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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

yes, it has turned into a sweatjob, especially for newbies....nm

Posted By: mt on 2009-05-09
In Reply to: blame the victims as usual shame on you - .

nm


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when i turned 18,
my mom gave me a necklace that used to be my grandmas, which i still have now 35 yr later...when one of our daughters turned 18 and was going on to college, we bought her a computer. You could ask her what would be meaningful to her too...
I just turned 24 yrs. old. MT x 5 yrs. & QA x 2 yrs.

Used to work in-house, but on my own now. Love working at-home too! :)


Can these be turned off?
I agree, the cursor and snowflakes are really cute, but distracting to me.  At the risk of being labeled a Grinch, is there any way to turn them off on one's personal computer?  Thank you--
I turned him in ...
x
I just turned 40. nm
x
LOL I tried to take an hour nap, but it turned into
11 hours of napping.  LOL  At least I'm refreshed this morning.  Time to type quickly so I can go play.
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.


I just turned 30 and have been doing transcription...

since I was 21.  I love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world.  I also have several friends whom are my age that do this work and though our work changes with the science of medicine, I think you are going to find your job changing in whatever field you are in because everything changes and evolves over time.  I do understand where you are coming from though about people my age not being pushed towards this field.  I can't tell you how many times when I meet new people and I tell them what I do, they have no clue what transcription is, LOL. 


The only people that give this profession a bad name and a bad rap is the people who are unhappy.  Sure, I have had my ups and downs in this position, but I have also had other jobs where I have had those same ups and downs in different fields.  It is called moving on and finding peace within yourself.  If you are unhappy, fix it.  Only you can make your own happiness, nobody else can make it for you. 


Are you sure the volume is not turned down (sm)
in the "audio" of the gearplayer or that mute is checked in the "audio"?
Just turned on puter

and find all kinds of slander about the x-3.  So if you are confident that I have been "bad mouthing" the company give me your facts.  If I recall correctly I went off on you and apologized for it.  You are the one in the end that said you needed time to lick your wounds.  I have not bad mouthed the company to anyone!!!!  and to quote someone whom I thought was an excellent friend "venting to friends is okay, that is what friends are for."


I am actively seeking employment, will continue to do so, and keep my opinions of the company to myself.  If you feel I have done otherwise share the facts you have, give me a chance to defend myself.......


It tears me apart on a daily basis that we have no friendship........if you truly feel you cannot forgive me that is fine, but please don't bash me on a public board about things that are not true. 


I interviewed with them and turned them down

but can't remember all the details.  I think they offered 10 cpl for IC and 11 cpl for lines over 12,000 per pay period.   You have to "punch the clock" , which I just won't do.  Sorry I don't remember other details. 


I am glad everything has turned out okay....sm
for you. I am also glad you shared it and I was fortunate enough to read it. I hope I may not have to encounter what you have but some day if I do I will always remember reading this. God bless and I wish you the best....
Thanks for the responses. It turned out to be a bad box (the little one). nm
nm
I just turned 40 and have the same thing going on! nm
x
Just turned 29 in June..nm
nm
mine turned out to be--sm
3025 for today. It started out poorly but ended up good, although it is 9 pm here and I have only been done for a half hour. that was 12 hours worth.
Guess what this s/l turned out to be.
What this probably oriental ESL said when I slowed him way down:

AN dis TIN AL DIZin


With a little research I discovered he meant:
end-stage renal disease

It's typical of him, but I do wonder why he doesn't invest in some speech therapy.
coders turned MT? Any of you out sm
there that went from coding to MT? OR, MTs who went into coding? Love coding, hate coding? Not much talk amongst coders anywhere. I just wonder what it is like and if it is worth considering.
I am tired of being turned down....

I am new to MT but I am not new to hard work and determination.  Companies have turned me down just because I don't have experience.  I know I don't have years and years of experience but that doesn't mean I am inapt.  I have decided to seek out my own accounts because I am tired of waiting from someone else’s approval.  It is scary but I am determined to make this work.  I really need your input on what type of doctors I should start with.  I was thinking family medicine or psychology since I have experience with medical coding in these areas.


Please offer your honest opinion on how I can make this work.  If there is anyone else that has started out as a newbie and is transcribing on his or her own, please reply with advice also.


But if you are going to rude or cruel please don't reply.



 


Tables turned on me....
I had the strangest thing happen to me.  I have been contacting some people who had tested for a position I was filling.  When I interviewed this one applicant, as soon as she got on the phone she started interviewing ME.  I mean she was shooting questions left and right and before I had a chance to really explain how the account worked she was like, "Well I'll let you know about the position in a day or two", like it was hers to decide and I hadn't even offered her the position.  She was actually my first choice and I was going to give her the position, but after talking on the phone I have decided against it.  I'm afraid she would be trying to run my business instead of me.  I had just never had such an experience and thought I would just voice it here.  Let me know what you all think.
Have you turned off autocorrect?
nm
I turned off the little box in Shorthand, SM
feeling it would be important to keep my eyes on the screen, initially with transcribing and now especially so with editing where I'm typically reading and scanning the text ahead of the dictation, dropping Shorthand-abbreviation corrections in as I pass by. I'm coming up on 40,000 entries and definitely don't have them memorized. I do have my various patterns for abbreviating memorized. J for -ation so that hospital + hl and hospitalization = hlj, hospitalized + hld. Adjective + noun = first 3 letters of adjective, first 2 of noun. That sort of thing.

I don't type fast. Since you do, it means you'll always be able to keep up with a speeded up dictation and when editing you can just relax back and rest your wrists as you scan much more than you can now.

And just think--I have many common and hard-to-spell doctor names entered in the form "drng" = Dr. Nguyen, which includes the link to make sure they don't get split at the end of the line. Wouldn't that be nice?
english turned OFF

I for sure am not going to sit and proofread my posts and sometimes fingers go where they go.  If people feel the need to proofread others posts they REALLY need to get a life or a friend or something.  I had another person do this to me on another board and I cannot tell you how aggravating it is.  I have a 99.58% accuracy rating and make plenty of mistakes in my email posts.  This is NOT WORK.  This is play and the fact that you feel the need to criticize people just tells us all about YOU.


It turned out to be short, so
I typed it without my footpedal. My Gear Player box is no longer open to drag the windows media file into.

Now I'm having trouble formating Word. They want the margins changed to 2.54 cm (not inches), and I type it in like the instructions tell me, and save, but of course Word ignores me. Grr.
It turned out to be short, so
I typed it without my footpedal. My Gear Player box is no longer open to drag the windows media file into.

Thank goodness it was short. It was also not a medical report. Instead it sounded like a radio show with two speakers talking, but it was clear and easy.
you said it! The schools just turned sm
into a money making scheme all their own. It does take 10-15 years and then you find out you are barely experienced. Some of the "newbies" here if not most of them will not work the years it takes to find that out because they really don't want to be in this business anyway. It was just an easy work at home job to some (not all) of them.

When I think about it, I blame some of the large MT companies, especially MQ for some of this. They hired these people right out of school, they have worked several years but not gotten the experience they need. They really are not "experienced" but they think they are and that is sad.

I wish MT would ALL go back in house and these companies were just to pick up the slack in the hospitals and not take over their accounts totally. That way MTs could get their experience before they ever venture out into the MT working at home thing.

I started at 23.
newbies
I applaud your attitude towards mentoring (especially since I'm a student and crave that!). To hold employees that are worth having the employer would only benefit by training the way he/she wants the employee to work.

As a baby boomer, I think the majority of us will work well past the retirement age set forth by the powers that be. I don't see that my retirement funds will pay for me to live another third of my life unemployed. Not to mention, the need to feel productive that many of us have. MT is the answer, allowing many to work at home (or in our RV's - not that I'll get one, not my thing).

As far as education goes, some schools are most likely sub-par, in it for the money only. Some are developing, some are downright outstanding. However, even a student attending one of the 'lesser' schools might be worth mentoring. Perhaps they attend that school because of fund shortages (I know that's why I am), that does not mean the student is sub-par. Yes, I agree some are looking for an easy buck, but some are looking for a CAREER, not a dollar. I know that's my goal.

ok - I'm getting off my soapbox, and hoping someone someday will give me the chance to work and help others too, when I get enough experience!
Newbies
Good luck in a field where our pay goes down each year, and our business costs soar. I received an e-mail that offered to transcribe my overflow for 3 cents a line. How can we compete with that? It seems the doctors just care about cheap labor instead of quality work....
It isn't that most of us have anything against newbies. sm
Just as in any field, when people have trained and worked hard to get where they are, they expect to be rewarded. Forlorn hope. As newer people come in, they are eager to learn, willing to take less money while they train. That means those of us that have been at it so long (18 years here) have to sometimes cut our prices to compete for the jobs. I won't even mention the off-shoring. Eighteen years experience means little to a company that only asks for two years. We do get bitter, not necessarily at the new people, but at the situation we're in.

People in all professions find this. New people come into teaching making as much as people that have been there 15 years. In other professions, a long-timer is replaced by someone new who works for much less. Do you think there isn't bitterness over this? The list goes on.

We all feel cheated, even those of us making a decent living, like me. Yes, I can make $16 an hour, but have to buy my own equipment, software, insurance, pay employment taxes, income taxes, Medicare tax, internet, long distance, etc. I'm lucky if I really make $8 an hour. Not much above working at WalMart, when you look at it like that.

Don't take it personally, most of us understand being new. But the money was easier to make then, and the competition wasn't so stiff. We're sympathetic with you, but we're also worried about our families. Ten years from now, when you're fighting to make what you make today, and utilities have tripled in that time, maybe you'll understand better. Good luck.
newbies
It's because so many newbies want to work M-F, at their own chosen hours and want to make $50K a year to begin with. They think because they took a course, they know everything and have nothing to learn. They resent established MTs who learned on the job.

I'm from the days when MTs were hired because of their good spelling and typing skills. They trained us on the job. We had very few resources, about 5 good reference books to use, but we were able to get feedback from the doctors, who actually respected us and what we did for them.

Now, too many newbies think that an online course or a couple semesters at the local community college put them on the same level as an MT with 10+ years of experience. Not true. There is no substitute for experience.

To the newbies who think they are too good to work holidays and weekends, I just say, why on earth did you take a job in healthcare, which is 24/7 365 days a year, if you want a 9-5, M-F job? Go to work for an insurance company or an accounting firm.

If you can't raise your family and hold down a job at the same time, then quit and let someone else have the opportunity.
There are so many newbies who cannot get a job and would
probably take that and not think twice.  Twenty years ago I was making 6  cpl/gross line.
The newbies always do.....
d
Newbies.......
I have been in this field for 17 years and on 'another board' I was ridiculed beyond reason for posting a problem I had with a vendor who advertised on that site. Little did I know I was a site where there were cliques present, you know like high school. HEY we were all new at one time or another and how do you lean if you don't ask questions? Compassion, patience and understanding goes a long way.
we were all newbies once...
so what's with the vets vs. newbies attitude that has taken over this thread?

Sheesh people - it doesn't matter how many years we've been doing this - we're all in the same boat here. Just because some of us have more experience than others, that doesn't mean we're any better or that our opinions are more important.

I have to take back what I said earlier about having not seen any nastiness here because now I have - and it's right here in this thread.
Newbies
Like you, I had a mentor in a former R.N. who started a small transcription company. I knew some medical terms but not much. I did have the advantage, however, of being a very fast typist at that point. But I had never worked with any type of dictation equipment. I started when I was 26 and more or less retired at the age of 67. To say that this profession is on life support is probably the most accurate and honest statement I've heard in a long time. I was able to work at home with young children and it was a God-send at that time. For years I worked full-time for a large group as a salaried employee plus worked several nights a week at a local hospital because they had new computerized equipment and I wanted to learn that. I still love the medical profession and all that it entails and am truly sorry that now all the bits and pieces stored in my brain won't be used any longer for transcription. I still try to read about medicine and get on this site frequently just to "keep up" but, again, the profession as we oldies knew it is dead in the water. My own family physician has already switched to EMR. In fact, he types his own notes as he sees the patient. He said the group could not afford to hire a transcriptionist. To put it mildly, transcription "ain't" what it used to be, that's for sure. So sad, really.
Newbies
Hi! Where does a newbie get started? I am working at a large local hospital in the Transcription Dept. and have been here a year. I transcribe 2 days and I do tech work. I just finished my internship and I have my MT certificate. :) I do not know where to start to find MT work as a newbie. Anyone have any advice?  I am able to get 2 days transcribing at my current job but I want a second job transcribing. Any adivce is greatly appreciated! :) 
Help! Windows turned sideways?

I tried a new 'keyboard shortcut' and miraculously not only did it not work, it turned my desktop on Windows sideways.


Any suggestions on how to fix it?


Thanks!


every one will see in the end and so many will be lost because they turned away from the truth.
He is actually quite easy to please.  you only have to do one thing.  Its the most simple thing in the world that could save you eternally. 
Before he turned into a complete idiot.
I haven't seen any of his recent movies since he split with Nicole Kidman.  Of course, I saw "Days of Thunder" and "Far and Away".  Read the whole post, then try taking an English comprehension course.  Troll.
Yes, we just put in a wood stove and turned off
the furnace out in the shop. We know of a guy who gives away free scrap wood, so we're heating the shop for free this year. That'll save quite a chunk of change. I wish we hadn't taken the wood stove out of the house, but it would have cost too much to bring it up to code. Other than that, put on more clothes, extra blankets on the beds, and turn the heat down.
I turned down a job with a company that used Worf but
I won't fly without a net!
Went BK a couple of years ago. It turned out
to be one of the best things ever.  Since then, we only use cash and have been able to save and pay off our house.  Unfortunately, the laws have changed and I think it is almost impossible to file a Chapter 7 now.  Anyway, good luck to you either way!
Friday is my last day... turned in notice..

This Friday is my last day of a 2-week notice and, as of yet, the administrator has not said a word to me about leaving. I've worked inhouse for these people for 20 years. No questions as to why, nothing.  The assistant only said she was glad for me and wished me well. What do you make of spending 20 years of your life doing your best and, in the end, they could care less? Boy, do I feel stupid, but definitely made the right decision in leaving.


I always ask if the company offshores. I have turned down

multiple positions because the companies offshore.  I'm now in a dilemma as my company has started offshoring.   They are not taking work from me to offshore, but they could not find enough qualified MTs to keep TAT where it needed to be and we were having to work like dogs.  They knew they had to do something so they went offshore.  I'm still not sure what the difference is - if they have to proof 100% of the offshore work, why can't you proof 100% of U.S MTs and train them trained, even getting a newbie, someone who didn't have the attitude that this is they way I've always done it, etc.  I've seen the work that comes back from India and it is not client ready.


I have several years invested with this company.  They pay better than anything I have been able to find thus far, I'm comfortable with my accounts, the platform is easy, etc.   So what do I do now?   There are very few companies that don't offshore, either to India or another country, and they are currently training women in Trinidad, so more work will eventually follow.  If I do find a company that doesn't offshore, how long will it be before they do start offshoring.   I honestly never thought I would be in the position that I am. 


MT'ing since 1998. Just turned 30

x


Me too. Snow Bunny turned me on to it. I use it every day. nm
s
I did that a long time ago. I turned it over sm
and let it sit overnight, and the next day it worked fine.  I think as long as it wasn't anything sticky like a soda or something, you should be okay.  It just has to dry out.  Of course, I'm not that technically oriented, so I don't know, but I'll certainly cross my fingers for you. 


I've never known a patient to be turned away

They usually send them to the mental health/crisis unit and get social services involved to arrange coverage. Maybe it's different in different parts of the country, but it has never happened at my hospitals.


When I use a subcontractor, I pay them as soon as their invoice is turned in to me.

I consider it a good business practice to pay the sub as soon as their invoice is submitted. After all, don't you expect the client your contract with to do the same for you. You really should have paid this $100 invoice long before now. You have no recourse and should consider this a lesson learned.


Personally, I don't think you have any business subbing out work if you're no more prepared to pay and, apparently, are careless with the information that your sub receives from you. You could also be considered breeching confidentiality if you're not having the sub sign some sort of understanding regarding the confidential nature of the work you're sending out.


Help! I just turned my whole screen sideways!
cc
Autocorrect turned french!

Out of no where my autocorrect is french!  Anyone know how to turn this off??