Depends. Did you just study or have you actually transcribed lots of tapes as sm

part of your training?  If you can't put down on your resume that your home study included multiple tapes in many specialties, etc. you are going to be hard pressed to find a good job. 

On the other hand, you might be able to type some orthopedics or pt notes (and then at least have some experience to put on your resume.)  Orthopedic doctors have TONS of dictation.  Besides their clinic notes, etc, most of them do IME (independent medical evaluations) which are fairly easy to do.  You'll need some good ortho books to get you started, but most will let you start without the experience if you can demonstrate you know the terminology.  Good luck.  Get some experience and the doors will start opening REALLY fast for you.  Sometimes, taking a low paying job is okay in the beginning just to get the experience.  If you can possibly get in a PCP's office to help out with clinic notes (even offering to to backlog/vacation stuff, you will get good experience and your resume will look great for the future stuff that comes up.  Good Luck to You.  Hang in there and learn everything you can.

• Employment after home study - k8990
  • yes, you can get a job after doing a home course - sm - Laura E.
  • Depends. Did you just study or have you actually transcribed lots of tapes as sm - Lil

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The OP states the account goes through transcriptionists.  I wonder why?  The OP states later on in the thread they go through transcriptionists. 

I'm trying to protect Lisa from getting abused from the get-go.  All she has to say is "my charge is" and go from there. 

Too bad if they were already transcribed.  Does that mean Lisa should take the loss?  NO.  Absolutely not. 

Again, read above where the OP states "they can't seem to keep a transcriptionist." 

To the OP:  Charge them!  You won't regret it.  If you are an IC, you have every right to charge them. 

Plus, look at rockinMT's post.  She bent over backwards for an account and what happened?  It turns out she was spending more time than it was worth. 

These are all my opinions, and I am trying to give my opinion on what the OP should do in regards to reports that she transcribed and should, yes, be paid for since she was not aware ahead of time and especially because it is a new account. 

What do I know?  Ya know?  I mean really?  Just looking out for the best interest of the OP, but hey, that's just me. 

what the doctor dictates.  We can't be expected to have to catch their mistakes - they're supposed to catch their own.  That's why they're being paid the big bucks and we're note.  Years back, we weren't expected to know all this stuff -- the meaning of every word we transcribed, the normal/abnormal lab values, what a particular drug is used for, and I could go on and on, and we were paid better, appreciated more & respected more.

I do agree that we must know how to spell medical words and words of English usage.  That's what they get for their 7-8-8.5 cents per line.  I do NOT believe that we should have to look up doctor's names, on our time, when the dictator has it right in front of him/her and would take him/her only 2-3 seconds to spell it, thus also avoiding any confusion.  But I guess that would be too easy.

I didn't always feel this way.  Years back, when I was treated as a professional and compensated accordingly, I performed as such.  If I want to flag a doc's mistake, I do it for the PATIENT'S sake (but for the grace of God it could be me or a loved one lying in that hospital bed) - and as a courtesy to the doctor.  But they really expect too much for too little.

I work on the same account every day, same dictators, lots of templated reports I did myself and put them into auto correct.  I get up early, start at 7 am and today I was done by 10 am.  Cleaning the house now.  Also, the line pay is slightly higher than most, so 1500 lines is fine for me today. 

On harder days when the account is really behind,  I get up and vacuum the house after 3 hours of transcribing then come back for 1 hour.  If things are caught up, I stop for the day.  If not, I will go back in the evening. 

I can't sit for 6-8 hours straight.  Making $160 bucks in 3 hours is good for me and enough.   Tomorrow is another day!

Use templates and short cuts - that will help!  I have whole reports in my auto correct, but you have to listen through and change and correct things as each patient is a different case. 

I do have to tell you, I do not get this many lines every day in such short a time.  It just happened that today was a good day.

Hope this helps.

p

I am looking for some reputable websites for info regarding the CMT exam that also include study material. Any info would be greatly appreciated :)

correct."   This is where the problem is.  Do you know that some of the most stubborn, difficult, argumentative, inflexible MTs I have ever met in the course of my career are the ones who parrot that particular sentence?

What was done or has been done for 30 years is not necessarily the correct way now.  Language has changed.  With the advent of VR, the way we transcribe is now more of a verbatim way than ever.

These 30-year MTs are still adding 's on to Down syndrome, still typing out the word "centimeter" even though it is no longer accepted as anything but line-padding....get my drift?

I was told once that the ratio of dictated to transcribed minutes was approximately 1:4 for an average MT for average dictation.  So, if you've been given 300 minutes of dictation it might take you 1200 minutes to finish it, divided by 60 minutes equals about 20 hours.  Obviously this is just an estimate and could very depending on a lot of factors, but this might give you some idea.

Another conversion I've heard is that one 65-character line equals 6 seconds of audio and so 1 minute of audio equals 10 lines.  So, if you are charging by 65-character line, you may be looking at 3000 lines or so, which when using the above formula would have you typing at about 150 lines per hour for 20 hours, giving you about 3000 lines.

Sounds like this is very doable, typing for 7-8 hours per day if you have until the end of Wednesday.  If it has to be back by Wednesday morning, you will have to work 10+ hours per day on it today and tomorrow.

;)

Christine

I can't seem to find anything.  Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Just FYI, to say "affect" would mean that the bleeding would change the procedure -- which makes not a lick of sense.

"Effect" would be the right thing, meaning that if this woman were to continue bleeding, she'd have to have a hysterectomy.

I didn't really like the wording of it anyway, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in because there seem to be people here still confused on the issue.

I have been approached by a sleep study doc to do the transcription for them.  I have not done these before and I'm not sure what to charge.  Does anyone have any advice for what to charge them or any sample reports?

Thanks so much

was good with examples on the test and covered all areas.  However, the dictation CD probably has caused many a heart attack.  None of the dictations were as bad as that thing!

I don't really know how you can study too much for the beast besides brushing up on the ol' BOS.  The first part was a stinker, though.

Thanks, by the way!