It's really tough to get a break
Posted By: TravelinMT on 2009-04-12
In Reply to: Looking and trying to stay hopeful?? - Adrienne King
which one of the reasons why I quit teaching MT after 10- years. It was impossible for me to find an on-site internship program (no one wanted students on-site asking questions and slowing the productivity of regular MT's). I found a couple of IC's that would let my students transcribe the reports after they had already been transcribed and would verify work experience for them for doing that. I just hated seeing so many students putting all the effort into a class and then being unable to find a job with no experience. My advice was always to go to work on-site vs. trying to go it alone at home with no support. Keep applying until you have no other option. Good Luck
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give yourself a break and...
hang in there. You just started last week? Oh... then plan to give it at least a month or so before you start being too hard on yourself. I remember having total meltdowns in the beginning and wondering why I was even trying. I spent all day and night trying to get the work done. I got a new account recently and had to learn my first ESL Dr... At first, I felt like giving up, but after a few weeks, it got so much better. I think anyone can relate to how you feel. Dont give up, at least not yet!
You need to break more often than every 2 hours
straight. That won't be good for your body and you'll burn out easy.
Again, most places will allow you the time to get comfortable with your dictators. Don't try to be too fast and make mistakes because that won't be worth it at all to either you or your new employer. That shows sloppiness. JMO.
Give Her A Break
All she asked for was a good school that is affordable. For you to imply that she cannot go to school and raise a family is uncalled for.
The negativity on this board is so disappointing. I thought this was a board to help out prospective/new students, not a board to that discourages someone from a new career.
Lisa - I currently attend Career Step and I am fully enjoying it. Good luck.
This is why Forums break down......
Hah, I love it. Slam bam!! Whew, I knew an attack would come from some unhappy soul. Around the Back, I got into this thread because I read the silliness about the "Big 3" which I know is not true from our own hiring practices.
Here we have a poster who offers nothing but negatives. Nothing helpful, only destruction. Why are there people like this?
Unfortunately, I have too many MTs with similar negative attitudes. The world is too short to dwell in such a bleak world. Next you'll look for typos. :)
Come out and share. Offer insights. Take some risks by trying to look into the future and offer some of your long term wisdom. You probably have a lot. Share. Almost all of us want to learn. Brighten our lives a little.
And I'm not here to promote any school or MT Company. I could care less as long as students and graduates don't have their dreams crushed by scammers.
Your comments on this school's curriculum points to the fact that you really don't know what you are talking about. I could go into why, but that is tedious for me and the readers. The school can defend itself if it wants.
No that's not fair to the school, the curriculum is mostly HPI, one class at Career Step private publications, followed by their internship. I know because we hired from them. The key was their mentors.
A positive attitude is both free and priceless at the same time.
Tough to say, but (sm)
you are typing a legal document, a person's medical record and it absolutely must be correct! I look at it this way - if it was my record or a record of a family member I would be upset if it was inaccurate. Not to mention the potential patient care problems associated with erros in a medical record. Your best bet is to leave a blank where you are not 100% sure.
Keep an open mind when looking for your first break.
For a first break into the business, you really need to welcome an in-office position. Not only is it a job doing what you say you want to do, but you may actually get guidance from an experienced MT and learn more than you could ever learn alone.
oh lordy......give it a break already...nobody...sm
believes you.....ROFL...
It takes a while to break into the field
and start making a decent living. There are huge differences in companies. You might get paid the same cpl but make much better money with one company over the other. If you keep your eyes open, sometimes you find a really good one. Also be sure you have a good Expander program and keep finding ways to speed up your own typing.
What about giving professional MTs a break? (sm)
I'm simply trying to save her money and anxiety by suggesting that perhaps in her life situation, MT is not a career she should be pursuing. I'm not negative in the least, I just think that anyone who thinks this is a easy money-making career is deluding themselves.
This is not tupperware ... this is a professional, mentally challenging career with severe implications to both patients and health providers if the job is not done with the utmost accuracy and attention to detail.
This is not a career that someone should get into just because they want to stay home with their children. I've seen too many errors because of distracted transcriptionists who were ill equipped for their jobs and trust me, if you were given the wrong medication and/or wrong dosage because the Transcriptionist transcribed mg instead of mcg or couldn't distinguish between Seldane and Feldene due to distractions, you'd probably be screaming bloody murder.
When people stop thinking of MT as a "stay at home, play with my kids and do it on the side" kind of career, them maybe the rest of us professionals who dedicate our time becoming the best MTs we can in spite of lousy pay, foreign outsourcing and the rest of the world thinking we're a bunch of slackers who make easy money for nothing, can finally gain the respect we should have had all along.
It is a tough decision, but
it is one that you will not regret for either of you. Your work will get better and your line count will increase and your child will learn social skills and how to interact with other children. It can be a good thing, to a certain extent, for children to be in that type of setting before they enter Kindergarten. It teaches them social skills and structure and how to interact with others throughout their day. Not that we as parents can't teach them that, but they get it on a much broader scale when they are in a daycare setting. I have talked to teachers who have said they always can tell a huge difference in the children who went to daycare and were introduced to those things from those who stayed at home and weren't.
Too tough-Lighten up
Everyone is being so tough on Miss Jill here. Are you all really so disgruntled and bitter that you can't find a moment to encourage a new MT. By the way, its great that you have hired and fired, but you yourself made typos in your own post, and while you may have found her attitude to be "prissy" I just find yours to be mean and ignorant.
Sorry they put you in a tough spot
That sounds like an uncomfortable situation for you. I hope it gets better. Wow, fines. I had never heard of that. I did not think MD's were hospital staff, but contractors. Well, I guess it could be part of the contract to get the dictation done in a timely manner so the hospital could stay in compliance. hm.
It is tough being a newbie
Being a newbie in transcription is tough, specially working at home. You won't be able to concentrate, and also you have to do a lot of research, which is time consuming. You are going to get stressed out. Is there sombody else who can watch your kids while you work? Maybe a friend? Really, day care isn't that bad if you do your homework and find a good place. There are some really good day care centers out there. I think kids rather spend some time at day care and interact with other children than having a mom at home who spends hours in front of a comouter. Transcription is tough when you are a newbie. Do you have a job already?
Good luck to you
Another newbie with three teenager
when I had a very tough ESL doctor
my manager said to just do your best with it, so I try my best but don't lose sleep over blanks. It will come in time. Something you might want to do at first is go back through and listen again to those blanks. Sometimes something you type later might tip you off to what a blank should be, or you just hear it clearer.
Yeah, it's a tough call (SM)
 Like you said, it depends on the person. Regardless, there's a big learning curve for getting it right in this career. I hope for the best for the OP!
This is a tough field to be in - I have been transcribing for 12 yrs (sm)
I understand your frustration - the best advice I can offer is to try to find a small MTSO to work for - an individual who has maybe 20 or less employees, so that you can develop a good relationship with that person (you have to look around, they are not all great!) That has worked the best for me. I work close to full time now, but when I was part-time (also because of my children) I once worked for a company who gave me a terrible account...no one wanted to type this guy...after a while I had learned that he repeated many phrases again and again and I worked hard to make hundreds of abbreviations for him. I got to the point that I could do his work very quickly and he was very happy with me doing his work so the MTSO kept giving his dictation to me. One day, I did a 30 minute tape from him in an hour and a half....I sent my work in...my boss called and told me that I could not have possibly done that tape that fast. I told her that I had made tons of abbreviations for the doc and that I had actually done the whole thing in an hour and a half. I told her that I liked doing his work now because I had gotten very used to him, being given him every day. Guess what? She never gave me his work again. I guess she kept it for herself? But she wouldn't let me have it back? Why? I don't know but I know that if you try to pick and choose they will almost never let you because someone else might want the same account. I guess what I am saying is you have to play it smart...don't directly ask for an account. There are a lot of small-time supervisors in this world who are power hungry and want to flex what little muscles they have over anyone they get the chance to do so with. I hate having to play the game and wish everyone could just be open and direct and honest, but they aren't. And in this field it really can be very dog eat dog.
Or if you're interested in investing 2 years to break into a field that won't be around...
but if you are wanting to get into a field where you can invest some time and money and actually have a job, you better look elsewhere. Seriously. I don't like it either but that's the way it is.
First thing you want to do is get a tough hide! This board is brutal!
I would like to say we are all civil and well-mannered, but you can take a quick look down the first page and see that we are not, so first of all, don't take offense at some of the replies you will get. There are many more of us out here who are willing to help out, but you will see the "nasties" are the majority on this board. I quit coming here for a long, long time...still not sure why I came back....anyway. Things are quite different than they were when you were an MT (I know, I've been an MT for 30+ years). You have a great background and it wouldn't take you long to get back into the game. The first thing I would do is talk to one of the MT schools. The 3 best are the Andrews School, M-Tec and Career Step. You can speak to one of the counselors, you may be able to bypass some of the class work because of your previous background. There a LOT of new procedures, equipment, drugs, tests findings, etc. in the past 25 years and you need to get reacquainted with things. Good luck to you - you can do it! Let us know how you make out. (And don't forget to ignore the trolls  )
How extremely childish. You are in for a BIG surprise. This is a tough business. nm
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