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

The only "easy in" jobs are in fast food.

Posted By: sm on 2008-10-23
In Reply to: new MT, need help!! - KAC

If you want a job in MT, you're going to have to work at it. That means doing what it takes to get an education that will enable you to get a worthwhile job, then going out and getting it.


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

Does anyone eat out a lot. I don't like to cook but am bored with the same old fast food.

Got any places not too expensive where I can get food to go.  To go is the key.  Bored with McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King, delivery pizza.  (Boston Market?)


 Thanks.


Outsourcing Fast Food - It's True!!!

"McDonald's may outsource drive-thru orders - Fast-food chain looking into remote call centers to improve service"


That is the title of the MSNBC story.  Here is a link so you can check it out yourself. 


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7149812/


Very sad state of affairs - but true!!!!


Anywhere I see an error it bugs me. I've seen the fast food
signs, grocery store signs frequently with spelling errors.  I have even called a fast food store and told them about an error.  It also bugs me when I watch the news and they'll put the name of a person or a place as a caption and they obviously spell it wrong.   Not only am I an MT, but I homeschool my children, so I think spelling errors bug me more.   Before I took my DS out of school the kids were having a contest about guessing the weight of a pumpkin and they made posters and spelled it "pumkin."  I brought it to the attention of the principal as I noticed it on the day I was pulling my son out of school and she took down all the posters.   I don't proof posts here and I'm sure I make spelling errors or use the wrong "they're/their/there", but I really try to be conscious of my spelling. 
can you start out at $11.50/hour at a fast food place?
nm
I worked fast food in high school,
mostly the drive-thru, and one morning when my alarm went off I sat up in bed and sat in bed and said "May I help you?"
Prob is then you may get all fast fast fast talkers...not a fair way nm
x
"easy job"
Oh, Long Time MT, I wholeheartedly agree! I've heard that tooo many times to count and had people ask what I do and say "I can do that" - people who have absolutely no inkling of medical terminology, grammar, spelling, etc. - it IT an insult! I'm not some idiot with no brain with no skills! I add my "GRRRRRRRR...." to yours...
Just need to vent ... get tired of clods who hear what I do and say "easy job." grrrr sm

After all of these years, I should be used to it, I suppose, but it is a bit insulting when people come up to me and say, "yeah, I'd like to work at home -- must be great, sitting around in your jammies all day" ... "I'm a fast typer (gotta love the typer part), maybe I should do that job."   To heck with grammar, knowledge of the terminology (not only the spelling but also the meaning), medications (including their usual dosages and uses), etc.  Just pull up a computer, put on some sloppy clothes, and *poof* you're a medical transcriptionist!   


Well, gee, I'd like to have a lawyer's income, so I guess I'll just go be a lawyer!   


 


Okay ... I'm done ranting now ... back to work for me.  Thanks for "listening."  :-)  


 


Food stamps, WIC, food banks, churches, family...
There are many answers to that problem.

No one has the right to steal and writing a dishonorable check is stealing. It is called "theft of property".

My tax dollars support government programs to prevent people from going hungry and to provide for women, infants, and children. I make donations to food banks and churches, etc., for those who just need help as well.
Food for the staff and doctors, if you can afford it. Food is always a big hit in a doctor's off

One of the biggest perks I can remember when I worked in a doctor's office was when the drug reps or orthopedic equipment reps would cater lunch for the whole office just so they could meet with the docs.  The whole office would get so jazzed at the idea of free lunch.


If you can't afford to cater lunch, then I would do something like a muffin basket and bagels always go over well.  But food is your best bet.


Really???? I miss 'burgh food. Philly food is okay, but it
x
The food is resturant quality food and very good
XX
depends how fast the MT is......No one would want to pay me by the hour because I'm fast.
nm
how fast you can type, has little to do with how fast you can transcribe
Let's face it, we can only type as fast as the doctors dictate... worse, we can only type as fast as we can *understand* the doctors.  Given someone who slurs or has a heavy accent, someone who clears his throat constantly or shuffles through the paper, given an unfamiliar account or work type, or an area we don't have much experience in and have to look up words, etc., any and all of these things combine to make typing speed not really relative at all.  I personally type 110, but not when I'm transcribing.  I tell most folks who ask, if you type 65-75 wpm, you're solidly in the ballpark for doing medical transcription.
supposed to be, after people lose their jobs, they are forced to take part-time, lower-paying jobs..
with little to no benefits. service jobs. where are you going to work in a few years, when Medical Transcription is replaced by technology? McDonald's, Walmart? you really going to like that?
Several jobs on Monster & CareerBuilder for inhouse office jobs down there through an
s
I did 3 jobs for a while about 3 years ago, you burn out quick, I was doing 3 MT jobs though...after
10 months I cut down to 2 as I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket.  But I am considering going down to 1 in September for my sanity, its a good steady job so financally it should not be an issue.  I have 2 right but have not worked the 1 in about 3 weeks due to some problems at their end, supposed to learn a VA account but not sure if I want to pursue it right now or not, they are waiting to hear from me at this point. I still have a lot going on with chemo, etc. so am mulling things over.  But if you have a full-time day job, then I would just go with 1 part-time MT job at night, unless 1 is during the week, and the other weekends only, then of course you will be working 7 days a week, very tiring I know.  I have been working 7 days a week for 3 years now but I do slack off now and then of course to recharge and get sleep etc. But burnout happens fast and I doubt you want to lose your day job so be careful. Good luck.
Two jobs very common, 3 jobs not unheard of.
x
Yup! Not only short jobs, but also jobs from
extremely difficult dictators, bad sound files, jobs that need lots of ADT info added, and anything else that is not "easy" to do. I also questioned them about this and was told the same - they do not allow cherrypicking. Definitely not true!
Dog food
Try switching to a better dog food, such as Nutro. Also at her age she deserves all the best in life and I would even consider giving her a meal once a day of chicken and rice or beef and rice, very inexpensive also. The table scrap thing, although stated by the vets all these years, is a bunch of bunk in my opinion. Dogs like a varied diet just as humans. Just so long as it is whole natural foods, not processed. You would love you to death to give her this small pleasure at her age. Good luck.
I think it has less to do with food....
and more to do with activity.  I'm 45 and remember eating Ring Dings and chips and all kinds of junk food back when I was a kid.  Granted we hardly ever had fast food, but moms back then didn't exactly cook according to Weight Watchers.. We had spaghetti, meatloaf, fried chicken, all that good stuff.  However, what did we do in our spare time back then?  WE PLAYED OUSIDE!  We didn't have organized activities or play dates, we just went outside and played, all day long if we could.  I remember being dragged in at dusk because I didn't want to stop playing, riding bikes, skating, etc.  What are kids doing today?  Sitting on their rears watching movies and playing X-Box.  Maybe that has more to do with childhood obesity than diet.  Food for thought anyhow.
food?
AMEN to the mexican food and margarita!
food
Baked beans - 1/2 cup is considered a serving and for the hash browns, 4 ounces would be considered a serving. You can add or substract from this to make it come out. Better to have a little bit left over than not enough at all. Good luck
I do like his food. nm
x
food
And what about pierogies?..lol..yes, Primanti Brothers makes a pretty tasty sandwhich. :)

Gina
food
..I meant for this post to go under the pittsburgh post..thanks.
food
I totally agree. Also, I just got an awesome recipe that is a dip for fruit. I would get a fruit tray and make this dip. I took it over for a July 4th cookout and it was a hit. It's best with strawberries. Anyway, the dip is one 8oz package of cream cheese, one 7oz jar of marshmallow cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. You can even add food color to it if you want to.
Food lol
I have some doctor friends/clients and once in a while I book a traveling coffee place for them. Then they can get coffee, hot chocolate and muffins or something that they can pick out.
More food
I think it's a lot like illegal immigrants taking away our work, but this way they didn't have the moving expense of immigrating!
But with dropping food - SM
You run into more logistic problems. First of all - it's got to be dropped in a place where people can get to it, it's gotta float, and it must be waterproof.

Unfortunately, too, you run into the problem of distribution, with the people reaching the bundle first possibly hoarding supplies for themselves rather than sharing them out.

IMO, there's a certain amount of Monday-morning quarterbacking going on, but NO ONE wants this situation prolonged. They're working like heck out there.
Thank you! This is weird about the food. sm

My son has chronic eczema. He had so many food allergies when he was small. We were told he would "grow out of them" and, for the most part, he did. His major allergy was, and probably still is CORN.


Now everything you buy has corn syrup or cornstartch or corn something in it. Even the dyes in Kool Aid have a scientific number, which is actually a corn biproduct of some sort.


As you can see, I have done my homework about corn. My first time shopping for him "corn free" a decade ago took me almost 3 hours.


Unfortunately, cold weather aggravates his eczema and we live in the Northeast.  He has  been to the best dermatologist  in the state and has 4 meds that keep it under control. However, he's 15 and he goes and eats pizza with his friends (no pizza sauce ever made without corn syrup - you have to make your own out of tomatoes). McDonalds, etc, everything is loaded with it.  I only found 1 local breadmaker that actually has white bread without corn syrup in it.



MT:Working for Food
Next thing you know we will be working for Food.
Just tell yourself all of that is just food in a different form. lol sm
Seriously, though, just put in your contract you don't do toilets, the same as some don't do windows.  I bet there are people who would rather get other things done, and would be willing to do that themselves, especially if the price was just a tad bit lower.
Food is better in Philadelphia.sm
Also, New York. They cannot even make a burger right in Colorado. Seafood is horrible & expensive. Pittsburgh is okay, but Philadelphia has better Italian IMHO. Have to overnight hoagies if I want a treat.
Thanks for the food for thought

It helps to hear all of the good and bad.


Right now it comes down to $$$ for me.  I need more money and I want to keep my work life apart from my home life at this point.  Every time I walk by my computer I feel like I should log on and I hate that feeling. I feel like I should log on because I really do need more money, but at this point, I can see myself burning out from living a life that way.  I need more life in my life and I like the idea of working 8 hours and being done.  I also like the idea of being paid for holidays. Where I work now we don't get paid for holidays, you can use your vacation time when you take the holiday off, but the company does not pay for your holiday.  You get many sick days also, although, of course, you hopefully don't need them!  The insurance is really good, and we need that as we are no spring chickens.  The deductable at my present employer is outrageously high, more than we spend all year at a physician, so we don't participate in their insurance program.  On the other hand,  we don't have young kids at home anymore and that makes a big difference.  When I first went home to work it was a blessing to be able to be there for them when they got home from school, etc., or to be home if they were sick.  At this point, I want to be able to make enough to continue to put money away for our retirement and I find I can't really do that working at home for a national--I use the money that I make to pay the bills and there isn't much left for investments, etc.


does anyone know how to calculate food
quantities for a party? i need to know how to calculate enough side dishes (like baked beans, hash brown casserole, etc). we will be ordering the main dish but trying to save money by doing the other stuff ourselves.  right now there are about 80 people (about 95% are adults) on the guest list.   thanks for any info! 
Other crock pot food -
I have done a lasagna that turned out pretty good, I sometimes throw in some boneless skinless chicken breasts with some homemade BBQ sauce, have done chicken and dumplings which was good, spaghetti sauce. I would actually love some new recipes. The crock pot is so handy - I like to just throw stuff in and forget about it. My husband also works late a lot so he just lets me know when he is on the way and I can just throw on some veggies to go with whatever is in the crock pot.
Comfort food.
a
Here in AL there are 2 grocers that HAVE to take the food to your car. I got into it one day with sm
this "boy" who insisted he had to take the cart out for liability reasons and I even told him I would bring the cart back! I even had an up-front parking space....I was so mad that day I almost just left my 50 dollars worth of groceries! I almost feel as if they do this so you HAVE to tip - but I never do.

The second store is Publix in AL. They are adamant about taking your groceries out to the car. It's irritating. I hate that...Which is why I do like super Wal Mart. No one could care less there if you got run over the parking lot!!
She doesn't need food
She just needs to get a clue about what life is really all about. She has something to say about everything and none of it makes any sense. She even contradicts her ownself. Drivin' me bananas...and i will probably end up feeding her too. (sigh) I detest ignorance and it is just oozing out of her pores. I think you know who I mean.
If they don't like your food, let them make their own.
Kids that age are old enough to cook for themselves.
Cost of food
I was spending over $75 a week for three meals and one snack a day and that was over five years ago (not sure how it is now). If you are single, not too bad. If you have to also feed a spouse/family and buy regular food as well it is rough. It works though ;)
How much do you spend on their food and...sm
do you have a family to cook for? I know that what I've heard on these types of programs is that the food is expensive in comparison to cooking yourself and if you have a family to cook for it's problematic to cook for them as well as yourself.

I'd never recommend gastric bypass to anyone. I have known 4 people who had it done and every one of them gained weight after they lost down to their ideal one. One friend had severe complications after his initial surgery and ended up having 2 other surgeries. He wishes he'd never had it done.
Pittsburgh/food
..ummmm..I meant for my previous message to be posted to the Pittsburgh post..

Thanks,
re: funeral food
Casseroles and quiches are easy, reheat well, and you can use the throwaway pans. There are a million recipes online.
Too spicy food - SM
My husband made a homemade vegetable soup and added just a pinch (he says) of red pepper flakes.  Now, it is way too hot to eat for me.  Is there anything I can put in it to diminish the hotness of this without ruining the soup?  I appreciate any ideas!  Thank you.
Food stamps?

I am not saying that you should stay in any job that is not financially viable - food stamps is something that I would not encourage.  I am only saying that I read alot of these blogs and it just seems that sometimes people forget that in any profession, this one or another, there are pros ands cons.  I worked in a medical office and with an insurance company prior to medical transcription, and I would do this any day, benefits or not.  I also have several nurse friends that make less than I do, with a 4-year degree.  And their schedules are ridiculous.  I am only saying I make great money, and have the flexibility that I desire. 


Again, I am not encouraging anyone to stay in a profession where food stamps is the only option!!! Besides it would be hard to type if you didn't have a house for a computer and I imagine if you are on food stamps, DSL cable line is out as well!!! (LOL)


NE-MT


food for thought...
I had a client like this. I didn't have a vacation for 9 years, and that includes national holidays and many weekends, because they'd dump a pile of dictation on me precisely at those times and then take off and have fun.

I mentioned I was going to be hiring a subcontractor, and they hit the ceiling. They didn't trust anyone else to do the work for me, and claimed I was going to be in violation of privacy of info (this was pre HIPAA). They threw every reason in the book at me.

I finally said, "well, this is my medical transcription business. I have the right to hire competent people to improve my level of service to you and my ability to have a balanced life as well, which will ultimately make me even more productive. If you don't find that acceptable, then maybe we aren't a good fit for each other."

The relationship didn't last a lot longer.

No love lost.

Now, I also had a client that was quite nice, understood I needed time off, and was more than willing to work with me.

Both kinds do exist, though it seems the former is far more common. Why? Well, ostensibly they can get away with it. Think about THAT! ;-) I mean that in a kind way... don't let these people boss you around, and don't let them think they can treat MTs this way.

Yes, the work needs done. Definitely. But you've attempted to be more than reasonable in finding another person to help, and they recoiled. It's on them, not on you. They're unreasonable. Plain and simple.

I know it's hard to let go of a client, but sometimes these crappy situations, when we feel like sweatshop workers, are a swift kick that we sorely need to find a better path.

I myself am leaving the business, but if you choose to stay, I hope you can find a viable solution and more reasonable clientele. I'm sorry you are going through this. But let it motivate you to do something good for all involved. :-)

Good luck. And don't let anyone tell you that you don't deserve to be good to yourself.
Food for Thought

I have worked 2 jobs for many years now.  My full-time job is with one of the nationals.  My second job is for a local specialist's office.  It is the second job that I want to talk about.


I have worked for these 3 physicians for 14 years now.  I started out typing from tapes and bringing in the work daily on "sticky back" paper.  We have progressed over the last year to having the work put on the internet and having the office staff download the work each day.  It is working very well for all of us.


I am paid a very generous hourly wage.  I am on the company's payroll.  I get benefits, such as paid holidays, AFLAC, sick days, bonuses, personal days, etc.  I am quite satisfied with the arrangement.


My thought is, can we somehow appeal to our local providers to once again give the work to those of us who work at home as employees rather than farming out work to the big nationals?  This would eliminate the middle man and our wages would hopefully once again go up. 


I am most interested in others' opinions.  Are you happy working for a big MTSO, or would you prefer working, once again, as an at-home employee for a local company.  If so, can we somehow solicit this work back where it used to be?  I have been doing this for 25 years now, and I remember when most local health care providers did have their own employees,either in house or at home, doing their transcription.  Guess all the recent discussions on this board have got me to thinking how I (we) can improve out current situation!


Thanks in advance for any replies I may receive on this post.


Food for thought
The "all-in-one" offers sound like a great savings, BUT...

If you're like many folks who don't have a large financial cushion, and you have to put off a bill or two now and again, remember that you'll lose phone, TV, internet, and cell phone all in one fell swoop! If you keep them separate, at least you can keep your phone line if you have to let your TV go.
Food basket!
When I had my own clients, I would bake cookies, brownies and make candy to bring into the office. Everyone enjoys food and hardly anyone has the time to bake anymore. This would be a very appreciated gift since it comes from the heart and your own hands.