B.S. in HIM, no MT school, OTJ training for that skill, but the HIM classes for the knowledge. nm
Posted By: Kit on 2006-02-23
In Reply to: Poll: school vs. OJT, etc. (repost) - MT student
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I got to take some training classes...
that were provided to me free by my employer, which helped me learn the basic concepts. Then I just tried to start thinking outside the box a little bit, looking for things that annoyed me that I could change by using IT. Basically any sequence of keys or commands you type on the keyboard, you can program into IT. So for example it drives me CRAZY when a doctor starts dictating a paragraph and then says #2 when he didn't say #1, or the other way around, when he always says #1 and then there's no #2 and my account rules are that you have to fix that. So I wrote down the combination of keys that it took to go up to the top of the paragraph, take the number out and then drop back down to the bottom, and I made a shortcut out of it. You can use the command function in IT to insert things like ctrl/shift and the up arrow to take you to the beginning of the paragraph or the search/replace command to change Diagnosis to Diagnoses. I just kept track of what keys I was typing to do certain things and then made an entry for those. Some of them took some tweaking but once I got them exactly right they make my day go much more smoothly. There's also a website, I believe it's www.productivitytalk.com, that gives a lot of tips and tricks to use with IT. Hope that helps.
MTWerks has some training classes on IT. sm
http://www.mtwerks.com/InstantText.htm
I have not personally done any of her IT classes, but I did once go to a seminar she held in my area and I learned a lot of computer/word based shortcuts. She is or was an MT and has come up with these seminars/classes to help productivity for MTs, more in the "keeping the hands on the keyboard" kind of thinking rather than using mouse, etc. It helped me tremendously and I still use a lot of her tips.
Someone also posted on her maybe a year or so ago a website that had a lot of tips about naming your shortcuts/expanders and how to remember them, but I cannot recall what website it was. Maybe do a Google search and see what you can find?
TRAINING SCHOOL--I WANT TO START A
training school to produce quality transcriptionists using something like HPI's CD and cassettes. I have purchased several from different transcriptionists and I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to start a training program. I know the local colleges are going to come after me in every way they can just to prevent me from infringing on their multi-million dollar Transcriptionist training, but they teach them and charge them for soooo very much that transcriptionists do not need, and they stretch their programs out for two years. I already have a transcription service with 6 employees, but want to expand and I have just interviewed about 8 applicants who knew absolutely nothing about the meds we use now, and especially about the AAMT guidelines about not using q.d., q.i.d. q.h.s. etc. One woman had been seeking a position for a year, but everyone in our area wants "experience." She is a very fast learner, intelligent, and I only have to tell her things once.....but after a two-year college, making the Dean's List, I am training her!! I want to start the "training" school cuz as it is now, I am doing it for free, just so I can get an excellent, long-term employee... Has anyone every tried doing this and did the colleges really come after you with lawyers? How can I term it, charge for it, but not require a "teaching license" so I do not get in trouble? I am clueless on this, want to be careful not to step on toes, but am very tired of training students who graduate for free. Feel free to email me if you need to...... PLEASE HELP ME!!!
Fun in Transcription Training School
If I had a hammer....... I'd hammer . . . . .
B--A--R--B! I know I would. Today I have the displeasure of being having to be trained for a new job. Since the Heartless, Inc. I used to work for traded me as an employee for 29 Indians in Bangalore who will now do my job.
Medical transcription itself is second nature to me, but the hoops and hurdles on how to get the job done with their company is what they are trying to teach me.
You know, this information she conveys to us is all covered in the company handbook under, "Redundant Rhetoric." That's under the subsection heading of "Everything You Will Never Need to Know."
I never do well with the whistles and bells of any new job. Our trainer has been systematic in this group conference call presenting the material. She is very windy in her explanations of "do this, don't do that, .... can't you read the signs?"
no, I'm sorry . . . I can't. She lost me about an hour ago.
Instead, I worry. I'm not sure if I have attention-deficit disorder, or irritable HOW disease. Maybe my give-a-flip is broken, but something has gone terribly wrong.
I can still hear her now, but . . . . I have not actually understood a word she said except, "Um, and So Um." I hope they aren't, um, going to test me on it, so um, apprehension is my middle name.
I interestingly study the flight pattern of flies.
She said, "That about summarizes it. Do you have any questions, or comments?"
'Summarizes" was a buzzword I was looking for. It signaled the end. Over! Finis! Yeah! Magically, I was awakened from my coma.
A dag-gone medical miracle, no doubt.
Well, it was either her words that woke me, or now that I think of it . . . . . it may have been the pain from the cat claws piercing my back as Buddy cat tried to jump up on the back of my chair. We'd have to study that a little more to know for sure.
I was relieved, but that did not last long.
Apparently, next up on her synopsis of fun-filled classroom activities was, "HUMILIATION," just before the part on "TORTURE."
She called me by name to reiterate what she just taught us.
I am totally bumfuzzled. I've been fritzenfrackered before, and this feels a whole lot like fritzenfracker to me. I hate fritzenfracker. My heart beats like a bunny at about 500 beats a minute.
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking it must be the same feeling skydivers experience the last two seconds before impact, after their parachute has failed to open.
A long pause of silence follows.
My mouth is instantly cottonball dry as I choke trying to speak.
"Mari?" She said. "Mari are you there?"
When all else fails . . . . I know it's best to just be funny.
It may not work but it's a ploy to stall for time so I can crash course myself and maybe come up to speed on what the heck she was talking about. Yes, I learn fast.
"Whew!" I said sounding out of breath. "I just got away! Sheesh! Don't worry, I'm okay though. Ya'll didn't pay the ransom did you?"
She said, "I'm sorry. What was that?"
"You didn't pay the ransom did you? I was hoping you wouldn't pay, because I knew I could get away.
Did I miss anything?"
Now our trainer was now stunned.
She was speechless. She stuttered. The class laughed.
"No, I'm just kidding." I said, "What was it you asked me?"
She said sternly, "I asked if you could review what we just learned here."
Since I didn't have enough time to fully absorb the information . . . . again, I went with funny and fritzenfrazzled.
"I could," I said, "and so, I would, but you know, um, I have to be honest with you here. . .
(I used her favorite words of 'and so and um' to summon some sympathy from her, so you know, maybe she would not send me to the New-Hire Firing Squad. At a minimum I hoped they would give me one last cigarette before they shot me. )
"And so. . . . Um when you started talking about the PDQ, the RSVP, and the ASAP, ADT, you lost me. I tried to pay attention, but mwah, mwah, mwah Charlie Brown's teacher, and I don't get it."
"What!" She said. "Sounded like what?"
"Um, you um, sounded like . . . . Charlie Brown's teacher." I said boldly and daringly.
As I explained it all to her, I imitated the sound to properly apply full effect, ". . . And the next thing I knew, Poof! Mwah, mwah, mwah. Hmmm . . . unconscious."
My fellow classmates laughed hysterically.
I thought, "Yeah, right, laugh, encourage me. I should be carrying a sign around my neck that reads, "Will work for laughs."
This is not funny. I'm through. This isn't the standup comedy club you know for Pete's sake. They aren't paying for funny here. I know, I'm as good as fired.
As the class continued to laugh, surprisingly the instructor apologized in cutest her baby talk. She said, "Oh my! I am soooo sorryeeee. You should have said something! Does anyone else feel that way?"
The rest agreed, "Mwah-Mwah, Mwah, MWAHHH!" They said excitedly in unison.
Realize here, that this woman has a very bubbly, yet violating voice.
Imagine if Barbie could talk. That's our trainer. The high-pitched, I've-been-in-the-sun-too-long voice. After a while, listening to her felt a whole lot like fingernails scrapping the chalkboard.
Apparently her sun-baked idea is that we are going to do it all over again.
Oh no, uh-uh. I can't take anymore. Uncle! Put a Fork in me, I'm done! Hearing her for one more minute is too much. Keep the training pay. I need hazard pay.
I have to do something different, because unknown to her I am a nice person until I've had enough. When I reach the point of total aggravation and frustration . . . . if a butterfly happens by and softly touches me I will grab a hammer to smash that &#$&*!. I know this about myself. I try to control it.
"Excuse me . . . . Barb," I asked interrupting her, "May I be excused? I gotta run and get a flyswatter."
"Mwah, mwah, MWAh?" The instructor asked.
"NO ma'am it CANNOT WAIT!" I said frantically. "This IS an emergency!"
If you like this you should check out my book, Internet Dating Just Bytes. Even if you aren't into Internet Dating, the book has a lot on marriage and relationships that will keep you laughing. :)
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Did you go to school, or are they training you from scratch?
The only scenario I can see is if you didn't go to school. These days, seems like nobody trains from scratch, but if they did, they'd probably pay a rate like that.
Is MTATHOME.com a good training school?
Hi everyone. I was just wondering if MTATHOME.com is a reliable and good training school for me since I am looking to make a career change to Medical Transcription. Anyone who has been apart of there training program, your comments would be greatly appreciated. I'd just like to get some feedback on this company to see if I should go with them as my training school. Thank you.
-Hunter DuRant
Check with the school that you paid money to for MT training.
If they can't help you get a job afterwards, then you've been robbed.
POLL: Home School vs. Charter School vs. Public School vs. Priv ate School...
Pros and cons of each too. I have two little ones that will be starting school soon and I would like opinions on all. Thanks in advance! :)
I saw this happen in MQ office while training. Supervisor was supposed to be training but
account was behind so she did transcription while she collected salary for "training" me. Of course I asked others for guidance rather than bother the furiously typing supervisor. I don't know if she cherry picked but she definitely double dipped into the MQ payroll.
there is a world of difference between MT training and NP training
honestly, I am in nursing school and have lots of health care experience as a paramedic and medical assistant. I think you can relax and leave your family's health either in your mother's hands or their physician's...
transcriptions have a skill also
as far as looking up addresses go!
There's a shortage of US MT's because the skill is becoming obsolete
Schools don't even encourage anyone to get into this field anymore because they don't want to have someone take a course and then be out of work in a few years when this skill goes the same direction that shorthand did several decades back.
Like someone said on the Company board, education is the key. Don't allow yourself to be a one-trick pony and learn how to do something else while you can.
MTs with less skill s/b paid less with that money going to the best
I can do xxxx but it makes me sick when the slackers get the exact same pay as me. Please don't give me the xxxx story that I can make more by being more efficient.
This is all part of transcription and the skill
I have had in all of my years of experience many types of dictators. I can honestly say that I have had ESL dictators that were better than your run of the mill American dictators. We are a melting pot, and what's funny to me is that so many make comments about an MTSO sending ESL dicators offshore, yet we have Mexican, Chinese, and Indian restaurants that we eat from and love the food. I think we need to somehow learn to embrace the ESL dictators. I had an ESL that was the most lovely physician. He knew that his dictation was difficult and was always willing to answer questions and would take the extra time to explain why he stated this or that. 
Upping the skill ante.
You might go online and look at Oak Horizons. They have an excellent reputation and are affordable. Also check VO-Technical schools for grammar as they are less expensive but adequate and junior colleges in your area. Good luck and good for you in improving your quality.
combo MT/MC classes
I am thinking of taking a Medical Transcription class. My sister who is a Physician's Assistant tells me I should do coding instead. Does anyone know anything about the combo classes and whether they are a good idea and if they prepare you enough?
Thanks
Dance Classes
I have 20+ years of dance training (ballet, jazz, tap). From what I see, jazz and hip-hop would both help with drill team. Jazz more so, but I know some drill teams are getting a little edgier with the hip-hop style. If I can help with any other questions, feel free to email me.
Do you think they will pay for my spelling classes??? lol
:+
I took coding classes and took the
test, which is about 5 hours long, passed it on the first try, have my credentials, but haven't done any coding at all, just MT work. I am considering going to coding bootcamp to brush up on my skills and bite the bullet and just do it. There are many work at home jobs available, but just like being an MT, the best thing is to work in-house for a couple of years to get some experience and then work at home. Have a couple of friends who did that and they love it.
take grammar classes
It is
'You are stupid' or you're stupid', not 'your stupid'.
And don't take things out of CONTEXT.
Good research skills the best skill an MT
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If you believe editing is a HIGHER skill, then why are we being paid
Failing national skill test
This is to Vicki. Please do not be discouraged. The MAJORITY of the companies out there (most of them advertising here) actually DO NOT want experienced MT's. They are looking for the stay-at-home mom (not critizing, wish I could be one) that do not actually have to carry an active part in family income. If you are experienced you would actually produce (imagine that-isn't that why we are working cpl?) and that would cost them money. Where a newbie makes the minimal amount for a time and that makes them happy. Not to say that they would not be on the newbie's butt to produce 98%+ etc.
I have 30 years experience, and I have failed tests from a national company. I have kept myself updated over the years and extremely computer literate, and had been in charge of staffing before they recently outsourced our workflow to India, so it is not a case of not accepting the "new ways" of doing things. Many of the "new" AAMT guidelines are grossly incorrect according to the major hospital system that I represent.
Just my say. Thank you.
I teach classes online.
nm
Does anyone take dance classes for exercise?
I'd like to get out of the house once in a while and can't stand the gym. I just don't want to be the only adult student among children. LOL
Check out the classes and hang in there anyway...
Does your hospital provide funds for continuing education? Can you change shifts? Don't out-and-out quit just yet, you truly don't know how good you probably have it if you've been working for a hospital and not for a national. I pine for my hourly pay hospital days, ha-ha, though a lot of what went on got on my nerves at the time. Good luck but again, give it a lot of thought, take a few days off if you can.
There is no charge for grads to take the classes.
I just finished the course and signed up for the classes and did not pay a dime. You may be confused by the $50 Review Guide that is recommended to study with.
If I had just one other skill that allowed me to pay for my modest lifestyle, I'd utilize it.
Maybe it is the 20 yrs in this business. I now have tinnitus, am absolutely sure that sitting for 8-10 hours a day is having a detrimental effect on my health, am more anxiety ridden now that there is very little job security and I am a sole operation here in my little world, have arm and hand fatigue (it's a freakin miracle I do not have CTS yet). I just really do not enjoy doing this as I used to. I have to really force myself to stay focused and am really really trying to find some joy in it by realizing other people have tedious jobs just as I do that they must also dislike.
It depends on your skill level, your speed, your ability to do the
nm
Editing is the higher skill since it's more brain work,, AND SM
the computers are taking over the finger work. That and practitioners entering directly into the electronic medical record mean that most traditional transcription jobs before too long will be a thing of the past.
So I'd recommend you go directly to editing since you'll end up doing that anyway. If there's a future in this, it's going to be with a higher level of medical knowledge and a more expanded involvement in medical records beyond merely editing dictation, but likely including that.
Plus, with editing you'll be in at least twice as many reports as if you were transcribing them, which means you'll get much more experience more quickly. Whether you'll lose some benefit from not typing every word out I don't know, but you will spend a lot less time getting verbage you don't need to learn on paper. I.e., instead of typing some version of, "The patient presented to the emergency room by private automobile with a complaint of" a few hundred times a week,...you don't.
Do commit to developing an expansion base that will cut the Keystrokes it takes to do your work to the very minimum. As long as anyone's paid on a production basis, and as long as we're using keyboards, someone using 5 keystrokes to make 2 edits will BOTH make a lot more money than someone who takes 9 keystrokes to make one correction AND be a much more valuable productive worker--i.e., worth keeping on and developing as most traditional jobs disappear.
And do sign up for more medical classes, the ones people preparing for nursing and medical school take.
Whether you'll make more or less money one way or the other right now probably depends more than anything on the particular talents you bring to the job and the particular skills you choose to develop. Unlike the previous poster who does better transcribing, I make more editing, but I'm a fast reader and a slow keyboarder, so the less my income depends on what my fingers are capable of the better. Best wishes!
Yes! We're talking critical skill developement here! nmx
x
Roman: Stages. Numerals: Classes (nm)
.
A girl in one of my classes volunteers as a doula -
I think it's a pretty neat idea, although this girl is about 22, very cute with a slender little body, and has never had a child before! But actually she does have the personality for it; very compassionate and caring.
P.S. Channel some energy into agility classes
perhaps! Sounds like a great candidate if he/she can jump and get your sunglasses! Lots of classes for agility in most areas, and lots of fun for dog and owner, not to mention exercise! Woof!
I did that with 2 kids with time mgmt and a high school girl who babysat 3 days a week after school
nm
Help, cant remember classes and stages roman numerals???
tia
HELP. can never remember...stages are roman??? classes are ??? grades are ???? HELP
s
Don't forget,10% of the drs in this country were in the bottom 10% of their graduating classes.
For mom with teen girls, what type of dance classes sm
are appropriate for learning moves to try out for drill team? my daughter is 14 and has never been in any dance classes. i am puzzled by the jazz, hip/hop, etc. and have no clue where she needs to start. she wants to try out for the drill team next year. TIA!
I teach literacy classes. Do it. You'll be glad you did.
.
Totally agree. They're no longer paying for this so-called skill
and that's part of the reason the quality is down.
The cost of running a private school or any school is expensive....
Why do you think public schools are so run down and can't find good teachers? Because the government and people to not put forth the effort or $$$$ to improve the educational system.
This is a very basic computer skill/concept. You copy files to another drive using Explorer.
There are very detailed instructions in the Help files that accompany Windows. You can read those for more information.
Basically, you open Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer). Locate the files you want to copy, highlight and right mouse click. Choose Copy. Now, find the location where you want to copy these files (usually another drive like D: or H:, whereever the flash/jump/thumb drive is located) and paste the files there.
Good for you, Linda! SM First, editing's a desirable trend. Higher skill, easier SM
I feel it may be like a train about to rush around the bend at me.
For the discussion, editing is a higher skill and it's easier on the hands--absolutely no carpal tunnel problems since I started editing. And the WAGES ARE ABOUT THE SAME--you go through approximately twice as much dictation (some people more, some less depending on talent) in the same time it would take to transcribe it and get paid half as much for that amount of dictation, ending up without a drop in wages from editing. This is fair and market-driven.
Fewer editors would be needed, but some would be needed for the stinkers, even scary-good as VR gets with most dictators.
The big threat is from the electronic medical record, where physicians and their assistants check boxes on a handheld device they carry around with them and there is NO text report to come to us at all. England has had this for some years; go look and see how MTs are doing on the Emerald Isle.
No Chicken Little here, guys, AND not burying my head in the sand either. I don't have a view into the future, but the one thing that's clear is the future will require developing new skills, professional or trade level, of one kind or another. I just hope and pray it doesn't require going back to suits and office politics. School's okay, even at my age, but am guilty of putting it off to see if I'm going to be allowed to continue pretty much as is until I'm too old to work...huh--maybe there's some sand obscuring the picture after all. Best wishes.
to anyone considering going out on their own, or has knowledge of such
What is the most difficult part of the process, whether it be finding a physician, figuring out a program for the pc, getting a legal binding contract. How much is the start up fee.
I have been considering this for awhile but to be honest i'm just too lazy. BUT, the thought of making around 11-12 cpl, having only one or two docs that I know like the back of my hand where I can make tons of macros, tons of money and work less, is so appealing, that might jump start me. Am I seeing the big picture here or just dreamin?
Not to my knowledge.....
Dianna -
I use Lanier VoiceWrite EX daily and unfortunately, the Lanier "undertones" are such that you cannot use anything else besides the VW Ex, as the main station or server "reads" the remote unit and you have to connect digitally before it will even let you into the system. Some companies have interphase software that will do this (not familiar with it myself) but I have not found anything personally compatible with Lanier except Lanier. I used to use a C-phone and loved that I could check work remotely or even re-record but with Lanier, I have not found anything else to work except the actual Lanier equipment. Maybe someone else has found a solution, but I have not heard of one.
Best of luck to you !
I am an A.R.T. Cant take away the knowledge.
nm
To my knowledge
xx
To my knowledge..
A hospital sitter must be a licensed nurse, usually private duty.
Well, notify the academic world, too! Typing classes in middle and high schools
LOL
You're right .. and here's 1st-hand knowledge -- sm
I start med school (been an MT for 24 years) August 2006.
One of my classes last semester was Intro to Medical Practices. I especially inquired about pro bono work by all the physicians and dentists who spoke to the class as guests each week. All gave significant amounts of their practice to pro bono work.
One physician in particular impressed me. He is a cardiovascular surgeon. His main area of expertise is doing cardiac bypasses. To make a long story short, because of insurance changes (MCare) over the past few years, he only makes about $650 per bypass for his own pocket and that is gross. Of the $1850 MCare and insurance companies pay him for this procedure, it costs him $1200 in overhead for that procedure. Until last year, he would often do the procedure for free for patients who could not afford it and had no insurance. However, for 2 years he had to BORROW MONEY to pay his OVERHEAD because he did so much pro bono work. He finally decided he just could not go bankrupt doing that. So now, he STILL does HIS PART for free but the patient has to pay his overhead. He tells them to call their family, friends, churches and if they have the $1200 for his overhead, he will donate HIS skills/time/energy for free.
The physician (maxillofacial surgeon) who directed this class said his annual pro bono work runs around $250,000 a year.
As well, while dentists recoup 95% to 100% of the fees charged for their services (they are ALWAYS getting their money up front), physicians (with the exception of cosmetic plastic surgery) only recoup an average of 31% of their fees. For every $1000 they spend on a patient, they will only get back approximately $310 and must write off the rest.
Now that is INSIDE information - direct from the physicians and dentists we had in class. I was shocked. Not deterred, but shocked.
Regarding that lovely cardiologist who gives so much away, take into consideration that the $650 for HIS skills/time/energy for ONE cardiac bypass -- he invests a total of 12 to 15 hours for that one procedure (that is WITHOUT complications happening) including his consult/operative time/followup visits, hospital rounds, etc. That comes out to about $54 an hour -- and plumbers and electricians around here make more than that. My Ford dealership in town gets $76 an hour.
And now, since we are starting to do bypasses endovascularly through the femoral artery, he has to really put the money down for more education to train to do this or he will be out of business shortly.
Interesting huh?! When people make comments to me about my future as a physician as a way to "get rich", I tell them not necessarily so!! LOL I'm not doing it for money! You couldn't pay me enough to go through all this at this time in my life!! LOL
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