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I work for a very small rural hospital with only two full-time transcriptionists and one part-time transcriptionist.  We have recently been told that the administration of our hospital is entertaining the idea of on-call Transcriptionist for uncovered hours.  We already work alternating Saturdays (day shift only).  I wanted to know if any other hospitals out there do on-call transcription (Not from home and not outsourced).  They want us to physically drive in and be in the office to do this transcription.  Any information at all would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks. 

  I've been an MT for about 25 years and have loved it all -- except for the past few years.  I've watched as the terminology and grammar have been progressively dumbed down, not to mention the degradation of quality due to the inundation of those inadequately trained.  Thank you, Sally Struthers. 

I've seen an organization (who shall not be named) which was supposedly set up "for" MTs do everything against us in terms of setting "industry standard" pay scales (no matter where in the country) and determining which things should be counted (from how many characters constitute a line to what an actual character is, beitablankspaceoraVBC).  Because of that, my pay has declined. 

Thanks to technological advances, which are great for some (especially suits and institutions), I have experienced yet another pay decrease.

There are those who say we must go with the changes, embrace them, work with them.  Bah!!  The pixels are on the screen; VR/ASR/EMR will inevitably drive them out as well, no matter what name we choose to call ourselves. 

There are so many other factors in play here that I cannot list them all but suffice it to say, I can no longer continue being an MT.  I certainly cannot afford to retire from this career in another 20 years (if it will even exist for that long).  I will even go so far as to warn others against entering this field. 

So, as the subject line states, now what?  What can I do with the knowledge and experience I already have?  Do I need to learn to do something totally different? 

I'm not scared--more angry and worried.  Is anyone else feeling the same about their future in this business? 

Given your choice, which position would you pick, assuming the cpl rate was the same?  Is QA a lot faster than VR editing?  If so, what is the approximate lph range for either?

TIA

Lesson 1:

When the human body was first made, all the parts wanted to be " The Boss."

The brain said, " I should be Boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions."

The feet said, " We should be Boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go."

The hands said, " We should be the Boss because we do all the work and earn all the money."

And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up.

All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the Boss. So the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work.

Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered.

Eventually they all decided that the asshole should be the Boss, so the motion was passed.

All the other parts did all the work while The Boss just sat and passed out the shit!

Moral: You don't need brains to be a Boss - any asshole will do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lesson 2:

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

Bull : "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings? They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

----------------------------------------

Lesson 3:

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.

A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him,"Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?"

The crow answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up. !!!

I've been job hunting, testing, sending out my resume for 2 weeks now and no bites.    I'm not a new graduate.  I worked for 2 years but have not worked MT for a little over a year now.  I have 3 toddlers and finally am able to have enough time to work full-time again.  My family really needs the extra income right now and I'm finding it very frustrating that so far I am not able to contribute. We live in a very rural area and driving into town for a job plus daycare for 3 toddlers would kill any income I'd get. 

I get answers from companies saying I have a good resume, experience, and even tested well but they are only hiring people with  #+ years RECENT experience. 

*sigh*  I'll just keep looking, emailing/faxing resumes, and testing... one will want me eventually. 

/rant.

In other professions like nursing, nurses can just sit around for hours on end and be paid the big bucks while you have to struggle through every line/minute for your pay. We should not tolerate being treated like this. We should be paid by the hour or at least paid a decent wage.

country music's Montgomery Gentry, please read this article and hopefully don't buy any more of their CDs.  Not for the squeamish and very upsetting!!! 

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/08/16/ap2953920.html

Has anyone out there had trouble with Maxell microcasettes popping from the spool.  For some reason, our office has gotten a batch of tapes that continues to pop from the spool when the physician dictates to the end of side A and then onto side B.  Tapes are popping left and right.  At first, it was just one particular physician's tapes, so we thought it was the machine.  However, now they are all popping, but only if dictated to side B.  Has anyone had better luck with other brands?  Need some help.  The physicians don't want to redictate, so I am losing $ and they are wasting time dictating only to have the tape pop.

Is it inappropriate to wear black to a wedding? 

If so, what is appropriate? 

I do not know what I did, but everytime I type b.i.d., my word automatically capitalizes the I so it looks like b.I.d.  It is such a pain because I have to go back and fix it.  does any know what I did to change this?  and how can I fix it?  thanks.

Anyone know of companies that will give newbies with schooling a chance?

I was offered the opportunity to type for a doctor that is moving in wiht another group of doctors and need a transcriptionist. I have typed for other clinics in the area, but these physicians only paid by the hour.

I am wondering if it would be in my best interest to see if they wont pay by the line or character. I have never done this before. I work full time at a hospital and will be doing this at home in the evenings.

Any information on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Can someone from QA tell me how they determine accuracy for each transcriptionist?  I have one particular account that has A LOT of ESL, most of which seem to be assigned to me for one reason or another.  I am used to most of them now but may have 2 or 3 reports a day that go to QA with blanks.  About 90% of the time, those reports are returned from QA with the blanks not filled in.  Are those counted against me, even if QA can't get them?

As far as I can tell, at the company I work for there is no random QA of reports. We are QA'd on the reports we send in with blanks. 

If anyone can help me I would so appreciate it.  My new acct has set up a site for me to log into to open dss files (this is my first time doing digital anything)  I right clicked on the file and clicked send to, which looked like it went to my C drive, but I cannot find this dss file.  Anyway to find it?  I hope so!  Also, I am using express scribe and I saw there was a way to set up automatic downloading of the files.  What should I put in for the Server? 

TIA to anyone who can help me.

Hello-

I have a job where I have to dial in and use a PC-DART modem with a foot pedal over my telephone line.  Is that common?

I want to sell a DeBeers' diamond that will get me out of a tight financial bind.  However, an ad in the the newspaper made me think of how easy it would be to knock my over and steal my ring.   The jewelry stores said that it would sit on their shelf possibly for a few months.  My dog is requiring emergency vet care and it is going to total much money.  I know the pawn shop is a possibility.  Any ideas?  I hate this idea because I know I will not get what it is worth but it is the one thing I have that would bring me hard cold cash.  Thanks!

Sorry, this is kind of long, but I would appreciate any advice/comments.

Back in May I was contacted by someone to whom I had sent my resume several months prior.  She asked if I would be interested in some part-time work, and I said that I was.  She had no idea how much or what time of day, etc. 

Well, it turned out to be quite a bit of work, and I wound up calling her and letting her know that it was too much, as she would ride me about turnaround time when I had let her know that I already had almost full-time work prior to accepting her part-time deal.  She did have another girl working on the account, but her work needed to be edited (fully to voice), and she asked that I hang in there while she found someone else, which I did, and she went through about three other girls.  During this time she would hit me with sometimes 2+ hours of dictation out of the blue, and there would be many days with nothing at all.  I had actually been hoping to still get daily work, but just a reduced amount from what it had been, and was still hoping that is how it would go once she was able to find someone else to share the load. 

Anyway, about a week ago I received an e-mail from her that she no longer had the account, and here is where my question comes in . . . I really liked doing this dictation, and am interested in trying to obtain the account for myself, but they are in a different state from me.  Since she has lost the account, I do not feel that it would be stealing, but obviously they must have had a replacement transcriptionist/service prior to telling her they would no longer need her services, so I am wondering how long I should wait and what approach I should take . . . should I call them, or perhaps mail something, or even call and try to get an e-mail address???  I was not told what the reason is that they no longer use her services either, by the way, and as far as having said what I did about it being too much work, I would give up something else to have this account if I could get it, but at the time I told her it was too much I had not decided that.  I had been considering proposing just that to her, for a negotiated higher wage, but then she lost the account. 

What would you guys do?

TIA for opinions/ideas!

My husband was in a networking class last night and the teacher, who he says really knows his stuff, polled the class to see how everyone felt about tech support being outsourced. Well, the general concensus was pretty negative.

The teacher also voiced his opinion. He had absolutely nothing good to say about them. They don't know what they're doing. They read from a script and so forth.

He pretty much said, "The damn Indians don't know squat about computers."

The teacher ... is from India.

Interesting, huh?

Wondering if anyone has heard anything new on the sale of Heartland. I currently work for them and at times I can be worried about my job. I work as usual, but cannot help for wondering how safe my job is.

I seen a couple things on Heartland even some old ones saying they were over seas owned, which is not true. They are owned by HCR Manor Care and based out of Toledo, Ohio.

If you had a client consistently dictate Friday or Saturday and ask for a large volume of work to be returned by Monday, would you charge a rush rate?  What percentage hike to your normal rate would you give?  This particular client dictates the majority of the material over the weekend and always asks for it back ASAP.  I have reiterated my work week consists of Monday through Friday.  I have decided to implement a weekend or rush rate so to speak and I am seeking opinions or experience.  Thank you.  

If you have a pacemaker do you still have to avoid microwave ovens? 

Hi,

I am still working in Office 2003 but have been considering Office 2007.  Is anyone using this?  Do you like it?  Do you know if programs like Shorthand, Abacus, and other transcription programs work with it?  Is it possible to have Office 2003 and Office 2007 on the same computer without interfering with the one another??