There are better MT education programs out there (M-Tec and Andrews) but
Posted By: Former CSer on 2007-09-06
In Reply to: Anyone heard of Career Step program?..cost?..legit? - Tessa54
CS does have segment of their program that Spheris is involved with. However, my understanding is starting pay for newbies at Spheris is low, even by today's standards.
My suggestion would be to check out other schooling options and other companies to work for before taking the leap. Do some searching of the archives here for more info both on schools and employers. (Also, you should be aware that CS has an affiliate program where people make money by getting others to sign up for their course so you may want to take any rave reviews with a grain of salt.)
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M-Tec or Andrews. nm
Where did she get her education?
Where did she go to school and why aren't they stepping up and doing the right thing? If a school takes someone's dough, they owe them some placement assistance.....
Send her to either M-TEC or Andrews.
www.mtecinc.com
www.andrewsschool.com
Actually, Andrews is considered one of the best
Definitely in the top two. Their graduates are very highly sought after. If they charge more, it's because they are very well worth it. If you do a search for Andrews School, you will see this is true. They are definitely not one of the rip-off schools out there.
Andrews graduate..........sm
I really don't know about the pathology or radiology part of your question, but what I do know that Andrews school is fantastic. I have never heard of a company who knew about Andrews grads and didn't want to hire them. I had a job before I graduated. I have kept it for over 5 years and recently decided to change jobs. I had 4 offers immediately. I assume you talked to Linda. When I have talked to her on the phone she has been a delight. Yes, the school is a bit on the expensive side but she has to pay her instructors who are fantastic and spend a great deal of time with the students. The cost also comes with a full library of books. You won't need to purchase anything when you graduate except possibly a foot pedal and maybe software.
continuing education
Spending all of your vacation time and time off working on continuing education credits? WOW, that has not been my experience at all. It is not that time consuming to get your credits. You have 3 years to get your credits in and if you do it a little at a time within those 3 years, I don't find it very time consuming at all. I think if you wait until the last possible moment, as in procrastination, then it would be a pain to have to go into panic mode to get your credits in a short time, but if you keep up with it every year and do a little here and there, it certainly is not a big deal and usually enjoyable (I love to learn!).
Do you have any transcription education?
You say you have a degree in English and Communication Arts, but dont mention any medical transcription education. This is a very specialized field and without the proper training is very hard. There is a lot of formatting aspects that is not even covered in English education.
The only thing you can really do is do research on here about a company and ask questions before taking the position. This is with any job that you take whether transcription or not.
Wish you luck.
that's nooooot education.. lol
I agree that what you say could be true, a feeling many of us have about many of those companies; but that's only an opinion based on observations, and you can bet the ad lister has a different one...and is the very method most often used to manage in this industry. big decisions get made on someone's whim, and then 100,000 others live like it's the truth.. it seems like it is why people here argue so uch.. ; people keep confusing the thoughts and opinoins as the truth and then argue madly to be right. it's kuckooo. that note took me about an hour to write because i am so tired i am nodding off every other word. i agree with educate thyself, but i'd caution that has not taken place here. i suppose they could be very ineffective and inefficient recruiters as well. and likely much more. i must be gone now. i hope i finished a few sentences..
your lack of education
with regard to the profession and how businesses are run seems to make it difficult for you to understand the big picture here.
I've been in this field for a very long time and it's people who think screw the rest, I'm in it for me (this is the impression I take away from your responses) that have made it possible for a service owner (a position I also once held) to offer crap pay, no benefits, high expectations.
If you are an IC and allow yourself to be treated as an employee, you can also be creating issues with the IRS, and if your employer is found to be using ICs as employees and not paying appropriately, they can incur significant fines.
Downside is, yes, an MTSO then has the right to decline to employ you. But if MTs would refuse this type of treatment, the offers might be more in line with what's a fair earned wage.
Yes, but we need to be PAID according to our education
It is theft of services in my opinion to perform the same job - using our same knowledge and experience, mind you - takes just as long, if not longer, to edit a VR report than a typed report. We use the same knowledge base that WE have paid for ourselves that these companies now want to pay us half for.
Just because a lawyer's office did away with human secretaries, do you think they would cut the charge for their services (knowledge AND education) in half as we are expected to do with VR?
This is the only industry where they think they don't have to pay for our knowledge base. They want to pick our brains to train the damned machines and then cut our salary so THEY can put more money in their greedy pockets.
That is the bottom line.
Education. Think that I could get a job teaching and
Or at least partial forgiveness if I don't get a very high paying job at first. A dream of mine and the gov't is encouraging with loans and grants, so I decided to go for it. It will be hard work studying but then again it will help make ends meet and I will have a future, rather than sitting and feeling sorry for myself as an MT like do lately. Thanks for asking.
As an Andrews grad, I highly
I felt well-prepared when I got my job and never regretted having paid top dollar for my training; as with many things, you truly get what you pay for. In fact, many of the national companies prefer Andrews grads or M-Tec grads as the previous poster mentioned and as a newbie you will need every advantage. Good luck to you.
So what if you are an Andrews graduate, big deal
I just read a post on this board about an Andrews grad who quit Diskriter. I am sick and tired of Andrew graduates who think they are better than the rest of us newbies. They get better jobs and more opportunites. The rest of us newbies get penalized. I was fired from Spheris ( mentor program) because I could not met the line count. There was an Andrews grad in the mentor program also. She bragged about her great QA scores and how she was leaving Spheris because of the low pay and because she could. The rest of us could not leave because we were not chosen from Andrews. Big darn deal if you are an Andrew's grad. It only means you paid more and people think you are better. Andrew graduates are full of them selves and arrogant.
Education doesn't matter in MT because it's become
It's better to get a bachelor's degree. It goes much further than an MT certificate or an associate's. You get what you pay for.
Yes, I remember making 11-12 cents a line back in the early 1990s when this industry started going into the home, but those days are long gone. Time to regroup and think of something better to do for a living before we're making less than the 16-year-olds at Dairy Queen because, believe me, there will always be desperate poor people who will work for peanuts be it on American soil or elsewhere.
This industry is fast on its way to hell in a handbasket.
I'm an MT with an excellent education, experience in
sterling references. Spheris did offer me a position at a $hitty rate and when the recruiter started to talk account details (covering many accounts, absurd schedule - THEY assigned me F-M middle of the night and COMPLETE INFLEXIBILITY AND UNWILLINGNESS TO DISCUSS ANYTHING OTHER THAN THEIR AGENDA), I immediately moved on. It took me about a second to find a job that paid almost 3 cpl more than them, was able to negotiate the worktype (OP notes) I wanted and a schedule that worked for both of us. I have been happily working my tail off for this employer to be sure that the dregs of world like Spheris stays in their pit. MTs working for them hurt other MTs by going along with their nonsense. 
M-TEC and Andrews produce MTs that are the cream of the crop.
M-TEC's course usually takes anywhere from 9-18 months to complete. I'm not sure about Andrews.
I have hired MTs from both those schools as well as other lesser-known schools, and the M-TEC and Andrews grads are the only ones that were worth keeping onboard.
www.mtecinc.com
www.andrewsschool.com
Andrews School....radiology & pathology
I called Andrews School today just to see what they had to offer. The person I talked to said that radiology is like pathology and is typically done in-house. She also stated that in about ten years that radiology AND pathology will be eliminated departments in most hospitals if not all. What struck me though was her surprise when I told her that radiology is done by many at-home medical transcriptionists. I beg to differ with this lady because on the MTJobs.com board, I always see companies looking for at-home radiology medical transcriptionists, and quite frequently mind you. I would like some feedback about this please. Is this lady talking out of her ear (and I think she is.) Do you think radiology AND pathology will be eliminated as departments in the future? Is your opinion that radiology is frequently done by at-home medical transcriptionists? And what is everybody's opinion of Andrews School? Personally I think they are incredibly expensive. She quoted me 3800 bucks for the course with a minimum deposit of 1000 dollars. And she didn't seem too worried about quality but rather my typing speed and how quick I could get through the course. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Anon. IF you do not know what an Andrews grad is then you don't know this business
Andrews school produces only the best baby!!!!!!!No exaggeration here. Ask anybody on this board about Andrew graduates. We produce like pros, which I am.
Does Amphion hire newbies with MT education? nm
x
NO! For 25 years of acute care exp and exc education
completely. It was their way or the highway. It took me about 2 minutes to get a job that paid 3 cpl more with very, very flexible scheduling. Their flexibility and pay bought them an accurate, high-production MT that is 100% reliable and accountable.
Also, as time goes on, Spheris' benefits have eroded. I believe they eliminated PTO for PT. There is no question in my mind that more and more will be taken away and pretty soon their MTs will be working for crap, have high insurance premiums, PTO and holiday time cut.
BTW, the suits are gorging themselves on huge profits while MTs, the ones that make this all happen, get the shaft. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a suit in one of their swank offices who does nothing but figure out how to reduce/eliminate MT costs (and likely get a huge bonus for screwing MTs for the benefit of executives).
typo, I type 1,200 a day or more. Yes I really do. Andrews grad. HOORAY!!!!
nm
Kind of like an education at liberal arts college...
is it necessary that I know Henry Moore is a sculptor in order to get my Bachelor's degree in Science? No...just makes me a more well-rounded individual (and NO, not my shape!). Hahaha
As a recruiter, I'd hire an Andrews grad in a New York minute. You're doing a great job of se
They are properly trained. They are ready and able to work from day #1.
Wouldn't YOU like to have training that made you a hot commodity the minute you graduate? Maybe you should go back to school so you can be an arrogant MT and not be penalized because you aren't cutting it.
As a famous model once said Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
Good luck in your future endeavors.
What programs are you all using?
X
programs
I've always had to remove them myself. Go into your Control Panel off your start button and click on Add/Remove Programs and you can find what you need to remove. It will walk you through uninstalling. If you have icons on your desktop you can just right click and delete those but it won't remove the program unless you go into Control Panel.
TT has 2 different VR programs
I don't do VR but maybe someone else can help you with this.
Mentoring Programs can be
awful experiences, depending on which company you work for. My past experience was with Heartland and the mentoring program there was obnoxious with a capital O. I had to leave because of family issues, and I learned nothing while in the mentoring program. My general knowledge of the MT field, what I learned through general life experience or through MT training, certainly NOT from the mentoring program, is what kept me at the job. Had I had to rely soley on the mentoring program at Heartland, I would have been one of the many in my group that I just recently learned were hastily fired now that the company is changing hands. In your own situation, don't feel too bad if the company you applied to doesn't get in touch with you as soon as you had hoped or at all. The universe is sending you a message. Try, try again and NEVER give up.
Mentoring Programs
OSi has an excellent program for "newbies." You can apply through their website, http://www.ositranscription.com, being sure to include your school and certificate information.
If I'm not mistaken, Spheris has a similar program, as well. You might want to check with them. http://www.spheris.com
Best of luck to you!
switching from old programs
I posted this theory on the main board a couple of weeks ago. I read in the court papers for a lawsuit from a hospital that Medrite (specifically) had been inflating lines. It's an allegation, not proven, but if it's true, that means that transcriptionists on old programs such as Medrite are now experiencing a decrease in DQS because they were getting inflated lines before but no longer. I worked on MTs before and have noticed an increase in productivity on DQS. My MTS came out to a 65 cpl count, as does DQS (spaces included on both). Has anyone experienced a decrease in line count moving from MTS? So far I just hear people complaining who came from Medrite or cottage.
Transhealth programs and IT
I am thinking about buying IT to use, sounds like it is a great program. My question is does anyone that works for Transhealth and uses Chartmatrix use IT? How does it work? Thanks.
Yes, they are very similar programs
I have both WordPerfect 10 and Word 2003 on my computer.
Are there any other shortcut programs out there (sm)
besides Shorthand? I just wondered if there were any others so I could check out their programs and prices. I downloaded ShortHand and it's pretty good but just want to know if there are more programs out there. Thanks!
They are FutureNet programs
you need to be connected to upload them to your computer and connected to transmit them back. I do not think you need to be connected while you are working. You can download in batches of 5 or whatever number they authorize you for, disconnect from the net, transcribe, then re-connect and transmit.
is this the info you needed?
MT mentoring programs (employment)
Hi,
Can someone tell me if or what they know about MT mentoring programs? I'm being considered for a couple through well-known companies that were actually referred to me. Then I heard from someone else that you have to be cautious because someone they knew wasn’t paid. I've been looking for a job a long time now and I was almost hired. It fell through because they couldn't hire after all. Like I said, I'm waiting on some feedback from a couple of mentoring programs but it will be in January. The last few weeks I've had to put MT employment searching on hold because of the upcoming holidays; Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. I would appreciate any feedback on this thanks.
Brenda R.
MT mentoring programs (employment)
Brenda, Thank you for the advice. All I want is training from a legitimate and accredited school and to work for a legitimate company? Is that to much to ask?
line counting programs
I know abacus is free to download, but I have found that it is inconsistent with its counting abilities in my own experiences. I believe this site, MTStars has a line counting program available too, but I do not know if it is free. I don't know anything about wtd. lines. best of luck.
I think they use different programs, very confusing and disorganized
nm
Now that's helpful! I wonder if that's true for other programs?
nm
Vista is not compatible with many programs out there yet. (sm)
From what I hear, Vista and MOST transcription platforms are not compatible.
line counting programs
If the line count in a particular platform, for example ExText, is compared to MS Word count where the total word count is divided by 65, shouldn't the count be about the same?
line counting programs
In this case, the count in ExText is way below that of MS Word for the same reports. I don't have another line counting program to go by but wouldn't you think from this that something isn't quite right?
Check out MT courses/programs (nm)
.
I've tried to open it with all these programs?
What companies offer internship programs?
 Please post. TIA
Good programs can be run on faulty servers
.
I think all those programs can be tweaked. Did it say in your contract how the lines would be
s
A lot of programs with their program. Not user friendly.
nm
This only pertains to federal health programs
Like VA. It says if the MTSO is paid with federal money, then they are subject to all these things.
They are changing line count programs, not platform.
nm
If the tech doesn't know his stuff, it won't work. Programs like 123
you can have another tower set up for the new account to go on and use a KVM switch between your machines. You keep the single monitor and keyboard and hit a few keys when you need to switch back and forth to work or check the email, etc. Good luck! nm
Wasnt that software awful. Quit after one day. Too many programs to open before you could even do
a single report..What a waste of time.. too bad though. They seemed to be a really nice company to work for, but there was no way I was taking half the day to do two reports. NO WAY>>>
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