Wait a minute now..before you sink a bunch of bucks in books..sm
Posted By: me on 2005-11-13
In Reply to: Basic word books, spellchecker, expansion software...$450/500?? nm - Searching
I've been at this for many years and I have about 18 books that I've acquired over the years. Since I started working using internet-based platforms, I rarely have to open those books..just Google gets it most of the time even quicker. Oh, yeah and the 150 bucks I sunk into SmartType..well, it's been sitting on the shelf for 6 years now. The internet-based platforms and most others have their own expanders. A good basic word book from Stedmans or Sloans should be adequate for a newcomer; but some companies provide these as well or offer a discount. So, bascially, between Google and company-provided Expanders and equipment along with reimbursements for phone line/web access, start-up cost should be quite minimal now.
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Hey wait a minute....
This all originally started way down below with a positive post about Transcend in answer to a question about the company. Then, the naysayers hop on and start blah blah blahing all over the place. So, I believe the trouble started at your door.
Okay, wait a minute
Well, you know, now that I check out my first apology, I see I didnt apologize before to you, just JMO. I thought I had apologized to both of you. So, I am also sorry if I said anything that hurt your feelings. And thank you for your apology also.
Now wait a minute...
I am management remember? not an MT!
Wait a minute
I did not jump down anyone's throat at all. I merely stated that giving erroneous information was not only not helpful, it was actually harmful. That is all I said, that is all I meant. BTW, I did not find your caveman analogy to be exactly kind, so why don't you start your quest for kindness with your own posts?
Oh wait a minute... I'm the above poster.
your whereabouts, then that is employee not IC. You'd better report them to the labor board and start keeping the e-mails and the demands of your whereabouts. No IC should have to account for their time unless they are an employee and following a scheduled shift.
You may want to look for another IC position that knows what that means. 
Mumbai...Wait a minute...
I thought this post was referring to the MT in Mumbai who was holding documents hostage and threatening to release them on the internet if she wasn't paid???
I'm not the OP so I can't be sure, but I don't think s/he was equating it to the events unfolding in Mumbai right now. I think the Mumbai incident was simply a reference to the MT using blackmail to get her pay.
OP --- Can you please clarify? Thanks!!!
Wait a minute, you mean this isn't a nightmare I just had
xx
wait a minute! late bloomer please
Tell me they don't get a cut in your line rate the whole time you are on the job!!! I thought it was just a flat fee that they get.
OK now wait a cotton pickin minute!
Hey, are you related to Tricky?
I've really heard enough innuendo about TransTech. I answered the question about the line counter: I don't use one because I don't see a real discrepancy. But that's not what you want to hear, is it?
Tell me, by the way, what kind of deal did 'I' cut with TT?
If you have a real claim, take it up through due process of law and/or the owner of TT, because it's one thing to ask a question here, but quite another to convict TT of wrongdoing without any proof.
For those MTSOs out there who think all we MTs do is criticize MTSOs, I hope you take note!
All this is just starting to sink in. I am thinking...sm
that I may hang in there with MQ and see what happens, find a secondary account with another national or local hospital, and just promise a small amount of time, maybe 28 hours to get 5 days PTO a year, and see what is the most profitable. I am thinking that maybe the pendulum will swing. I heard that a local teaching hospital that does contract some work to MQ is also starting to hire at-home MTs for the first time, paying 11 cents a line. Either that or, maybe get in touch with the AFL-CIO and form a union?
Are you crazy? You have to sink a fortune
into equipment to work for them. A modem for about $300, another couple a hundred for their ATI telephoneless voice system, and their router. They were good once upon a time, but they increased their line counts and cut pay.
well that sure made my little heart sink.
Would you mind letting me know what was so hard about the test and do you think it was you, bad day, bad sound, bad test? I really need/want this job.
Oh no! Remote transcriptionists put on mute! That's a whole new low to sink to!
So sorry for you, though I can relate. Ah, I'm sure their ad really fooled us all, huh? More than just a number! 
1.70 regular minute, 2.25 stat per minute. sm
I do all cardiology.
Reference Books?
How much are you asking and what do you have? I need a cardiology ref book for sure! Also in need of ophthalmology ref book. Please let me know. Thanks!
Reference Books
I am starting with Trans Tech the first part of September. I used to do transcription in a hospital, but have been out of it for a few years. I have never worked at home before. What kind of reference materials do most of you have at your desk? Do you have mostly books, or online references?
Question about books
When you do QA for a company do you all use the same reference books so that everyone agrees? (QA team and trans). I've always wondered about that.
(sorry for going off topic)
Books ;:Internet........................sm
to each his own.
My instructor and also my supervisors told me to look it first up online and then, if in doubt, verify it through book references.
I said already that I use both, books and internet...
And I also agree that the MTing field needs a total overhaul, but not a regressdive one, it needs a progressive one, namely more AVR, front-end and EMR.
Are you at least using an online dictionary?
This is for sure faster!
And I also do not understand why you say that one learns from books faster and better than from electronic books? Why should this be? I can also memorize terms if I look them up online.
Books vs internet
As I stated in a posting below, I learned in books. However, if used properly, I think the internet is one of the best tools available for MTs. We now have access to drug lists as fast as they are approved. Online access to the dizzying array of medical specialties via their journals provides information about the latest and greatest testing and procedures in their respective fields. The various American Cancer Society, American Epilepsy Foundation, etc., keep up to date information on diagnostic procedures and new treatments for their respective diseases. Vast data bases provide information about study protocols, gene sequence testing, standard laboratory values. Even the Yahoo yellow pages means less guessing at physician names. Yes, books have their place, but as an MT, there is an obligation to embrace technology rather than fight it, much like we went from typewriters to computers, because to do otherwise renders us dinosaurs.
IS THIS WHY THEY PAY US THE BIG BUCKS..SM
like, who among us can even afford $2,500 yearly for something so ludicrous?
I use a combination of online and books
I do radiology and have 4 Stedmans - radiology, medical and surgical equipment, cardiovascular and pulmonary, and ortho. I had a big drug book when I was typing acute care, but found that it was WAY too cumbersome and so used Medline Plus for drugs. I can't do without my Dorlands online, but if you go to dorlands.com, you have to pay for a subscription, so I used mercksource.com, clicked on Medical Dictionary and it takes you to Dorlands, and that page is in my Favorites. Of course, the reason I like radiology is that 99% of the time you're typing the same thing over and over and you rarely have to look anything up! But it's that 1% that'll get ya.
Google vs Reference Books
I admit the Internet is faster and easier, but if you put in the wrong spelling when looking up a word on the Internet, a lot of times you can find it spelled that way. I've had it happen. I agree with this poster. There's too much room for error when you just Google a word and don't know the meaning or how to spell it. I do use it frequently for drugs, especially new ones. I just make sure to find the drug company's website or the official website for the policy. I've seen surgical equipment come up spelled totally wrong, like it sounds, nothing close to the correct spelling.
Another thing, I worked in an office last summer doing editing with a couple newbie MTs. One girl thought she was the computer/Internet whiz. She was working on clinic note tapes. One day the Internet went down. OMG!! You would have thought the end of the world had arrived. She was lost, frustrated, and on the verge of tears. Now there was a complete set of Stedman Word Books, as well as Dorlands and 2008 drug books in the office, but she didn't even know what books to look in. So another good argument for reference books. Get the knowledge, don't just depend on the Internet.
Um, yes employers do expect you to look in books
Employers do want you to own and know how to use reference books. The Internet is not always the best tool. A combination of books and Internet are the ideal reference tools. But to respond to your post would definitely be a waste of my breath, as I can see your mind is made up that you don't need reference books. That's fine. I am neither too old to know about Google or to be computer savvy, as I am a college student working on a Bachelor's Degree. You must be very insecure to have to make such catty personal remarks about a stated opinion. So when the Internet goes down, you just sit and wait for it to come back up, the rest of us will continue working.
books versus internet
Well, for me, when the internet goes down, I can't work anyway :=)
called big bucks usually do not....sm
SIT on forum boards 24/7/365...........*lolol* 
Your the QA person getting the bucks- you can
--------MHS
64 bucks a DAY? Not very cheap! Especially
*
Bingo. You won 100 bucks.
nm
Well even at 14-15 bucks an hour sm
as an employee with benefits, it is still pretty good given todays employment climate. Im like some of the other posters here, still have to pay bills and sitting around waiting for the big bucks is not paying the bills. 14-15 bucks an hour works for me until if and when something better comes along.
I just don't get this whole mindset of because someone is not getting the pay they want, they won't work at all and then complain about having no money and not being able to pay bills.
I am 54 years old, been in this business almost 32 years. Call me old fashioned or stupid, but it makes no sense to me if the jobs are not there, why one would not take the jobs that are there until something better comes along........if it ever does.
Yup, change to create a need to sell more books.
That's what I said the first time I heard examples of the new edition's changes. With the logic this one uses, I expect the next edition will decide that a lot should now be one word, and no one should be spelled as one word as well, because it is now so common for people to spell them that way. Oy.
At least 40 bucks an hour is what we are worth - nm
nm
I've heard of it. Do you Google only or do you have MT reference books? nm
x
Buying reference books a tax write-off, yeah? (nm)
Didn't your outside job with the big bucks work out? We were hoping for ya..nm
a
there is NO WAY I would work for 9 bucks an hour!!! What is the email
address??? I would LOVE to email them and tell them how crazy they are!!!
I hate it and I am making about $200 bucks less a month. sm
I miss doing straight transcription, but I can't find any companies with steady work doing straight transcription. I am forced to do VR now and am making about 200 bucks less a month on eScription platform.
1200 lines at 3 cpl equals 36 bucks
You can work at 7-11 for that kind of money.
GREAT - so as long as the next cut is under 32% we will still be making big bucks, right? nm
.
Basic word books, spellchecker, expansion software...$450/500?? nm
s
I have tons of reference books, all specialties. Going on ebay if not sold. nm
Unlimited long distance for 50 bucks a month.nm
nm
You won't make big bucks like that unless you own your own service or have only private clients.
s
Hunred bucks says it's TT - exactly why I left after a month. Happy now.
Go to your State Labor Board & for a few bucks, file a complaint.
X
is the deductible for insurance still 2500 bucks w/ no copay for doc visit?
That is the sole reason I quit. That and the fact they switched me from account to account as soon as I started making a decent line rate with one.
They also have the ability to slow down how fast you can download files. They slipped and told me that it was to help control traffic on the server.
My job is working out splendidly, I wouldn't say big bucks, but good pay and nice people. sm
I am just looking for something to do in the evening and weekends. I am going to the job during the week daytime hours. I miss transcribing as it is not transcribing. Thanks for your concern. But, yes this job I am working at during the day is a breath of fresh air compared to trying to sort through transcription companies, trying to figure out how they pay, by the character, by the 65 character count line or gross lines. I really am enjoying the people the place too. I would recommend trying an out of the house job for everyone on this board that can!
If you can transcribe 175 lph, that is 14 bucks an hour. I wouldn't call that chump change. sm
Working for minimum, or barely above minimum flipping burgers or cashiering at WalMart is chump change in my opinion.
You all are a Sorry Bunch
Is it really that bad here? I aint management, just a lowly MT, doin my job. First day here on the boards. All this negativity is certainly not helping the overall morale. Guess if everyone would quit reading/talking bad about it all you all would be so much happier with your jobs.
sorry bunch
oh we are sorry all right.. sorry we ever trusted this company....LOL
thanks a bunch
i just wasn't sure and needed to know my options in case the CTS becomes a real issue as we're fixing to go into debt for a new place.
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