it.  Off line at moosefeather at msn  dot com  :)
My advice to you
You are doing just fine. Trust me, having kids makes it more difficult to get more work done, but you will soon find a good schedule that works for you. I work for Medquist as an SE and am able to work WHENEVER I want which makes it much easier for me, considering I have 3 kids, ages 7, 3, and 2. Your average of 500-700 lines a day is really good for just starting in July. Don't fret, this is one job that you only get better with in time because you become more used to the doctors and type faster, and don't forget to keep adding to your word expanders.

Another tip I can give is to only work when your child is sleeping, otherwise it becomes too much of a distraction to have your child awake and running around while you try to concentrate on your work. Not to mention, it could also be dangerous if you can't see or hear them like you should.
I appreciate your advice and will certainly
take it to heart.

Just wanted you to know though that I already know the information you posted. I had an MT business for 5 years. I've done MT work for 25 years.

I may be new with MQ but I'm no where near new with MT work. This isn't my first time to do IC/SE work either.

My rainy day money isn't going to the govt. It goes for what I want it to. I've been self-employed for a few years now. I know what I'm doing.

Thank you for your advice though!
Advice to MQ.

This advice is given too late, but for future reference...


 


When you have a new program, just send the information out.


 


Telling people a month in advance that you are going to send the information out is just upsetting.  Calling people on the phone to tell them they will get information next month but you cannot answer any questions just makes everyone more agitated.


 


If you think you were offering a teaser to get people excited, I am sorry to say that it backfired. As you can see from reading this board, everyone is just nervous and upset. Some people are out looking for other jobs because they think they are going to lose their SE position.


 


Big mistake......


advice
I quit over 3 years ago. I decided that I couldn't just slack off or use something to help me, I just set a date and totally stopped forever that day. You feel really bizarre for a few days and I still wanted one for probably a year or more, but that was the only way for me. Just stop. Also I chewed lots of gum all the time. I think I probably did gain weight but I got pregnant right after that so who knows what the weight is from.

But it really does make you feel better in the long run and I have a friend in her early 20s whose parents are both already dead because of lung CA (she still smokes, not a big lesson learner).

Anyway, good luck and just stop!! Just make your mind up right now!! Just buy your last pack and don't buy anymore!
Need some advice

Wanting to change from Hospital to working at home and a little confused about what some services are looking for as far as experience like what is basic 4 experience? 


My advice to you
HEY BUTT HEAD - SIT ON A POPSICLE STICK AND SPIN
Advice
I think the best plastic surgery that you could get would be to have your pie hole permanently sewn shut so that no one would EVER have to hear your disgusting voice again.  Also, as an added benefit to us, get your hands sawed off so we wouldn't have to read your posts!  Then you would be really attractive.  Kind of seen but not heard.  WOW that would be GREAT.
You need some advice yourself

What is so deranged about Barney?  You guys attacking right off the bat are making it less likely for people to post because of their fear of being attacked.  I don't get it.  Why don't you just let BARNEY alone and move on.  If people want to respond let them, because if you can pull up a post that Barney is attacking, being nasty, threatening, or being down right obscene, then please share it with us. 


 


If we all are going to be compared to Zipper and MQLOVER and so on, then you are going to see less and less responses from people and that will be thanks to you MQx4. 


Advice
If you want to work for a national, go to one of the major schools, Andrews or M-TEC. Don't go to a podunk internet course that is cheaper, but will make recruiters immediately toss your resume. We do that. We also tend to not get real excited about "hometown" courses, because we don't know the program and don't have time or interest to do the research.

You are selling yourself to the recruiter, so do whatever you can to catch their attention. Good school, good test scores, literate communication. Also--be professional, not cute. No cutesy backgrounds in your emails, etc. Put your experience and/or MT education at the top. I don't want to know that you worked at Gussie's Gas and Go, have experience in parenting, and own a rescue dog. I really don't. Just give me the absolute basics that will make me go "hmmmm!" and, even if you don't have a ton of experience, if you've gone to one of the top schools, I'll look at you.

OH! Also, don't use that silly line about "I have 2 years of experience" when all you really have is two years of schooling. Big difference. I'll toss MT's resumes from one particular internet school just because they dare to try to get that one by me. Don't know if the school promotes that angle or not, but it doesn't fly. Experience means that you're out on the job, without a net, making money--not that you're having every report scrutinized by a teacher and you're paying them to do it.

Wow, I guess I've gotten a little off course, haven't I? Would just like to see you head in the right direction (according to me, of course) right off the bat.

Best of luck, and enjoy the process!
Here's some advice....sm

don't wait until the first of the year to get away from this maniac.  Since you said he can be violent at times how do you know he won't seriously hurt or kill you before then?  Every case of domestic homicide always has had a history of violence before the violent person killed the victim. 


There are battered women shelters and homes that you can move to until you can get on your feet and get your own place. If you can't afford getting your own place now please pick up that phone and call for help.  In a lot of cities if you call 211 that will connect you to someone who can give you this information, and if 211 doesn't work in your area get the phone book and look on the front cover. 


Be sure that you and your child receive counseling for dealing with this fool.  I would personally never put up with anyone that lashed out at my child like that and your daughter needs to know that you really are sorry by showing in your actions that you're breaking away for good as well as getting her some counseling to deal with it.  If money is tight there are usually counseling services available for a sliding fee scale.  


Lastly, when you move don't let this idiot (boyfriend) know where you have moved to as he may start stalking you.  It happens a lot.  The folks working with battered women can help you get moved and obtain additional housing without him being able to track down where you're at easily.   Since you mentioned working at a hospital you can also put security there on alert that he may try to visit you there and to be available to kick his butt out and have him arrested if he breathes towards you in the wrong direction.


I applaud you for deciding that enough is enough - now be sure to followup on your plan and don't let him try to sweet talk you with crap like "I'll change."  Rarely does an abusive person like that change. 


Good luck!