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The keys on the keyboard tend to stick at times, but they are intermitent.  Does anyone else have that problem?  I bought a new keyboard.  Please help.. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

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I am thinking about applying to FI and I was wondering if there is anybody out there who has worked for them at least a little while.  I checked some of the archives about Focus but is there anyone who likes working for them? 

Kinda curious what the consensus would be on this issue.  If an MT is hired for acute care,  why would you find 99.9% of your queue full of ED/ER job types?  Is this not a bait and switch technique?  Trying to get people in the door with lots of experience and then give them whatever is convenient for them.  This just doesn't seem right to me.  Upon inquiring why this was happening, as this was not what I was being hired to do, they dismissed the issue without a plausible explanation as if it didn't matter or it shouldn't matter like I was being annoying to them. 

Well, it is a tad annoying to me.  How would you deal with this?  Put up and shut up or get out?

I thought acute care MTs were hard to find with 20+ years experience and usually on the job boards all you see is acute care needed. 

I am a newbie, have been doing this for a few months.  I work for this company, Sten-Tel.  They only send out QA'd reports every once in a while.  Their QA sucks.  One QA will say this and another will say that and all the time, it looks like you are the one making all the mistakes.  The QA supervisor does nothing but send you the corrected reports in an email and if you email her about something you are questioning, she does nothing about it.  I get an email from her today and all it states is "We need to have you out of editing by July 18.  Please review account specifics and thoroughly check your work before sending to QA."  What does that mean?  I do thoroughly check my work!  I sent her an email asking her to clarify what she is saying.  I mean, am I doing a sucky job or what?  I am confused.  I thought I was doing good.  How am I supposed to know when I don't hear anything from anybody?  Now I feel depressed.  I guess I am going to get fired.  I am not good at anything it seems like.  Are there any good companies to work for?

I downloaded ExpressScribe for work but I also have QuickTime so I can use ITunes.  The QuickTime seems to over-ride the ExpressScribe and play the audio files which are dictation.  I want to use the ExpressScribe so I can use my foot pedal.  When I uninstall QuickTime ExpressScribe works, when I reinstall QuickTime only QuickTime works.  So QuickTime must be set to default or something.

Anybody know how I can get both these to work or is there another player that will work with the USB footpedal to play the dictations but still allow QuickTime on the computer for other stuff?

Thanks

I am looking for someone who has applied for a business grant or any grant and received it. I have been looking for how to apply and where and what is needed to apply?

It seems people everywhere are looking for positivity - especially in light of the Katrina disaster, on top of the 9/11 anniversary, the Iraq war, tensions in every aspect of our life.  I'm going to share a personal mantra of mine that has helped me in the past, is soothing me now, and will greatly benefit me in the future as well.

Fasting can be looked at in different ways.  Most of the time, we think of it purely toward food and most of the time associate it with religion.  Fasting, however, is really a drawing back, holding back, purposefully now allowing full satisfaction.  You can do this in any and all aspects of your life.  Fasting as a way of life can change your life -- it has mine.

By not allowing myself to fully satisfy whatever aspect I am engaging, I make room for personal growth and fulfillment from that innate resource of the soul.  I recognize God as my maker, my Father, my Savior.  Some recognize other forms of higher power.  I can speak from MY experience, my beliefs, that fasting in areas of your life as a way of living will grant Him room to give you satisfaction and fulfillment beyond what you could have achieved without it.

You can fast with money -- don't buy everything you want to with the last $5 in your hand, give it away.  Give it to some worthy cause.  Give it to church.  Buy diapers or food for a local shelter.  Don't take all your money for just yourself.

You can fast with time -- give 30 minutes a week to read stories to children at the library, to visit a nursing home and play checkers or just talk and hold the hands of people who have no control over their fate, or volunteer with CASA or a battered women's shelter, or even a school to help with room mothers or watch traffic at the high school, etc.  Don't take all your time for just yourself.

You can fast with your intellect -- give an hour a week to work on changing a problem in your community, your state, your local government, your school district, this nation, this world.  Use your mind and determine a value really close to your heart and then use your intellect to understand where you can help and do so.  Don't take all your intellectual energy for just yourself.

You can fast spiritually -- give an hour or two a week in prayer for simply thanks.  It takes the focus off YOU.  It puts it on OTHERS.  It directs your attention away from what you are inundated with all the time.  Don't take all your prayer time for just yourself.

Of course, you can fast with food as well.  Wednesdays are the middle of the work week and perhaps you could do a juice fast (only juice/water) for the day, or fast from something you usually indulge in, or just simply decide to always leave food uneaten on your plate every meal.  Do it with the remembrance of the millions who die every single day from not having food to eat.  Do it to recognize that we have it all right here in our own backyard.  Do it to recognize the choice you have of whether you WANT to eat, what you want to eat, how much you want, etc.  Maybe you will fast a meal and send the makings of one to a shelter or to a family in need.  Don't take all the food just for yourself.

The list can go on and on and on.  It truly works.  You can start really really small and if you want to increase what you are enjoying, you've a base to start on.  Start with $5 a payperiod to invest in others; 30 minutes a week to give to others; 30 minutes a week studying and working toward resolution of a problem in your world somewhere; 30 minutes a week of prayer for others; a meal a week for others. 

Trust me, it is a different type of sacrifice.  One that only offers positive results and they are guaranteed for everyone. 

his father, sister, wife, children, friends, and fans during this tragic time.

Mr. Irwin was filming a documentary when he was pierced in the chest by a stingray barb.

I just bought a pack of 5 pairs of these things at Kohls for $10.  They are the exact same foam thingies that go on my headset, and they come in fashion colors!  Just an FYI if anyone has been looking for foam things.

if your company now requests that all MTs have weekly conference calls (call is free) of "15 minutes" with management, and those only happen during your shift, and you are only paid production pay, would you feel that this was an unreasonable request? i do, and i'm taking a poll lol.  trying to offer alternative solutions as well, i.e., rotating call schedule amongst others' shifts, calls recorded so that i can listen to them at my "leisure" (hahaha), for instance, during the 3-4 hours on a sat morning shift when there's no work and i'm just babysitting the system and am unpaid, etc.

thanks for any/all advice

Present with them a contract that they believe is just not realistic, that's how!  Get this.....I get a call last week from local internal med. doc wanting me to do their transcription. I MT'd for them briefly (2 days or so) a few years back and they remembered me, etc. I work FT for a co. at home, so I really wasn't interested. Office manager called me last Thur., Fri., Monday and I finally decided to do it on Tuesday. Went in, picked up tapes and basically said I'd do it until they found someone else.  The office isn't that close to me and with the price of gas, the fact that I have 2 little ones at home with me all day, just didn't seem feasible for me to pick up tapes, etc.  Okay, fast forward to today.

I decided last night that I would make them sign a 3 month contract b/c I've read horror stories here of unpaid docs and wanted to covery my butt.  Here is what I asked for in contract: 10 per 65 character line. Reasonable right?  How about 15 cents per 65 characters for stats or 12-hour or less TAT.  2.00 per faxed page.  And a few other things. But basically, they would rarely need anything but 24-48 turn around on tapes. 

I also included my invoice from the tapes I've done so far and the total came to 589 lines. Nothing big. 

Here is what this doc wants me to do: Count the lines manually using less than 1 inch margins on both sides. Use 11 font instead of 12 (thinking he will get more per LINE), come in 4 days a week.  HAHA Isn't he funny?  He is ESL who apparently had a newbie do his work for the past 2 years who counted her lines manually which I did just for fun.  I counted 240 lines when Word counted 589 lines.  What a joke.

So, needless to say, I'm not going to do it.  Can you believe this guy? He was complaining that "he doesn't make that much money...can you cut down on your rates?" OMG. This guy lives in a gated community for crying out loud!  I typed 27 patients in just one day. I doubt he's broke.  I wanted to tell him all he is SAVING by hiring an IC. Say he did sign a contract with me and I worked for him, he would pay me approximately 12,000 a year. Does he realize that if he had someone in-house that this same employee would cost him 30-40,000 in insurance, taxes, wages, etc?

I cringe just sitting here thinking about this cheapskate.  I feel sorry for the gal he's been 'screwing' for the past few years. She must have wised up! 

Just had to vent!!

I am getting ready to start a new radiology account and I was wondering about the going rate for MTs who do radiology any ideas would be great. I have not done radiology in quite a number of years, let alone pay anyone to help me and I want to make sure that I offer a decent line rate to the MTs. I don't want to take advantage of anyone and I am not sure what the going rate is right now. It will be a 65 character line count with spaces. TIA for your suggestions.

 but mostly Radiology, as well as some multispeciality experience, both in-house and MTSO.  Any of you gone from Radiology and/or Clinics to Acute Care?  Any tips on making the transition successful?  I have been offered the opportunity of a lifetime (seriously), but want to make sure I don't set myself up to fail. 

in advance.

Hi Karen:  You stated >>>>>Meditech is horrible.  I use it, but dont like it....If I had known this was the platform, would NOT have accepted this acct.  I use shorthand and that is a life saver... I have also when typing regular medical (I do both gen med and rad) since they are so much longer type the report in word, use all of word features such as spell ck, grammar, stedmans goodies and when done cut and paste into the Meditech screen.  While it does take a while to peck it out, it still saves my sanity for not having any of the tools needed to type the darn thing....I also save my templates in word and use them from there.. Short ones i do put in shorthand.  Good luck.....<<<<<<<<<<

I am thinking of doing what you do, put it in word and copy/paste it but my problem is I can't have both meditech and word document open at same time or meditech will time out and then close word after about 4 minutes.  How do you get around this???   I am going to have major carpal tunnel on this job not having any tools. 

Hi y'all,

Came across this customized search engine for MTs. Thought I'd share it with all of you. I've used it and it does work for sure. Search results are more focused and relevant. Definitely better than the general Google search that throws up all kinds of irrelevant results sometimes. Link below.