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i wis i had that problem! sometimes that happens and we concentrate in the total wrong areas. so g

Posted By: LMT on 2007-05-01
In Reply to: Volume is fine--it was too loud though. - Hayseed

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Wrong - not everyone needs to concentrate.
Not everyone needs to totally focus.  Some things come easier to some people than others!  I totally disagree with your post.  If trancription was such a skilled profession, it wouldn't pay so low - sorry! 
I can't concentrate
Just to let you know you are not alone, by an stretch of the imagination. I have never done enough lines to get benefits, and I have been in the MT biz for 21+-years. I am now in the mindset I will do what it takes to get benes. I have been sick with lupus and radiculopathy, etc. for a few years, but the prob has gone deeper than that. I used to work in a hospital, clinic, etc., where you were paid by the hour. Working at home is great, but face it, we ARE SCREWED. We have to work way harder than we had to in the hospital/clinic setting. I get sick and laugh at the MTs that state they do 2000 and 3000 lines a day. Yeah, right, where is the punchline?? Not possible. Don't believe it. Never have, never will.

Why do they do this to us? Do they think it is funny?

Deb
There is no way I could concentrate
with all the noise, people milling around, etc., and accurately hear what I am transcribing, especially if a difficult dictator or a very soft-spoken person. In fact, the company I work for as an IC does not allow the use laptops per the facility because they do not want their transcription done in a public setting because of privacy issues.
I concentrate better with a little noise

I have found my mind starts to wander if it is completely silent while I work.  I also tend to hear the birds and incidental outside noises and get distracted.  If I have the tv on with my back to it, it seems to keep me focused on my work.  I don't quite get it but it works for me. 


I can't concentrate today. I just really could care less about this
stupid job any more this week.  I'm trying to get my work done ASAP so I can go watch a movie and take a nap, but I'm getting so annoyed.  These stupid doctors can spell their own name, which I've seen hundreds of times every day for months now, but they can't spell the carbon copy doctors' names or provide addresses.  Smith, S-M-I-T-H.  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch, nothing.  Help me out here, buddy.
TGIF. Hard to concentrate. nm

I have it bad in a few areas. I use - sm
Aloe Vera 100% Gel from Fruit of the Earth. It works great and gets rid of it. I get it in the health food section at Hyvee (one of our local grocery stores).

I used to use Aloe-80, which also works great, that I got at GNC.

wrong, wrong, wrong. work is being outsourced because of $. period. not because of unqualified MTs
c
Nope I don't live in one of "those" areas.
I live in a quiet little neighborhood with nice neighbors. Used to have a trailer in this same neighborhood until my family sold it. Nobody looked down on us either.
Hello..you cannot predict an earthquake, but you know areas that are prone to them. NM
NM
agree 100% when areas not predicted get hit; they can't prepare. sm
i am 280 miles inland and rita affected us here. we have NEVER been under a tropical storm warning as we were with rita but did get prepared. i stocked up for 2 weeks as they told us too and stocked up gas before it was gone. however, it turned and hit the unprepared areas due to forecasters.

where are you, in lufkin? i am in tyler.
Tell that to certain tribes in remote areas of the world
Body deorating has been around about as long as man has been around. Your opinion is just that, yours, and I'm glad not to know you in person.
Be sure to keep areas dry and free of all sugar composites.
nm
You're right. Unfortunately, in some areas inhouse work is
I keep hoping some sort of changes in U.S. laws may come to the rescue before it's too late, and the whole industry becomes offshore and automated. Because if that happens, there will be less and less reason to want to entrust one's care to an HMO.
just some information for MTs in rural areas where high speed is not available

Hi all,


Was just on the Sprint website a little bit ago and checking out wireless cards for my laptop since I will be moving to an area that doesn't even have landline service available yet.  Sprint is now offering a wireless card that is a USB card and apparently will work with both a laptop and a desktop as long as you have an available USB port on your computer.  Might be something to think about


 


You must live in a metro area because rural areas pay even less per hour.

Of course you can buy a big house for 130,000 in a smaller town and the same amount won't buy you a pot to pee in, in a place like San Diego or the D.C. area.  It's all relative.


While AAMT does have a good QA program, they severely lack in other areas.
p
I would start with hospital websites in the surrounding areas to whatever facility you type for. SM

Hospital websites usually have a pretty good physician directory you can search through by name or by speciality, which is nice.


I also use the AMA website which has a sound alike search feature which is helpful.  Here is URL for the AMA doctor finder.


http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/home.html


Also, some states have websites for the medical board licensing or professional licensing where you can look up doctors with licenses in that state.  You might do a Google search for whatever state your facility is in.


Another good one that I use is the WebMD physician finder.  Here's the URL for that one:


http://doctor.webmd.com/physician_finder/home.aspx?sponsor=core


Hope this helps you.


I'm 1 hour north of Sacramento but lived in Citrus Heights/Roseville areas for 10 years (sm)
and pretty much 'ditto' everything CAMT says... Kaiser very big in Sacramento but you could start applying to nationals and have a job by the time you got there!! Congratulations and good luck on your move!!
I typed a report on the wrong patient as the doc keyed in the wrong info, SM
He later said the correct patient's name and I SWEAR to this day I made the changes but somehow the report when through without the correct patient and changes made. I still remember that incident.
Fantasia wrong??? Haven't seen the OP's CD, couldn't have been too wrong.
x
TOTAL RIP OFF
This is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard - VERY BAD SITUATION!!
I have 4 total - not 5.
nm
Total BS.

What company do you work for?  Give me a name! 


Total gym, etc. - sm

I am being very careful. The videos online are very instructional and I am going slow and easy at first. I also have a Tony Little "gazelle" and do 1/2 hour at a time and at a good pace now that I have used it for more than 1 year. Hope to do Pilates once a day and the "gazelle" later in the day, but will pace myself.


Thank you for your concern. I did also consider the Total Gym, but went to our local Play It Again Sports store and found this Pilates for $59 so thought I would start here. If I really, really use it and like it I will possibly invest in a better one, but for now this is where I am.


p.s. Most any exercise equipment is available "used" so you might shop around before investing too much money, see how it works for you, and then think about perhaps spending your money on something either better or new.


Total Burn Out
Well, I've tried everything to change my attitude & outlook & always feel I've succeeded until I log on every morning & encounter the worst of the worst ESL or American Doc on a cell phone dictating 50 feet away from the mouthpiece with every extraneous background noise imaginable! I can handle a few of those in a row, but that seems to be the majority of what I now get, with dictation times varying from 3-4 hrs or more apart to minutes - depending on who the doctor is.

I'm seriously questioning why I'm doing this to myself on a daily basis as I, too, have only seen my income decline, my hours increase, & am mentally wiped out at the end of the day. I'm doing good to fix something for dinner, let alone anything else that needs to be done! I just seem to sit here in a daze and/or stupor every evening - telling myself tomorrow will be better!

And, Whining Wendy, you're not alone. I thought the days of crying out of total frustration & despair ended in the 60s when I was a "Newbie". Wrong!! During the last 2-3 yrs, this has & is being encountered by me almost on a daily basis - & I'm an "Oldie". In years past, once you mastered deciphering an accent, doc, etc., your days of frustration were over. Now, working for a National, I have found that every day is filled with different, new doc's, new accents, etc. Problem arises when after you finally master an "impossible" dictator, you find that in 6 months or more, since you were so "good" - you get all of his horrible, undecipherable dictation again - none of which is consistent nor repetitive of prior dictations. Back to frustration level 1.

I hate to say it, but my love for this profession has totally been annhilated. Really wish I could offer words of encouragement or suggestions but, at the moment, I have none. I'm just really saddened to see how many of us feel this way & what has happened to a once highly regarded, elite, "profession."

Never in my life have I ever pictured myself working at "Bob Evans" (Geez - could just picture it all now - dumping trays of food, etc.); however, went to dinner there the other evening & they had an Ad posted in their window for help wanted. Jokingly, told hubby I thought I'd apply for the job. Sad thing is, his reply was that I'd probably make more money & be less stressed!

I don't know where we're all headed & wish I had answers & a magic wand - but I regretfully don't. I do know I'm seriously looking into what other options are available to me.

Sorry all - just venting after a very, very bad week, on top of my normal very bad weeks, only now with a Bonus offered until the end of the pay period. Just another stark realization that with the dictators in my pool, that is an impossible, unattainable bonus to achieve unless I want to work 24/7 trying to decipher such. My price to pay for being an experienced, good, at-home, Oldie?
total agreement with you - sm
I myself am in favor of trying to find out which hospitals outsource the work to India and then writing letters to the local newspapers as "letter to the editor" kind of thing to let the residents of the area know that their medical records are being sent out to India. But that's just my opinion.
That would be a total ripoff - s/m
Works out to 5,500 characters per $5 - or $0.0009 cpl.

Just say NO.
I have a total of 9 accounts.
x
We had maybe four kids total.
When we used to live in the "suburbia" neighborhood by the schools, we went through hundreds of pieces of candy.
I use Total Assistant Pro
and it works great for me. You can download the trial version and then purchase after 30 days if you like. It does all the work for you. I love it.
total cost
Total cost of $60 for two phone lines, which includes taxes, etc. It also includes call waiting and voice mail. But my C-phone line has nothing on it, no call waiting, etc. by my choice. First month on my residential phone is free because they are just starting up in my area.
Does anyone know what the estimated total # of MTs in the US is? nm
nm
Yes, that's it. Total concentration...
PLEASE let that be it.
I'm in total agreement with you.....sm

Do not kill them....unless poisonous or unless they strike!  They can be caught and released or given to someone or some group who specializes in handling snakes.


Killing is the coward's way out...killing something that you are 10 to 100+ times bigger than......unless of course it's about to strike or is poisonous!


I think 6 seasons total.
I too did not watch from the start - but began to watch the reruns on HBO on Demand from the beginning - and have now seen them all, around 3 times each!!! If anyone hasn't seen it - do yourself a favor and watch on Demand or rent the DVDs beginning with Season 1 and enjoy - you're in for a great ride! The most cleverly written women show ever - hysterical AND poignant! It will make you laugh out loud and sometimes cry. I am in love with all four of those women - Samantha, Carrie, Miranda and especially Charlotte - and I'm straight! LOL!
About $125 in PA - total electric, about
Pretty happy here, bill runs about the same in winter and includes heat :)
Agree - Total RIP OFF!!
Curious me wants to know -- which trans co.?
re billing - am I being a total *ash*?

I have plenty of clients, no shortage of work. Recently I started picking up some extra legal transcription from a company who is swamped & always begging for help. It's not something I've had much opportunity to do and it's fun to do something different. But they're totally out of the technological loop. I bill all my clients by an Excel spreadsheet attached to an email, and I have a master spreadsheet set up that keeps track of all my invoices for me. They are the only ones who can't open it. I know they can because someone who used to work there could, but now they have a new person and no one there can open it. Of course they can probably right click and "open with" some kind of viewer, but why is it my problem to teach them that? (here's where the "am I being a total a$$ question comes in!)  I'm tired of their clueless clerk emailing me five times every time I send her an invoice asking me to resend it and having to respond "If you can't open it, it's not going to help to resend it."  Sure I can mail it, but why should I when I have plenty of other clients?  Do you think I'd be an a$$ for unceremoniously dumping them? would you do it in a quieter way and leave the door open for further work? 


They are so technologically out of the loop, it's not even funny. I asked them for an electronic copy of one of their style guides for easy searching, and they said they don't do that and they "don't keep" things.  They just have one hard copy they are xeroxing over and over.  I knew it was somewhere, it had obviously been typed it on a computer. It's a .pdf file on the web! Someone had downloaded it directly from the court's web site. They are supposed to provide me with the names of judges and attorneys on the tapes but they don't and I have to struggle to hear names and spell them phonetically or designate unidentified voices somehow so I can tell them apart and then go back and globally replace them when I hear the name or I'm sure of the spelling. This adds countless time to transcribing their cases AND THEY HAVE THAT INFORMATION. I've asked them for lists or links for judge's/attorney names so I can at least search when they don't give them to me.  No dice. I have since found good links on the web, of course.


I'm worried about getting in deeper with them, I'm not overly familiar with legal work and I'm just going to keep coming up against their not being able to provide me with the tools I need. Every time I have to find something for myself it's costing me money, obviously, being paid on production.  They annoy me and I seem to have a very low threshold for that.  But it's valuable experience and they are desperate, the owner won't be happy.  But she's as clueless as her staff.


As a total aside to this thread here...

about dentists in Maine...I haven't been to a dentist since I was a kid, strictly out of fear factor.  I tried to find one yesterday because I think it's time I see someone whether I like it or not.  Of the 4 I could find, only 1 is accepting new patient's and where I don't have insurance and would be be a self-pay, they don't cut any breaks....just the initial visit and cleaning is going to run $310 buckaroos!  I asked if that price included a happy ending and the voice on the other end just went dead.  (No sense of humor apparently.)


No wonder why people are losing their teef up heyah!  


I am in total agreement with
I also have many, many years of experience and find it hard to believe that the pay is only 7 cpl when in fact you must have a lot of experience and learn new platforms, accounts, etc.  Production suffers initially, and then all of a sudden these MTSOs want to switch you to another account, which makes it almost impossible to make a decent living at 7 cpl. 
Total fluke
I happened to hear of this endocrinologist who was looking for someone and willing to train. I got the job, was completely hooked and never looked back. This was 16 years ago. I have no formal training but read and researched everything I could get my hands on. I eventually picked up a few more clients over the ensuing years but then 8 years ago decided to try for an acute care position with a national. I passed the test and loved it.
Total frustration
I'm doing the worst report I have ever run across, it's brain surgery and I've never done one before and I don't know the anatomy, it's cold in Ohio, I killed my back last week on OT and I can't walk and I feel totally unloved and I can't get a break on my line count and I'm miserable.  Please don't correct my grammar or spelling, I'm not up to it right now.
I use Total Assistant and like it. nm
xx
It's about morality - not censorship! Right is right and wrong is wrong!
nm
I think Tom Cruise is a total whacko- sm
I actually thought it years ago but then he was kind of reclusive and didn't speak out so much.  Now that he's opened his mouth again and by his actions, he is showing his stupidity.  If you saw him on the Today show with Matt Lauer and the things he said, he was unbelievably pompous and arrogant about things he obviously knows nothing about.  Why do these "stars" think we want to hear what their opinions are?  Who cares?  All they are are paid ACTORS.  Tom Cruise only has a high school education and he acts like he is the most brilliant person in the world.  Look at Nicole Kidman - she got out while she could.  I pity Katie Holmes.
The biggest pro for me is the TOTAL flexibility...

As long as I get the work done, I can do it when I want to without being chained to my computer. 


Plus, I don't know why you think ICs net 50% less than if they work on an employee basis.  I've worked as both an IC and employee and, although I don't have benefits, I make much more as an IC.


I have total control of my account, and as for set up - sm
they ask you when you want it set up for and they delivered the day I wanted it--I can set up my folders, say who has access to what, delete folders, etc. I do not plan on storing any files there on a long-term basis, I erase after I have transcribed the work. I keep a copy on my computer though just in case for a while. I do not send the work back that way as my client prefers email but if I get any other clients in the future I will send the finished work back that way if they want it that way.
I am in total agreement with what you have written
This job was quite enjoyable in my younger years and while it sounds like pay was low back in the 1980s, the cost of living was low as well.

Another 4-5 years of serious studying and I could have possibly obtained a degree in an area which had better job security, had a future I could count on and didn't require 50-60 hours of week of work to bring home 50G.

Plus, at 48, my hips, hands, hearing, have taken a beating that I am not really being compensated for, most jobs after 20 yrs, land a person into a supervisory position of some sort that allow the worker to teach what they know, and yes, to relax somehat and let the young and spunky ones keep up the grueling schedules.

So, in retrospect, I would have gotten student loans, applied for grants, did what I had to in order to acquire a higher education (I wanted to be a doctor).

That is total bullcrap that Chris got

What a total shock!!!!  I can't believe he is going home.  Chris rocked the house.  I actually predicted him to win!!!!  How sad.  I guess my vote now turns towards Taylor. 


TAYLOR all the way now for the WIN. He's the TOTAL package.
Spunk, energy, personality, showmanship, and voice. He's got it all going for him.

Kat should never have gotten this far. She's not singing well and had a bad week. There are songs that she can sing, she's just not well-rounded to do any kind of music.

Lots of people will buy Elliott's CD. He's got a great voice.

I wish they'd publish the vote counts. I can't believe that Chris got the boot! Just shows you how sick this can all get. We'll all be angry if Kat goes on to win. Probably more of the sick "vote for the worst" revenge.