Agreed -- Bear is pretty much THE authority on accreditation and distance learning (NM)
Posted By: NWMNMT on 2009-03-01
In Reply to: P.S....sm - TechSupport
nm
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MT home study distance learning programs
This post is to those of you who received their MT training via a home study/online program. Was it easy to get a job after graduation? Which home study course (company) did you use? Would you recommend them/it? Thanks for your input.
Does Accreditation matter?
I currently work at an on-site technical school and have recently decided to make a career change from my general office position. Upon the start of my searching for on-line schools, I was told by many coworkers to make sure the the school was accreditted by the DETC. Are the "top three schools" accreditted by this body, or any other sort of board of education, other than just being affiliated to AAMT? Does this matter? Is it just as easy/difficult to find an on-site job as it is a home-based job with these "top three schools?" Alot of questions, I know. But I am so excited to start learning transcription, but all the choices out there are slowing down my process.
Accreditation matters. It helps to avoid scams, but not always. sm
Pick a good school. It is extremely difficult to get hired immediately, even when graduating from an accredited school. It is a hard row to hoe. Most companies require at least 2, usually 5 years of time on the job. They just don't have time to train new MTs.
Why don't you contact an authority? Like your
It is amazing to see such serious questions posed here.
JMO
Honestly ... no one here is an authority on
You would be best served by contacting the Superintendent of your school system to discuss this. Escalate it further to one of the government offices that handle HIPAA issues.
The "credentialing authority" is bogus, sm
and b.s. It is a private organization, looking for mo' money, mo' money, with no standing of any kind. They will not get a dime from me, for anything. They are anti-MT to say the least.
no misunderstanding at all. you want things your way and you run crying to "mom" or authority
I don't really mind your posts, but what you are doing now makes me wonder about your sanity. It's like my kids when they don't get their way. They come crying to me and want me to intervene and they try to cause trouble for the person who won't give in. That's what you are doing. You lost me on this battle Dano.
"Listen" to the resident authority editor? That really says a lot about the pompous attitude
Can it.
I think any woman who needs reinforcement from an authority figure such as a supervisor is insecure.
I don't give a care what any Manager/CEO/Supervisor says to me regarding good job, show me the money is all I care about. Talk is sometimes cheaper than actually giving a raise (as evident with MQ) so save the talk and give me the pay I am entitled to. Less e-mail, talk, chatter from managment, hopefully more money for me.
off topic, but bear with me here
would you be upset if your husband had been somewhat unfaithful in the past, but the two of you worked through your problems and sought counseling and now had a stronger marriage than ever? except you didn't know for certain about the somewhat unfaithful part until after you had reconciled and renewed your vows? but then you find out that your mother-in-law knew about the infidelity and preached to you about marriage and family without telling you the whole story? because it was her son's place to tell me, not hers. and now you find out that she is friends with this other woman and calls and emails her on a regular basis, which is more than she does with you? do I have the right to feel angry and betrayed here? or am I seriously just overreacting and freaking out about something that's in the past?
mama bear
it reminds me of the simpsons. Homer makes a good papa bear..
Smarter than the average bear :-)
xx
So what? 8 cpl is what the market will bear. If you don't want 8, don't take a job that pays
x
May have to grin and bear it. Another option . .
Keep documentation for a while. It's a good CYA move if/when they use it against you in QA audits.
As you noted, you are aware a lot of us have been there. Personally, I think commas are the most subjective points of punctuation. Maybe it depends on the QA's mood or the phase of the moon! ;)
You're right. I can't bear children! BWAHAHA!!! nm
Sucker!
you should be setting your rates according to what the market will bear...
not what you feel like getting. If you like the account, you're familiar with it and able to make good money off of it, you might want to stay at the rate you are at. As a service owner, I used to plan to hire at 7 but bring everyone eventually up to 10 cpl by 0.5 increases every six months. I also used to be able to raise the rates from the hospital, clinic or physician office every 2 years. Nowadays if I bid on a new account, I am regularly outbid at 11 cpl, with 24 TAT. I have discussed it with my IC MT's. If they want a raise, I can try to negotiate a raise from the hospital...but it jeopardizes our account. Every time you raise your rates, it's a signal for them to start shopping around. So I would say, based on what the market will bear, don't expect to be getting raises. Ever. 
Okay, now I am goign to type this verbatim so bear with me.....
If you have tried unplugging the back of the unit and it still won't let you re-program but you hear a dial tone OR after you press PROGRAM KEY and SEC# comes in the window instead of KEYS window THEN try to push calc/clear and hold down until window clears OR push pund key first and then calc/clear and hold down together until the window clears THEN press PROGRAM then KEYS, etc following instrcutions to re-program each work type number and bottom row.
Let me know it this works at all!
My tips (and I can't type tonight so bear with me) (sm)
Also if you're serious about starting out on your own, here are my recommendations (been there, did that last year).
1. Be patient ... realize that unless you hit the offices at just the right time when they're looking for a transcriptionist, you won't get a billion calls just because you "opened your doors" (I was sadly optimistic for quite a while).
2. Market yourself as a professional ... meaning no email addresses such as "ilovemykitties@catsrus.com". Have a business name or simply YOURNAME transcription service but have something to print on those business cards and flyers and brochures you're going to create!
3. Get business cards. If you go with vista print's free ones, pay the $3.99 to have a BLANK back side. I didn't at first and had to redo mine because they all said "free business cards at vista print" which looked like ca-ca.
4. Create a flyer or a brochure advertising what you have to offer. You can do this in MS Word (we all have it) and there are free templates you can down load or just use the column function.
5. Decide WHAT market you want to target and go for it. I didn't want acute care/hospital work so I only targetted clinics.
6. Send out introduction letters (do a search for client getting letter on the internet, there's one out there that I found but I didn't like it so created my own but it's some place to start) ... enclose a business card and a flyer or brochure advertising your services. Ask them to please keep your information handy in case they need transcription help.
7. Get a website (if you like that kind of thing ... I did). Also you can advertise on craigslist (all I got was spam from it though) or on freeyellow, kijiji, etc. I took advantage of all the free resources there were to get my name out there and I did get calls from people that had to have found me on the internet.
8. IF you live near a big town, it might be worth it to pound the pavement and go directly to offices to drop off your information. For me, I found it more economical to send out letters to every single doctor in the phone books in several nearby towns/cities.
9. Be patient and realize that once you get your own clients, you will feel amazing ... it will revitalize your career when you can say good bye to the middle man and know that every single line you type is YOUR money!!
Feel free to email me if you have any questions. :)
New giveaway! $50 Build A Bear Bucks, see sticky post above.
/
Elaine Johnson of Boise, Idaho, you won the Build A Bear Bucks!
Email to admin@mtstars.com with your full mailing address and we will send you your gift.
I think I'm pretty bright and pretty good, too, but
I am not a CMT. I am a medical transcriptionist who enjoys her job very much (most days). I have chosen not to pursue certification simply because I cannot afford to do so. I believe the certification is a nice thing to have, but I don't believe it is necessary for employment or for excellence in my job. If you can afford it, go for it. If you can't, don't feel too bad. You can still take pride in and do a very good job without it. 
Agreed!
more are women than men.
Agreed.
By ''too pushy or desperate,'' I just meant not haranguing them TOO much or TOO frequently. But definitely follow up, in a professional manner, and let them know that you're still interested ... especially if you haven't received a reply in a reasonable amount of time. Worked for me! (third time's the charm?)
agreed -
I did not renew this year - and I personally know at least 10 MTs in my area who did not renew this year -- they have lost their focus to the American MT. IMO, perhaps their biggest financial support is through sales of their membership listing to offshore and/or unrelated companies! No thank you!
Agreed
And poor Elliott. He seems like such a sweetheart. And mq_mt, I'll be sure to say hello. LOL.
Agreed!
Looks are only skin deep and come and go. Stephen is a hunk in ways to numerous to count and truth be known, he makes a lot of women's heart go a flitter flutter, they're just too timid to admit it, but I'll stand up right here and say it out loud and clear:
THAT
MAN
IS
F_I_N_E
AGREED! (nt)
Agreed!
Tell them you have six school kids at home and will need extra money to leave them and take the job traveling to do their bidding! (wink!)
Agreed. I'm with you.
And getting paid crap for it when it takes longer to edit than it does to transcribe outright because the VR companies don't train the docs.
Agreed
They basically want their files online because they are horribly disorganized and cannot keep track of what they've sent to me or I've sent back to them. If I store them on an external drive here, they will just drive me crazy asking me to look for stuff. I've tried hard to work with these guys, but this issue coupled with some others has shown that what they really need is an inhouse transcriptionist.
Agreed!
I certainly agree with you there... :)
AGREED
When I needed to switch my docs to digital I got my stuff from transcriptiongear and my FTP through Hippo. Transcriptiongear is great at recommending the right products that are the easiest to use for offices doing the switch. They also have tech support for all their products to help you get set up. This is what you will need.
Digital recorders for each doctor. Most recorders also come with software that will automatically transfer the dictation from recorder to computer (I find this an important step). Computers will also need a free USB port for the recorder.
FTP. You will need a host (somebody will have to pay a monthly fee for this) and both you and the office will need an FTP client (a program to transfer the files). HIPPO offers both and again good support. There are free FTP clients out there but you don't get any support so if you are just starting out I don't recommend it.
What you need: In addition to an FTP client, you are also going to need a player and a foot pedal to play the digital files once you get them. I just use ExpressScribe, which is free, and you can talk to transcriptiongear about the right pedal.
If I left something out, somebody will (hopefully) point it out. There are many other options out there with many pros and cons. This is just the set up I use and we're happy with it.
Agreed
!
Agreed.
I had my own accounts for about six years and ended up keeping a brutal schedule that put me on psych meds, ultimately.
If you go this route, I think it's absolutely necessary that you are a person who CAN set healthy boundaries for yourself.
I couldn't, of course my clients didn't much care even if I could, and I'd get phone calls at 11:30 at night, 6:30 in the morning, unreasonable demands, COMPLETELY inconsistent workload... and remember, when it's just you, you keep up with no matter what they throw at you (meaning, 20 minutes of dictation OR 200 minutes of dictation) in your required turnaround time, or you could lose the client. Office staff doesn't often remember (or care) that you are just one person. You are a vendor to them.
I sound horribly harsh, but I just think it's a good idea to know what to expect. It sounds glamorous but, for me, it was anything but. Didn't make enough to hire an IC, but had too much work for myself, and now I'm here with CTS and severe burnout, having cut back severely on my work.
If you can handle those challenges, that's wonderful, and good luck! For all the positives, remember the huge challenges.
Agreed, but...
Your post is true. However, MTs who are not ready to "fly" should not be hired to do hospital work in the first place. Some could, but they need to be screened for the ones who know their limitations, how to use their resources, and that includes QA resources (assuming their QA person is a good resource). Now, who hired them? The vultures who hope to make a buck off of them and us? The MTSOs who hire unqualified people do us no service, do the new MTs no service, do the clients no service and definitely do the patients no service. If they want to hire people who are marginal those new people should be assigned a mentor to help them along and that mentor should be paid for that service. That is the only solution, as I see it. Only the qualified should work and earn what they are worth. I don't know about you, but I would welcome the raise they could give me if they hired fewer unqualifed people, hired more qualified (which they could do if they paid fairly) and then they would not have to have so many angry QA employees. Makes sense. Maybe we should all the the CMT test and only those who pass work (at a higher line rate). Then, when new transcriptionists start, they will be more qualified and less a burden on QA.
Agreed
Actually the only MT I know who makes decent money is one who works for a hospital (familiar work, familiar docs, 1 set of formats) which pays a combination of hourly and per line. She only makes it because she is the "fastest gun in the west" at the keyboard, fingers fairly fly, but she's getting the physical results of that, ie carpal tunnel, arthritic fingers, etc. Unfortunately for me, I love the work if I could only find a decent place for it.
agreed...
nm
I have never agreed with anyone like I do with your's!
Anytime I hear a single mother I just get a really bad taste in my mouth. It is used as an excuse. I was a divorced mother, never a single mother, but I had 2 children that I saw after and never got any coddling because of my having children. Anytime I hear "single mother" it just sounds to me like you want something for nothing and to be singled out for reduced rates, a giveaway, freebies, food stamps, well you get the picture.
agreed
You have to comply with HIPAA on this. It is not in your job description to question a doctor's judgement. You don't know what the patient's wishes are and why the doctor is treating a patient a certain way. If you value your integrity (and job) leave it be and don't get emotionally involved with work.
Agreed, but...(sm)
I think we can probably all tell where the OP worked and I don't blame her at ALL for being soured on the profession. Glad I passed on that particular opportunity when it was offered. *Shudder*
That being said, I've had great employers, particularly my current one, and I'm still making very good money.
It's all in the luck of the draw and with which company you have the opportunity to work for.
Again, OP, you have my sympathies...I'd be living on benzos if I worked for *THAT* place!!!
Agreed (more)
I know. I agree with you there. I'm just glad that for now the attendings are still using us. I'm just afraid that they are going to phase us out eventually. Maybe not right away, but there is always that possibility. But, these attendings are absolutely opposed VR. They did not want to switch. They did not want to be responsible for editing because they rely too much on us. The residents are trained coming in to use it, so they'll never come back to using us. <sigh>
LOLOL - AGREED
LOLOL--YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!
Agreed. But you have no answer. ;(
I cannot believe what we've been reduced to either. When I started 15 years ago, this was a hot job. I got more money each time I started a new job. I have had great accounts/jobs go to templates and VR, or (?) Through the years, my needs required more income but even with more experience, I watch my income shrink.
I was just commenting to my daughter the other day as I came on this board how sad it is to see so many people scrambling to work for companies for for pennies/line. There is no dignity and not much self-respect to glean anymore from a job well done.
Most of us just have to "bite the bullet" and play the game. I wish you luck. :)
Agreed. Roll with the changes in the
be phased out. Those who refused to switch out of WP5.1 and learn Word or some other windows-based program now have a much more limited set of work options. The same thing will happen with ASR. You can learn to work with it and learn to be part of it or eventually be obsolete and out of a job.
Agreed; what's the deal .....
There are other companies, instead of spouting your bitterness here... please work elsewhere.
I am really happy at MDI, as are most of the people I work with. I love my team leader. I don't know who you are, but gosh - you sure are negative.
agreed, i'm in school and still only about
i'm quite torn, as I want to do this the rest of my life (psychology) but at the same time school is so hard when you're trying to keep a full time job, and I would need a graduate degree to get a job that pays well. I can't go full time either, i'm just starting out, so it seems like a jail sentence some days. Looking at close to 10 years of schooling. I also love nutrition, to become a nutritionist it would take much less time, but just thinking about all that math and those formulas, eek! Then there is cooking, a school here offers an associates degree for that. It seems like a stressful job that I would not get joy out of. Cookie cutter restaurant recipes.
I look at it this way, it wouldnt hurt to learn about social sciences, that can be applied to any field. Maybe take a break from social sciences, go for that cooking degree or get a nutritionist diploma and work with food. I'm showing my indecision right now. I envy those people who knew what they wanted to do early on and are successful at it and thriving.
That's what I meant. I agreed with you.
And you responded with vitriol, "dear". Not at all nice. And from someone who was so upset with perceived negativity.
Agreed, Patti!
I guess if I were the OP, I'd be looking while working. :-)
I agreed with post up until that SM
"fascinating and exciting times" comment.
The work is going offshore to India, Phillipines, China, Guam, Timbuktu, whatever. Anyone with a small child they hope to home school for 18 years, better find a new line of work.
Things are changing, but they most certainly are not getting better.
Agreed, standard set, so
who would that be? When can we start? Who wants to help? What about a committe appointed and administered through a university with Merriam-Webster, Stedmans, NIH, etc. on the committee. I once met the man (on the phone) who started Sno-Med. Wish I could find his phone number. Maybe he could help us all. All this middle-man stuff and uncertainty has to stop. Thanks for your post.
Agreed, that's not logical. (sm)
...so it's a good thing no one said that. :-) Not sure where you got that idea. I don't question Norton's or McAfee's "safety," only their superiority (and I have, indeed, seen numerous systems slow to a crawl while either was installed and running). As I ended my last post, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
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