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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

are you not interested in keeping up to date

Posted By: on new equipment and words? on 2006-02-05
In Reply to: stedman's - mommyMT

If not, then the Stedman's Work At Home is not for you. If on the other hand, you are interested in staying abreast of new technology and updates to words, then it is worth the money. For example, you may not be aware than LLW updated it's Stedman Spellcheck and the words in it are spelled more accurately than the words in the word books published before mid 2004. You may find errors in Stedman books that you will not find in the Work At Home package. You also get to ask about words you cannot document. I have used this feature and gotten an answer within an hour.

Very useful resource for the low price.


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A tip for keeping up..lol
I have MSN and it has "news" stories on there and I can customize it to how I like it. I believe other ISPs have it as well. I typically do not watch news because I have depressive disorder and there is never GOOD news (or at least very rarely) so better to just do it this way. LOL.

Log keeping

Sorry for the delay in responding, when I get typing I "get in the zone."  LOL!  Here is my code for keeping a log of my job IDs.  It may be different depending on which platform you are typing on.  I type on Enterprise (Webmedx). 


{@KEY Alt+Z}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY Alt+J}{@KEY Ctrl+C}{@KEY Alt+Z}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY LWin}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY N}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY Alt+F}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY O}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Tab}{@KEY Enter}{@KEY Alt+N}joblog.txt{@KEY Alt+O}{@KEY Ctrl+End}{@KEY Enter}{@PAUSE 2}{@KEY Ctrl+V}{@KEY Ctrl+S}{@KEY Alt+F}{@KEY X}


SH will do very complex tasks, you just have to tell it exactly what to do!  There are some downloads available on their wesite also.  I did not think any of them helped me, but you never know!  Hope this helped. 


Up-date

Okay, I found a phone number on my statement for thier "Premier" card so I called that number.  I asked where the rep was located and she tole me Buffulo, NY and her name was Vivian.  I got the answer to my question and then told her I had initially called and got hold of a center in the Phillipines but I refused to talk to them.  I asked how I could go about lodging a complaint about the company offshoring.  She said she could forward the complaint for me but it probably wouldn't do any good.  I told her it would do some good if more people did as I was doing and also lodged complaints about offshoring.  I explained that in my profession offshoring a a huge problem and that it was only a matter of time before SHE lost her job to offshoring also.  I told her to include in my complaint that her bosses worked for  me and if I, and others like me, refused to use their services, her boss and the company's management would be looking for new jobs.  Vivian told me they have call centers all over the world and I just lucked out using the :"Premier"  phone number because I do not have a "Premier" card.  She said in the future if I want to get a rep in the US, I will probably have to hang-up and call back, several times maybe, until I got hold of a US rep.  (Yeah, right, I am calling the Premier number first thing).  But, at least I know what it might take to get a US rep.


I realise even the offshore people are just looking to make a living but what about all the US citizens trying to make a living, only to see their jobs go offshore? And I agree that it is "managament" that is responsible for this, but until we stand up for ourselve, no one else will.  Management works for us!!  Just like the managment of the MTSOs and even the Nationals have no job without us.  It it too easy to say, "Well, just this one time, I will use the foreign call center,  One time won't make a difference."  But it is that one time, added to your one time and added to her one time, added to my one time and on and on, that WILL make a difference.  It is too easy to sit back and wait for someone else to solve the problem.  That attitude will get us nowhere but out of work or working for slave wages.


Date? Isn't that where....sm

a guy asks a gal out, and they go to the movies, maybe dinner, or something fun?  I haven't been on one of those in several months now. 


As far as internet dating goes - have you tried it?  I've met more decent guys through the internet over the past 5 years than I have at church, in the grocery store, through neighbors, etc.   Of course you have to use common sense and if you smell a rat then run.... but often times you can figure out who the jerk or married person pretending to be single is through  some chatting on-line before you even talk on the phone.   Two guys I met on-line are still good friends and I hooked up 1 with a gal that I knew that they were much more compatible and they've been dating now for 5 months. 


 


 


Just went on a date!

Anyone have any success with eharmony.com?  It's not a good thing when you get to the stop light and bust up laughing over what you just went through! 


well now you date yourself and ME..LOL..sm

Well, I'm old enough to be your oldest sibling or perhaps even your parent *L*


I VOTED FOR MONDALE AND FERRARO - it was my first election that I chose to vote in and I think it was 1972.  (I didn't vote when I first turned 18).  GIRL POWER!!!!  YEAH!!


LOL, no, I think you need a date. LOL. nm
.
Actually, the date is right there on the
why is it MOST important to you what I do?
keeping mail
There is an option in the Imail to have all mail forwarded, all you have to do is put in your personal email address and all Imail is automatically forwarded to you, easy as pie!!!
No pity from me, you are keeping yourself down.
So this company is hiring when there is no work, so they are misrepresenting themselves.  You know that, so get out. How is whining on this board dealing with the situation?  Any new hires will find it out soon enough and hopefully have the sense to leave. All the "discussing" in the world isnt going to pay your bills.  And besides, no one said you couldn't discuss, just go do it on a blog where someone is going to care.  We are getting sick of whiners who refuse to help themselves by taking action. 
Keeping any child
I disagree. I would much rather home school a child than send them into what passes for education today. I support the mothers who home school!
Keeping faith
When I am facing adversity (everyday), I often think about all of the times in the past that I felt like giving up for one reason or another. No matter how bad the situation was...SOMETHING worked out. When I say worked out, I don't necessarily mean it worked out the way I wanted it to.

Example: I was in a situation where I was behind on my car payments and tried every avenue available to try to come up with the money. I prayed some serious prayers hoping for a miracle. Well, my car was repossessed. I now had terrible credit and didn't know what I was going to do. At this time, I was working outside of the home and had a 6 year old who had to be taken to and picked up from school. My car was repossed on a Wednesday and on Friday I found a guy in the newspaper classifieds who was selling an 8 year old toyota for $3000. I did not have this kind of money. I called him and asked if he would consider taking payments on the car and I explained my situation to him. He told me he did not know me and could not take payments. I went to bed that night in tears. At about 11pm that night my phone rang and it was the guy asking for my address. He had had a change of heart and wanted to bring me the car. Not only did he reduce the price of the car, but after I had made 3 payments on the car he called me and told me he wanted to come by and do a bill of sale so I could have the car (no more payments).

Another.. I also had lots of trouble with my young son in school. He has been suspended 3 times for excessive talking, getting out of his seat and being disrespectful. He is now in the third grade. I took him to the doctor one day and saw four disabled kids in the waiting room. Two of them were much older than my son, wearing diapers and in special wheelchairs. It may sound foolish, but, I was thankful that my son is healthy and able to run around to get into trouble. Some of us think we are going through a lot, but we really aren't when you compare your situation to someone else's. Life isn't easy for most people. Be thankful that things are as well as they are.

I have several other examples, but I'll spare you. My point is...we are still living and breathing and whether we realize it or not, things always "work out". I still have that car which is still very reliable and has gotten me where I needed to go. It's not nearly as nice as the car I lost but I was and am still very thankful to you know who for that situation. Hang in there guys.
And you keeping watching, don't you?
Why anyone would watch that show is beyond me, but to each his own. All 3 of those judges are nutty in their own way. If Simon had a Brookly accent instead of a British accent, no one would find him charming. Paula has always been a little looney - remember when she was married to Emilio Estevez?

All this friction between Simon and Paula is just a publicity stunt.
keeping track
Maybe that is a personal thing if you keep track of who the doc dictates and who he doesn't dictate for.  All I know is that they can take it for granted and you can spend lots of time if you're not careful.  Could it be a doc in Ravenna?
Keeping files

In the process of cleaning my office, I found at least 600 floppy discs with work that I have done over the years - some as long ago as 10 years ago. Would like to "dump" all of these and more, but am not sure how long one needs to keep files especially for accounts they no longer do. Is there a good "rule of thumb"?


Thank you.


Log keeping glitches

Sorry, I forgot to mention that notepad has to be used, not word pad.  Also, note pad has to be the only program on your start menu that starts with the letter N. 


More info on log keeping

I guess I got up too early this morning, my brain is not firing on all cyliders today.  (Been up since 3 a.m.) 


Okay here goes: 


Requirements:



  1. The Notepad program needs to be listed in the Start Menu (it must be the only thing listed in the Start menu that begins with the letter “N”, please rename anything else beginning with “N”).
  2. A file needs to be created from within Notepad named joblog.txt and saved to the desktop – one time only
  3. Save the file at the end of your shift – by a different name –clear out the joblog.txt file to be used for your next shift

 


If you experience trouble with this entry working, you may need to increase the pauses within the entry. 


I'm keeping a watch
on the MT Reference style guide. I think it will be better when it's done than the printed BOS.
Keeping the following post going...

Okay...here goes...



So, currently I work in-house at my local hospital.  (Probably shouldn't mention this cuz it's rude, but just trying to give accurate information)..I make 16.47 an hour, plus benefits.  I love my job and it is supporting me and my husband (who is in college at the time...graduating in JUNE!!!)...So, it's worth it.  However, I have to deal with a LOT of crap from the other MTs in-house.  Lots of bitterness, competitiveness, bi*chiness, etc.  I am dealing with it because I know I am not going to do this forever.  Which brings me to my next point:



Don't stay in this job for a long time!!!  You won't go anywhere with it, if anything you will probably get laid off due to outsourcing.  I, myself, am starting school for medical coding.  I will be done with school ($2000) in June and then get started in my new career.  If have been a medical Transcriptionist for 6 years and have done everything from psychiatric to internal medicine to sleep studies as an IC (and it's not worth being and IC in my opinion because of all the taxes you have to pay...big bucks) and my best job yet has been working in-house at my current job.  However, like I said, MTing is not going to get you anywhere fast.  If you want a job that takes you to the next level, go into coding.  There are a lot more career opportunities out there and you can eventually work from home being a coder as well. 



If I had to do it over I would have gone straight into coding (except for the fact that I got a lot of medical experience working as an MT).  Good luck to all of you who decide to stick with MTing, but I don't think it will reward you in the future.  I believe it is a dying profession and we all need to move on while the opportunity is here. 



I pray for all of us to be able to support ourselves and our family!  I know it's tough out there and we all are struggling to make end's meat.  Just keep on keepin on and we'll all make it through some how. 


Keeping work in US
Because I always believed Americans respected law and they paid on time. I never visited this site MTStars even, but when I did because of all the circumstances that this lady led me into, I found out it happens regularly to other US MTs too and that Americans are no different.
Keeping reports...

There was a thread this week about someone saying they kept reports as a sample of their ability.  Everyone claimed this was against the HIPPA rules. 


Well here we have an ad, and I hope I don't get in trouble, for posting this, but see below:


Let me know if you have experience in the field of neurosurgery and if you can, please provide work samples. If I get the information and qualifications quickly, we may have a chance to win this contract, and work for you.

Thanks!

Now, to me that sounds like you would need to send sample reports.  Am I wrong here?  I guess this proves that it is okay to save reports as long as the demographic information is deleted and it becomes basically a "sample report." 


Just my 2 cents... 


Right-it has nothing to do with keeping up with technology... sm
if it means compatibility with a company platform.
word for date
I use "da" and then change it in the Autocorrect every day.  This works for when you're not using today's date.
eww, why on earth would you want to date.
And chances are you will find the person boring, annoying or unappealing.  I don't see why people date on those sites, its so set up.  Its better to meet by chance, more natural and less pressure.  I'm in my early 30s and I see my friends either divorced or miserable in their marriages, same with my family.  It gets old real fast, why not have something to look forward to, and use this time to figure out who you are, your passions, and the right person will be drawn to you to complement you, rather than being forced together because you feel like you should be in a couple.  At this point I have my own life and forcing a relationship into it would make me irritable and obligated...BUT if in the process of living my life I happen upon someone who fits in there without me knowing it...meaning I can stand him there...well that would be a big bonus.  No need for it, or want..been there done that...i'm old enough to know I want it on certain terms.  In the meantime, i'll just hug my dog and cat way too much.
Date? Isn't that where a guy takes you out
And expects to get sex afterward? If you don't cooperate, that's the last time you will ever see him. No thanks-- my furry critters are a lot more loving and faithful and are not the least bit selfish.
date rule
Thanks. My mind just blanked and I couldn't remember. It seems like it has changed so often over the years!
Date question
Hello everyone.  I know this a dumb question, but I have searched and I cannot find this answer.  Can you please tell me when a doctor gives a date in the body of a report do you automatically write the year as well.  For instance.... He was last seen on January 19.  Would you type the year too?  I have always typed the year if I am 100% sure of the year the doctor is referring to.  I believe I was told to add it for clarity, and I believe that is the way I was taught in school, but I cannot find it referenced, and I had someone ask me about it. 
Not since today. (what's the date where you are?)
Time traveler, are we?

:oD
LOL! We sure date ourselves when we admit we know
s
What is the date of this article?

I looked all over this article and could not find a date of publication.  Everything vaguely says "later this year.'  Which year?  The only thing I could find on the entire page was 04/08/02 under the author's byline, and at the very bottom of the page, a copyright of 1995-2002.  When you click on the link to discuss the article in the forums, the new page never loads.  If you look up all other articles by this author, they are all dated 2000-2002. 


I think you are getting upset over nothing.  Call Time Warner directly and ask them what their plans are. 


All I can say is what is written on my up-to-date
social security forms and the fact I just talked with them in January. I certainly asked the question, again, if money withheld when I turn full retirement next year and again told no, full benefits then. Like I told Doxie, just call social security and check with them.
It was a matter of keeping the accounts
Didnt they say they had to because the work was out of TAT? 
I am keeping a list of all the rotten
dictators I have typed over the last 10 years or more.  Not the ones who try but have problems, but mostly the non-ESLs who are just sloppy and inconsiderate pigs.  When I retire, I am calling each of them and telling them exactly what I think of them and how it really reflects on what kind of inconsiderate person they are.  I can't wait for 2 months to pass!!!!!!!!!!!!!
td = 10/13/2005. in IT I just keeping adding them as td.
dd
More important to me is keeping my financial

info within the US.  HIPAA allows many uses of unidentiable medical records to be distributed in many ways even within the US, not to mention overseas.  There is no law that keeps my financial information confidential and within the boundaries of the US.  Very little truly identifible information to connect medicall record A with a particular person other than by name is sent anywhere, even to MTSOs within the US. 


Who wants my medical information?  The College of Surgeons to help them identify ethnicities and trends in cancers, the AARP to help target demographic groups for products they sponsor and to "represent" when they pay their professional lobbying group in DC, the auto industry to decide my premiums, and on and on.


I got a Walmart credit card, was 7 days late in sending in my $10 minimum payment and got a call from India for collections.  ????  Mailed in the account balance and closed the account.  Then called all my credit companies to find out where their call centers were located.  I now have only financial business with companies who keep my records in the US.  That is my choice.  There ARE 2 cases of people who sold US financial records being proscecuted by the Indian government and a total of 5 people are in jail for this.


To the OP, share with us your thoughts.


Michael:  You've been missing a lot of work.  Peter:  I wouldn't really say I've been missing it.


Keeping good thoughts for u nm
.
It sounds like your frustration is keeping you with
Companies do not seek out single people to put on the worst accounts, nor 2-income families for their best accounts.

We all have good and bad dictators.

Sounds like you need a good break. Hope you can arrange that soon.

Getting CMT may be least of it, keeping up with credits and renewel
zzzz
Keeping with the movie theme........

share with me the good movies you have seen in the past year (I like to get PayPerView and have picked some STRANGE stuff lately!!!)


Thanks!!!!


I think keeping animals caged
or "boxed in" and this includes, birds, snakes, turtles, and yes, keeping cats inside a house for their entire life cheats them of being able to live in their natural environment and doing what comes naturally to their species. Their exercise is greatly reduced and so is their instinctive behavior to feed, hunt or whatever it is they do. How would you like to live inside a box for your entire life? Just my opinion, you are entitled to yours.
I have been on since 3 a.m. without a problem, so perhaps maybe the ISP is having problems keeping t
more help, but I truly have not had a problem.  Hey, try this.....take down your modem and router for 30 seconds and restart and see if that fixes the connection.  Who knows what happens with the "gremlins" but sometimes it just works better when we start fresh. 
Hey, cool trick for log keeping. Can you tell us how you do it? :) nm
s
Keeping up cert costs too
I was a CMT for 20 years before I finally let it go.  Only one company I worked for in all that time paid extra for the CMT; then they were bought by Medquist who didn't care.  If you ever change companies - voluntarily or otherwise - the CMT may no longer bring you extra cash.  Remember, too, that you'll have to pay to keep up the cert.  I went to the conventions every year.  They ran me at least $1000 then with registration, airfare, hotel, food, ground transportion, etc.  Worked in-house then, and my employers didn't reimburse.  I was *lucky* I could get my vacation then.  It would probably be more now; everything else is.  If you don't have PTO where you work, then it will cost you what you would have made for those days as well.  Perhaps you're lucky and have a strong local chapter that will provide you CEs for much less cost and aggravation.  If you use the articles in the Journal, it will still cost.  Plus, it's not just any credit-worthy activity, it's one from column A, two from column B, etc.  It makes it much harder to get what you need (which may or may not have anything to do with what you REALLY need to improve your skills).  I didn't regret it while I was doing it, but I wouldn't do it again unless forced.  I hoped for 20 years that it would mean more than *personal satisfaction*, but it never did.
Have you ever thought about keeping track... SM

of the reports you send to QA and then going back later and looking them over?  I'm sorry, but when there are 300 jobs in the QA queue, we cannot possibly send feedback on each and every report.  Most of us are on production just like you or have production quotas we have to meet just like you.  At some point the MT must take responsibility for her work and do her own research.  It isn't enough that we get sent reports with 20 or more blanks because a lazy MT didn't feel like do the research, but now we have to make sure we email that same lazy MT and give her the answers that she should have been able to find in the first place?


In my opinion, once an MT leaves 20 blanks or more in report, the QA person is basically transcribing that report.  The MT should get docked those lines.  I have seen reports with 80 blanks in them --- 80 BLANKS!  Tell me that MT isn't just being lazy!


QA is abused by a lot of MTs.  They use us to finish their work and give them free lines.  They use us to do their research.  They are used to be handed free answers on these online word boards -- word boards, I might add, that are usually manned by QA people lending a helping hand.  I used to frequent the word boards and offer answers, not anymore.  Just try to explain to someone how to find the answer to the question instead of just handing it to them on the word board and you are met with hostility.


I've given up.  This us versus them mentality is perpetuated by the MTs not by QA and I'm so tired of hearing it.  If you want a better relationship with QA, get better at your job.


Up-date from CC offshore customer rep.

Okay, I found a phone number on my statement for thier "Premier" card so I called that number.  I asked where the rep was located and she told me Buffulo, NY and her name was Vivian.  I got the answer to my question and then told her I had initially called and got hold of a center in the Phillipines but I refused to talk to them.  I asked how I could go about lodging a complaint about the company offshoring.  She said she could forward the complaint for me but it probably wouldn't do any good.  I told her it would do some good if more people did as I was doing and also lodged complaints about offshoring.  I explained that in my profession offshoring a a huge problem and that it was only a matter of time before SHE lost her job to offshoring also.  I told her to include in my complaint that her bosses worked for  me and if I, and others like me, refused to use their services, her boss and the company's management would be looking for new jobs.  Vivian told me they have call centers all over the world and I just lucked out using the :"Premier"  phone number because I do not have a "Premier" card.  She said in the future if I want to get a rep in the US, I will probably have to hang-up and call back, several times maybe, until I got hold of a US rep.  (Yeah, right, I am calling the Premier number first thing).  But, at least I know what it might take to get a US rep.



I realise even the offshore people are just looking to make a living but what about all the US citizens trying to make a living, only to see their jobs go offshore? And I agree that it is "managament" that is responsible for this, but until we stand up for ourselve, no one else will.  Management works for us!!  Just like the managment of the MTSOs and even the Nationals have no job without us.  It it too easy to say, "Well, just this one time, I will use the foreign call center,  One time won't make a difference."  But it is that one time, added to your one time and added to her one time, added to my one time and on and on, that WILL make a difference.  It is too easy to sit back and wait for someone else to solve the problem.  That attitude will get us nowhere but out of work or working for slave wages




I realise even the offshore people are just looking to make a living but what about


word shortcut for date? NM
x
School Start Date
Here in NYS the kids don't go back until after Labor Day, which is usually around September 7th of so. Of course, we get out a lot later than those in the South. School doesn't let out until the end of June.
Is your antivirus program up to date
and a really good one because I'm thinking it sounds like you have a virus.  I got a virus on my computer even though I had a Norton antivirus program running on it.  There are so many new viruses that come out all the time it's hard for the antivirus programs to keep up with them.  Maybe you should install a different antivirus programs/sypware CD than the one on your computer.  Just a thought
Maybe a letter stating that on such and such date - sm
your rates will be increased to XYZ. Then maybe institute a % discount if they pay in 5-10 days if you don't already do that, kind of lessen the sting (just make sure you don't make less if they do this). If not a letter than maybe on your next invoice. Good luck.
Read the date wrong, BUT STILL
ON HERE TOO LONG.
The above is one of the most eloquent posts to date -sm
about the state of affairs in the Healthcare industry and the MT branch of it. You're right about lobbyists, and I thin we MTs need some right about now. Back in the beginning of AAMT, we all naiively bought into their organization, thinking that support, lobbying, and maybe improvement in pay & working conditions (i.e., not having to work a 12-hour day in order to make 8 hours' pay, and having benefits and health insurance like other Americans) were going to be one of the benefits. Boy, were we ever wrong. AAMT turned out to be right there in bed with all the shady CEOs of national companies, and top administrators of the hospitals, that only cared about one thing. MONEY, and lots of it. (For themselves, of course.) Other companies and industries in this country have been called out on poor treatment of workers (Wal-Mart) and customer fraud (Enron), and both of those evils exist in the MT business and even many parts of healthcare as a whole. We already know we're getting the short end of the stick wage-and-compensation-wise. And maybe now it's time for every MD & hospital in this country to get a chance to either FIND OUT (if they don't know their patient information is leaving the U.S.) or to be OUTED (if they do know it, but don't tell their patients, MDs, etc.) Above all those of us whose medical records are being written to and stored in an electronic medical record should not only have the right to KNOW if our records leave the U.S., but we should also have the right to say "NO, not MY records."