Have done QA and trained folks and will tell you, not all experience is industry standard
Posted By: a lot of folks cannot get off 100% qa. n/m on 2005-09-12
In Reply to: Is there really a shortage of US MTs or am I blind and deaf?? sm - Need to vent here for a minute.
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I think the industry standard is using
independent contractors and you get neither vacation or sick pay.
I think this is probably the industry standard
.
An Industry Double Standard??
All of the posts about some potential blacklist started me thinking this week. First, let me say I don't think one exists, and I do think there is an informal network where someone any of us may have worked with might work at a company or whatever and information is shared. But here's my question.
While I don't believe in a blacklist concept, we DO seem to have that with employers here. So my question is, what's the difference? Why is it okay for MTs to say DO NOT work here... and it's not okay for an employer to say DO NOT hire this person... And I'm asking aside from the legal reasons of what can and cannot be given in a formal reference check. I'm talking about the informal network that we have in our industry.
The reality is, like it or not, all MTs are not created equal just like all employers are not created equal. And there is no one size fits all company or MT in our industry.
So what makes this different? Why is okay for MTs to blackball a company and not the other way around? I'm not asking for argument, purely curious about your thoughts on this. Thanks.
There is no industry standard for pay dates.
The industry standard is leaning more......... sm
toward the use of numerals rather than spelled out words as numerals tend to stand out more. The use of Roman numerals is also being phased out, except for things like cancer stages. I don't think Webmedx is cheating anyone out of lines by requiring the use of numerals.
As I said below, not every company is a good fit for ever MT. Why not just let this all go and find a company with which you can be happy?
Industry Standard Vacation/Sick pay
I am an at-home Transcriptionist for a major hospital system. As of a year ago, we have had our earned vacation/sick pay reduced by 15% of our hourly wage. We were told this is industry standard. Is this correct?
if you want to work for super below industry standard - go for it.
It's great money if you haven't ever had an MT job (EVER!)
The industry standard is biweekly. It costs money
to process payroll and unless they are a very small company and do payroll in-house it isn't cost effective.
The last time you asked, or the time before that, there were a few companies listed who pay weekly.
The industry standard is NOT indepedent contractors. I wish people would sm
only post facts, not what they think, with something so important.
There are strict guidelines for ICs. Most companies have gotten away from that as it can backfire on them. Some companies have both ICs and employees, but most have moved to employees.
Already trained, not by me
Reports were corrected numerous times and sent back.
Have you been trained yet?
They only spent an hour training me on the Dictaphone platform and no training at all on the account notes. They emailed them to me and told me to type away. There is no limit to the amount you can type either. I am a high producer and had to send them all to QA. Transtech is a friendly place to work but I was not impressed with the lack of training. It is definitely for people who must work on their own. I think I got paid for 8 or 10 hours training pay and that was it.
The way I was trained as an MT
First of all, I have to say that Long-Time MTs attitude stinks.
That said, I did not attend a formal training program, but was mentored to become an MT. I was taught that I should know whether a drug is brand or generic and, thus, whether or not it should be capitalized. In addition, I should know correct dosages and what the drugs are used to treat!
With all due respect, I think that if you have to continuously look up the same things over and over, you should find a better system. I was also taught that to have to do so is a waste of time, and we all know that time is money, especially in this business.
Why not get trained on it then you will get a mix
/
Yes they can. If you have to be trained
for your job, i.e., maybe new procedures, software, etc., yes they can if you want to continue to work for them. Even as an IC, you have to meet their requirements to work there.
If the VR program has been trained and you are
little manual transcribing (and you are an experienced MT to start with), you could expect to be at about 2000 to 2500 lines a day in just a couple of months. At 3.75 cpl, that is $75 $93.75 a day.
If you do manual transcription on a good platform and can average 1500 lines a day at 9 cpl, you would earn $135 a day.
You would need to factor in if they pay for headers, footers, spaces and if everything you are getting is VR reports from the more difficult dictators with a lot of editing that would be needed AND how often they run out of work. Sten-Tel has a reputation of giving their MEs the harder dictators and running out of work often, although your mileage may vary.
I'm only trained on 1 account. nm
I actually prefer to be trained
this way rather than getting stuck on the phone endless hours. Would you mind emailing me the name of the company?
Trained, but didn't like software
The staff was very nice, seemed organized in getting equipment out. Was not disclosed full details of shift. You must be on 8 hours, you are logged the whole time. It took the better part of a day to be set up. The next day it took an entire morning to be trained. The trainer did not seem well versed with the software, constantly put on hold to take other calls. Constantly said will call back in 5 minutes and it would be 2 hours. Not paid for demographics that take a lot of time and software was very cumbersone and to me not production friendly. Positives were employee status and the benefits were average. Was told top pay for acute care is 9 cents 65 character line. I decided it was not for me, but someone else may like the software and adhering to a strict schedule. Everyone was friendly.
When I trained/worked for Medware,
more than 2 hours because the trainer like to gab and not necessarily keep on track with the training. So, no guarantee that you will be finished.
If there are backup accts then everyone should be trained on them
If there is no work and no backup account then there is a huge problem. Please clarify the above. Have you asked for a backup? As for working at Sears, Im sure if business was slow you would have to stick around but they would pay you for your time.
trained 2-3 days after contact....sm
I work there now. My training was 2-3 days later. I live in California, they are in Maryland, I did not have a long distance bill . They call you and you have your training watching them teach you on thier computer, the training is short.
I have been there 3 years and only do rad. I was trained well and love my job. sm
The only complaint I have is that 2 accounts I was on went to Powerscribe. I was put on different accounts because I do not like to edit VR, so there was really not a problem. I get a lot of work and love my lead!
MT for many, many years, hired, trained
And you think x is trying to be superior?
I have a question. If what you say is true, that people on here ask legitimate questions and there are no dumb questions, only people too dumb and proud to ask questions, that does not also responses as well? Why is it that x has been relegated to the bottom of the heap of humanity for expressing hers?
SHE'S the one with the attitude? Puh-leeze, go stand stand in front of a mirror and deliver that diatribe to your audience of one.
I trained the voice recog at a company
Was running perfect for a while and then it all went to heck in a handbag. Took more time to transcribe an ASR then for me to retype the entire report especially since all my docs were macro'd. I believe they tried it overseas left the filter on and it got all messed up and I think they will continue until this particular company has all editors and will be making appx 7.50 an hour, that is what an ex-supervisor from there told me. Needless to say I moved on.
Who did your training? When I worked there, I was trained from someone in India, very hard to
understand what he was saying. Communication is less than ideal as there seems to a language barrier and comprehensive. I used to think NO was a universal language but to them it just means keep asking until the other person is so frustrated they are ready to reach in through the phone lines or IM and tear out your vocal cords LOL. Joking aside. Awful experience. I worked too hard, made too little and the HR person was the worst EVER.. real airhead. 
I'm being trained for QA, and the guy taking me through the training acts like it's rocket sci
I think he's making it out to be harder than it really is. Glad to hear so many actually find it easy.
they have on their site Internationally and Domestic trained MT-s. Don't work for them! Outsour
.
I was told by several actual Indiam MTs that they were trained by watching ER episodes and typing SM
as the show was aired. They were rated on their speed, not accuracy! He said that when he did start working, the actual reports were to be edited in the US, so accuracy did not matter. I found this shocking, although the best line rate there at the time was 2-3 cpl. His accounts that he was assigned in India were for many US VA hospitals He has since come to the US and works online for a major company, last time I spoke with him, he was getting 11 cpl. He must have been trained with one of the more complicated episodes of ER...LOL BTW, I did tell him that he should be an entertainment industry MT, he would probably make more money...
That would be for standard
transcription, editing is less.
The standard used to be.. SM
10 lines for every minute, so if that still stands, then that would be correct
60 = 600.
WE CAN SET A NEW STANDARD!!!!!
All right, calling ALL MTs!!!!! It's time for a very, VERY important step in getting our industry back in line with the skill set it takes. From now on when looking for more work or a new job, JUST SAY NO! to low line rates. If we keep letting them jerk us around and try to pay 1990s wages, they'll keep doing it. There are enough of us here to start the ball rolling in the right direction, and if we don't, we might as well get a job at McDonalds!
It's time to set some standards that are realistic for what we bring to the table. If you have 5 to 10 years of experience, 7.5 to 8 cpl should be the rock bottom. At 10+ years 8.5 to 9 cpl should be the standard, etc. MTs UNITE!
NOW HEAR THIS, MTSOs...it's time to start bidding work higher because within the next year, you'll have MTs who will only laugh and ask, Are you SERIOUS!??? if you try to offer us the wages we were making 20 years ago. I mean come ON...no one in their right mind works for less money than when they started out way back when.
Fellow MTs, it's up to us to change the industry standards. If you aren't up to the task to be proactive, it's time to stop whining and take the beating. I don't think any of us professionals are willing to do that...at least I'm not!
300-400 lph standard?!
I am in the same boat you are, I can type standard at around 240-260 on a good day. I also do VR and can do up to 500-600 lph but VR you get paid much less.
All in all I like standard much better, it does hurt like *&%$ at the end of the day but time flies by for me and I have a chronic problem of boredom when I work VR and I keep checking the clock and my lines just waiting to be done.
I make the same whether I am doing VR or standard, trust me, I have checked, I just earn more with standard because I get in a zone and type like a madwoman and like I said, time goes by very fast which I like.
VBC Standard
Katherine, I am just passing on information in case there are those MTs that have not heard of VBC. You are not expected to do anything. This was merely an informational memo. NO PAY CUT NO ADDITIONAL ACCOUNT, Just trying to do a good thing by giving info where none might not be available. Thanks Linda
No, it is not standard. Those are
the crappy companies with horrible pay. 2-3 cpl is most definitely NOT the standard. Geez people.
I was offered what seems to be the standard.
Considering it will be an OP account, I figure I can make good use of normals, etc. and make some good money.
Your standard response ... sm
I've seen the same reply for years. Yet the chaos continues.
Why would they? The standard is by the line.
x
I think this is pretty standard, unfortunately. sm
When I worked in-house we the option of A) Work an 8-hour shift with only one 30-minute break or B) Work an 8-1/2-hour shift with a 1-hour break (or two 15-minute and one 30-minute). I think, however, most places require you to work 8-1/2 if you are going to take a 30 minute break...seems like that is against the law, but I don't know. I thought you were entitled to two 15-minute breaks for an 8-hour shift.
Actually, with computers, it's a standard to only
Two spaces were used with typewriters to make a document easier to read, but computers have proportional fonts, so the extra spacing after punctuation is no longer necessary. One space has been rule in desktop publishing and it's actually easier to read, IMO, than 2 spaces. It's definitely hard to get used to at first, but it's actually easier once you do and saves keystrokes. Of course, if you've been using 2 and getting paid for the extra space, you'll lose out, but most places seem to prefer one space now. You can sometimes set grammar checks to watch for 2 spaces and alert you so you can change it to only 1. I know Word has that option and it does help when you are transitioning.
standard keyboard
welcome aboard
standard lines
Okay - I have posted about this before when we first found out our company PM was going to start paying 2 cpl for ALL standard lines including headings!! A couple of days ago this really started and I am really iritated! Is this a common practice now for MT companies? Yes the headings may come up in the software automatically, but we are also having to spend lots of time changing the templates to the correct ones, changing info that is entered wrong like dates of service etc. and also Emdat is sooo slow half the time between notes!! So, I was under the assumption that even though you have headings and they, for the most part, are standard lines, that it kind of helps cover the time it takes us to fix the templates and stuff like that!! Am I way out in left field here? What do you all think? Im not going to be able to work for a company that does this, it will really cut our pay quite a bit!! Not too mention a letter was sent out to all explaining that they could lose the accounts because of off shore lower prices, whatever if they did not change to this.....but in the same email they slipped up and said that they have always given the doctors the 2cpl rate on standard headings and had not passed it on to us until now....well then they just screwed up because if that be the case they were not in danger of losing the accounts when they were already giving them the discount, they just wanted more money in their pockets and taking it away from the MT in this economy, seems pretty crappy to me! It seems like do more and we will pay you less, definitely time to find a new job!!
standard lines
They are paying the regular 8 cpl for what you straight type, but headings, templates, macros etc. are considered standard lines and are paid at 2cpl. So you still lose money because all of your Chief complaint, HPI etc. are all paid at 2 cpl. it will add up
double standard
Since you're so knowledgeable about how to treat people and what's insensitive you surely know that you came off looking like the bigger jerk with your condescending, bullying way of making your point. There are ways of educating people without making them feel bad about something that was unintentional to start with. I don't know if you actually have a double standard or are just a bully, but I have much more respect for the OP as a person since she admitted her mistake and apologized and you still wouldn't let it go. You may be an expert on PC, but it seems a little phony when you present it in such a hateful way. Grow up.
Each company has their own standard
for this. I have worked for companies where you were on it 3 days and if okay then you were released. The Q was known for telling you to do 3 to 5 reports, send for full QA and then take off--all with absolutely no feed back. Most, however, take it on an individual basis. If you are getting conflicting info from different people, refer all to your supervisor and ask which is correct. If it is different feedback from different accounts, each probably has their own way of doing things.
8 cpl for standard and 3 cpl for VR - that's a crock!
There is little to no standard typing for which you can make 8 cpl. It is 90/10 in favor of VR. If you buy into the slick sales job the VR snake oil vendors put forth and can actually double your output per hour, you are making 6 cpl. What a joke!
To the poster who said 2-3 cpl is standard for VR:
Don't fall for it. It most certainly is NOT standard for VR. From what I've seen, the standard rate for VR seems to be about 60% of your regular line rate for straight typing. I was working for Alltype when they tried to force feed us the line that 3 cpl is the standard and IMO that's insane. Also IMO, anyone who tries to pay 3 cpl across the board without taking into consideration the length of experience on VR and the straight typing rate is ripping you off.
Bad folks
BReitner totally sucks! Very unprofessional people that have not paid other MTs in the past. Beware!
IC folks
Okay all of you IC folks quick question. Do you like the flexibility of IC work? Do you think being an employee is better or about the same? Do you think you can make more money being IC as they are smaller companies than the big corporate giants we all know too well. Just wanted some fast feed back on the life of being an IC.
That's all, Folks!
Only a card and they send the same card every year. Go figure!!!!!
To all you TT folks
Sounds like your management has been reading the MQ posts and they have decided why not? If MQ can get away with it....
MDI folks
I am so jealous of all you MDI employees. You are so fortunate to be working for what is obviously one of the few good apples left in the bunch. It sounds like they truly care about their employees and I'm sure it will pay off for them in the long run. Sounds like some smart management! Wish some of these other companies would get wise to that kind of thinking. Taking care of the backbone of the company, the MTs is only going to be more profitable in the long run, but too many of them are short-sighted these days. I'm betting it wouldn't do much good to apply to MDI right now!
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