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There are many nationals that let you work split. sm

Posted By: outsider looking in on 2005-09-28
In Reply to: Where do you work? - curious

I'm an employee and I for one work 8 hours in a 24-hour period. No set time.


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Same thing with nationals. You work all the time to keep the account caught up when others dont work
and then when they decide to put a whole lot of extra people on your accounts and run you out they could care less about how much you worked.
I won't work for nationals. Been there, did that.
I got hired on part time at the local hospital, then gained one account on my own. I continue to work for the hospital PT, and now have five accounts and two subs who work for me.
Did you ever work for nationals? nm
..
obviously then you don't work for nationals..nm

I salute those that work for Nationals

After reading these boards and I really have to hand it to you guys that work for the Nationals.   I mean it as I thank the Lord everyday for my three small accounts and business because you guys really have to put up with the garbage and I don't think I could do it.  As mentioned below, I am one of those that do clinic notes, consults, minor surgery reports, and have good line counts but I do get lazy and my docs don't care if we are compliant with certain abbreviations, or how some medical organization has said how something should be typed, if it is gramatically correct, spelled correct then it is fine.  It is like driving a car for many years if we all had to take the driving test most of us would not pass because we have picked up some bad habits along the way.   I recognize that I have and sometimes capitalize generic drugs or something is not typed as  the AAMT says how it should be typed or that book that begins with "B".  How you guys can keep up on all the changes is beyond me and why they make them is beyond me also.   But again, my hat is off to all of you and I think you all deserve a pat on the back and I wish I could put some money in your pockets because I think you all deserve it.    If there are errors in here, give me some slack as my day started at 5 this morning as Tuesday is one of my busiest days and am covering for a friend who is on vacation.  So am hitting over 3200 lines today and am tiredddddddddddddd.  


Patti


 


I work a split. I get up before everyone else in the house
and work for two hours until it's time to take the kids to school.  I take off an hour to run kids and shower, then I'm back to work for three hours.  I take a half-hour lunch, and I'm right back at it for another two or three hours until I have to pick up the kids again.  I love it.  I'm done working by the time they're out of school, and the computer is turned off for the night.  No more late nights or working until 6:00 p.m.  I'm way more productive in short spurts.
i work split, employee. nm
;
IC - work split shift. nm
v
How many of you work split-shifts?
For those of you who work split-shifts, do you like it better?  Do you find yourself being more productive?  I am thinking of doing this.  After 4 hours, I just cannot make myself sit anymore.  My butt goes to sleep, I get antsy...just wondering if anyone else felt the same way?
Nationals with 10- to 12-hour window to work 8 hrs?

I did a search in the archives, but the info I found was a little outdated. Thanks for any help you can provide.


I usually work a split shift on Sundays
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (there really isn't much to do during that time), then I log back in after 9 p.m. when I get my son in bed and will usually work for 3 or 4 hours. I am usually busy then because the docs are all dictating their pre-surgical H&Ps for Monday morning surgeries. I'm on the East Coast and my hospital is on the West Coast, so it works out good that way.
I will occasionally log in on Saturday afternoons too, but work is slim to none then, so I usually don't bother.
IC work split 7am-noon then 10-1am ... my choice nm

nm


I work a split shift just for this very reason.
After about 6 hours, I am toast. Now I work 2 4's with a 4-hour break in between. I always come back to work so refreshed, and it has really helped my productivity.
Split shift MTs---what hours do you work? sm

I'm trying to revamp my schedule around transporting kids.  Would be interested to know what works for you.  Thanks! 


Do any of you work a split shift? Are you employee status or IC? Thanks!-nm

Will all the big nationals running us out of work and lower our wages what suggestion does anyone

have. This situation is getting extremely serious for people that need to make a living. What a shame.


Lets try this again. With all the big nationals running us out or work and lowering our wages what
do you suggest.
I don't work for one of the larger nationals, but a good-sized national and

in 5 years the hospital system has been down twice and my company wasn't able to pull work and the company's system was down once for a hurricane and once the power was out for part of a day.   I never went a full day without work.


I think maybe some of the nationals are poorly managed and they use "server down" as an excuse for no work.  For a company that depends on their servers for their livelihood I don't believe they actually have the much down time.  I don't think most companies pay for downtime. 


 


Split? I bought old IBM off ebay but not split.
..
Split keyboard mounted on chair arms versus split keyboard on desk

For longtime comfort which is best - split keyboard mounted on chair arms or split keyboard to be used on the desk?


Also, why the preference over split keyboards that come totally apart versus split keyboards that are permanently connected at the top?


I want to revamp my office and there are so many different options.


What nationals?
What nationals or hospitals have this policy of showing doctors how to dictate better?  I have worked at 11 hospitals, clinics and trans services in my career, managed a few, was lead transcriptionist at a few hospitals, supervisor at another and also just an MT at times.  Never have I ever heard of a policy like this.
There were no nationals
Nobody had ever HEARD of outsourcing.  We were all in-house, regular employees, got a REAL SALARY with benefits including LOTS of PTO time, etc.  We were treated with respect and appreciated for our hard work and MT was an actual profession to be proud of.  Then after computers came along and the "want it on the chart 5 minutes before the doctor dictates it" mentality, somebody got the brainstorm that they could make tons of money off of us by getting rid of the in-house departments, "allowing" us to work at home, and only paying us peanuts on a "production only" basis.  The bottom line of "the cheaper the better" took hold, the nationals took over, started outsourcing overseas, and you have the mess we have today.  I guess that about covers it----
Do any other nationals have 10,000 MTs?
Maybe that's why it is talked about so much.  There are 10,000 MTs affected by what they do.
Nationals are no better

Disagree, no matter whether you are an I/C with own accounts or with a national or even small MTSO, we are all at the beck of the doctors.  If they are off or do not dictate, there is no work.  I do not think that the majority of you realize how hard is to balance out having enough staff to do the work to keep the accounts and also keep them busy when the work does not come in, especially when the help does not think twice about someone in the family being acutely ill when they are not, taking off for children field trips on a whim, children being sick or whatever the excuse is not to work.  It takes quite a juggline act to accommodate both employees and acounts themselves.   That said -- flame me as I have already been burnt many times by people who do not have a work ethic or want to work when they want to and not when the work is available.


 


Nationals are no better....sm
Every group has people who don't come through when they should, doesn't matter what job, etc. but most of us are professional enough that we don't leave our employers in the lurch, certainly not nearly as often as most of them do us, no work, computer down, etc., etc. but, if someone refers to me as "the help" I wouldn't feel too kindly toward them. I would do the job, but don't ask "the help" for any favors.

Sorry...that's a sore spot. Makes me feel like we should be kept in a corner somewhere until we are needed to "help"
If that happens, no more nationals for me!
nm
Big nationals and MTs

I have been in this business over 20 years.  I started when we used IBM Selectrics and tapes.  I have seen this business changing over the years, some good, some bad.  One thing in particular is the very large national companies getting more and more of a monopoly in the transcription business.  This has had an impact on the MT.  I am making less per line than 15 to 20 years ago, and I seen that is widespread in this industry.  I see it is getting more and more impersonal. 


20 years ago many MTs were getting 7 to 7.5 CPL.  I see that still happening.  Adjust that for cost of living increases and inflation, and I feel wages have gone down.


Now we must compete with overseas work and if an MT wants to do VR, they must take a pay cut, at some companies of up to 50% of your line rate. I remember many years ago when they were talking about implementing VR, we were told we would not have pay cuts, just be able to type more.  I knew then that they were lying, of course they would cut our wages.  They will squeeze and squeeze to get the most money for themselves.  Many of these CEOs make millions, but what about all the unethical business practices.  Remember Enron. 


I feel most of these changes are because of the a few very large nationals changing the nature of the business.  Of course, they want to make as much money as possible.  Everybody does, I cetainly do.  But it seems to me they are doing it at the expense of the individual MT. 


Did you know many transcription companies actually train the MTs in India and then give them a job.  If you are in the good old USA, you pay for your own schooling and are lucky to get your foot in the door because of no experiernce. 


I think if there were fewer nationals and more smaller companies, maybe the MT would benefit.


 


 


Nationals can pay much better
than hospital jobs. If you are capable of 1500 lines in a hospital setting, you can easily do the same at home. With experienc (which you seem to have) you can make at least .95 or .10 per line. Most hospital MTs do not make $150.00 a day. If you want benefits, there are some good national companies with good benefits.

You just need to decide how much your in house job means to you versus staying at home. I work in a hospital during the day and at home in the evening. I make more money at home but I need to see other people so I love going to the hospital 6 hours a day.
anyone know what the split was?
I'd love to know what the split was--anyone know?  It was so close last week between the 3 of them. 
No, they don't. Maybe Spheris or the big nationals
that actually send you equipment and take the time to train you, but the little MTSOs don't do anything except set up your user ID and password to get into their system and fax you their contract.  Ooh, 15 minutes out of their lives are gone.  Dreadful.  They expect you to have your own equipment, be proficient with the computer and software, and know how to transcribe medical reports.  Reasonable enough, but it does NOT cost them anywhere near the figures you quoted.
$18.5K two smaller nationals. nm
x
nationals vs working for yourself
Regarding the post below about how to avg 1600-2000 lines per day, someone posted they make about 12 cpl and about 3500 lines per day.  I'm assuming this person works for themselves.  To all of you wonderful ladies who are so lucky to do this, where the heck do you get started???  I'm soooo jealous, thats a dream living right there.  Seriously, where to look, how to get started, what equipment.  Any pointers from you gals?  I work no less than an 8 to 9 hour shift to scrape in my 1300-1400 lines, work until my fingers get stiff....!!!!
Probably why the larger Nationals have their own
qq
OH! One of the nationals I worked for did that.
Of course, the supervisors had been on the accounts before getting promoted, so they had tons of macros and expansions already.  However, they'd work a few hours and get these astronomical line counts while I had all the leftover garbage dictators.  Between that and the frequent shortage of connections available, I quit.  The supervisor not only got her supervisory wages, but she also cranked out about 2,000 lines a day in less than four hours by taking work away from the MTs.  Why did they hire me and the other MTs if she was just going to hog the good lines and the C-phone connection?
YES! nationals have turned

wife's kind of job......need a second income to live.


It is no longer a career


It is no longer a respectable job.


They have lowered it to _drop in_ make a few bucks_go to bed


But don't expect or receive RESPECT, A LIVING, OR ANYTHING ELSE


from a transcription company.  They are there to make the profit


OFF OF YOU.


 


Bows sounds real darn good - when do we start - I'll make the


wagon to sell them from - I'm pretty handy with power tools now since


my husband left because I had to type 26 hours a day!  Stupidly he thought


we should have a life.


what about nationals where you use THEIR expander....
never thought of that...couldn't they just glean your normals from the Expander without even telling you? I am going into it right now and change the NAMES that I associated with those normals I slaved for free to create!!! (doctor names) Thanks for the tip.
I agree about big nationals
Ridiculous. They pressure you, but leave you high and dry with low work available and expect you to work. Thank goodness for the smaller companies. They are getting the cream of the crop of good MTs!! I switched from a big national to smaller company too!!
Smaller nationals are way to go...
It seems you get treated like dirt by the large nationals, i.e., Medquist, Spheris, no communication, etc. Many experienced MTs have gone the way of smaller national companies simply because of the better communication among employer and employee, more warmth among the company, etc. Spheris tries to give off this impression they are a warm company much thanks to the CEO, but the organization itself is not a good employer to work for.
Nationals: Sometimes the hospitals have their own MTs sm
and pull the MTSO off the account when work is low to keep the hospital employees busy.  This probably happens more often than one might think these days.  IMHO
I want to look into Smaller Nationals.

I am hoping to get some names of some good Small National companys to work for. 


Thanks in advance for your help!


Small Nationals.
I guess just not the huge places like Medquist. I would like a little bit smaller. I am even interested in any companies that are great to work for and pay okay. I am not having that great of luck working for MTSO and getting paid good.
Thanks!!
Not the OP, but it's what the nationals are willing to pay, not what they charge. Most of us out
s
HATE Nationals
It is terrible what these large nationals are doing to our industry. I have worked for several and they all start out saying, "We really care about our MTs" Bull feathers!! What they care about is making money off our backs and not paying us a decent wage. And sending our work over to India, Pakistan, or whoever is the lowest bidder. I hope hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices here in the US quit using them so they just go away. I will take a small MTSO any day of the week over these megamonster money machines!
Any other MTs for large nationals getting the

Exactly! What are the big nationals providing?
except a tasp and a salesman to land the account?
If IC, use which ever you prefer; most of the Nationals
xx
Not to split hairs....
but in order to be a satanic person, you have to worship or even believe in satan first.  I don't know a huge amount about world religions but I do know that satan is largely a christianity religion figure and that most other religions don't believe in such an entity let alone worship one.  I guess my comment is a piece of the discussion best left for a religions board, so I just had that thought and I will leave it alone
I never use my mouse with DQS unless I split a job
x
been split for years

I start about an hour after I wake up, which can be any time in the middle of the night, and put in about 2-3 hours. I usually go back to sleep between 7 and 6:30 a.m. I get up again when my body tells me to, and then I'm back to work between 11 a.m. and noon. I'll work until 4 and 5 p.m.

A "regular day" (two 15-minute breaks and an hour for lunch) is way too hard on me. Been doing the split for years.


I have to split or I'd run out of steam.
Early a.m. 6:00 to 10 for starters and then, depending on what I've got going on or what is going on with the kids, either noon to 3:00 or at night after supper.  Love the flexibility.
split shifts, yes
That definitely would help, also wrist splints, but flexible support ones help as well.