Home Contact Us

Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Medical Transcription Discussion Forums:

General Discussion Forums:

Recently Viewed Messages: (An archive of over 1 million messages related to medical transcription industry)

What's for supper? - Posted By: Hungry MT

Paid by the minute? - Posted By: Just Wondering

Does anybody know how getting paid per dictated minute works? Thanks!

A lot of changes in a company good or bad? - Posted By: Should I stay or should I go.

A company I've been working for since October on an awesome account is making some changes recently that I'm not exactly thrilled with. I love my account and that is all. It is a great money making account when there is work, A BIG WHEN!!! Work is consistently low and now we are supposed to work a certain shift and not go outside that shift. The problem being we are often running out of work or work starts late and we often can't get it finished in that time period. The biggest thing keeping me there is my production on that account when there is work. The company is now requiring a lot of paperwork to keep up with hours worked, line production, QA's reports, requiring us to sign in to 2 different sites to fill out required information along with a productivity sheet (all taking up time that we don't get paid for). I've also been told by HR that I will need to get a secondary to make my lines during my shift but also told that they dont' have a secondary acct available. I've been asking for one for 5 months now without success and finally just got a second job a couple months ago.

Now for my consideration I am also working at this second company where I don't make as much an hour because I'm still working up my production, but work is available when I need it, more than I need actually. I'm never sitting there refreshing queue begging for reports and I don't have to worry about wasting time.

I have the option to remain PT and do both or quit the 1 with inconsistent work (but the awesome acct.) or do the other one FT and cut down on a whole lot of stress. I just hate to say goodbye to that awesome account.

Does anyone know of a free program that will completely remove Starware - nm - Posted By: nn

nm

Question on meds for Wegener's - Posted By: tm

The patient has a history of Wegeners treated with a s/l psych-sito-toxic agent?

Time to take a poll - Posted By: answer yes or no

Anyone out there have to wear bifocals to type?

EMDAT/Inscribe - Posted By: Angela

I'm lost. This is something I don't think I've heard of. Could someone explain how it works and where I would have to get it?

Thanks

Two Questions - Posted By: Noquestionisastupidquestion

Does anyone sit on an exercise ball while working? I am wondering if it would be too difficult to balance because of the foot movement and the typing.

Also, about running enrichment (from previous posts) ... can anything similar be done in MedRite? That would be awesome if I could search out the common phrases used!

Thanks for any input!

THE LAWS OF MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION - Posted By: McFingers

The Laws of Medical Transcription

1. When a doctor carefully and distinctly spells out the name of a patient, drug, body part or referring doctor, it will be spelled WRONG.

2. If a doctor calls from the O.R., incoherent with rage because a note he/she dictated is not done and the patient in question is anesthetized on the table, that note will have been dictated on the Dictaphone that is sitting inside the doctor�s pocket.

3. A dictation that is stat, urgent and absolutely vital to the patient�s care will be dictated into a Dictaphone with dead batteries.

4. When dictating an involved neurosurgical op report involving rarely used instruments and multiple complications, the doctor will be sitting next to either a beeping ventilator in a crowded ICU or a screaming infant.

5. The speed at which an ESL doctor dictates is increased in direct proportion to the thickness of his/her accent: i.e., ESL = mc² = total incomprehensibility.

6. A doctor who is a crystal clear, concise and organized dictator whom you love to transcribe for, within 15 days from the moment you begin working on his/her account will decide to accept a job at another hospital.

7. The above mentioned crystal clear, concise and organized dictator will be replaced by the only doctor in the Western Hemisphere who has both a lisp AND a stutter.

8. A doctor with a sexy, deep voice that turns your knees to Jell-O and your skin to goose-flesh will have a stomach the consistency of Jell-O and a face that resembles a goose.

FTP Server - Posted By: LL

Can anyone tell me what FTP Server is, and how I can find out what type I have.

Thanks

I have received a few letters - Posted By: anonymous

so far. Keep those letters to The White House coming you guys! I am so trying to get our voices heard so that our careers may be saved. I am addressing outsourcing, offshoring, patient security, voice recognition and anything else that can come to mind concerning transcription. I want to have a packet of letters to mail off because that will have a greater impact versus just sending one letter here and there. Please join me! Deadline for sending letters is 1/28/09. Email me if you wanna join me:)

Idea for sales letter - Posted By: newmt

What do you all this of this? I just graduated, and I want to market to doctor's offices. I made a flyer to send. I thought I would also send a sales letter that is formatted like a SOAP. I don't know how much competition I will have, and I'm trying to stand out. Too silly? Any comments?

Need an IC Contract - Posted By: Terry

Hi. Anyone know a good contract form to use for Indepedent contractor status using line count or hourly?

Thanks,

Terry

laptop? - Posted By: Stacy

Does anyone do MT work on a laptop? Am thinking of getting one for when I go up north for a few days, which is often! Any thoughts or suggestions?

Entry Level Jobs - Posted By: Brandi Brown

Hi everyone! I have a quick question for anyone who has the time to answer. I am looking in to a career in the MT field. I have not started classes yet but I am going to check them out next week. I did a search for MT companies in my area. I noticed that on alot of their websites you had to have so many years experience before you could gain employment with them. If I decide to take classes in medical transcription, how likely is it that I will be able to find employment with someone on an entry level? I have heard from some people that it is nearly impossible to get a job without the experience even if you have certification. Is this true?

I think Supplemental Income by "Alan" needs to be - Posted By: removed from Jobs board, Administrator. NM

s

Computer help-frustrated - Posted By: Babe

Anyone out there who has great computer knowledge? I have been fighting lag issue on an acct on am I on. It is Meditech. I have other Meditech accts and do not have any issues with them. I have been told so many things some by my company's IS, other things by the people who do my computer work and I do not know who to believe any more. Some thought it was bandwidth issue, some thought my AVG Free antivirus, but I just put on Norton's 2007 and still have the problem. The strange thing is I could type in this hospital's Meditech program with AVG off once I got in and was protected with their Citrix, however it was shortlived, even though I could do this on a daily basis. I have been told that I have redundant programs running, but my computer people looked at the task manager processes and said nothing out of the ordinary, I cleaned files, defraged, do my anti-virus daily, Ad-Aware, clear cookies/temporary files, upgraded my Time-Warner Internet Service to Premium to speed up upload/download, called Time-Warner's National Help Desk, had their tech out to the house and checked connections, added another stick of RAM and my computer is just a little over a year old. I have been told that maybe I need to have the operating system cleaned out, which would probably mean dumping the whole thing and starting over. I suggested maybe cleaning Windows registry, but the company IS people will not help with that because employee computer. A friend of mine is on a different acct and had terrible lag problem and someone who she calls a computer God had her go into regedit.exe and had her delete a license and installed new Citrix and now she does not have that problem, but I cannot contact that hospital as it is a client and that is a no-no and for reasons I cannot go into she will not let me give info to my IS people. I am at my wits end. I should mention that I am the only one with this problem on this acct. I am wondering if it is a problem with my computer and whatever port they have me in at the hospital. Once again, I know nothing about how or why computers work, I just type on them, but I think you can see why I am frustrated.

I just feel the need to say Merry Christmas to everyone here! - Posted By: Have a great day! Bev. NM

What is your best at-home work routine? - Posted By: Older Gal

I'm curious what hours you work, how long and often do you take breaks. What schedule allows you to be most productive? e.g., frequent short breaks, less frequent longer ones, split shifts, etc.

Microsoft Word help - Posted By: sm

I hope I can explain this right:

I can be typing along just fine in Word, and suddenly it will "blank out", causing me to retype sometimes two or three sentences. There are times this happens three or four times per report, and times it does not happen all day. I have to stop, click with the mouse back to where I was, and retype. Does this make sense and does anyone know what I can do to get it to stop? Thanks!

Foot pedals - Posted By: Carmen Druckenmiller

I am going to have to be purchasing my own foot pedal soon, and I was wondering if there are some that are better than others, etc. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

"Defending" working from home - Posted By: summerbreez

Have you ever had to explain to someone that you actually like working from home? I've had a few people tell me that I would be happier if I got out more. I disagree. The trips I take to town to the grocery store and for necessities have me ready to pull my hair out by the time I get home. I enjoy going to the library every couple of weeks for my "me time," but I like peace and quiet, not the hustle and bustle. I don't have to be surrounded by people. That's one of the reasons my job is such a perfect fit. I also don't have the money to be out and about, and I don't see how working outside of the home would make things any different. Just wondering if you've ever had to "defend" liking to work at home and it not being a problem. To each his own, right?

How can I make a macro in word - Posted By: Stubby

For some reason, I am unable to use the F11 key to jump to headers within a report when I use my macroed reports in EXtext. So, I wanted to know how I could macro to jump from header to header in the word document and use a hot key. If I could make a macro using word, I think I could still use my macro reports.

Thanks

digital recorders - Posted By: christy

My client keeps recording over his records on his Olympus digital recorder. Does anyone know of a recorder that will not record over something unless it is actually manually erased or one with some mechanism that will prevent this from happening?

Thanks!!

Is it me or does anyone else notice...sm - Posted By: wise

Ever notice that most of these platforms/programs that we work on make it very difficult to keep track of lines, view how many lines in a given time period etc...seems that is the last consideration... for us to see how much we make.

Just had to vent, thanks! :)

Need help! - Posted By: PJ

The doctor seems to be talking about a patient being put in a hospital gown, but instead of gown, she uses a word that sounds like "Cherny". Any thoughts? (Definitely not referring to a gurney).

Unemployment Question - Posted By: Siren

I have been an in-house Transcriptionist for the past 14 years at a mental health/behavioral health facility. As a matter of fact, I have been the coordinator/supervisor (working supervisor - - LOL!!!!). I had to under go major foot surgery due to being born with slight clubfeet, and have been off work now since 04/10/07. I went under FMLA and it runs out on 07/02/07, but my doc is not going to release me back to work no sooner than 07/16/07. I am still totally non-weightbearing under his orders I had to use all of my PTO (5 weeks worth because I never call off work)..

I totally understand where they are coming from with Medicaid requirements and all, but I am feeling this is totally unfair (but what is fair in this world anymore) as I have been a good and loyal employee all these years. Enough venting -- LOL!

Here's the issue and question . . . . I have been understaffed for years, I wanted to hire another transcriptionist before I had my surgery to get her trained, etc (but that did not happen), I only have 4 transcriptionists including myself, and one is protected by FMLA and calls off ALL THE TIME, and we transcribe for 42 physicians/therapists. Since I have been off on surgical leave for so long, my place of employment is thinking about outsourcing everything because of course we have not kept up, which means they are not going to extend my FMLA. Can I collect unemployment if this occurs?

This is one of the main reasons I have been on this board looking for at-home transcription because I may not have a job to go back to! Oh, the politics of the corporate world!

Anyone using VoIP (internet phone) with a - Posted By: ??

DVI or C-phone to transcribe, and does it work well? If so, what company do you use? Are those companies cracking down on transcription like the regular LD carriers?

How could Star Jones leave The View?? - Posted By: Shocked

How ungrateful! How low! How disgusting!

Emachines anyone? Thinking of buying one just for MT/wordprocessing. Pros? Cons? Don't want to p - Posted By: MT stuff on the good computer.nm

nm

Don't forget great stuff for sale on the Classifieds board! - Posted By: Administrator nm

/

Now that I'm on the other side of the QA debate - Posted By: Ex QA

I can totally understand why so many people gripe about QA on these boards.

When I was doing QA, I tried really hard to be fair, and to not nitpick every little thing.

Now that I'm back to just doing MT, I am really starting to dislike some QA people. So I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the stuff I said before, sticking up for QA in general because I see now that there are a lot of horrid QA people.

QA??? - Posted By: girl4givn

I've been doing medical transcription for almost 20 years, 13 at this hospital I work for now. We are supposedly getting a raise soon, but this is totally dependent on our QA scores. I can handle that, in spite of the fact that we have pretty much been left to "creative license" as long as I can remember, with spotty quality checks here and there.

Now, I have to drive to the clinic once a week (almost an hour for me one way) to have a 15-minute meeting regarding my weekly QA score. I just had my first one and I was MORTIFIED! My papers looked like essays from a high-school drop out - RED ALL OVER!

Right now I am pecking so very slowly on my keyboard, so scared that I will mess up. I feel like I'm the WORST Transcriptionist in the world. The worst thing is, a fellow transcriptionist is QA'ing me. She has only been with the company a few years.

I have to admit, when I sat down with my corrected papers at home, I was floored by the mistakes I made that were legitimate. But on the other hand, there were things that just seemed ridiculous. On one of my ESL reports, I had three points taken off for a blank I had left, and I am not a blank-leaving person. Evidently she understood it and I didn't, so it was wrong.

I guess I really just wanted to vent and find out what everyone else's QA experiences were, as I'm really new to this whole process. I would love some input.

Thanks ladies!

Just how stupid do they think I am. I just - Posted By: me

got an E-mail from Chase - the credit card company. I do have a credit card with them that is paid in full and I'm fixing to cancel. Anyway the e-mail was addressed to valued customer, which should have been the first clue. It was offering to credit my account $20.00 for answering 6 questions about their supposed new and improved website. At the end of the questions they wanted my ID, password, account #, etc. Now you'd think they know this information if I had an account with them - LOL. Of course I didn't fall for it, though I'm sure there will be many who will.

Wondering about a laptop computer - Posted By: Typingfool

and how is it to use with transcription. Anybody use a laptop in their job. Am I right, laptop or lap-top, or lap top???

Hospial offering me 14.50 hour and benefits. - Posted By: Should I take it? I have 1 and 1/2 yr experience.

?

grammar - Posted By: elonmt

Anyone know of a downloadable grammar program. QA keeps getting me with follow-up, follow up and followup. Need help.

Job -sm- - Posted By: Katie

There is a new website that has a few job postings. I am not sure if i am allowed to post the link or not but check out: www.medicaltranscriptionmatch.com

It can't hurt to have more places out there for us to go.

Anyone CURRENTLY working inhouse in the Atlanta area that can tell me the going rate of pay? SM - Posted By: This Message - the smileys are in there. NM

I'm really just interested in people who are actually working NOW and what they're making NOW - not speculation from service managers as to what they think they might be making.

I am considering going back in house for the benefits but if there is just absolutely no comparison to what I make now as far as pay, I don't even want to start wasting my time. Thanks to those who can help!!

local jobs - Posted By: hopeful

someone mentioned that younger docs like the electronic way of sending the transcripts. I have 9 years experience as a MT but this is all new to me if I was to do this with local docs. Is there a way to have them sent to you electronically or would they all be a pick up a tape and deliver process? If it is a tape is there a better device than another to do this? Thanks to all in advance.

Anybody heard of - Posted By: Probity Transcription

Any information would be helpful. TIA

So, instead of dinner, whats for LUNCH? - Posted By: Tomato pie for me!

YUM

please help a math-dummy calculate - Posted By: sm

trying to figure cell phone plans (pay as you go type)....do i divide minutes by dollars, or dollars by minutes to get the cents per minute...

and more so, how does one know which way to divide other things of similar nature (not necessarily dollars vs minutes).

mega thanks .

A big thank you to MTStars for - Posted By: Nicky SM

being the only MT site to honor us with really nice gifts year after year during MT week. My hat is off to you.

Need help with FTP. Trying to download file from FTP site -sm - Posted By: Wilson

and not having much luck. If I right click on the file name and try to save to a folder it tells me I can't do that. If I just double click on the file name it downloads the file but to Windows Media and then from there I can't get the file to a folder and into Express Scribe. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Not a computer whiz and I am so frustrated. Thanks.

is it possible to have - Posted By: stuttering hands?

I know that sounds crazy, but I'm just curious because so many times my brain is flying faster than my fingers will type and sometimes they hesitate like they can't quite make it to the key they want! My son is a stutterer and is in speech therapy, and no one else on either side of our family suffers with that problem. It has just occurred to me that I have this problem typing and wondered if there is such a thing and if so, are they related? Anyone know of anything like this?

Help on Word Board. Thansks! nm - Posted By: funsize

x

Glad this isn't my doctor..yikes! - Posted By: txmt

Dictated by a resident...

He is currently receiving Keflex for a "spider bite" that he received from his primary care physician.

How do you break a kitten from chewing on and playing with your cords and wires? I just got my - Posted By: MissouriMT

daughter a kitten. I haven't had a cat since I was a kid. I'm kind of a dog person. The darn thing keeps playing with all the cords and wires under my desk and jumping on my desk and walking on my C-phone and keyboard and knocking stuff off my desk. I'm losing my mind! He's very playful and he is very rough. He is always attacking my feet while I'm working and not to sound like a baby, but it really hurts! I put him in "time-out" by putting him in a separate room and shutting the door for like 10 or 15 minutes, but he just goes right back to his bad behavior. It's definitely not like training a dog!

Help me please! My line count is suffering on account of his silly cat and I don't think my boss is going to buy my cat as a legitmate excuse!

How really do you make money? - Posted By: Newbie

I know I'm new but at least I have a job Right???

Anyway editing VR at 3 cents a line and not being quick is frustrating... I have been working for a week and I think I made maybe if I'm lucky 200.00, now I left a job making 500.00 a week after taxes... Boy I am stupid... So much for this great career working at home blah blah... I guess I'm totally frustrated considering no one will hire you new and when you get a job they say here is some chicken feed... I can't live off of this, does anyone have any suggestions... I will there is something to be said for getting paid by the hour