Medical Transcription Discussion Forums:

• Main Board
• Job Seekers Board
• Company Board
• Word Help Board
• Classifieds
• Medquist
• New MTs / Students

General Discussion Forums:

• Gab Board
• Politics Board

ok ladies, I applied for a job at a hospital as a medical Transcriptionist (job was listed on their website and at the employment agency)  I updated my resume, typed up a cover letter and hand delivered it to the HR person.  She said she would put it in their system and I would be hearing from them, the job is open until filled. Great!  I completed their lengthy application and sent that it to the same HR person.  I did not hear anything and assumed with the holidays and all......patience...

Yesterday I received a call from them.  But get this - it was from a person who runs the dietary department.  They gave her the application.  She said since their is no MT job opening would I be interested in working as a dishwasher on weekends?  I was stunned to say the least.  She repeated that there was no MT opening but they really needed help.

I cannot make this stuff up!  What in the world?

The job is still posted on their website and at the employment agency.   Is this just too weird or what?

or brought it to day camp. One way or the other, this stinks.

Other than the usual shampoo; comb with a good metal nit comb; clean, spray, bug, and/or bag everything in the house, any other suggestions? I even bought a steam cleaner for the furniture and rugs.

I'm getting dirty looks at work. The kids want to go back to camp, but I'm worried about what the other kids are going to do/say. I'm keeping them home until next week. Need advice reassurance from mom who have been here.

Want opinions about something which has come up at work and need some advice. I am the lead Transcriptionist in a department with three other people.

Last year, one of our physicians in the practice was fired and rejoined another practice in town. He currently has a lawsuit against the company about the firing.

Today, I saw letters typed by one of the girls in the my department for this particular doctor. (because this patient switched physician groups). Apparently she has been working for him on the side since October of 2004. I am not sure if she is still typing for him or not.

My question is this, would this be something you would bring to the manager's attention, talk to my coworker, or just let it go.

On one hand I feel she is being dishonest and not loyal to our current company. I do not know if she is saying anything about our practice to the other doctor or not. Also at looking at the letters, she set them up exactly the same way we do. Isn't this considered a conflict of interest?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!

Please allow me to vent here.  I was the lead on 2 accounts at one of the nationals that is spoken of highly on this board.  I gave my notice.  I also agreed to train 3 people on both of my accounts before I left.  I got very few lines my last week because I was busy training, answering questions, filling in blanks, etc.  The company thanked me when I left and told me they would reimburse me for the training I provided.  I sent an email to the head of transcription and told her how many hours I spent training.

Well, I just got my last paycheck for my last week of work.  I did not do many lines that last week because I was busy training people.  There was no training time on my final paycheck, and the total net check was $67. 

Does it pay to be professional and help the company out as you are leaving - I tihnk not!!  While the door is always open to this company, I will never go back after this slap in the face.  I should have just walked off the job for all the thanks I got.

I recently received a quote for a local web design company, and it was close to $1,000! I don't have that kind of money. I would just like somewhere to tell a little bit about myself and the services I offer to Physicians.

Thanks!

No rate is given, but the pay rate is listed as the taker getting paid by the word, five characters (no lines) constitutes a word.  What would be the going rate for those 5 words?  Any help appreciated.  Thanks.

Do doctor offices use at home or in-house transcriptionists when they use  Allscripts EMR system? 

This is what my client is trying out

Ignore 'Shroom.  Don't let yourself get into that mentality.  Life is what you make it.  MT CAN be a very profitable profession.  It's not for everyone and not everyone can do it.  But if you are good at spelling and grammar, and you can type fast, and you are dedicated to really learning and not just doing a crap job as fast as you can so you can get paid more, your patience and hard work will pay off.

My #1 advice is:  Get a job in a hospital transcription department.  Not acute care at home for a service.  Get a job with a hospital.  The pay not NOT be as much as you could make at home for a service, but that experience will prove invaluable.  Work there for a few years.  Learn the ropes.  Learn to do all types of reports - the basic 4 plus everything else.  I have worked for a service and for a hospital and I learned so much more at the hospital.  The service was about production; the hospital was about quality.  They wanted us to really KNOW what we were typing and when there were words no one could get, the MT supervisor would ask the doctor and we would get it straight from them.  Doctors would also come down to talk to us and explain things to us sometimes, and that was a big help.  I worked at a hospital and a service at the same time and there were so many things (terms) that the service MTs didn't know that I knew only because of my hospital experience. 

Now I own my own service.  I get all my accounts through word of mouth, partly (actually MOSTLY) from my contacts that I developed back when I worked IN a hospital.  I have never had to advertise.  I have always been praised for being an excellent MT.  The hospital supervisors at the hospital where I used to work know that.  When they get a call from doctors or other hospitals asking who they recommend for transcription services, guess whose number they give out?  Yep, mine. 

When I first started out I didn't make much money at all.  But I worked hard and learned everything I could.  I never had an attitude like some on this board, that I wasn't being paid fairly, or that someone owed me more money, or that I was being cheated.  I worked and gained knowledge and experience, and made sure my quality was excellent, and added to my expander, and developed new ways of using shortcuts, and kept looking for the next opportunity that would move me up a little more.

I never make less than $25 an hour.  I usually make $35 to $40 an hour.  I have had an occasional hour where I made over $100 - yes, $100 - and no, I am not lying.  It was a surgery center account and one day a week I would transcribe routine cataract extractions with lens implantations.  I had that I had a template for and all I had to do is pop in the patient's name, right or left eye, and the size of the lens used.  I would do one right after the other, over and over, and make over $100 in an hour.  Would have been nice to do that all day long, but after an hour I was done with the cataract surgeries. 

Anyway, don't sit there thinking you are never going to make any money in MT.  Don't listen to the people who want to bring you down.  Don't waste time thinking your glass is half empty.  Look at the opportunities that are in front of you and start taking them.  Maybe you make 8 cpl now.  Do the best work you can do for that company.  Be valuable to them.  Become an asset to them instead of a liability.  And when you find something that's a little better, do the same thing there.  Work your way up. 

After you get the experience (hospital preferably), keep working and honing your skills.  Then decide "Okay, I am going to spend X hours a week working on getting my own accounts."  Maybe 4 hours every Saturday.  So you set aside that time and you think of points you want to make to potential clients.  Set up a business number or a separate phone number to receive business calls.  Put a business message on the line so if you miss a call they can leave a message.  Figure out how you will receive dictation - dictation system, TASP, or whatever.  Make flyers.  Drive around and check out potential clients in your area.  Go through the phone book or the little blue book of doctors in your area and start sending out flyers or walking door to door.  Every Saturday spend 4 hours doing the next step.  Decide you'll send out or deliver 20 flyers a week, or whatever you want.  You may not see results right away.  Don't get discouraged, just devote 4 hours a week to it, every week. 

There is money to be made in MT.  You have seen people on this board tell you how much they make.  They didn't answer an ad for an MT school on a matchbook and suddenly they are making $35 an hour.  It takes time and patience and a good attitude.

I work at home for a local medical facility that are calling some of the at-home girls to come in and work in-house.  This is a form of punishment they use when they claim our production is low.  I have one supervisor that says that I am doing a great job, production is great and to keep up the good work.  I have another supervisor that says it sucks, (okay not exactly how she phrased it) I think is what is going on is that they are losing work as some departments are going to VR and another is going to be its own separate enitity.  The in-house girls, when transcription is low, they work on other things in the dept.  This is just my guess, I don't know what is going on but bottom line is one day I get told one thing and next day I get told another and I don't want to drive back and fourth.  I did the math, with 2 kids in DC and the price of gas that would be $900 a month.       I applied for an on-line transcription company Friday and Monday (yesterday) morning this company called me and left a message on my answering machine to call them back. I had gone to talk to my supervisor and working in-house situation is only temporary she said. She said that we are going to get a big Christmas bonus this year (we have gotten anywhere from $200 to $500 in the past). I really don't know what to believe. There is another at-home girl that is getting "punished" too and has to work in-house. I am wondering if I should not stick it out with this place a little bit longer just to see. The problem is I don't know what to tell the other company. I certainly don't want to blow them off. It is just hard to decide on what to do.

Everyone who lives in Florida should be aware that the PIP insurance as we know it is soon to expire on 10/1/07.  Please go to the web site http://www.wpbf.com/index.html.  In the center, scroll down a little in the middle is a survery that asks Do you think personal injury protection (PIP) should be eliminated?  Please go on line and vote NO.  Send this email to everyone you know.  We want hundreds of votes.

Also, please send a letter to Governor Charlie Crist,o to Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt.  You can find their email addresses on MyFlorida.com.  It is very important that they add this to their agenda on 6/12/07 for their special session.

Thanks for your help. 

new company about 1-1/2 months ago, having 6-7 years' experience as an MT prior but not having worked for 3 years in this field. I'm BARELY getting up to speed to average over $6.00 per hour (7 cpl), and they are sending out emails we have to do mandatory jobs on other accounts to get them caught up. Now, we all know this is going to slow us down to learn new account specifics, docs, etc., so how is this legal that I MUST make LESS to do these other jobs? If this were not a job paid by productivity, I would have no problem, but this is absurd and unjust. I'm making BELOW minimum wage as it is right now!

And I must say how appalled I am at what has happened to the MT field since I've been gone these 3 short years. Not only has the rate of pay per line gone DOWN, the minimun lines per hour has gone UP, yet the rate of our quality scores has stayed the same. It takes much skill and knowledge to be an MT, not anyone off the street to do this and start typing. I am absolutely appalled and dismayed at the lack of respect given to this field.

Hoping to find some input/wisdom here---I have been offered a positon where may of the accounts are partially voice rec--I have never edited this speech stuff--but I am wondering if you can make the same amount of $$ doing that as you can transcribing it--all the speech rates seem very low, around 4 cents a line--is it actually that much faster than transcribing?  I would think it would be a lot quicker to actually do the transcription--has anyone any experience to share in this regard? thanks for any insight.....

our Google filter, however it takes about 4 to 6 hours for it to be removed.  We have no control what Google ads appear, but we can filter them out.

Only US MTSOs whether they outsource offshore or not can post on MTStars, however offshore services and offshore job banks cannot.

LOVE IT!!! 

even tho this is a fattening occupation, sitting on my rear all day, so I take several breaks and take 15 minute walks with the hubby and puppies (one of them is getting quite portly) so we can get in an hour of walking that way and I can still type and don't get so stiff. 

Dinner tonight is low-fat lasagne and steamed carrots.  Yum. 

Dieting can be an adventure.  I get recipes and think of ways to cut the fat and calories, make them healthier.

I am typing a letter on EMDAT that needs to be addressed to two doctors.  How do I make sure the second doctor listed in the cc box gets the dictation in the form of a letter and not just a cc?  Thanks in advance.