Did you notice they DON'T recommend that employers
Posted By: shoulder the costs involved? - sm on 2008-09-02
In Reply to: MTIA's statement on credentialing - ...from their website
Well then, gee -- I guess that just leaves the MTs! (Why am I not surprised?)
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Wish Escription would mention that when they recommend the adapters or just recommend the one. nm
employers
I was just looking at the available jobs, and I noticed all of them require at least 2-5yrs experience. I also noticed that some of the employers can't even spell, yet experience is required. This seems kind of silly to me.
Just tell prospective employers you...sm
Stop behaving like factory workers on piece-work, demand a fair "hourly wage" for what you do. Find out what is paid in your area, 13.00 to 17.00 dollars is what I often hear as a range for MT pay. Decide what you want, be willing to give an honest days work for an honest days dollar" and then only work for an hourly rate. You will say, but no one pays that, and I will say that is only because no one demands it. We are not migrant workers being paid for how many bushels of apples we pick, why should our take-home pay depend on whether or not the doc is ESL, or is just having a bad day? I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to know how much I will earn to determine how much I can spend. When we start acting like professionals, I think we will be treated like one.
My 2 cents is that I wish all employers - sm
of MTs, whether MTSO or inhouse, would realize that their MTs are an ASSET, not just another 'unnecessary' expense that somehow needs to be eliminated. And then treat them as such! A very intelligent & highly respected MD I once transcribed for told me he couldn't understand the whole downward spiral of the MT profession, pay, etc., because we were the MD's 'first line of defense' against malpractice. He said his job was to practice medicine, and our job was to help him document it accurately.
The wages most places offer are an insult right up front. And then all the sleight-of-hand when it comes to cheating MTs with 'doctored' line counts, late paychecks, etc., adds injury to insult for the MT.
I think part of the problem lies in the fact that because most MTs are home-based nowadays, it's just too easy for them to become faceless, nameless, non-persons to the employer, and it's just too easy for them to cheat someone they don't have to look in the eye every day at work.
I don't see why employers are so afraid to ask for ... sm
at least the minimum lines each day. I used to work at a hospital where the required minimum was I believe 40 minutes, which ain't a lot of work. Most times (and this was when we were in house) the girls would chat and chat and chat and go for lunch and chat and chat, etc., and never work. And they got by with it because they were too scared to demand that these people stick to the guidelines by which they were hired. One day I went in to work OT on a Saturday and worked 4 or 5 hours, and I don't remember what my line count was, but one person typed 12 lines. And she was supposed to be the regular Saturday morning person. Some saturdays I would go in to work and there would be NOBODY there. NOBODY typing in a hospital transcription dept. just because it was Saturday. They got by with it for years, continued to get by with it, and we lost our jobs to MQ because nobody worked and nobody made them work. Me, I worked. I worked a lot. I had (still have) goals, meet them, exceed them routinely because I happen to like paying the bills and having money left over. Like I always say, people whine on here about no work but when there's a lot of OT to be worked they are nowhere to be found.
I think most employers have just left
this board
Well, it costs sometimes. I have had to change employers before because
they were not going to negotiate with me. HOwever, there are plenty of places to work and I have luckily landed in 2 good ones.
I feel very fortunate today with my employment. I know full well it may change tomorrow but I am prepared - emotionally and financially - and will not let that disrupt my life. Too many options out there, folks.
What is FTP site and do employers provide this?
I heard that they have this site and will give you a username and password. Or is this something I have to put together myself. If so, anyone have any information on how to set this up? Thank you.
Most employers are fine as long as you tell ...sm
them when you're interviewing the dates you'll be unavailable. When it usually becomes a problem is when someone says something like 2 days before Christmas "oh by the way I need the next week off...." and they wonder why you tell them no!
Illegal immigrants do it as well as their employers and....sm
they're oftentimes working "x" hours a week or even full-time. It's a big problem here in Georgia because it's not fair that these people not only get the jobs that they're being paid cash for but then they show up in the ERs when sick and are given Medicaid to pay the bill, even though they're not US citizens. Their kids are given free education and right now the illegal immigrant groups are mad because the state of Georgia is planning to start making them pay out of the country tuition to the universities if they aren't documented legal residents - which I think they should be forced to do. Heck, if I were to get on a plane to say France I couldn't walk off the plane and demand that I be allowed into college at the local tuition rates just because I'm there - whether or not I were there legally.
There's some legislation going forward in January here to put a stop to some of this but of course the illegal immigrant groups are fighting it.
I don't mind paying someone cash if they're doing something rarely for me (i.e. once or twice a year).
For those of you who use say teenage babysitters do you really report every dime you give them to the IRS? What about when you go to a restaurant and tip the wait staff in cash? Do you make sure the manager knows you gave them a cash tip so it's reported? Ever have a neighborhood kid rake leaves for you? Do you pay Little Johnny and then demand his SS# to report you gave him $20 to the IRS?
Still INFJ. We had to take these at a few of my previous employers.
I actually got denied promotion for being an INFJ. Go figure. Then another supervisor told me I was the exact type of employee they were trying to avoid because INFJs are two-faced backstabbers. I've never been like that. If I have a problem with someone, I'll measure the severity of the situation then tell them to their face. Nothing two-faced there. I don't think those personality tests are an accurate projection of a person's future actions or successes. They shouldn't be used in employment or managerial decisions.
Do employers not realize that a little explanatation
low work volume would go a long way? Nothing special, just to notify us. Just like they expect to be notified if our schedule changes, it would be nice if they let us know about volume and if they were trying to do something to get us more work, etc. Rather, they let us sit here and wonder what the problem is!!! 
Pity my employers? Furthermore, grow up!
x
My employers forbids us to have VoIP because...
it fouls up lots of things. Also, I have a friend with Vonage and we are constantly cut off, or it sounds like she is talking from the bottom of a fish tank. She hates it.
Maybe I'm from old times, but I doubt employers could get away with that...
if the EMPLOYEE has proof they are really an employee and not an IC, especially when it came to tax time. They'd need their W2. That's why I ASKED. I'd flip if an EMPLOYER did that to me. There were no need to get snippy about it. I was stating a fact.
Part of the reason employers are getting away with - sm
turning MT into cheap sweatshop labor is because most people don't even know this problem even exists. It is the healthcare industry's "dirty little secret". If this skeleton in the closet of doctors & hospitals throughout the country were to be made PUBLIC (i.e., 60 Minutes,) maybe it would give us a foot in the door to getting things turned around, before we all have to move to India in order to survive in this business.
How valuable is the RMT credential to employers?
x
most employers use the Book of Style sm
for standards and I would get one and read up on it to know the latest info...what did you fail on your testing? Speed? accuracy? You can certainly brush up on these things with practice tapes/dictation. Have you thought of typing independently for clinics in your area? Don't forget about psychiatric clinics, physical therapy clinics and other, less obvious places where documentation is necessary. Go personally to a doctor's office, speak only to the office manager there and tell them you are looking for work, perhaps at first only as a helper/coverage for their current Transcriptionist (I cover many doctor's offices for vacations). It will get your foot in the door at least. I have had two doctors ask me to be their full time transcriptionist after their own had left because I was their vacation coverage and they knew I could handle the job. Keep your head up! Perhaps working at a local hospital is the way to go. Good luck to you!
I get extra incentive from my 2 employers too.
nm
Until employers start thinking of us humans again
sunk.
And the American Way seems to be "bottomline" all the way.
I wish Bill Gates had his computer stuck up where the sun doesn't shine and
the person who invented the "hold button" could be on the next space shuttle.
Those 2 objects set us back a million years in treating each other decent.
I know what you mean about even hospitals getting cut-throat about "produce,
produce". Seems like nobody cares if the product is a stinker or any good - just so
a warm body is in the chair and some black ink is on the paper so as to
collect money.
Having MQ experience on resume is appealing to employers.
I think the new employer realizes you have just come up from the bowels of the transcription field and will work hard and be dedicated if you actually survived for a few years with MQ.
That was my perception anyway. Whenever I would state MQ was a past employer, they seemed pleased and anxious to talk more.
I suspect employers are being forced to care. SM
Since it's a new platform, it's a new problem that probably a lot of companies are just waking up to. My sympathies for people who find themselves effectively "forced" to use it as it apparently is now.
With serious compatibility issues with common brands of the Expanders that have become vital to so many of us, at this point I would not apply to a company using it, and I suspect few other good experienced transcriptionists reading about it would either. This seems such a grave flaw that it will have to be repaired, or this platform will end up a dead end used by only a few institutions.
How about contacting the company that developed the platform directly for answers and fixes? Also the developer of your own expander, who must be well aware of the issues Chartscript raises for them. The ShortHand tech guy (not my own MTSO techs!) fixed me up promptly when I was put on eScription and developed glitches. Best wishes with this.
No way. Univ. of Phoenix is considered a joke by employers!
http://uopsucks.com/negletters.html
The best way to obtain an on-line degree is to attend an accredited university that was already well-known for its academic program way before the internet was invented.
Check out University of Massachusetts, Temple University in Philadelphia, University of Minnesota.
The fly-by-nights like U. of Phoenix are the equivalent to the crap that used to advertise "degrees" on the back of matchbook covers and have no credibility in educational and career circles.
Seriously, stick with an accredited, well-known school, not some bogus piece of crap like that.
You get what you pay for.
Yes - I agree - my 2 employers didn't even acknowledge MT week - so this was very nice
DH & I started new jobs & his mom died. Employers couldn't care less. nm
.
One of my employers told me to just add a 0, i.e. 30 minutes would roughly equal 300 lines. sm
Of course, if someone talks fast, you'd get more lines, and if you get one of those guys who stops and turns pages and/or talks slow, the lines would be less. Seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb for me.
As for the length taken, when I started doing MT work 30-some years ago (back in the days of the vinyl belts and carbon paper -- eek!), the quota was that you should be able to 15 minutes of dictation in 1 hour. However, I think anyone with experience would probably do it in much less time.
Hope this helps. 
WebSense is a filtering program that blocks certain websites. Usually used by employers... SM
to give their employees access to the internet via their network but only allow certain surfing criteria.
I work for a hospital and I connect to their network via a VPN connection to work. I can get on the internet and access certain educational and work-related sites, but Websense blocks me from any sites classified as "entertainment", "shopping" etc.
So the question would be who do you work for and do you connect to there network via a VPN? If so, then Websense is their way of controlling the network.
So totally and completely false! Plenty of employers test who are not partners with top 3!
nm
Not *discussing* your line rate is a bunch of baloney....encouraged by employers....
They don't want us all to know what each other makes so they can keep paying as low and unfairly as possible.
How is the WORLD can letting someone know your line rate hurt you or anyone? It doesn't--only benefits employers.
Not *discussing* your line rate is a bunch of baloney....encouraged by employers....
They don't want us all to know what each other makes so they can keep paying as low and unfairly as possible.
How is the WORLD can letting someone know your line rate hurt you or anyone? It doesn't--only benefits employers.
What is the minimum lines per week required by employers for part-time for transcription?
nm
I would recommend this sm
Call and ask how many characters define a line. They should be able to tell you how many characters they consider a line. Most companies usually pay a gross line and characterize it as no more than 72 characters to a line. I hope I explained this correctly, but you really do need to call and ask the company who made you the offer. Then you will have your answer.
I would not recommend...
Breitner. They do not pay for headers/footers, you do not have any way of keeping your line count, etc., etc.
Recommend
I love my Dyson!! Absolutely love it. Have had it for a year and it is great at picking up cat hair, etc.
if you are new, I recommend
The Medical Phrase Index by Lorenzini & Lorenzini Ley. Try to get the latest edition. It is worth it if you are new as you can look up part of a phrase and ideas of what the rest of the phrase could be.
Also, if you are into CD versions, I like the Dorlands Medical Dictionary. It is cheap, too.
The Surgical Word Book is a must, I think, if you do op notes.
Good luck to you!
May I recommend
a STEDMANS reference book on pathology and virology, allergies, immunology?
Why does nobody recommend sm
that the MT get concrete examples of contradictory QA to present to her supervisor? Continuing to work until July 18 without at least doing that seems like a waste of time.
I would recommend
getting your own wav player (or knowing how to use something like ExpressScribe). Also, it might be a good idea to have your own line counting software. Other than that, it really does depend on the account and what they use. Good luck!
Although you state you would never recommend
a company you work for, you are indirectly recommending them when you question a particular MTs experience with that company and go on to state your positive take on it. I believe that MTs' loyalties should to be one another and not the MTSOs, and that we should do everything we can to support and encourage one another. It's not easy these days being an at-home MT, so let's pull together.
I have no experience with MD, but I would recommend a
genetics consultation for your daughter. My SIL went through a similar situation with a condition that runs in her family. The males go blind and pass away early. I can't remember what it was, but they had to see a geneticist to see if she passed it on to her kids.
It's awful. I'd never recommend it.
x
I would also like to know what others would recommend on this same question sm.
I work for three physicians right now and use the small microcassettes which I pick up twice a week. I live about 30 miles away. They asked me to research and give them a price on how we could set up a digital system. I am just starting to investigate this and I am thoroughly confused. Thanks.
I recommend Etrans too
Very good dictators on the account I was on and where they need the most help. I only left because I wanted an editing job with less typing. Good luck! 
I wouldn't recommend it...
I started out in court reporting school and switched to MT when I got pregnant. VR is also playing a big factor in the court reporting field right now. They have stenomask reporters who wear a mask and repeat into the mask everything that is said during the court proceeding, and VR translates it. Court reporters currently make anywhere from 40K to 80K per year, but stenomask reporters only make about 20K per year. The military has switched to using stenomask reporters and many courts are also leaning in that direction because of the cost savings.
The steno machine is also very difficult to learn. Most court reporting schools say you can learn it in 2 years, but the average court reporting student takes 4 to 5 years to master it.
Whatever you find, I would recommend sm
staying away from Hartz Mountain products. Lots of cats allegedly have had bad side-effects or worse from HM. One of my cats could not tolerate their flea collars years ago.
Absolutely recommend this
Tips n Techniques
http://www.cherylflanders.com/
Highly recommend M-TEC!!
I had job offers right out of school with a number of companies. Their training was right on. The support you get from them is terrific. I have also personally met both Kathy and Susan who, in addition to being great instructors, are also very nice ladies! Go for it and be prepared to work hard! :-)
I recommend the SUM program
from Health Professions Inst. www.hpisum.com - it's a bit pricey but you get actual dictation to practice on and I think you can get it in modules to spread the cost out a bit.
PS I have no connection with this company, just like their products.
I'd recommend getting CMP and other blood
tests and going from there. If you get a physical and they do the blood work, should be covered under insurance.
I highly recommend
you quit leaching and GET YOUR OWN ACCOUNTS, this way you'll get what you feel you're worth, okay? I know you expect this and expect that, and there are posters here who think what you're asking for is totally within line and shame on ANY MTSOs who won't accommodate YOU! To that end I say, E-MAIL THEM and fill out a job application, and have THEM pay you the executive wages you expect. Yeah, like they're really going to. Gheesh! And don't worry, I wouldn't hire you on a bet. I'm looking to and intend to make money, not lose it on a SC who's got delusions of grandeur!
from thebigday.com...they recommend...sm
Never mention wedding gifts in the wording of your wedding invitations. Nowadays, the inclusion of a card or two letting guests know where you're registered is generally considered just fine-but never print a request for "Cash Gifts" or "No Gifts."
Having said that, here's what we recommend: create a wedding website, and tell your guests about that, not your registry. Telling people about your registry directly is essentially telling them to buy you a gift, and that's a little too pushy. Tell them about your wedding website instead--they'll find the registry link there.
You can gracefully tell people about your wedding website through e-postcards (with a link to your wedding website), or printed announcement cards (that announce your wedding website...we offer them for free).
Even if you really don't want any gifts, it's inappropriate to mention it. People want to give you a token of their affection & they'll do just that, no matter how much you protest. If you really don't want anything for yourselves, create registry items for small donations to a charity that means something special to the two of you.
You might find our article on registry realities helpful as well.
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