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I started at 6.5 cpl for acute care.

Posted By: CS grad on 2007-11-18
In Reply to: Career Step grads - what was your starting wage? - MKJ

I had 3 offers (2 of them before I even received my final exam scores):  One for 6 cpl no spaces, one for 5.5 cpl for straight transcription and 2.5 cpl for VR editing, and 6.5 cpl for acute care.  I took the 6.5 cpl since it was the highest cpl, but found that the account was awful.  It was mostly ESLs (probably more than 90%).  I could work a whole 8-hour shift without a single EFL (English as a first language) and most of the docs were new residents that had no idea how to dictate a report.  It was awful.  I had times where I could get 200-220 lph so I knew I could do the lines with decent doctors, but most days all I had were ESL residents and my average was more like 120 lph, so I didn't even make minimum wage.  I worked there for 6 months just to get the acute care experience and then began hunting for a better job.  I now work for a clinic that pays me 13.5 cpl and also for an MTSO that pays 7 cpl, but it took me several months of testing and turning down offers as I was not going to work for less than 7 cpl and did not want to work weekends. 


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Is this acute care?
My first MT job was as a secretary/transcriptionist at a doctor's office. I don't know how many lines I typed back in those days, but I remember training on acute care at the next job. I probably typed 400 lines my first day, but my mentor pushed me to keep making progress. If you are doing acute care, maybe they can start you on one particular work type to help you get your rhythm going, but they will be doing you a big favor if they agree to it. The other MTs will probably complain if they notice it. Maybe there is a particular work type nobody likes, like sleep studies, EEGs, EKGs, etc. At least it would give you a break from all the drug names, and the shorter reports don't seem so daunting to some newbies.
Acute care
  Sorry this question is so basic, but in classifides, what exactly does Acute Care experience mean?
Acute care is also known as the Big 4, which is
H&Ps
Consults,
OP notes,
Discharge summaries.

Sometimes ads will say acute care without OP notes, other times it will say heavy OP notes, other times just a mix. Acute care is extremely varied, covering dozens of specialties and hundreds of different dictators. Clinic work is usually easier just because there is more repetition of dictators and usually fewer specialties to learn. Besides these types there is radiology, pathology, and now and then you may see ER notes.



Acute Care?
I read a lot about "acute care". What exactly is this and why is so desired as a job?

Since I am still researching this career I'd like to know some of the basic job possibilities.

What is meant by the "Basic 4"?

Thanks to all!
Acute Care

I am a new Transcriptionist and have been looking for a company that will hire me right out of school.  I see alot of postings for ACUTE CARE.  What exactly is acute care, and why are there so many postings for it?


Thanks!


Acute care...

All right...I'm gonna do it, ask a very dumb question.  What kind of transcribing is "acute care"?  Is that by any chance transcribing for an emergency room at a hospital?  I see it all the time and have never really known what it applies to.


Acute care
Acute care is the basic 4; History and Physicals, Consultations, Discharge Summaries, Operative Reports, and usually Emergency Room reports thrown in the mix. Acute care is hospital work as opposed to clinic work where you type only office visits. Much more knowledge and experience needed to do Acute care.
ACUTE Care versus other.

What defines someone to be an acute care MT as to a multi-specialty MT.  What is the difference?  Sorry if this is a dumb question..


Thanks!


 


is it acute care or one specialty sm
progress notes? Progress notes are progress notes.
Not acute care but psychiatry
It is not acute care but psychiatry filse
Acute care understanding
What exactly is Acute Care??
Acute care is usually gonna be
your basic 4 worktypes. H&P's, Operative Reports, Consultations, and Discharge Summaries. Normally what you would transcribe in a hospital setting or working for a national that does transcription for a hospital.
What does acute care involve?
I have only typed clinic notes for an orthopedic surgeon. I have noticed that there are a lot of jobs for acute care and was just wondering.
What does acute care involve?
Basically, specialities you would encounter in a hospital setting, including surgical, procedures (i.e., cardiac catheterization, GI, GU, EEG, etc.), endocrine, neurology, hematology/oncology, internal medicine, etc. To name a few report types, discharge summaries, clinic notes, history & physical examinations, psychiatry, etc.
6.5 cpl for acute care and then to 7.5 within 6 months - NM
xx
What is considered acute care?
I know it is definately a newbie question, but what exactly is considered acute care versus clinical?  Can you give me some examples?  Thanks!!!
Has anyone used the AIM program for learning acute care? Can
s
Acute care would be a history and physical or
A clinical report would be what a physician dictates from his office when he sees patients.  Sometimes, it gets sketchy with outpatient surgery clinics.  Acute care is usually work dictated from a hospital setting and clinical work is dictated from a physician's office, which could be a cardiologist, urologist, etc. 
Acute care is also called basic 4, which is

H&Ps, discharges, Ops, and consults.  Clinic can vary from a doctor's office to an in-hospital clinic.  The in-hospital clinic might be a little more technical than an office and the format may/may not be similar. 


In my experience clinical is not a lot of medical terminology and the drugs tend to be the same ones over and over again.  I liked doing clinic work in that I knew what sickness was going around and what the recommended course of treatment was.  With clinical dictation you also tend to have the same doctors every time so you get to know them and can make lots of normals, which will have you producing more lines.  It can get boring though to have the same person over and over. 


The line rate is usually higher for acute care too. 


 


what is the difference between clinic and acute care reports?

----


Would the open positions be for acute care or clinic? FT or PT? Thx! nm
s
I did 10 years ago and have worked at home doing acute care ever since! sm
They prepare you for the real world of working from home.  It is worth every penny! 
try to stick to ACUTE care. You don't want to find yourself 'stuck' in one area.

What program is not teaching the difference between acute care and clinic work?
I have seen quite a few questions about this lately and was just wondering.
Acute care is considered hospital transcription - discharges, history/physicals, consults, and op
s
acute process
nm
clinic versus acute
acute care consists of patient care in the hospital from the time they are admitted until they are discharged (emergency room, history/physical, consultations, progress notes, lab/imaging data, transfers, and discharges are the most common). clinic notes are office visits (sometimes include consultations and maybe lab/imaging data). these are usually shorter dictations than the acute care.
I could care less what school you went to...
but as a medical transcription service owner, I am astonished at the amount of new MT's that want the same pay as experienced MT's. Why would I hire someone who has absolutely no experience with working at home, researching words, working with a software program -- all things I have to teach them -- when I can just hire someone who has been doing it for years for 6-7 cents per line. Yea, I know, I know, y'all are going to tell me stories about how you got a job that paid 8 cpl when you were fresh out of school...all I know is I see all the time people on this board crying that they can't find a job anywhere they look. All I know is I worked for peanuts so I could get the experience, then the jobs were whereever and whatever I wanted.
It has started already and I'm

A friend wanted me to try to get her a job where I start next week.  I'll be doing MT for an hourly wage.  I have an educational background and training in everything related to it except actual transcription, but I am being given a training period to get my ears up and running, and I hope that I can get fast enough.  I am working through a medical transcription text at home (bought it a year ago used to get more information about MT) to brush up and get some more information before I start. I am also gathering some reference materials to shore up what I already have at home from my previous studies. 


Anyway, she said something like "maybe you can get me a job there too". She thought that I could get her "up to speed" with MT skills and recommend she be hired.  I told her the reason I was hired w/o transcription education was because of my medical studies background.  I had to take a terminology test as part of the assessment.  She said that she would definitely fail that.  I told her then, first of all, she should take a med terms course, to which she said pretty vehemently that she did not have the money to do so.  I kind of stuttered at that point and kind of repeated what I had already said about my background helping me land the job.  I think she got annoyed with me . But this is a job where you cannot wing it at all, and you need to invest in your training. Why is it so hard to explain that to people without upsetting them? 


Recently when she knew I was looking for a job, she let me know that the tax prep firm she works for offers their tax preparer cost at a deep discount in January, and that once I pass it, I could apply to do part time or prn tax prep for them at the office where she works.  While that was kind of "insider" info that I did appreciate, I feel like maybe now I upset her by not agreeing to try to get her a job where I work. 


What do you do when people want you to get them into MT like this?  If she asks again I am considering finding a practice dictation to listen to.  I just know I can't put a word in for her if she doesn't even want to take a med terms course.


I started with
15 to 180 range per 2 weeks last year and now am getting 650 to 700 per two weeks. It depends on the account that you get. If you are working for somebody right now with work coming in regularly, concentrate on it. When you get your speed and accuracy up and believe that you can tackle more reports, try looking for another account.
however, when I first started out, I DID....sm
I DID pay quarterly when I first started out....gave the IRS about $500 every 3 months....totaling $2000 for the year for the IC side of my business (I also work for a national who takes out taxes with each pay period...which is good, cuts down on what all I owe the IRS by April).
Started out at 9, now up to 12.
Just depends on where you work, how much they need you, etc. If you are happy with that then do not worry about it!!
I started at .065 cpl
... and I was thrilled to make that, as a High Honors grad.
I started at 8 cpl
Considering how slow newbies are and how much they have to learn, I think 8 is very reasonable.
I started at 8 cpl

about 7 months ago.  It isn't all about typing, really.  I type about 98 wpm now, but with research, entering identifiers, finding doctors or city names, etc...the typing isn't as important, even though it still matters.  Plus, after typing all of the reports Career Step has, you'll be typing faster in the end.  When I started school I was typing about 74 wpm roughly, just to give you an idea.


Plus, there's always Typer Shark .  I bought it while in school to get some typing practice.  It's helpful and fun.


When I first started I had no MT
experience and no MT schooling.  This was in the day before we had expanders.  I did just under 700 lines a day and that was a hard 8 hour day. It was gross lines, so maybe  600 lines based on 65 characters.  I don't know how long it took me to get to 1000 lines/day, but it was probably 6 months.   You just need to build up your Expander a little bit and work smarter.  Don't get on-line, build up your reference materials so that you don't have to get on-line much, you can look it up in the book and not be tempted to check e-mail, etc.  Set an egg timer and work until it goes off, don't think about the laundry that needs doing or what you are going to fix for supper.  Every hour take a 15 minute break and do the laundry, or lay out something for supper, etc.  


How to get started
I have my BA in something totally different but I want to start looking into medical transcription so I can have the opportunity to work at home when I have kids. I just don't know where to get started. The places around where I live require 2 years of experience and a number of classes. Are there any places that you can just take a few classes and start working? Any information will help!
getting started
Hello- I am actually a dentist- and have been for 18 years. I am currently staying home with my child and thought MT might be a good avenue to travel for awhile. What sort of training do you recommend for someone who has a medical/dental degree. I have all the medical terminology and pharmacology etc I think one might need. I do not know anything about the digital transcription or have any equipment. What do you guys recommend?
Getting Started

Hi Andrea:


I've been doing transcription for 25 years and I love it.  I've been working at home for about 6 years and for Medquist for 3 years.  One thing I would tell you right off the bat is a lot of graduates have problems getting that first job because everyone wants experience.  I would talk to the schools about what they offer in terms of finding employment once you graduate.  I know Medquist used to have a school called Career Step and would hire you directly upon completion, but I haven't checked into it lately.  I think the website is careerstep.com. 


Other than than, it is never too early to start building a medical library.  I would start with Dorland's Medical Dictionary or Dorland's Medical Speller.  They aren't cheap, but you will get your money's worth over the years.  I love my noise-cancelling headphones that I found on Medword.   


I hope this helps you get started.  Good luck!  


 


I started with going to

Monster.com and placing a resume there.  MTDaily is another place you can put in resumes.  Keep passing resumes out.  Look for a company and check out its reputation here and other MT service blogs or boards.  I came here first and discovered that some companies don't pay until they see their names lit up here.  I went looking for transcription companies advertising for doctors to type for, and then found the back door to their recruiting department.


Getting started
Just finished school-looking to start slow as IC- not fast, but accurate and dependable- any suggestions?
Is this post for real? Take care of your
or napping.
Sounds like my DH, doesn't care that he - sm
is leaving behind a wife and 2 kids(me and our children)---and I presume you have at least 1 child from your name. I hope you had life insurance already in place since no one will undoubtly touch him now. ---Good luck in your new job.
I'm not sure employers care, I would make sure

to pick a training program on the AHDI list ...


http://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/mtapproved.cfm


I started by doing transcription
for veterinarians! You might try a local specialty veterinary hospital to see if they need any transcription help. You do need to know a little bit about dog and cat breeds, but the body parts are pretty much the same (except for the tail)!
Just Started working PT
I just graduated from Career Step and got a PT job within 2 weeks. Mind you it was the only company that was interested in doing the PT thing, plus I have dail-up, so I was really limited on my options. But, so you know, PT jobs are out there. Good luck.
Newbies I know started at 6 cpl
/
I started my education
at a community college and finished at PCDI, and the materials were identical, so I can't say either way is better, but the best help I got was once I started working, and the training on the job.  I think PCDI teaches the basics, and if I were you, I'd shoot for an in-house position to start with to have some help.  All of PCDI's tapes were incomparable to what you really get.  If I had a doctor speaking like that, I'd be making millions :)  Good luck!
Jill, have you started yet? nm

just an fyi...but i got a paycheck before dsp...maybe they just started doing that
nm
I relistened to everything when I first started sm
The question is, when you go back over it, do you find that you got everything? When you do, then you should feel confident enough to just move on. I still read through my stuff to check for errors, but I don't relisten and I have not had QA tell me I missed anything.