Either one are 9 month courses at the local community college..worth a shot!
Posted By: nm on 2009-03-03
In Reply to: Interesting! How long do you have to go to school for - those?
!!!
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Pharmacy tech 15 weeks, polysomnography 7 month course at local community college..worth a shot!
!!!
community college. those online courses/schools are not very good and
very expensive.
but don't do it just to work at home.
Your local community college...
It will cost a **** of a lot less, and your education will be just as good. Many will tell you that you only get help in job placement, externship, be ready to work, etc. via Andrews, etc., but that's just not true because they just don't know any better. Besides, that's a great sales pitch/gimmick, isn't it?
In learning this field, you need a classroom setting and hands' on experience/instruction. You'll see exactly what I mean when you get in the thick of it, or even starting out in learning it, for that matter.
I went to a local community college
I started working for a small local MTSO.
Local community college nm
x
Check out your local community college -SM
I can't speak for all of them, but the one I went to offered externship programs and job placements for their best and brightest students. An acquaintenance of mine also got her MT training at a local college, and they did the same thing. Be careful, however, of the online courses. They cost a lot of money - much, much more than your local college, and you won't get the hands-on training or be able to get your questions answered in a flash with them as you would in an actual college setting. Also, an associate's degree at a college is much more impressive than admitting you received your training via an online course. That, to me, just sounds so "fly by night." 
I vote for local community college.
If you attend a community college, it helps to network. If you do on-line training, you won't have the social part of your training. Also, it helps to try and find an on-site position at first to gain the knowledge although since you are already in a clerical position, you probably know more about anatomy and the hospital/medical setting than you even think. I wish you all the best. Another good thing about a local community college is that sometimes they know of great jobs because the teachers are also employed or know of jobs. You will have a certificate of training in an MT program, but a certified MT is done through the AAMT or whatever it is now, and is not worth the money in my opinion. You wind up after paying a few hundred dollars getting to put CMT after your name, but not when you transcribe a report. For example, even CMTs cannot put XXX/xxx, CMT if you catch my drift. 
I graduated from a local community college. sm
Had my first job before graduation but it was in-house with hourly pay and great benefits. Those are very hard to find anymore. I worked in-house for my first 2 years and then went on maternity leave picking up side work through a company for more income. Realized I was tripling my money going from hourly to production by that time, turned in my notice, and never looked back. Been at home ever since. If at all possible, in the beginning I would recommend to anyone to work inhouse even if it is for a transcription company. The value of having other "ears" is definitely not something to take for granted. I also learned as much as I could while getting that hourly pay as time is money when on production. I have to say I probably would not be near as proficient of an MT today had it not been all those hours learning and having another ear around to help out when stuck.
You bring up a point too though that I haven't really thought about before....With all the transcription being outsourced out of the office, it is only going to get much more difficult for anyone to get those breaks and get the required "experience" as a beginner.
I'm going to a local community college for culinary arts, I'm 52. nm
xxx
Your local community college. Just as good and a heckofalot cheaper!
If you want to work at a local hospital or doctor's office, go to community college. Otherwise
if you want to work from home, for a national company, you need to take the course from either Andrews School or M-TEC. It does you no good to save money by taking the Penn Foster course, because most companies will NOT hire grads from that school, it is a poor course and does NOT prepare you sufficiently for MT work.
How about your local community college and save a heap of money & get just as good of an education?
I also went to a community college
and never had any problems finding a job. In fact, I got my first job at home before I was even finished with school. I took all my classes online and have worked from home for the past 3 years here with my kids. I say go for it!
I pay $35/month through Vonage for unlimited LD. Local phone co. charges $50/month. NM
x
Given by a community college? What school is
z
I was fortunate with community college
I took courses through my local community college's continuing education program. The instructors were people who worked in the medical field during the day and taught at night. By doing exceptionally well in the classes and being a model student, I was recommended by a couple of the instructors and got a start at the office where one instructor worked before I even finished my transcription class.
Once I got my foot in that first door, I've been working steadily and successfully ever since. I had only a couple of classes under my belt!
The approved schools are probably the best chance for work after graduation, but opportunities can arise wherever you train.
I went through Bellevue Community College
Also the CareerStep program online with once a month meetings if we lived close. Got a Sallie Mae grant. Got hired by MQ right out of school (after testing). Careerstep is one of the best schools and one of the only ones you can get hired straight out of school. I would not really recommend transcription anymore, though. It is not the job it used to be, paywise. Coding is still good pay I hear.
Everett Community College
online has a transcription course and since it is a community college, should be able to get financial aid. Try that. Google it.
I actually borrowed a set from the library at the community college here.
I used them as long as I needed to, then returned them.
When I said vo-tech, I meant community college just in case you were wondering (nm)
nm
Went to community college too..had a job in-house within 2 months, the first and only place I applie
//
Don't know if this is the same problem, but worth a shot SM
my foot pedal was working fine and then...nothing! Looked fine...I was very confused. Called my boss and he said to check the card that the foot pedal was plugged into (mine is not a USB). I turned off computer (and powered off the power strip just to be safe), took off the side panel, and sure enough the sound card that the pedal was plugged into was partially disconnectly. I firmly (yet gently) reinserted it completely, put side panel back on, turned on power strip then computer, and then waalaa (sp? lol) it worked like a charm.
Don't know if this is your problem or not, but I figured I'd share my experience just in case. Good luck!
Chickadee
Worth a shot, but didn't work for me. sm
My inhouse job was outsourced when I left to work at home after 3 years doing the same account and getting rave reviews and raises for my transcription. I applied to the company handling the same account when I saw it advertised. I was told by the company my account was outsourced to that I did not have enough experience. Huh? 18 years total. 3 years on that same account.
I guess it depends if you're still working for the hospital or not. I know that at least around here, the hospitals basically black ball you if you have the nerve to leave their employ.
Hopefully the hospital you mention isn't quite as petty as mine was. They actually started sending the tapes out the day after I gave my 2 week notice and I had absolutely nothing to do but filing for the last 2 weeks. Apparently the hospital policy dictates that there is a grave danger of breach of confidentiality once the employee gives notice.
Give me a break.
Good luck. Hope it works out for you! 
Geesh..hope this gave you your daily shot of self worth.
`
Yeah I went onto the website and just ordered a Belkin adapter. It's worth a shot at this point.
I'll let you know if it works at all when I get it.
Try Resolve, the regular kind, got out permenant black marker from my carpet - worth a shot! - nm
xx
My SIL finished a course at a local college
She got a job on-site and could be sent home, but she has decided to cross-train for a management position. If she takes it, the salary is $65,000.00 per year. So tell me there isn't money in this business. She just finished her course!!!
I went to a local business college which sucked.
My first job was a p.r.n. position with a local hospital filling in for vacations and people off sick. That's where the real education came from.
See if your local college has an MT program that you can just take certain units of, like terminol
s
I probably read about it on MSN or someone mentioned it to me. Maybe call local college or JUCO
?
Well, not really. In college I did a gruelng intership at a local express emergency clinic and got p
gas, lunch, uniform, etc., AND the head doctor ended up sexually harrassing me! I kid you not! So, I don't think anyone without any experience getting paid 3 cents to learn MT in their own home setting is half bad.....It could be worse. They could ask you to do it for free.
PS: My college major was nursing.
MT courses and pay
I was hoping to get some recommedations for online courses and find out what the going rate is for a new MT per year.
I do medical coding & billing right now, but would like to work from home since I am a single mom of 3. The only thing is I currently make $44,000 per year and cannot make much less then that because of mortgage and bills. Thanks for any info.
Buy local. The local stores pay taxes to support your city and state. (SM)
Using online and catalogues does nothing to promote the local economy. We complain about outsourcing and about the big companies gobbling up all the work so the jobs at local hospitals are gone, yet we do the same thing when we buy on ebay, catalog, and these web sites that may be located any place in the world as their primary business location.
Best on-line courses?
Hello,
I'd like to take an on-line transcription course, does anyone recommend one over another? Thanks!
Kirsten in CO
Have you taken MT courses yet? Or are you just jumping in on your own? nm
x
I never took any special courses, but I had
worked a total of almost 15 years in a hospital, first in billing, where we had to code all the diagnoses and ops ourselves, and then in another hospital in rehab, where part of my duties were transcription for that dept and some of their various clinics. After my second child was born, I quit the hospital and a friend who had 20 years in transcription taught me what I needed to learn. I got hired by one of the first company's I applied with, and have been doing this for seven years now, and love what I do!
Not bogus, there are good courses..
Some are scams. Career Step is not a scam. However, really nobody makes decent money starting out. I used to train MTs, some from Career Step. Most made close to minimum wage at first. They were also limited in the number of reports and work types at first and hours worked. They had the basics but didn't have the overall experience so it takes a lot of time and patience from both the trainer/mentor and the MT. But these MTs are the ones that usually do well. If you start out with a national and are just handed a job and not given a trainer/mentor per se, you will not learn much and will likely fail the QA reviews but hopefully they will give good feedback and you can learn that way. Newbies don't usually do well with that kind of situation in my experience. So finding a company that is willing to take on trainees and mentor them as a first job is a good idea. The pay is also not like it used to be and even after training if you have a job with a national paying 6 cpl you would only be making around 9 an hour based on 150 lph. In my experience I have rarely seen a newbie getting over 150 lph accurately until maybe after a good six months of heavy mentoring/close monitoring by an experienced MT. JMO. Hope that helps.
Taken courses, but not much hands-on experience as of yet. n/m
m
courses with Career Step
Have you seen the new issue of Women For Hire and the article about MT, how you can be making up to $32/hour and "you control how much you make." They also suggest you go to AHDI website for more info.
What are the best at home medical billing courses out there?
Have a friend who is interested in training to become a medical biller/coder from home and I really have no idea where to tell her to start. Can anyone help?
Universities with the best free online courses
http://education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses.html
The schools are in the business of "selling" their courses.
Of course they are going to "sell" the profession as fastest growing, make great money staying at home, etc.
I went local. Great local tech support, they know what I do and were able to set it up just for me
:)
I'm studying coding too. I've been looking at different courses plus I bought SM
Step by Step Medical Coding by Carol J. Buck along with the workbook that goes along with it. So while I'm trying to decide on a school, I can be studying on my own. According to the AHIMA website though with my years of experience as an MT, I am eligible to take the certification exam without having to complete a formal coding course. Transcription is considered part of the HIM department and thus if you have worked in any position in HIM, you are qualified to take the test.
So, I may find that studying on my own will benefit me better than paying money for a course I'm not sure about. I also have the benefit of tuition reimbursement with my employer and I may take advantage of that if I find a program I like.
So, I'm with you! Let me know what school you decide on or what avenue you decide to take. Might help me make the decision in the long run!
Andrews School or M-TEC online are excellent courses. See inside.
If you complete one of those courses, you should have no trouble finding a job working from home. They are a bit more expensive than some of the other courses, but MANY companies will waive their 2 years' experience requirement for grads of those two schools. Do not be suckered in by cheaper schools, MT companies know which schools supply good training and which ones don't.
Assciate in Arts, medical secretarial curriculum. 2 years with courses in sm
anatomy and physiology, biology, clinical biology (taking and processing lab tests--drawing blood on each other!!), filing, skills on all types of office machines, English composition, accounting, psychology, economics, medical terminology/transcription, and, of course, typing. In the second year we did internships at local city hospitals.
I went into transcription after working as a medical secretary for 7 years in a very large clinic.
You have to go outside the community....
nm
M-TEC has a Basic program (12 month) and a Premier program (18 month). To WAH, you should take the P
:)
Community hospitals
Hi. I just recently got outsourced by my local community hospital which I had worked for for 8 years, the third hospital where I've lost my job to outsourcing.
We were paid hourly from $9-$15 hourly. We had to have a minimum line count of 135 an hour based on a 7-hour day, so 980 63-character lines a day was exceeding standard, worked every 4th weekend and rotated holidays. I loved it. Then they outsourced to Spryance and most of the work in the entire Dayton Ohio area went overseas. There are only a few transcriptionists left working for the hospitals.
Who is to say that these people are pillars of the community?
x
Actually, I live in a rural community sm
and left a hospital where that was very good pay. Starting wages for MT was $8.00 an hour with a 25 cent raise every year if you were lucky. $11.50 would be like gold for the transcriptionists that work there.
|
