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Posted By: My experience with Spheris (3 times) on 2009-07-14
In Reply to: Spheris Pay - anon
My experince giving them every chance I could is whatever you are paid today, next year it will more than likely be less without warning. They did it one Christmas (before Christmas that is). That was when they redid the rating of the hospitals. The pay was not that great at that time but we all got hit with 200-400 less a month. Unless of course you wanted 100% ESL. I finally had to quit within the month.
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As I mentioned before, the best thing to do would be to send a resume directly to the medical records director. If they are in need of a transcriptionist, chances are they are going to walk that resume right down to HR and have them get in touch with you for an interview. And it also lets the MR Director know that "hey, there are people in the area, and we don't have to outsource overseas or out of the hospital."
I can't say it enough - I wish I had lived in St. Louis because I would have taken the job in a heartbeat. Some people did work at home and others worked on site.
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I love the fact that there is always work (except on a few occasions around holidays, etc). I love that I can generally get an answer to a question when I ask it. I love that my pay is always on time (as the previous person said). I love that they do not outsource to India. I agree, there have been some changes, but I really love MDI.
There are some minuses too, but I have worked for a few other nationals after working at a hospital, and really, MDI is the best I have seen.
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I was in a simlar situation once. I didn't want to burn my bridges, just in case the other job didn't work out so I told them I could not commit to full time as some personal issues came up but that I would be able to help them out 1 day a week. They allowed me to do this, and it ended up that I went full time with them later, as I actually made more money in the long run... better dicators, etc...
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Rolling On The Floor Scaring The Cat Laughing My @$$ And Other
Body Parts Off. Teresa, they may have an opening at OSi or SoftScript for you.
Thank you!!!! Please sm inside
Thanks for all the information! Did you feel that you were able to get yourself on some sort of 'schedule'? I just left somewhere because I had no idea from day to day when I would get work or how much and ended up waiting around all day long sometimes and either getting very little to nothing or too much at once for the TAT. Did it seem pretty manageable? (I would also rather work during the daytime hours...) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your help!
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I worked for them recently (within a year). They had software changes earlier to that, so if you see negatives about technology problems, it was before that. Evidently they did have lots of problems back before they were on their current system. Still some occasional bugs.
IC only. Good accounts. Put you on one account, and you stay on that account. If you have a similar experience to mine, you won't run out of work on your account.
Software getting dated. Not written by/for MTs or with requests for MT input. Hence, you have the programmer(s) doing really strange Keystrokes that are not productivity-friendly. They fix one thing and break three others. Need to fire the programmers and invest a bit more in getting decent programmers.
Office staff--THE best, hands down. QA will leave you alone unless there's a problem. You don't get QA scores sent to you or nitpicking. You either have good quality or they'll be contacting you about it.
Hours--THE best, once again. You have a quota to get in every week, and you give them a weekend day. Other than that, you're free to get that time in when you can.
OTI is also the company in my experience that's come closest to actually treating ICs as ICs.
I have worked for many nationals, and OTI remains my best overall experience. I had to leave because of needing benefits. That's the only reason I left. I would recommend them to anybody who's got at least five years of acute care experience in the Basic 4.
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SoftScript pays up to 10.5 cents a line with full benefits.
JLG, I believe, pays up to 9.5 with benefits (or at least they used to).
Be sure and watch the job boards for hospitals hiring for at home workers. Good pay and full benefits at a great price. Don't settle without checking all options and best of luck to you.
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Their ad on MTJobs says 7 to 9 cents a line.
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I used to work for them. Is this transcription or editing? Is the patient name not there, or are you having problems getting the template? Is there a button with three dots near the patient info on the screen? If the patient name is not there you need to listen first and then input the first and last name on the screen. It is hard to know exactly where you are. Hope this could help some.
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Pay rate - range is 0.7-0.9 depending on a lot of factors (for clinic). Includes spaces.
Flexible - for clinic and ortho - YES!!!!
Weekends - I do my Friday work on Saturday but not sure if required.
Word - some accounts yes, some no. I type in Scribe, which is Word-based and very easy.
In fact, flexible has hurt me today. I have not started yet. Queen of the game shows today!
No. Inside is what you said in your OP.
I just completed an interview process with JLG. The owner presents herself as an MT who understands our situations
You are wacked and definitely not someone that any co would want
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Then I guess Scribes/Nightingale lowering their rates (without notice) from $1.05/minute to $.80 or $.85/minute sucks even worse than I thought.
Please see inside.
This is my first time doing IC work. I imagine it will eat up some of my profit, but I am just having my other job hold out a little more.
You only do as much as you want. She will send an e-mail out to the P.R.N. pool of transcriptionists stating, I have 60 minutes of Dr. Mickey Mouse available. His speciality is ENT. It is due back by noon tomorrow (Pacific standard time). Does anyone want all or part of this? Then (based on whoever responds first) she will assign the work. Let's say you want 30 minutes of it--you would e-mail her and state, May I have 30 minutes of Dr. Mickey Mouse's work? If you're the first to ask, she will assign it to you.
You don't have to take work...only e-mail her when you want it. There is not that much work. She e-mails maybe 1 to 3 times a day. So the work volume is pretty minimal, but it is something to fill in slow periods with another job.
Hope this has been helpful.
Chickadee
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I usually get what I need.
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www.advancedtx.com
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SPi Transcription - web site is:
http://www.spi-bpo.com/web/spi/text_page.jsp?fldr_id=199
I read some of the MT Stars archives entries that gave the impression they were now an American company.
After reading more, you may be right. I think they may be foreign-based. They acquired an American-based MT company several years ago and set up their corporate office in Nashville, TN but sounds like they are still pretty much an overseas company. Kind of confusing. Anyway, check out the web site for more info. 
Oh, OK - see inside
I work for Cymed (now SPi) and no change at all as of yet. Hopefully this will continue.
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It's an Indian company, run by (India) Indians, but they hire Americans and the accounts are American hospitals/doctors.
They have both straight transcription and voice recognition editing, I believe you have to do both. Mostly hire ICs.
What they did was ... (see inside)
Suddenly, with no warning, cut people's salary by a huge amount. I had worked there for almost 3 years, and the cut took me back to the starting pay they had given me when I was fresh out of school. This was despite being able to do absolutely any kind of work they had, plus working on weekends and holidays with no extra pay or compensation.
They were originally Scribes Data, bought out by Nightingale. We were assured absolutely nothing would change regarding the MTs with the buyout, but they lied.
I really miss some of the doctors I transcribed for there, but I couldn't take a huge cut like that, especially without notice, it was a real slap in the face, in my opinion.
I did learn an awful lot working there (acute care of all types).
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The present job may be sending you tons of work, but if they're not paying you, you're not making any money.
I would do minimal work for them, and maximum for the new place. Old place can't complain about you not working if they're not paying. And the only way to see if new place will work out is to try it.
Good luck!
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First let me say I am not paid by the line, but by the report. Secondly, my lead has been wonderful. I keep in close communication with her. I also let her know that if extra help is needed I am available. I honestly feel like me keeping busy is related to the two accounts that I have as well as my lead. I was adamant about getting a second account.
I am sorry that your best day this pay period has been 175 lines, but you really have to question the variables surrounding this. Do you work on a large account, what about your scheduled times. I know that with radiology, usually the doctors are very active first thing in the morning taking care of the films from the night before. This is a good fit for me and I will continue to voice that. Even if things were really bad, I would be ringing the phone off the hook with my lead and the office trying to get resolution. Jumping ship is not always the answer as we change and find ourselves sinking.
In the past I left one company that I had been with for 6 years and it took going through 3 other companies before I found one worthwhile, which was not KS. I hope things work out for you and you can pick up more work because no one can survive on 175 lines per day. Good luck!!!
Looking for a job? See inside, please
MTStars provides the most extensive listing of job opportunities anywhere. Our Job Seekers forum is free and the job advertisements are usually very descriptive.
We also offer a free resume bank for you to post your resume on.
If you have questions about a specific company, please ask here on the Company board.
Please: Do not post job-wanted posts. Do not ask what are good companies.
Otherwise, you will have to search for your position through the job ads and the application process like everyone else.
If you have questions, feel free to email me.
Goldbird
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Granted, there are many, many Americans who do not use the language properly even a little bit, but these people typically do not become MTs either!
Oh, if only this were true! Some of the work from India I have seen is MUCH better than some of the American work. Way too many poorly-trained Americans with terrible grammar skills, and many of them can't even spell grammar!
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I know now that they pay by production and that the minimum per day is 1350.
I'd have to go in house for training but only until I'm comfortable with the system (it's a new platform for me) and they are comfortable with letting me go. The transcription manager told me it would probably only be a few days. The hospital is about 45-50 miles from my house so I'd want to come home just as soon as I could.
All their employee MTs work at home except the manager, and she has been there for I think 13 years herself.
The other thing that I didn't mention is that I have done work for this hospital before, but I usually do ops and I probably wouldn't get those from the hospital as obviously they send those out.
I guess I'm just not sure whether to jump ship now since this particular new position is open (if I could get it), or wait until I actually have no job.
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Do a search in the Company Board forum (make sure that's what is selected) for Focus and/or Focus Infomatics. That should give you plenty of resources.
Their pay is 8 cpl standard transcription and 4 cpl edited.
Amanda
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They require everybody to be at least 20 hours a week. I work 25 a week and make the 6000 minimum line count (for part time) in the 2-week pay period. I'm usually at least 1000 above that so I could probably work less than 25 hours a week and still make it. I have been working at least 30 now with extra hours during the time they need extra help, so I'm easily beyond and don't have to worry. The account instructions aren't so bad if you stick to your primary most of the time. It's just flipping back and forth that makes you pause and think it through when you come to something that you know can go either way. They are awfully picky on some things. For the demos, a lot of things fill in but not all, so you have to take some time to do that, depending on the particular account. It's not hard, just time-consuming.
It's like any job...some good...some bad...but overall it has been fine for me and I'm glad I tried it out. Of course I don't have any other national to compare it to since I've only been with local clinics before.
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1. No longer treated as professionals. **********I have never experienced this. I am always treated as a professional business owner. Maybe it is the way you carry yourself??
2. Just got offered 14.00 to 16.00 per hour to write a transcription training program for company in India. (yea, for that amount... it is not going to happen). ***********I would not accept $14-16 either. Is that the maximum you can get these days. I have been fortunate enough to have good accounts so the per-hour-figure has been good for me and others from what I hear.
3. I truly feel SOME MTs do not take the work as seriously as it was several years ago so therefore the more need for QA (added cost for companies) *********Not sure about that either. The work is now outsourced where as before it was done in the hospital, and the doctor could just pop in the department and ask for a correction (that drove me nuts but they did it). Services have to offer some sort of guarantee (second review by QA if necessary) to be competitive don't they??
4. People that work at home do not work the schedule they agree to. (this is a job).************ It is a job, but for some a subcontractor's job. That means work the hours you choose. If I agree to a schedule I'll work it, but I'm not sure what others have agreed to work and either are you. How can you presume??
5. I can't be grateful for not having to purchase clothes for work. I still have to have clothing to wear and that same clothing is what I can work in. ********Can't speak for everyone, but I am definitely not transcribing in heels :)
6. More and nmore people look at this job as a way to take care of young children at home. i.e avoid the cost of daycare, etc. Please!! It is still a job!! You have to work! **********It has been exactly that for me. I have been able to raise my children and earn a great living. I do my job so well I can do both. Sorry you feel you have not been able to or others like you could not achieve that.
7. Absolute thing worst about working at home..... there is no difference from being at work and at home. *********I don't know any other job where I could throw a load of laundry in, start the dishwasher, run an errand, or work at 3 in the morning if I could not sleep.
Sorry for the typos, but I am so tired of seeing/reading how great it is to work from home. It would be great if people took it seriously, but they do not! *********Maybe all don't take it as serious as they should, but honestly is isn't it that way everywhere?
5. ********Just my humble opinions :)
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Since when does a Transcriptionist have a college degree? Well I have had my degree for eight years now. And yes it is a degree from our local college, and yes it is in medical transcription thank you very much.
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be a high producer, be able to cover every work type on your account, be able to work more than one account -- and be very consistent in meeting line counts! My raises were for bribes to get my line counts higher. I've been on start up teams for several new accounts because of the versatility in adapting to different account specifics.
In other words, make yourself invaluable and the money will come.
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Dan,
I just read your post and I think it is great that you so openly willing to discuss your business, mistakes, strengths, etc. If only more business owners were like you who realize that everyone is human and mistakes do happen and would accept constructive critism. You sound like you would be a great person to work for!
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It usually costs $15-$20 to do so and I would definitely charge you more, if I were them.
It takes time to process the info for FedEx or UPS deliveries and, if you've missed the pickup deadline, you have to go out to a dropbox, etc.
I'd definitely charge you past the cost.
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Genius, what I said was the problem with your statement that a credit check tells how responsible you are. It DOES NOT tell how responsible you are - it reflects your financial situation, which is controlled by many, many outside sources.
You sound like a spoiled little princess who has a husband who gives her everything she wants and you work for extra money to spend on yourself.
Maybe one day you'll face a divorce, death of a spouse, prolonged illness, legal problems for yourself or a family members, that will tarnish your credit rating and then you'll see how real people have to face consequences that are not always a result of their own actions. What a little snit you are.
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First highlight the text that you would like to copy to Shorthand. Once highlighted, hit cntrl and insert twice to copy the text. ShortHand entry box will pop up, add keyword and hit okay. You may have to do it twice for it to work. The text will populate into the text to type box when successful. I have added plenty of entries using this method and have had no problems. Hope this helps. By the way, I work for KS, so I know this method works with Meditech and Shorthand.
Yes, see inside
Put in your keyword and go to text to type box. Click on tags, keystroke, then message comes up the next key typed will be the key assigned to the shortcut. Hit your backspace button, click okay, save and this should take care of it.
Don't go with either of them...see inside
I have worked for both...don't do it! I have been helping a new company out recently called MagnaDoc Solutions. Everyone is so nice and the pay is always on time and very flexible. If you are interested their e-mail is magnadoc_solutions@yahoo.com. JMHO. Hope that helps.
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Pregnancy complicates health insurance options. Federal law bars pregnancy from being considered a preexisting condition, which means if you change health plans while you're pregnant, your new insurer can't deny claims related to your pregnancy. But a variety of loopholes means pregnant women could still lack insurance coverage for their prenatal care if they don't do some careful planning.
Under a law known as HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, health insurers cannot consider pregnancy a preexisting condition. So, unlike illnesses such as diabetes, they can't deny you coverage when you go from one job to another and switch health plans.
Sorry not sure of a good company for better insurance for you
Does anyone inside KS (sm)
know why the insurance didn't start 6/01 and why nothing as been said about it to employees? I don't mind the wait as I have not had insurance for years because I never could afford it, but I am simply curious. As I said, even if it starts later on in the year, I'm just grateful to be with KS and to have it. Just curious....
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Go to Yahoo groups and search for Transtech group
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No, I don't believe they test anyone. They go over your resume in great detail to find your strengths and try to match you to an available account. There is an extensive phone interview (mine was about 60 minutes, maybe even a little more). If they think you've got what they're looking for for a specific account, they hire you. BTW, the phone interview isn't emotionally taxing or anything like that, so don't be nervous. It's just basically to talk more about where you've worked, your likes/dislikes, things like that. You're never made to feel as if you're being scrutinzed.
As for picking what you would like to work on, that I'm not sure about. I had a pretty extensive background in a particular area on which they had an opening and had actually sent in my resume a couple of months before. My liason remembered my resume and my experience in this particular area and contacted me regarding a specific account. I'm sure if you tell them of your love of ops, if they're able to accommodate you, they will.
I think you will find MQ and MDI-MD as different as night and day.
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They advertised for an opening in which I have a lot of current experience. I sent in a resume hoping for the best and they called me 2-3 days later, talked about an hour, and by the time I hung up I had the job and was just about dancing around the room. I opted to use one of their computers which shipped out 2 days later, so within about 7 days from the initial contact I was actually on board and working.
It is a great place to work, to be completely straightforward. Nice people, great communication, great platform, and I'm totally in love with my account. They even checked several times the first couple of weeks to make sure I still was enjoying the account. The QA person is also one of the nicest, most helpful and informative people I've worked with in my entire career.
I could literally go on all day about this place and how great I think they are, but I'd strongly encourage anyone who has the chance to apply or test for them to go at it with every ounce of knowledge you have, because it will be well worth your while.
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No, TT management is not on this board, nor do they actively check it unless something is brought to their attention.
When a TT employee shared the fact that TT is starting some accounts on VR, some of us who already do VR tried to reassure the posters who were panicking. Because we stated that once you learn it, you make actually the same money or even a tad more than with straight transcription, some poster(s) started calling us liars, saying we were management in disguise, saying we must be incompetent, etc....you get the idea, if they can't do it, NO ONE can do it mentality.
The poster referred to as being 'nasty' is the one who started talking about the TT employees revolting and staging a 'mass exodus' (her phrase, not mine), and just trashing TT all around and trying to get others on the bandwagon.
Many posters were sensible and decided because they like working for TT so much that they will stick around and at least give the VR a shot. But this particular poster would start another thread, calling the VR people 'TT cheerleaders,' 'liars,' etc. There was NO reasoning with her and no amount of reassurance that she might in fact like VR once she learned it would dissuade her onslaught of posts. I finally gave up trying to reason with her and explain VR and how it is not a salary cut at all, but she's 'heard' otherwise so she 'knows' better.
I think enough posters had their fill of it and finally told her if she was that unhappy, rather than trying to start a cyber riot, she should simply just start looking for another position with another company that didn't require VR.
Hope that kinda clears things up for you, and hope this doesn't start a flame war, but I think any VR person or REASONABLE, RATIONAL MT that was involved with the thread will tell the same story I just told. I love VR and am very proficient at it. Heck, if TT asked me, I'd even be willing to mentor an MT while she learned VR (well, not that one poster with that attitude, but the ones who are going into it with an open mind).
Different strokes and not everyone is going to like VR, just like there are those that prefer VR to standard transcription. I think that those of us who are proficient at VR and make decent money doing it just haven given up on posting about it, because we're always met with the accusations of lying, being incompetent, being management, or just a 'cheerleader' (apparently if you enjoy your job and like the company for which you work, this is NOT a good thing to some people).
*Another TT Cheerleader*
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I don't believe your own word Expander templates are 2 or 3 cents a line, however, where they have reports that you insert their macro, it is 2 to 3 cents a line, where as they used to pay for those lines flat out. I think that is wrong, but that is just my opinion. I think an MT should get paid per line no matter if it is a template or not. That was always just a nice little bonus in an otherwise mostly, shall we say, not very giving job. I believe I was told they are working on going to speech recognition so this may be the reason. Their work flow just fell out the bottom for a while and there was just hardly any work for a while, but since they are hiring now, maybe they are picking up business again. Started out being a great fit, but with changes and such being made, decided it was no longer for me. Might be perfect for you.
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I don't believe your own word Expander templates are 2 or 3 cents a line, however, where they have reports that you insert their macro, it is 2 to 3 cents a line, where as they used to pay for those lines flat out. I think that is wrong, but that is just my opinion. I think an MT should get paid per line no matter if it is a template or not. That was always just a nice little bonus in an otherwise mostly, shall we say, not very giving job. I believe I was told they are working on going to speech recognition so this may be the reason. Their work flow just fell out the bottom for a while and there was just hardly any work for a while, but since they are hiring now, maybe they are picking up business again. Started out being a great fit, but with changes and such being made, decided it was no longer for me. Might be perfect for you.
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I no longer do VR, but when I did I worked on eScription. I averaged 250 lph at 2.5 cpl for $6.25 hourly. The account I was on was horrible even though it had been on VR for over a year. The reports still came out awful and half had to be completely reformated as the headers were always wrong. The computer never seemed to learn the way the company said it would. Gave up after 6 months and went back to straight transcription.
I now do straight transcription (no platform, type directly into Word). I still average 250 lph, but am paid 8 cpl making around $20 an hour. As you can see, there was no production gain for me to use VR, which is why I still prefer straight transcription. I am just as fast using my Instant Text, templates, and macros.
Instructions inside
If you have Windows, go to My Computer, Display, Settings, and play with your Screen Resolution. I have mine at 1280 x 1024. Good luck!
Okay, okay....Please read inside.
I posted the Irish statement. BUT, there's some background here.
I'm heavily involved in all things Irish in various venues and have been for years. My statement came from a comment a friend made about our trip to Belfast next April. He was stating to his wife that, while we were staying in a very nice area, across the street is was "the troubles," and so we had to be careful with the children, to not let them wander without us.
For those of you who understand Irish history, you know what I'm talking about.
I simply was referring to the history the Irish have had for centuries, one side fighting the other while all the while being a steadfast and kind people themselves--kinda like we MTs. We're a family, but boy can we throw a bomb or two at our relatives without a moment's hesitation, starting a fight all over again, and at times just for the fun of the fight. You agree?
So, everyone please calm down. My statements were said not out of bigotry or hatred, but out of pure historical fact. The Irish are a fiery, feisty, and adorable people who can't seem to fight fair.
Aithníonn cíaróg cíaróg eile.
I tried to email you. See inside
For some reason it wouldn't send. Please feel free to email me at evelynmaret at yahoo dot com and I'll tell you as much as I know.
Inside promotions
So - inside promotions for decent money probably don't exist. I figured that you had to rub elbows, but apparently, it's more the case that as long as you're willing to work for nothing with accuracy, they most likely don't care if you leave. If you stay, you just make it easy for the editors. Some of the junk that I see coming from the editors is no better than the work of those to whom they feel superior. They have a nifty job title, but much of the time, their work is just as bad as the work they correct. I see . . . the way to a promotion is not from within, but to apply directly to other companies for a decent job, or, better yet, apply to a company where a college degree is an asset. Thank you for your input.
Inside promotions!!! nm
nm
please see questions inside
1. What is the name of the platform that he uses?
2. What is the work schedule and where is he located (to know the time difference)? TAT? Minutes of dictation?
3. Is he American or ESL? (just curious...any will be fine with me).
4. Does he pay for ink and paper?
5. Who will screen the candidates, him or you? Does screening require signing into his computer?
There are a few different platforms (see inside)
Here is what I know:
They have a different platforms, depending on what the hospital uses. They also use Beyond Text, which Transcend uses. Personally, I have been on BYT and while I like it, I prefer AIM.
They also have Meditech and Dictaphone text platform.
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