I would! This profession is all but dead
Posted By: without some kind of serious HELP. on 2007-10-29
In Reply to: JUST FOR KICKS - Who here would support - scribbles
@
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Yes, GP is dead serious! S/M
While MT Stars will not voluntarily give out personal information, I seriously doubt they would be inclined to defy a court order. Anyone who thinks their identity is truly annonymous might ought to think again.
It occurs to me that it is very interesting that someone(s) are attacking me as they are. Could be that someone(s) finds it objectionable that I am standing up for MTs who work under the most difficult and unfair conditions of any group since the coal miners? Undoubtedly some MTs have better working conditions than the majority. This board is only one of my sources and the allegations of MTs with 20+ years not being able to find employment, no OT pay, being forced to flex their schedule to get required lines but flexing only to the benefit of the employer, being fired or forced to quit for speaking up, etc. etc. are true in one form or another for the vast majority of MTs. That doesn't even touch the subject of people paying good money to attend MT schools and never being able to find employment. Many do find employment, the majority do not.
Yes, GP is dead serious! S/M
While MT Stars will not voluntarily give out personal information, I seriously doubt they would be inclined to defy a court order. Anyone who thinks their identity is truly annonymous might ought to think again.
It occurs to me that it is very interesting that someone(s) are attacking me as they are. Could be that someone(s) finds it objectionable that I am standing up for MTs who work under the most difficult and unfair conditions of any group since the coal miners? Undoubtedly some MTs have better working conditions than the majority. This board is only one of my sources and the allegations of MTs with 20+ years not being able to find employment, no OT pay, being forced to flex their schedule to get required lines but flexing only to the benefit of the employer, being fired or forced to quit for speaking up, etc. etc. are true in one form or another for the vast majority of MTs. That doesn't even touch the subject of people paying good money to attend MT schools and never being able to find employment. Many do find employment, the majority do not.
Seems like you are kicking a dead dog. (sm)
I assume you have contacted them yourself. Sorry, but I have no idea why they didn't give you work or why you had to pay shipping yourself. I understood the standard was they gave you a shipping label, you called Fed Ex and they picked up and delivered said package.
I assume you did deduct this as a loss from your taxes in the past?
You are dead right, my friend
That's right, it did come from an apparently specifically-created email account, so it would not have come back undeliverable. Someone was on the other end of that email account, and apparently the Yahoo Fraud Group contacted them.
Obviously the VP wanted the poster aware of the fact that her 'resignation' had been accepted. In the VPs position, I would have been mortified if an employee informed me they had NOT resigned and that was in fact not their email address. A cursory glance would have proven to the VP that this 'resignation' email came from a different (yet deceptively similar) email account.
I think this entire situation reeks and I hope the OP has all of this documentation printed off and seeks legal counsel. I remember her posting about All Type discontinuing the hourly rate and only paying the per-line rate, and although I have not searched the archives to re-read that post, I certainly do not recall her saying she was resigning because of it, nor do I recall other posted 'rants' as indicated by the 'about seeing an attorney' post. I also do not believe the OP even mentioned All Type by name in her original post about having her hourly salary cut, so I'm wondering how her alleged co-worker even knew that was an All Type employee.
Too many questions with no apparent explanations.
Grammar is dead.
I wish it were not so, because I'm with you - reading some posts almost makes my eyes bleed. I get such stuff from supervisors, from the owner of my company, from friends and it all drives me nuts! I think the advent of ''instant communication'' has killed thoughtful written expression. Don't U disagree? Nobody takes the time to proofread anymore - just bang out a message, maybe run spellcheck, and hit SEND. Nobody sees the point that there is a difference between the word then and the word than. They now are used interchangeably. Gaaag! There, their, they're; to, too - all the same, right?
bet you're dead wrong on that one!
!
Its going offshore because so many brain-dead MTs
admittedly don't care if the company they work for offshores. I refuse to work for any company that offshores. I am an AMERICAN and until every American has adequate work, I say, keep our work here. We are being the authors of our own demise by our I have got mine kinds of selfish attitudes.
Beating a dead horse
Not sure about NOW but they used to hire a lot of people M-F who had to work only 1 weekend per month. I chose to work on a weekend day because of more money but a lot of people that were hired still work M-F and rotate weekends.
Dead horse is right, Sharon
These people do not want to listen to reason, do not want reassurance, and quite frankly do want to have to expend the brain cells to LEARN. They'd rather trash the company, VR programs and MTs like us who are successful at it and make good money at it. No point wasting your time or effort.
I say let 'em go...Sounds like TTs better off without them and I'd hate to think I have co-workers of this mentality.
Have a nice dinner out...One of the beauties of working for TT (even on VR, lol) is the extra money for the nicer things in life. At least when all of these posters bail we'll have even more work and even more money to enjoy the finer things in life!
thats 'worth' and...EACH above. sorry, dead hands. NM
x
Beating a dead horse here, but
If these companies came on here and started naming employees that were bad news, you all would be in a hurry to find a way to make it someone else's fault.
There must be grounds for the poster to be sued by TT or else a lawyer wouldn't have taken the case. Who wins? No one.
The poster allegedly being sued came on here to gather up a herd of followers and then closed her thread. I don't see her posting any longer, do YOU? But, you are here to defend her? For what reason? It makes no sense to me.
Whoever this person being sued in my OPINION has screwed up this board for the last few days. It is nothing but fighting and bashing! That poster is gone with the wind now, probably never to return again and we're all at each other's throats.
Can we please quit beating this horse; it's dead; deader than a doornail!
Your post is so dead-on! Agree with everything you said.
x
Spelling police are dead on these boards now.
nm
I'll be retired or dead by that time. Let the
bn
I give up, it's you beating the dead horse......nm
nm
They will pry my expander out of my cold dead fingers.
And THEN they'll find out what Cranky REALLY means......
If you looked closely, they were dead on the vine THEN
It was all a ruse, a facade or pretense of caring. It was in an effort to avoid an en masse uprising and, to their credit, it worked.
The ONLY thing given any thought was the amount of $ involved and how long it took to get it to the bank.
Cannot answer TTS posting below- beating dead horse
Very strange, never saw where you could not reply to a posting, but the ones below to TTS are just like that. First of all, baloney to all- TTS is a great place to work, been there several years now, they do not bother you and how, pray tell, think about it, can you possible work at your own home and have someone miles away KNOWING when you take a bathroom break, get a glass of water - that is unless you had been gone for a longgggggggg time. Who is trying to post and pull someone's leg? I think the board has been hijacked.
Alright, no sense in beating a dead horse so
know what I am able to do and sorry you all are faced with something apparently lots are resistant to. I am leaving for the evening to have a nice dinner out.
Against. Dead/dying for MT now days for sure(30+ years MTing
.
I can't figure out how to use the shorthand properly (brain dead I guess) (sm)
Maybe I haven't taken enough time to learn it (I can be a bit impatient with myself), but I seem to have a mental block and have about given up. I used to have Smartype with my old system (before DQS) and wonder if it worked with Vianeta. Anyway, anyone out here, what do you use other than the ShortHand that comes with it?
You are in a profession
of people who really are scrambling for work. It's not like you are a doctor or lawyer. You are a typist and so stop being so uppity about it. your profession. I thought you had friends and that you are a mother, sister, niece.... get lost
Thanks everyone! Due to this profession and
all the garbage that goes along with it, I have accepted a position outside of transcription. Pay is better and bennies to boot! It's sad to see what this profession has lead to . The ungratefulness from MTSOs is growing by leaps and bounds. Please no replies that.... the grass is not always greener, etc. Been there, done that.... I'm very comfy with my decision. I can always fall back on transcription -we are a dime a dozen whether we are seasoned or newbie (unfortuantely)!
This profession... SM
can be a rewarding profession, but definitely not an easy one. There are waves of workflow, waves of pay, waves of anger, waves of joy, waves of guilt, waves of happiness, waves of sadness, waves with a shark lurking (like an ocean). hehe
So what do we do in the ocean? Go with the waves! Surf's Up!!! 
MT isn't the only profession
As a coder, we often work around and in spite of. Their written documentation is just as bad as their dictation. One visit the patient has metastatic cancer, the next visit they have cancer in situ, then they have a history of cancer, etc., etc., etc. One visit HIV positive, next visit AIDS, next visit HIV positive. There is no consistency at all. They come in with a visit diagnosis of Diabetes type 1 but their office note says type 2. MTs have it rough but we're not the only one. I think anything in the HIM field meets these challenges. They're just in such a big hurry to whip through it that they don't pay attention. Most docs consider doing their documentation just too big a bother and scr__ the consequences.
And I think that anyone in this profession that has
in this year 2009, should automatically be a CMT; no test; no money; just grandmothered into a CMT. I am only 38, but I've been transcribing for almost 20 years now and used to have to look every word up in a dictionary and didn't have Google or electronic spell checks to help me do my job. I feel like I should already be a CMT and not have to take the test.
I also think the line rates are very low here lately especially for acute care work that requires evenings and weekends. I know this profession is 24/7, but all MTs deserve more than 7 cpl to work nights and weekends as in any other profession, there is a shift diff that pays.
As far as the ist at the end of my title, I don't mind. A transcriber, in my opinion, sounds more like the name of a machine or office equipment. The ist I feel is derived from the term specialist, so add what you like before the ist and that's what you get; it is not belittling and definitely not feminine when you consider how many male physicians there are in society today. Furthermore, I'd take a male dictator over a female any day of the week.
Okay, I'm done... for whoever cares... 
This is the only profession ......
that the longer you are in it and the more experienced you are, the less you get paid.
If you are in this profession you have to
accept them, they are part of it whether you like it or not, or as you say - get out.
MTs getting out of the profession
I agree with that assessment. My local technical college is discontinuing their MT program because of the changes being made. So what is going to happen is that there is going to be a huge paucity of qualified people who can accurately transcribe and edit the few remaining necessary functions that they now perform and they will then be at a premium and the price will go up. Then once the medical providers figure out that the way they keep records (EMR point and click and VR), while they may be expedient and cheap, are not living up to the hype and hence will get them into trouble legally (due to sloppy entries and slipshod data entry by the physicians themselves), they will reassess the need for those in our profession and go looking for us again. Perhaps we will be there but probably not.
to have a real profession
So before you going calling anyone dumb.... think about just how skilled you aren't. MQ'ER move along.
Don't let this sour you on this profession. sm
There are great companies out there and horrible ones. What was horrible for you might be a good fit for someone else.
the problem with this profession..
is..... it is very ill defined. nothing is measured, nothing is objective, at least consistently. 7 cpl is equal to 10 cpl somewhere else. a few examples. people don't say they are acute care MTs to annoy you, there are a million different scenarios and a whole lot of jargon being thrown around, and i guess i'd be wondering what a person is called that does acute care but no ops. a whole half a company where i work are like that. so.. uh...see. every scenario is different... which is a major part of the problem.
but, in response to your note, i disagree with a whole lot of it, and it's due mainly to what i say above. i chose to work at home because i dont want to work at an office so i am sure as heck not interested in turning this environment into the very thing i left.
any, may i submit to you, and many others speaking in these forums.... it's fine to express opinions; it's not heard with much regard when it is touted as fact. you see divas. i see an industry of people who have been taken advantage of like no other. there is no accountability from the doctor, the hospital, or the MTSO... it all runs down hill to the MT. laws are blatantly ignored and policies rarely written with any definition. if you want to compare the way we work to traditional offices, when was the last time you worked at an office where you worked 10 hours to get in 8, and you only got paid for some of the work, but not all. it's come to be the norm here.
some heavy duty revamping needs to take place... and i'm working on it. everyone put their thinking caps on about what's really at the root of these problems, and stop arguing for crying out loud. never seen so many arguers in my life. it's apples and oranges that everyone is arguing over.... little bites of fact taken out of context. no big picture.
i will be back over the next few months to hear them. let's get down and serious and fix this chaos. look underneath what got you ramped up.. the ramping isn't valuable, but figuring out what is driving it is. i say we start a revolution.
You are a traitor to this profession.
What you are doing is the reason why MTs are in the fix they're in. You are selling US out for profit. Pray tell, how do you plan to ensure patient confidentiality in the jungle?
If we were men, I seriously doubt our profession
nm
that is why the profession is swirling sm
around the toilet bowl because no one will stand up and tell the truth about these companies AND the ones who do stand up and tell the truth get blasted. Hey, if no one wants to list and wants to sit back and watch it happen without a fight, then don't gripe when its over!
The nosedive this profession took was because
meaningless little spats and email wars between MTs.
Or you could choose to look for a different profession, sm
where you are not so demoralized that you feel (jokingly or not) that you are a victim.
Do you really think that this profession requires MORE than others? sm
Come on, nurses, teachers, most other *professions* have to keep CEs updated, etc. Wages are stagnant in *most* fields right now, not just this one.
If you feel like a victim, find something that makes you happier and feel empowered. That's not anything but truth.
A disgrace to the profession???
Years and years ago before I had much experience I took a job for 6.5 cpl. I had no choice. However, it was an easy clinic account that I could do 1800-2000 lines a day. I only worked 30 hours a week so the $16 - $18 an hour was not bad back then. The same would be true today for a newbie. It may be the only thing they can get until they gain more actual working experience. Kidding right? - Do you remember being a newbie? They are a disgrace to the profession? Could it be perhaps that you are the MT who keeps going from board to board, posting under different aliases, and just dogging anyone's post that you can. What kind of witch hunt are you on? YOU are calling someone a disgrace to the profession?
VR, Transcend, MT profession, etc. Long msg
Difficult as it will be, it's time we, as a profession, unite and put our collective foot down on this crap. We are quickly running out of time to be able to do anything about this stuff, and this may, in fact, be our last shot at making a difference. Therefore, my suggestion for those being replaced by a technology that still can't even do the work without our help is to immediately look for work with other companies that are not yet going to strictly editing positions through VR, and do it quickly and as a mass exit. Any company experiencing a mass exit like that I don't think can survive it. There are a lot of companies looking for good, experienced transcriptionists, so the time is right for making an immediate move. Such a move will send the message that giving our work away is synonymous with losing accounts. By watching the aftershock of such a response from the MTs, other companies will hopefully think twice about following the same path.
The point is, if we don't strike a plan and do something, and quick, we are all going to be looking for another line of work anyway. My position is, if the doctors want to use VR, then get it right. If I am going to have to hang back in the wings and fix it for them for less pay and longer hours, then my answer to that is, no thanks; do it yourself. The point is, of course, at least for right now, they can't do it themselves and don't have the time to do it even if they could. This is the best opportunity any of us will have to make a stand (and a statement) while keeping the pain we individually experience as a result at a minimum. Test for another company and move on as quickly as you can. If a company engaging in this cut-throat activity gives no notice (as the posts suggest happened in the case with Transcend concerning wage and work cuts), then don't feel obligated to give any notice that you are leaving. If you are working for a company that is considering such a move in the future and has stated as much, then make plans to move on right now, and when you have secured another position, let them know you are leaving and why.
You can't wait on this. Don't give them time to figure anything out. Just leave them high and dry the way they eventually intend to do you (us). They're doing what they are doing because they want to be richer. You'll be doing what you do because you need to survive and put food on the table. BIG DIFFERENCE!!
The results will be that the other companies that are looking for good help will get all that they need, which will make their accounts happier because TAT is being met like never before. In turn, the companies that experience such a mass exit will have their accounts looking around for a new home because of the backlog that develops, and that in turn will cost them money rather than such a move having made them money as originally thought. And, where do you suppose those fleeing accounts will have to go? To companies that are well staffed because they don't take their MTs for granted. This will give such companies a big boost economically, which will be yet further incentive to maintain a happy work force and not be willing to cut the throats of their work force when it comes to work availability.
This will not prevent VR from continuing to progress and develop, but it will stop the tide that is beginning to take shape and perhaps even shift it once the doctors and the companies realize that, if they are going to use it, they are on their own because we will not help them put us out of work. The technology is still not to the point where it can stand on its own yet, so those that would see MTs out of work will have to rethink their position for the time being, and that in turn will give our profession more time to find a way to organize and make a permanent stand for the benefit of our own self-preservation as an industry. They're slowly pulling the rug out from under us, and we are just standing here letting them do it because we don't see how there is anything we can do about it. But there is something we can do. We just have to buck up and do it.
Don't tell me this is idealistic either. That's all I have heard from fellow MTs when it comes to making any kind of a stand. It's only idealistic because you aren't willing to do what it takes to change it. If we stand together and refuse to go along with this, these companies will have to rethink their position. If we wait until they are in a position to survive without us, then they will do just that. Either way, we're all going to be out of a profession anyway, so why not make a stand right now while there's a chance it could make a difference, especially when there is still work to be had in this field with other companies that have not yet sold us out. 
Well if you've seen the profession erode so much,
That's one of the biggest eroders! And you act as thought the AAMT only does what its membership wants. Bull hoggy!! It does whatever it darn well feels like doing--whatever will line its pockets!
I have 10 years in this profession and have a different viewpoint
I started out with a small MTSO doing clinic only and got bored after 5 years so struck out on my own after waiting out a hostile takeover by that big bully company and the clinic going back to original group. I then learned just how unstable this business can be. In the next 3 years had my own hospital accounts and worked for about 4 nationals - had very good experiences. I then QA'd for a very stable company who decided to get out of the MT business and sold their accounts to a company who had their own editors. For 4 months I looked for a stable company, I tested and interviewed and made comparisons. You would not in your wildest imagination believe what is out there - I kid you not. I will not go into all the horrible details - you can either believe me or not. But some of the posters have real valid points here and I for one appreciate their comments. I take the good with the bad - realizing there are some sour grapes but that is to be expected. All and all I think there is a pretty good and caring support system here and I appreciate it very much! :)
There are single Moms in every profession.
You can't expect to work for a company holding the cards, and them pay you all of what they make when you want to be at home and it is not your account. It belongs to the company paying you. There's always the pavement to pound if you think you deserve the big bucks. Can't have it both ways. I don't think anything is just handed to anyone. If the electric is going to be turned off, then there are programs out there to help. I think if you fall within a certain salary range, you would qualify for assistance especially being a single Mom or Dad.
work ethics -- not just this profession
you will find there are those kind of people in any given profession. Also you never know one's background and you cannot compare apples to oranges. Providing wisdom for someone is far better and more professional and makes you the bigger person.
this is where expierience in the profession kicks in. nm
.
I do accept ESL as part of the profession
I transcribed for them all the time. Some of them are great. What I asked was, is it fair to use an ESL like this particular one as part of the testing process, poor audio and all. Maybe it is. Maybe it represents the dictators they have on the account they are hiring for. If so, no thank you. While I do not mind turning out quality medical reports to the best of my ability, no - I am not doing it for free. As much as I love the MT business, I am still here for a paycheck so yes, production and cpl does matter to the point that I would not want this particular ESL as my full time job. Looking out for number one.
Then that MT needs to either find another employer or another profession
And the poster you're referring to has been rude and attempting to be a ringleader for some demented mass walk-out of her fellow MTs, so if I were you I wouldn't be too sympathetic to her cause. She just keeps changing her name and posting the same types of things over and over.
And would you HONESTLY sit there and let someone call you a liar or in management because you like your job or are good at it?
Sorry, but the poster who started this deserves whatever she gets. If she can't take it, she shouldn't be dishing it out.
FIND A DIFFERENT PROFESSION IF YOU DON'T WANT W/ENDS!!
Are you dense people? You are expendable and someone will be glad to work the weekends. No wonder most of you are in low paying jobs you are afraid to leave, you can't aspire to anything more! Women are crazy. How many male MTs are there who come here and complain on a daily basis?
The beauty of it is we DON'T HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER PROFESSION! sm
There are still hundreds of jobs out there that don't require this ridiculous schedule. The OP turned down the job! Why does this anger you so?? Because she refused to settle?? MTs settling for crappy pay rates, schedules, etc. is what has sent this job overseas. The majority that have sent their work overseas have also come back to the good ole American MT!
I stopped thinking of this as a profession
and now think of it as a job. Fortunately, in the days of when MTs were of value and were paid accordingly, I paid off my house and don't have that hanging over my head. If I had not, being single, I would not be able to pay my house payment today. No pay raise for so many years I can't remember and now seeing post after post about 7 cents per 65 character line and people taking these jobs, it will be more like community service.
I am making sure I put some money away each payday because when that day comes, I'm going to apply at Target or the local Goodwill. I really do mean that. I have worked for 26 years now doing this. I have a dozen years left to work before I can retire.
We were not overpaid when we were making money. We were paid accordingly.
As far as recommending this line of work to someone, that is something I never would do.
I stopped thinking of this as a profession
and now think of it as a job. Fortunately, in the days of when MTs were of value and were paid accordingly, I paid off my house and don't have that hanging over my head. If I had not, being single, I would not be able to pay my house payment today. No pay raise for so many years I can't remember and now seeing post after post about 7 cents per 65 character line and people taking these jobs, it will be more like community service.
I am making sure I put some money away each payday because when that day comes, I'm going to apply at Target or the local Goodwill. I really do mean that. I have worked for 26 years now doing this. I have a dozen years left to work before I can retire.
We were not overpaid when we were making money. We were paid accordingly.
As far as recommending this line of work to someone, that is something I never would do.
|
