Actually I remember hearing this years ago, only it was the year 2000.
Posted By: mtathome on 2007-01-07
In Reply to: question about EHR and voice recog... - marceia
It is not only for physicians. Medicare and the insurance companies have been pushing for this for years. They want to be able to just log in and get the information they need without having to send a request for it.
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Her mother died??? I don't remember hearing about this.
s
I remember hearing it should take the average MT twice as long
transcribe as it takes the physician to dictate. So for 30 minutes of dictation, if you sat and transcribed without interruption, it should take about 60 minutes. However, I believe that was a MTSO telling me that, soooooo
Now years ago, probably in the mid 90s, I used to work for a hospital that tracked our productivity based on minutes a day versus lines. The minimum requirement for that job was 90 minutes of dictation in a 7.5 hour day (they deducted 30 minutes for lunch and two 15-minute brakes which equals a 7.5 hour day). So that kind of debunks the "30 minutes of dictation in 60 minutes" theory that the MTSO had.
I don't know if my ponderings have helped you at all, but there ya go! 
Hah!!! I remember the days of 2000 lines!
Not with my company...A good day is 1600 lines. Horrible platform. Wish line count was better.
Yes! I was having hearing difficulties last year due to ....sm
ear infections, and since my other headphones were old, I dubiously spent the money on the Bose -- of course, you have to be working with decent files to begin with, but my, they truly cut down on any noise distortion, background noise, very crisp and clear...now if we could teach the docs to ENUNCIATE!
15 years worth of hearing loss
I have experienced this also, mostly in my left ear. Almost daily I get doctors that are speaking so quietly that I have to blast my sound - then someone in the background laughs or drops something. Too bad they aren't on the other end of the headphones.
I've been hearing this song for 20 years sm
from outsiders. We're still working, right? There will always be a need for MTs in some form, whether deciphering VR or straight transcribing. However, if I were starting a career now, I'd certainly go into an entirely different field--one that pays for the intellect and skill that is needed for MT.
I've been hearing this for years, haven' t you.? It gets boring.
x
my dad retired at age 66, but I do not remember the year.--sm
he passed on when he was 72, which was six years ago. He definately had restrictions.
Yes it is very sad. Not a ffan of network news, but Jennings did the 2000 New Years broadcast
where they showed different New Years celebrations in different countries and he handled it so well getting us all through the 2000 scare. Too bad about the lung cancer. It's an ugly but for the most part preventable disease. They say he was a heavy smoker. All the sadder.
I did that a few years ago, can't remember the name of it though,
They did "publish" my picture in a book which I bought and when I saw the picture that won the prize, well I don't begrudge anybody anything, but come on, it was a picture of 2 sneakers. I think they just picked a name out of a hat. Anyway, I wouldn't say it's exactly a scam, but it was nice for a little while to say I got a photo "published" and recognized even if it was only by the rest of the people who had pictures in the book as well. They kept changing the name of the book mine was in too as I recall. I almost didn't realize what it was when I got it. Then reality hit and I realized it's just pretty much a vanity thing and it was quite a let down. Most of the pictures (my own as well, I admit which looked a lot better to me before I sent it in), had absolutely no professional-like quality to them at all.
After 8 years, I can remember most of them
which shows the prompts for the ones I'm fuzzy on. It is based on MM's abbreivation list which is now public domain. The idea is to use phonetics to make abbreviations.
What do you hear when you say "abdominal pain"? abpa
What do you hear when you say "the patient"? tp
What do you hear when you say "lower uterine segment"? lus
What do you hear when you say "the patient was taken to the operating room"? tpwt and then ttor
It is as unlimited as your imagination!
I remember everyone asking that question 15 years ago,
.
At this for 30+ years. I think the thing to remember is yes, it is a business, when I am home to w
working. One thing I do to start off is treadmill every morning 30 minutes, just walk, no vigorous jogging too old, just enough to get those endorphins working and then start with my cup of coffee. I don't answer the phone for anyone unless its my mom. She only call is if something is wrong, otherwise I let the machine pick it up. I will if I have personal calls for myself take time when no work or do that rather than lunch for 40 minutes or so. I do the hour stretch. I also use weights, free weights by my desk I use to lift and stretch out my neck and arm muscles. I also use a ball twice a day to lie on and roll out the shoulders. This enables me to keep at it. No house chores. After I am done I do those. My kids are raised, but this job always enabled me to be here at home for them. I worked nights for a long time too broke up my work time when they were younger. So everything at home is workable with the right approach. Just remember, you are working, just because your home don't take personal calls. I don't think I would have done this for this many years if it was not work the $$. Be creative in your own routine have fun with it and make it work enjoyable. We can go out and have coffee in the sun on the deck in our PJs for our breaks, so remember the flexibility factor there.
From what I remember many years ago, the retiring or leaving MD would offer or sell his practice to
another local physician, who would keep the old records until the patients decided to followup with him or someone else. In my case, my old GYN passed away and his practice was "sold" to another local GYN with all the patients records. I found out by chance and called the old number, which was being forwarded to his old office manager, who in turn would refer you to the new doc or get the medical records sent to whoever you wanted. If there is no number or you have no idea, you may want to try and contact your local Medical Society and see if they have any info on where to locate the old physician. In some instances, the records are just permanently destroyed. Hope this helps a little bit.
35 years this year, hmmmmm
My income?
Me 2, 15-20 years ago I was making about $70,000 a year
Now it seems, I'm just scraping by, juggling the utility bills and paying whichever one has sent me the 24-hour disconnect notice this month; it's become a grim miserable job compared to what it was. I'm nearing retirement age, but I doubt retirement is going to be in my future for a very long time.
The single worst thing that ever happened to us was going from the gross line count to the character count, and not adjusting the line rate upward to parity -- not to mention the adjustments that should have been made to accommodate all the extra time spent struggling to make sense of huge increase in ESL dictations that has occurred over the last 15 years, and of course there should have been COLAs as well, which we all know has not happened.
In the 1980s, with the advent of powerful and affordable PCs, free lance transcription became much more common. So if you were experienced, disciplined and organized, you could be much better off economically by working for yourself -- although there were definitely advantages to working in-hospital. There were great benefits and the salary was indeed enough to support a small family (albeit very modestly.)
For a number of years during that time, many of us worked part time in the hospital for benefits, but made our real money at home.
But in my case, the time came when it just made no economic sense to work in-housel, I was better buying off buying private insurance for major medical care, tax-deferred annuities, and self-insuring the little stuff.
I would just pick up tapes from the hospital every morning, and drop off the work (which I printed out) from the day before.
I usually had 24 hours to transcribe tapes which I did during school hours, when things were peaceful and quiet.
I transcribed a couple thousand GROSS lines day. Every single character line counted, so by taking advantage of headers/footers, creative macros, word expansions, etc., I really boosted my productivity far beyond to what I could do in-house on the self-correcting Selectric, Wang or Mag Card, or whatever 10-years behind technology was currently being used, plus all the office distractions and politics, and I definitely did not to have to work 24/7 to earn a good living. (Oh how I loved WP5.1!)
In fact, 2000 gross lines a day, 5 days a week at 10 cents a line (courier 10-pitch font, one-inch margins) was very very do-able for an experienced productive acute-care MT, provided she had good equipment, good reference books, and stayed focused. It would take about 5-6 hours a day to get that amount of work done. So figure the math out for yourselves, that's just a tad under $50,000 a year, certainly not a high standard of living in those days but adequate when it meant you could stay home and be actually be a full time parent when your children were home from school, and very comfortable, if you were married with a working spouse, or had rerliable child support, or social security for your children (if you were widowed.)
If you chose to work some weekends and evenings, it was not that all that difficult to hit that $75,000 a year mark, which I did for a couple of years so I was able to pay the tuition at a good boarding school -- and cruelly thwarted my teen-aged son's only ambition in life, which was to become a high school drop-out.
Things have gotten bad, no doubt about that, and the worst part of it is, is that most of the big MTSOs are still charging the hospitals as much as we used to earn, and sometimes even more, but the MT is no longer earning it, and often can't get enough work to meet the line counts required by the MTSOs for benefits (although the cost of those benefits are reflected in the cost charged to the hospital.)
I don't know what the answer is, as the electronic immigrant is such a huge threat.
It's pretty darn awful, and I feel very very bad for those of you starting out in this field, and I do hope things change for you (and that someday soon I can retire.)
And the point that the person made is that that she was worth $75,000 a year, not necessarily that she was getting it or could get it, and I absolutely agree with her. This is a hard tough job if it's done right -- it's mentally tiring, it's hard on your back, your hands, your neck (and your behind.)
It requires a lot of time -- it requires focus, you must stay alert, and must give 100% of your attention to what you are doing 100% of the time, it takes education and brains -- and now a word of truth which my 35+ years experience gives me the right to say aloud -- it's not fulfilling, wonderful, lovable and enjoyable, it's often as repetitious and tedious as an assembly line but infinitely more frustrating.
PS: I recall one of my colleagues from those early years of my career, now gone from this earth, telling me that the 1960s were really the "fat" years, that things actually began to decline salary-wise, in real dollars, in the 1970s.
The last 4 years I have averaged $48,000 to $54,000 a year
I have been in the business for 12 years, work roughly 8 hours daily, and make a decent living doing this. Paid by the line at 13 cpl. I have rougly 75% ESL and do H&P, consults, DS and OPs (the basic 4).
1 hurricane in 30 years or every year. I'd take Texas :)
Just kidding with u but I have been to Florida..... Talk about illegals! woweee. Not saying all over, just where I have been. See...... generalizations help no one. If you don't live there, you do not know so please consider your response. And, yes I was actually raised in Pasadena/Houston TX area and NO WAY would I want to live there again. :)
56-years-young, married, one 29-year-old beautiful son...
... and going to school to get into law someday - age is not a concern, it's a blessing!
My goal every year is $52k, which I have done for the past 2 years working sm
for Keystrokes. I do radiology only, I should mention. I took the amount I wanted (actually needed) to make in a year, divided it by 52 weeks, divided it by 5 days, came up with $1000 per week or $200 per day. I divided that by 8 hours and by my report rate ($1.25). I know that I need to transcribe 20 reports per hour on average. I keep a tally. Some days, it takes me longer to do than others, but I sit down and do my 8 hours every single day. I use my Expander a LOT (literally for all but a few words). I am on one account, so I know those doctors inside and out. If I am short at the end of the week, I ask if there is work available on the weekend for me to do. The most I end up with 2 hours to make up what might have been short during the week.
At $40k, you would need to make $153.85 per day, or $19.23 per hour. At $0.07, you need to type 275 lines per hour, or 2200 for the day. This should be very easy to get with using an expander and sitting down with a set schedule.
It takes a while to get used to making sure you hit your internal quota every day. I have to think of it daily and make it up on Saturday or Sunday so that I never start a week behind my personal goal.
I also take an incentives that are handed out (for instance if they are asking for help in a backlog situation at increased rate) and work at least a partial shift on holidays. If I am ahead at the end of the week, I carry it to the next week and know that I have some lines in my internal quota bank.
I know this sounds weird, but it works for me. I have helped a few others to get to their goals as well, and this seems to work for them too.
I would also look for something that is more in the 0.08 to 0.09 per line range. Ask your lead for production tips. Ask other transcriptionists. It is very possible for us to make good money, we just have to focus on our goals.
I have a sales background, which involved sales quotas. This is easier as I am in control of my daily production, not on someone else's decisions.
Good luck!
Very busy - just did my total for the month. This is the best year I've had in my 25 years of MT!
No complaints whatsoever! Hope the rest of my fellow MTs experience a prosperous remainder of the year!
I meant hospital for 8 years (not months)...going on 15th year.
x
don't do annual but do big trips every few years. Last year went to Africa including safari
spent 18 days - one day traveling there, (stopping in for a day in London), then two weeks working at an orphanage and girls vocational school, safari on the weekend, then two days of travel back. Whew!
I thought they can only audit you or send you a tax bill 2 years prior. It is now 2006 - the 2 year
I may be wrong here - maybe it is 3 years, but I thought the law changed and it was 2 years. Check into it.
Mine are in year-round thank goodness! They've started their new year 2 months ago.
x
Union diesil mechanic - good pay, great benefits. We swap year to year on who brings home more sm
money.....but I am an IC and he has all the benefits...health insurance/dental that the company pays for, pension plan, 401k, etc. Factor all of that in and he makes way more than I do.
to cowgirl - Last I knew, last year the job paid $25,000/year no taxes, etc.
The hospital was bombed about a year ago, but not a lot of damage, very minimal damage.
44-year-old WF, M, Texas, 3 grown kids, just had 26 year wedding anv.
nm
nope, still crunching last few days of year to hit my 50k this year. how can you when you haven'
;
HEARING
I have noticed a hearing change. But it is weird as my hearing is better in my right ear where I listen to the dictation. It is my LEFT ear that isn't so good anymore. I guess old age is catching up with me; unfortunately, in many ways, not just one !!
hearing
the latest buzz about hearing and earphones was more related to ear buds that fit in your ear, which puts it much closer to your tympanic membranes.
hearing
Have a hearing problem, anyone know if or where I can get a headset specifically for hearing deficit.
you should be hearing from them again soon.
nm
hearing
Get your ears checked. Mine accumulate ear wax regularly and there is a huge difference when the wax is removed. Good luck!
Nothing this year. We ALWAYS got a cool surprise in the past, but this year nothing. :-( nm
d
After I went to a 1-year MT course at a vocational school, it was so bad that I did the 2-year colle
Not only did I finally receive the proper training, but the woman on the advisory board hired and mentored me. I also joined the local AAMT and networked. Good luck. I know how frustrating it can be. A community college will have a good program to include medical language, MT courses taught by local MTSOs, business English, anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, etc.
Losing hearing
Does anybody else feel that over time their hearing has deteriorated due to the constant noise from wearing headphones?
hearing same from mine.
I have head the same from my 15 year old son who plays both competitive travel ice hockey and high school.
Last season he told me the same thing, he is burning out, hockey is 10 months on his travel team. We start in Sept and don't finish until end of Mar.
I just listened to his reasons why and then explained to him that if he wanted to stop the travel hockey because its just too much OK, but he should continue to play for his school. I explained to him that high school is such a short time in his life and to make the most fun of it. His friends and family that come to what him play are OK with his decision.
He thought about it for a while and just last week came started and he is now playing both. I asked him what changed. He just said he needed some down time and now he's ready to go. Thank God it a short season at this time. Aug to Nov and Nov to Feb.
Don't get to down on him, he may pick up some other sport he finds challenging.
PS - He also went out for track and field for his HS team.
hearing loss
Has anyone noticed a loss of hearing over years of MT work? A new report on the news says that continuous use of head sets can cause hearing loss. I have noticed it (and tinnitus) among me and my MT friends. Anyone else?
Hearing problems
I got of of this work because of the problems with hearing loss and tinnitus. It got so bad I was affecting my balance. I miss the work, keep up with the board, may do a little transcription, but not for long periods. I can not longer deal with it. I too am 45, but due to the hearing problems sometimes feel older. My hearing is flucutates. Had to purchase a hearing aid, the right one for my problem cost $2481.97 (for one) and the Insurance company did not pay one penny for it.
hearing loss
After 30 years in this job, yes my hearing is REAL bad! I'm going to start pricing hearing-aids this month, mightly only be able to afford one. Insurance companies - if they are generous might pay for one - if you work at GM I'm told. I'm certain this job has accelerated a natural aging phenomenon. I'm hoping to make it another 5 years. I can't interview for another line of work if I can't hear the interviewer!
I look forward to hearing more
...especially about satellite connectivity. That is my big issue at the moment. We have high-speed, business-grade satellite with Direcway, but some companies cannot work with this. Do you know if DRC can?
Wonder how many MTs have hearing problems sm
I notice on lots of these reports I have to crank up the volume to catch the nuances of crappy dictators with poor sound quality. Then there are the reports that are cranked up because the dictator is talking very softly, only to BONK! COME IN WITH A LOUD NOISE or adjusted volume on his end.
My concern is what this is going to do to my hearing over the long run. Anybody have ideas or similar concerns? Probably a study of MTs has never been done, but I bet it would show hearing loss.
I too have hearing problems.
I guess the little felt covers were irritating my ears as I would have many ear infections a year. 2 years ago I switched to earphones that go over my ears now, looks funky but no ear infections and sound is great. Take care
I'm so tired of hearing this.
I'm so tired of hearing MT's talk about how they're slaves to their jobs.Don't you think everyone's a slave to their job in every field.Do you think MT'g is the only career path that has so called slaves.Do you think there's any career out there a person can work where they won't be a slave of some sort????? I really get tired of hearing all the MTs cry their poor pitiful me tune, I'm such a slave. Please ... get over it. 
Hearing loss
Is there any new technology out there on improving hearing loss besides hearing aids? My DH has a herititary hearing loss that seems to be getting worse these past few years. He refuses to wearing hearing aids even though we have spent $$$ on them. He is a teacher and it is getting very difficult for him to teach his classes effectively or without students making fun of or taking advantage of his hearing loss. Just curious if anyone knows of anything before we spend $$$ and time seeing doctors that will tell him nothing.
Hearing loss
My son who is 11 has worn hearing aids since before he turned 3, first the BTE kind (which were mini) and for the last couple of years, since he has shown so much responsibility, he now has ITE very small,programmable aids. Quite expensive, but worth it.
One of the contacts that assist me in the state (VA) with school issues recently sent me additional information; included was a brochure from NFSS Communincations which is a supplier of assitive-listening devices.
However, I would not just randomly purchase an item without discussing it with an audiologist that you trust. Fortunately, my son's audiologist is wonderful beyond words and quite helpful.
I have quite a bit of additional information on this subject if you need it.
My son says to tell your husband just to get good hearing aids and wear them. (Nothing mean intended, he just knows that if he can hear with assistance, then why not wear them). He has explained to the other children that basically it is just like someone who wears glasses to see better.
I hate to see anyone struggling due to this matter and hope that he finds something he is comfortable with. Good luck!
jrm
After hearing some surgeons
mangle their reports, I vow to never let hm near me with a sharp object in his hand. And when they say "informed consent" I wonder who did the informing and whether the patient could understand it any better than I do.
It's comical. Just like when we were hearing sm
those little voices a few months back. I did hear the buzzing sound when I opened ER-MT's post above.
I am interested in hearing how this goes for you - sm
I too am waiting on a foot pedal for a new job that uses EMDAT. I should have mine on Monday though. I thought it would be just a plug in and it would work kind of deal. I just don't want it to interfere with my other foot pedal (serial port) and my MS Word, which it does mess up I think. I will know for sure the next time I use it (going to repeat the training) and then later try to use word by itself on my computer (rebooting fixed it, just hate rebooting as it takes about 10 minutes for the whole process since I have so much on my computer). You may have to change your hot keys, the EMDAT is F2, F3 and F4 keys for play, rwd and FF respectively.
hearing loss
Has anyone heard of Transcriptionist losing their hearing due to the long hours of listening on the headphones?
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