Canadian MTing?
Posted By: MTStudent on 2005-09-22
In Reply to:
Are there any Canadian MT's on this site? I am from canada and wondering where I go to find jobs in the US for Canadian's to work! What is a fair wage? Any help would be very much appreciated!
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Spheris hires Canadian MTs and has Canadian accts. Can't answer the wage question. So much depe
dd
Canadian ICs
HI Denise - I am a recent grad of an MT program in BC and just signed on as an IC for a Florida Company. I start in a couple of weeks. I've found that lots of US MTSOs will hire an IC from Canada. That is not really an issue as long as you are a grad of a respected course and do well on the testing. The hard part is getting your foot in the door without any experience!! I am not familiar with the CareerStep course. I've heard of it of course but have not researched it lately. I took the Advanced Medical Transcription Program through Selkirk College via distance ed. I can highly recommend this one and employers seem to be impressed with the grads. Let ME know if you would like further information.
PS - A new baby in November? Boy, you must be pretty energetic to consider taking on something like this at this time!!
Canadian
pays Canadian, hassle with bank when you cash it after you get it 3 months later.
Canadian Tx
It doesn't bother me. It is hard to articulate why, in a logical way, so I have to just explain from my gut. I feel that they are our "kinfolk." In my mind, they are our neighbors, in a way that I feel closer to than other countries. Therefore, it's like more "sharing" of "our" workload, rather than "them" sort of "stealing" the work from "us." No "Us and Them" attitude with me, on the issue of Canadians. Yet, I feel that way strongly about India and Philippines and whoever else comes up the pike "stealing" our work. I realize this isn't logical, but hey, you asked. Does anyone else feel the way I feel?
To "I am canadian"
I'm sorry you're Canadian. I lived in northern Vermont for awhile and could only get Canadian TV. From that I learned how much you people hate us and envy us. But of course, you don't mind taking our money and taking our help when you need it.
Exactly how do you know what the people dying in Afghanistan are innocent?
Like of the rest of the world, you were too ready to dip in this country's deep pockets and you sued us when some of your Canadians were mistakenly killed by some U.S. pilots. With allies like you, we don't need enemies.
By the way, wasn't your lily white Canadian government involved in the British invasion of Las Malvinas, or as you would probably call it, The Falklands War? Do you think you Canadians killed any innocent people there?
Keep up your bellyaching - that's the only thing Canadians know how to do, other than drink beer and ice skate. Sooooooo, how aboot that, heh?
Why not try a Canadian company?
www.absmed.com (I don't think they are hiring, but you can check it out).
www.terranovatrans.com
www.healthenet.net
Hope that helps!
Canadian rates, please help
Could any of you help me in making this very important decision please? I have contacts that can help me get contracts from a small Physical therapy/chiropractic care clinic in Alberta, Canada. But, I have no clue as to how much is charged per 65 cpl with spaces in Canada. Considering that one US dollar is equivalent to Canadian $1.15, I guess I would perhaps be able to get a better rate. But how much would you say is a rate that would do justice to both parties? Anyone doing a similar work from Canada, working MTs with MT companies in Canada, please help. Any input will be welcome…Thank you….Maple
CANADIAN MT COMPANIES
I am from Ontario.
There are two companies in BC: www.absmed.com and
www.northpacificmedtrans.com
Check these out - I think they only hire local at home MTs.
Canadian spelling?
x
$1.29 to our dollar so if the Canadian MTs...sm
If Canadian MTs are making more $$ than American MTs, it all evens out. Also, the national health care system in Canada is currently under revision and my cousin tells me it takes her 6 months to get an appointment for an XRAY in Calgary!!!........
Canada's dollar is not as strong as our dollar in the US and I LOVE CANADA so please do not think I'm bashing that wonderful sister country of ours. 
canadian pharmacy
Hi, I've used feelbest.com (located in Ottawa, Ontario) numerous times and have had nothing but good results -- give them a try!
Re: Canadian Companies
I would work for either, I just find more and more American companies not taking Canadians. I get nailed with taxes either way. I used to work for Spheris and then took a year off and was told I would be on re-hire status and when I went to re-apply was told they no longer higher Canadians.
also had a French Canadian
very difficult... now if I ever hear a doctor with a New Zealand accent I think I will recognize it - very distinctive - have heard it only in a few movies.
Canadian Needing Help
Hey everyone, I'm Canadian and am currently researching possible MT schools. I was originally thinking Canscribe, but am not so sure anymore (I read on another forum that they don't train students enough, and I want the best possibly training so that I am great at my future job). I know M-Tec and Andrews School are seemingly the top two schools in America, but I kind of wanting to attend a Canadian based school possibly. If anyone can help me out, I would really appreciate it. Also, if someone knows a Canadian based MT forum please let me know. I have been trying to find but it doesn't seem like there is any out there.
Thanks so much for your time!
:)
from canadian newspaper
I am sorry, I can't provide the link but it is a direct quote from a Canadian publication.
"Because the health care plan is regulated by the government, bureaucracy shows it's ugly head. Waiting lists are long and wait times for certain procedures are equally long. For instance, in New Brunswick, a person requiring heart a bypass procedure may wait for up to six months. A knee replacement in Ontario takes about the same. These waiting times are expected and those in need should prompt their doctors to be proactive in diagnosing the problems and gaining access to the waiting list at the earliest possible instance."
Okay, wanna wait six months for your CABG? You'd be dead. I do see that as a problem, don't you. I am sure there are Canadians who love it, just as I am certain there are those who don't. I would like to know where you got that 5% statistic from, though. I don't mean that as a smart aleck remark. I really would like to know if that is the case. Can you point me in a direction that would verify that?
You might get answer on the Canadian website
oo
Canadian Dollars- probably French ESL nm
x
re: a canadian MT who lives next to MAINE
I have a MT company from portland, Maine who w ants me to work for them as an IC. They offered me 7 cents per line american. WHat a freakin joke!!
I wont work for under 12 cents per line and I have been out of it for awhile (6 years!!).
See ya!!
Boycott Canadian Seafood
Due to the horrible seal hunt the HSUS is asking that we boycott Canadian seafood as a way of protesting the hunt. The hunters get the majority of their income from their jobs as fishermen so boycotting their products will hurt them in turn for them hurting the baby seals. Thanks.
I'd love to help - how do we know if the seafood is Canadian or not though?
x
Canadian Health Care
A 6-8 week wait time to see a gynecologist? Is that good or bad for the US. I personally have been waiting to see an endocrinologist for 1 year, 3 months...still nothing. Seriously. The wait time for any type of procedure of specialty is actually quite scary. Sometimes it feels as though we are in Russia, we just happen to pay more taxes. We "pay" for our health care with 13% tax on absolutely everything you buy. That is supposedly for health care, but it really doesn't seem to help. I personally believe the problem is in the fact there are not enough doctors. When you compare how many doctors there are in each specialty to the amount of patients that require them, that is where the wait time comes into play. Ironically, Canada is starting to implement "pay as you go" clinics for procedures because the wait time is so ridiculous. It seems that Canada is adopting the US's health system and the US is looking to adopt Canada's system. That reminds me of something...the grass is always greener on the other side (nope, same grass, different place). Take care all.
Any Canadian MTs here? Am thinking of moving north. Could you
I am interested in knowing a few things about living in Canada and working for the U.S. company. I also understand Canadian medical institutions utilize MTs. Would like to correspond with an MT living in Canada.
My e-mail address is above. If you have time to answer a few questions, please e-mail. I am considering moving to B.C., Vancouver or Okanagan Valley depending what I find during my scouting of each area; am presently in California.
Thank you!
Yes! Rob Thomas, another great Canadian singer - sm
- REALLY a man, unlike KD Lang LOL
I think they stopped hiring Canadian MTs last year. nm
xxxx
all this talk about canadian/european healthcare...
My family and I may be moving to Poland temporarily, maybe 3 years or so (job opportunity for hubby). I only have one kidney and have been fine all my life until recently, now doctor says I have a stricture in the urethra and wants to do surgery. Apparently it's not a minor surgery, has a 2-week recovery period to just feel normal, and needs at least 6-month followups to doctor for monitoring to make sure there isn't scar buildup tissue, etc., oh and a stent will need to be removed 4 weeks after the surgery (in-office procedure). I am going to have the surgery here but in the event we do move to Poland it will be sometime later this year, which means I'd be following up over there. What are your thoughts on this? 
MTing
I would think many MT companies cannot believe their good fortune. They have figured out how to pay us the least absolute minimum that they can get away with. They don't have to provide computers (where I work), provide space to work, benefits or give raises. I always wondered why do we have to pay them rent, but they don't have to pay us for our computers. We have to provide our own phone, cable access, etc. We have to provide our own reference material. Can you think of any other job that would allow any of this? Why do I stay? Because I found a company where I can work when I want to. The day that changes, I will give up completely on this "profession?"
Are you relatively new to MTing?
I certainly don't work for slave wages.....unless slaves were VERY well paid.
Maybe it isn't for you. I hope you find your happiness.
Thanks MTing
The desk is a good idea. I think I might try it. If it doesn't work, well then I will know for sure. I will first try it on OT when I'm not committed on a schedule. The area we are planning to go is a weekend home and I know the route well. Straight highway shot, not a lot of scenary, etc.
MTing
Not "could" do... WOULD do. Big difference. There are lots of things I can do. I just don't want to do them.
I'm not entirely sure what I want to do should I leave transcribing. I have no intention whatsoever leaving transcription until I have a definite game plan set up and a means to an end on achieving it.
I've been a receptionist before and don't want to do that again and I've done the retail thing while going through college. Retail does not pay well at all - I have to make money, not starve to death. I'm also living in a rural farming community on the prairies and the nearest retail store is a 40 minute drive. Not really into commuting like that for $7 an hour.
I work as an I.C. MT and like being self-employed, I like setting my hours and scheduling. My husband works in the oil fields and is gone for 30-40 days at a stretch and back home for 7 days. Would be nice to do something together and be self-employed.
Actually thought of tree farming, since we have 60 acres of land. Trees are fairly low maintenance and there always seems to be a demand for them, for growing as well as for Christmas. It's fairly seasonal, which would also allow for winter holidays and recharging of one's batteries, so to speak.
Just looking for ideas. I want a complete change of pace. And I definitely don't want to be sitting indoors in front of a computer all day long!
Did you go into MTing so you could
stay at home with the kids?
LPN and MTing...
IMO they do not have the right to do so.
They hired you as an LPN. The fact that they 'discovered' that you can also do MTing, does not give them the right to force you to do it in your office time. Do they compensate you for the extra work?
Who leaked to the office manager that you do MTing at home?
If they continue to put pressure on you, just tell them that you decided to stop it because it is too much for you; don't give up your LPN job if you like it or would you be ready to switch totally to MTing, for your doctor and other clients?
Nobody can tell you what to do in your after-office hours!
Tell us how it develops.
Good luck!
What do you mean? I think MTing is always done
in vertical (portrait) mode.
The other one is horizontal (landscape) mode.
Many co. use Canadian MTs. There are also many accounts in Canada held by U.S. MTSOs
dd
Americans should be so lucky as to be paid what some Canadian transcriptionists are.
Job security, union jobs, full benefits, 1 year of maternity leave, parental leave, vacation time, sick time, $18 or more an hour...
Can anyone recommend a good, safe Canadian pharmacy? NM
NM
Why don't you get Busy MTing?
Longevity of MTing
How long do you all think (with voice recognition and EMR and jobs going overseas) that MTing will be around. I have another 20 years of my working career ahead of me, and I have been thinking maybe I should get out and work in something that will be around for the next 20 years.
Get out of MTing. That's my advice.
something where your medical knowledge may be worth money. Medical
terminology worth is in the toilet in transcription for a couple of reasons. (1) MTs are not licensed. (2) We have no lobby.
As long as we keep "giving" the suits our knowledge at (cough, sputter) 0.17 cents a line and such, they will keep sticking it to us. And people around the world for some stupid reason keep doing this for those low wages.
So I say let the VR people who eventually do need editors with medical knowledge, have the people who can afford to live on 0.17 cents a line in their hovels. I did something else before I did transcription and I can do something else now.
After the VR people have gone through their cheap source and found they are more expensive than they are worth because we won't be around to clean up their lack of English, let's take a peek now and then to watch the show - how will they pull English editors out of their rearends. Not that I care. But it should be a fun show to watch.
I realize VR works in single practitioner offices and even in small clinics. Where I will tune in is to watch the Mayo Clinics who have thousands of physicians and the ever-forgettable nurse practitioners (gag, pedal (bicycle pedal) edema) trying to use VR. Let's see the slave labor, non-english-speaking, over-educated but don't know how to get in out of the rain MTs clean up that and get it back without English speaking editors.
Right now the medical record is a very very expensive and dangerous instrument in the life of a patient. I think it should be scrapped myself. Some other way of combining patient medical hx should be created. Probably not even utilizing dictation at all. Instead creating the file through collating the tests, drug formularies from the pharmacy during the stay, specialty reports like MRIs, etc and exit check off sheet. I would say the doctor should do that collating - using a wand to click on what he wants in the FINAL CHART REVIEW for the patient's stay for that visit.
That sort of thing may provide one less gossip step in lab values, radiology reports, drug names and values - that is happening now by the physician's sloppy and usually unintelligible dictation - values of which are mostly of no pertinent value to the reader and which any doctor will tell you anyway - THEY DO NOT DEPEND ON LAB VALUES ON A DICTATION...so we have wasted our time, plus probably typed wrong numbers, and added to the cost of the person's hospital stay through such a redundant and stupid exercise of having to go back and forth trying to make things out.
To Busy MTing
Busy - please tell about your experience with going back to school - how old (young) were you when you went back to school? What are your interests for your next occupation? Thanks in advance!
Why do people say that MTing won't be around
It just gets me worried hearing that.
We need a new board for no more MTing
So many posts on these boards, maybe a special board just so those that see no more future in MT can post their doom and gloom end of the work disaster stuff.
The future of MTing. sm
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the future. I prefer to think of them as forward thinkers, because that is what they are. I congratulate you on doing well. However, the industry, as a whole, thanks to offshoring and greedy MTSOs, is not doing so well. There's an excellent article on this board about Dictaphone being bought out and the new company "phasing out manual transcription." Exactly what do you think that means?
MTing does not have to be stressful
Just choose to not let it get to you. Let your employer know what you are willing to do, whether or not you wish to do overtime....then just stick to it. Don't let the begging for OT bother you. You are working what you agreed to and when the day is done....leave it.
The only time I work OT is when my company has given me some kind of flexibility. Like over the Summer they let me flex my schedule a bit to drive my daughter to a day camp. So when my account got in a huge backlog I worked extra. Otherwise they know what I have signed on for.
I love MTing. I love working at home. I wouldn't go back to working in an office or hospital for ANYTHING. No thank you. Been there done that.
I hope you find what you are looking for.
30+ years MTing
making base rate of 9.5 cpl, doing all work types.
Though i make a comfy living compared to many, i sure don't feel we are well-compensated/respected by the medical community, even though we have very specialized technical skills.
The state of MTing
...We can't put the total blame on the AAMT, or whatever it's called now. We are all a little responsible because we did not advocate enough for our profession, we did not look long ago at the advantages of having a union,and we allowed the big corporations to speak on our behalf. Bear in mind the healthcare industry is in crisis in this country with no real solutions. It's a matter of economy when CEO's and CFO's are forced to operate so that the hospital maintains some profit. Of course we all hear of hospitals that have shut down their ERs because they are proving to be a financial loss. In our part of the country, California, many nurses allied healthcare fields have become very savvy, and many are unionized. They remember too well 15 years ago when RNs were laid off left and right, at least in California. Now, they are smarter and trying to think ahead. No easy answers. We're just one industry of many that are cutting salaries, offshoring, and losing benefits.
I have been MTing longer than you and get this
When starting VR was also told I should be using the function keys. My "new"(outsourced) job of years even went so far as to show us where we were using the mouse as opposed to the keys. I have never used the function keys and do over 3000 per day, my lines have increased since VR and have worked NOT using the function keys now for several years and it works ok for me. Did they threaten you with not using the function keys???
jobs after MTing?
how did you find this job?
What are the reasons you want to do MTing?
NM
I too have many, many years of MTing
under my belt. I was recently hired by a great company. They asked me how many lines I was interested in doing, not hours. I work part-time hours but make full-time lines. Maybe if you put the lines you plan on doing instead of hours you might get more of a response. Good luck.
MTing in the boonies
I am looking for an MT position with only 1 1/6 MT experience. I am not have much luck.
I have the aircard and little experience.
Any suggestions ? What companies hire MTs like me who need mentoring?
rochelle
Thanks Joy - been in MTing for 20 years -
I have a computer at home, just wanted something portable for when I am spending long hours at school and needing to take notes, do extra homework assignments, etc.
This little notebook from Walmart I just got only cost $298 and weighs just 1 pound so it will fit in my purse easily. Just don't know how well it performs.
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