Enclosed are the steps involved, my point of view only. Very long post. sm
Posted By: searching on 2007-05-21
In Reply to: Thinking of getting into MT @ home, please help! - mmll
1. Make sure you have the qualifications. If you have EXCELLENT spelling and grammer skills, good typing skills, complete attention to the smallest details, and willingness to work HARD and learn constantly, you may have what it takes.
2. Realize that you will not learn this career in 1-2 years. That is a good beginning, but then you will have an "apprenticeship" period. This runs anywhere from 1-3 years, depending on the job you get, the training available there, and your ability to branch out and absorb a constantly changing field.
3. Do your homework on the training schools. Some schools offer a program that will actually help you get a job when finished; others have a reputation that will allow you to hire with some companies as a "newbie." Don't waste money on a school that gives you a certificate and sends you out on your own. You may find it difficult to get a job without experience, and can't get experience without a job. I am not recommending a school. DO A LOT OF RESEARCH. Every school has "lucky" graduates, so get a consensus from MANY graduates.
4. If you expect to make a fortune, look elsewhere. You will find "exceptions" that make anywhere from $50 to $100 thousand a year. Most of us with a lot of experience make anywhere from $30 - $50, depending on your speed and stamina. Without stamina, you'll burn out or develop physical problems in a couple of years.
5. VR will never replace transcription. However, it takes a lot of knowledge to "proof" VR reports, and as the machines get smarter, we also must have more experience to catch their errors. I do not foresee us being replaced by machines. It is possible, though, that the wages will not go up because of this, and most MTs will stay on a plateau. Not easy, when cost of living keeps going up, but right now it is a reality, so consider it.
This is my view of the MT field, and its future. I have 18 years experience and have worked on the web for 9, since being outsourced from a hospital. It's a rough field, but not impossible, and I'm happy with it. I only have 10 years to go, though. I'm not sure I would start it now, if I were younger. You have to have a lot of determination. Good luck to you.
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
He does have a man's point of view the post is looking for
nm
Just because this is YOUR point of view does not mean you
need to resort to flaming and name calling. Everyone is allowed their OWN opinion and not everyone needs to think exactly the same. If I were not an MT and I worked at Wal-Mart (which I am sure you shop there) and some of the items came from different countries...I would then again, in your eyes, be an awful person. That is just silly. Please grow up.
my point of view
Not trying to start a fight, just wanted you to look at it from their point of view.
My husband was a branch manager for a huge company, working 12to 13 hour days. I kept my 2 kids at home (5 and 2) AND worked AND cleaned AND cooked AND taxied AND etc.. The list goes on. He would come home, lay on the couch and say " I just need a few minutes to relax" Relax?? I didn't know what the hell that was.
Well, he quit his job 2 months ago. I know work a full 8-hour day, 5-yo in Kindergarten and he stays home with the 2 year old, cooks, cleans, taxies, etc.
Now when I am done with work, I want to lay on the couch and say, "I just need a few minutes to relax" I finally understand, but on the other hand, he FINALLY understands what I was going through. The best thing to do is communication. If he wants to see you more, take that as a compliment and if you can, rearrange your schedule so that you CAN see him more. I get started at 5 a.m., get 5yo ready at 7:30 (don't even want to know what she would be wearing if DH dressed her), then he takes her and I am back to work until about 1. I am DONE at 1!!!! It has been working out like a dream and we have just as much money as we did before.
My point of view
We all have in mind what we would LIKE to make, FEEL our skills are worth, etc. Finding our WANTS to correlate with someone else's needs (i.e., a company, MTSO, etc.) is indeed a very tall order.
The market right now just will not bear making the money some have been accustomed to in the past.
It's a fact, whether we like it or not, and it isn't going away. It's going to get tougher and more streamlined and more technologically advanced and more globalized ...
Yes, we all feel we should be better paid. It's just that there are so many other options for making this business more profitable that we don't call the shots anymore.
I see your point of view, but
perhaps she wants it that way so she can verify it because she does not have the line counting program you have?
Another point of view...sm
I know that many people are sick of hearing language like this, seeing it written everywhere, etc but the doc wanted it included in the report for whatever reason, or he would not have said it. These records are private, as per HIPAA and no one should see them, including the patient, the doctor and the transcriptionist. It was mentioned that this was not a psyche report, but an ER report? You did not get too specific about what the context of that quote was surrounding. Perhaps this particular case will end up in court. It may not be entered as *evidence* in the court proceeding, but it may be read by attorney's, judges, etc and with the patient spouting off expletives, perhaps it would influence a court decision by showing the person's character, state of mind, etc. I have had doctors enter such expletives in a dictation where the patient had threatened to sue the doctor, for whatever reason. Those types of things are important in certain cases and incidents. Personally, with it being in quotes, I would leave it the way it was dictated. IMHO
Another QA person's point of view
We MTs make the best QA people because we can relate to what the MT is going through. Just keep your comments professional and not degrading in any way. Most MTs appreciate the help and feedback. Remember how this poor QA person makes you feel with her snide comments and make sure not to repeat her mistakes. Follow the golden rule and you should be fine. Good luck in your new position.
ONE MORE POINT OF VIEW AND QUESTION
I would transcribe as dictated. However, what's to keep a doctor from embellishing the facts or leaving out details that would present a different picture? This is another argument FOR patient's obtaining copies of their reports so that they can be aware of how their behavior is being reported in written format. I'm not sure, but are patients able to add responses/comments to their medical reports in the same way that they can add responses/comments to their credit reports?
Only from the patient's point of view - (sm)
where you go to the doctor's office, and they spend the entire visit with their eyes on their PC, not on you or whatever it is you're trying to show them. Makes me feel like I'm taking up too much of their valuable time by even being there. Might be better to just send an email with my complaint and a photo of the injury!
Thanks, proud prude, for another point of view on this....
Good idea with the dashes. I do wish I didn't
have to hear the words in my ear, either. Why do they feel they need to repeat that?
Although, putting the dashes doesn't really hide what has been said.
I WOULD be really PO'd if I got a look at my medical record and found a less-than-attractive quote in black and white. I'd prob. demand it be removed.
I took a test that was so long and involved that it was hardly worth
I took a test that was so long and involved that it was hardly worth the effort. I got through the test and did well other than a couple of silly mistakes that I probably should have caught, nothing major, but I had listened to that long voice file and read and reread the report so many times I finally sent it on. Anyway, I got the results back and wow, talk about PICKY! Again, I had only missed a couple of small things, but I got reamed in email over it. I should say that the dictator and the sound quality were absolutely horrendous. The dictator spoke with an incredibly thick foreign accent and with the "far off distance" sound quality it was amazing that I could make out any of it. This company should be thrilled that anyone bothered to even try to transcribe the test file, especially as long as it was, and I also can't imagine they have many people who want to work for them or stay with them.
regarding the template discussion below: I'm wondering, from an MTSOs point of view, if(sm)
adding the templates is supposed to be helpful to the MTs? Maybe I'm taking this the wrong way. Although having to scroll through headings isn't helpful to me (it's faster to just type them), do other MTs find it easier to not have to type all these headings? Are the MTSOs trying to help us out by adding in the headers?
As long as you have a clear view of the
southern sky you are okay, doesn't matter where you are. I had DirecWay and your download speed isn't reliable. Sometimes it can be really fast, other times as slow as dial-up. Snow and heavy rain also interfer with the signal.
Doesn't apply. According to original post, there was no dictation involved. NM
xx
I reached that point a LONG time ago
The only thing that has changed is the fact that we hear about it more now. The monsters were there forever ago and will be here forever. Thankfully the reporting IS more intense and parents are more aware.
I was molested by a next door neighbor. Never said a word to anyone.
I raised my children in the same home as I was raised (my parents moved and I took over the home). The whole neiborhood was different and my next door neighbor was gone. My mom told me to never let the kids out of my sight because the neighborhood was "not the same as it was" when I was a kid.
It had become more ethnic; therefore, it was "not the same" to her.
Little did she know that because of my experience back when the neighborhood was "good", I would NEVER trust my children to ANYONE (sadly including her) nor roam the neighborhood. Not just because of what happened to me, but because I knew I was responsible for my kids.
This is not to say that parents should be to blame for any evil that occurs. Evil people are to blame. But I was going to do my best to harbor them from as much evil as possible and hopefully I did.
They are grown now and to the best of my knowledge, never fell prey to what I did. But.. nothing has changed. The preditors will be there until the end of time. We must protect our children the best we can.
No, we should not let them out of our sights. If you had a diamond that was the size of a salad bowl, who would you trust it with? Children are precious and cannot be replaced.
No - you are right - NOT the point of your post BUT
you do claim to be a QA person so people assume you have some experience and so asked nicely why you put an apostrophe in MTs... which a lot of people do.... and now I am even more confused as MT's is certainly not a contraction - a contraction is like don't, doesn't, etc., so thinking maybe you don't know your stuff afterall... but thanks
The point of her post was they are
sitting around waiting on work because they need to be working....there aren't as many jobs available, especially good jobs, like there used to be. If they didn't want to work, they'd turn their computer off and forget about it when there wasn't any work.My sister is an experienced MT and looked for over 4 months until she found another MT job when her company was running out of work. Ten years ago, you oculd just about find an MT job the same day you started looking.
The point is the post was a JOKE... a little humor!!!
People do that. And complaining about those that post on the message boards -- is that not the pot calling the kettle black since you apparently enjoy this as you have posted multiple times today? Others here are free to speak/read just as you are. You are also free to hit the red X button on the corner of the screen if you are in any way unhappy about what is posted.
The above post proves my point. _sm_
NEWS FLASH: MT is a NEVER-ENDING, continual process of learning. I've been at this biz for 35 years (and took all my tests honestly, and my resume is 100% accurate, thank you very much), and I still continue to learn each and every day that I transcribe. 99% of that learning is done by my own research.
But sometimes a person's ears can deceive them, or a new doctor that is hard to understand can come along that we can't transcribe completely. Usually QA has dealt with these guys before, and are familiar with the terms that stump me. (You can't look something up if you can't even tell for sure what the word SOUNDS like.)
Yes, QA is for quality-assurance. But the only way to IMPROVE quality is to help the MTs with their ongoing learning process.
What's REALLY frustrating is when you people first tell us one thing, and then a few days later, you tell us something entirely different. You contradict yourselves to the point of being the "joke" you talk about. Too bad your manager can't get all of you on the same page at least SOME of the time!
Anyway, your post sounds exactly like the snippy little emails I get whenever I ask QA an honest question, or send something to them that I have a gut feeling is wrong, but have no samples available to double-check.
Yes, it does only take one rotten apple to spoil the whole barrel, and QA-people with your attitude should be shoved down the garbage-grinder.
:p
I just wondered why you felt it necessary to point out that the OP had posted the same post before.
It's the equivalent of rolling your eyes and saying you've heard this before when someone is telling you a story they've told before. The polite thing to do is listen again. Not tell them, you've told me this before.
Mandatory for address for post office but otherwise is a style point--
x
Just saw you post. Sorry it took so long.
I tent mine up as high and as far apart as it will go. Since hand as in hand shake position, wrist support isn't an issue. I think the hand shake position is a main factor is preventing wrist problems. Not having to "force" wrists downward and then move hands about is, I think, the secret.
My tricks - sorry long post
 I'm not an expert but this has worked for me.
Since I am the primary breadwinner of the household, I made the whole family a part of the budget process. We have two kids left at home (2 grown and gone) and I still manage to pay them their allowance (10.00 per week each).
How about we start there. I have a Chore Chart on a dry erase board on the fridge (so they see it every single time they hit the fridge) with the name of the chore written in permanent marker so they can't erase it, then put the initial of the one responsible for that chore that day. If, at the end of the day, those chores are NOT done? They get a black X in the box next to the chore. Only their initials are written in dry erase so I can change that around from time to time.
If they miss doing their chores 2 days out of the week, they get NO allowance. If they argue or procrastinate, that gets 1 check. If they get 2 checks by the chore, then that is the same as not doing the chore and they don't get the credit for it. Even if they eventually get it done, they still don't get credit that day because they procrastinated OR argued about it. Pay day is Friday.
Time is money people and I don't have the time to clean as I should, they are old enough, and they want money too. I don't give money for movies, candy, or trips to the dollar store. They now have their own and are learning to budget.
Sometimes I give them bonuses too for doing an inventory of the freezer, pantry, organizing the cupboards, etc... Helps us keep track of the things we have for the next step.
MENUS ~ If you get Woman's Day Magazine or First, or anything like them that have the monthly menu calendars in them? PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THEM. They can save you BIG $$ on your food bills.
My kids are horribly picky eaters and meal planning has saved me a lot of money. I now have them sit down with me, look over these meal planning calendars and see if it is something they would like. If they put it on OUR calendar, they initial it, and we make our grocery list. If the time comes for a particular meal and they turn their nose up at it, I send them to the calendar to see if they initialed that day. If they did.... Eat it! PERIOD. (by the way, I never put anything on the calendar that they don't agree with so, after a few months of doing this, there is never any more turning the nose up at dinner time - HA fixed their wagon!)
We also do a mass cook and freeze fest now and then. The kids get into it too. Very easy for them. THey are 12 and 13 so I have the meal calendar taped to the inside door of the pantry. When I'm working, they can go look and see what's on the calendar for that day, pull it out of the freezer, and put it in the oven. I have written the temp and time for each one next to the item on the calendar. Works out fine.
Power bills... Yikes - LIGHTS OUT. When I go to bed, every light in the house is OFF except the porch light, the little light above the stove, and the nightlight in the hall across from the kids rooms.
GAS- Holy Smokes. Up to 2.79/gal here now. No extra drives to here and there for anything. If you just want a cold pop to drink cuz it's hot? Make iced tea instead. Not worth that kinda money for a wasted trip to the mini mart. Just plan better the next time. The kids want to go to the pool or their friend's house... pump up the bike tire kids and grab the walkies. I make my kids take walkie talkies (Cobra brand 5-mile radius at WalMart for 80.00 and WELL worth it.)
One last little tidbit.... SAVE your receipts for EVERYTHING for at least 2 months then compare them after the end of that 2 months when you have learned to tighten up the wallet a bit and see the difference for yourself. Makes it really worth your while.
I have cut enough fat out of excess spending in the past year to put away 400.00 or more every month into a savings account that I can use for emergencies, vacations, whatever.
By the way... Would be a good idea to have a forum JUST for Budgeting and Money Saving ideas here wouldn't it. Administrators???? How about it?
Then how is it that you have time to post here all day long?
so transparent
E-mail me. I typed out a very long post, but having
computer issues and I lost it. I've traveled for 5 years and can give you lots of info.
Click on the blue TW to e-mail me.
I didn't read your way-too-long post, but...
did you type all that out, or copy and paste from somewhere, cause if you typed it all out...you need to get a life and quick!
Hi, im new here, long question.. dont know where to post it!
Hello everyone.. I don't know where to start and I'm just taking a quick break from my work
sorry if this is long, i want to get the best answer and help so i'm gonna give some background (and i dont bother usually with capitalization in my friendly emails, but i assure you it is not how i type my work).. .LOL
Anyways, I am 25 years old, have been doing transcription for seven years (my mom taught me when I was in high school). I love my job and work for two places. One is a hospital so I don't know how negotiable that pay rate is. The other one is a doctor's office.
Urology. I started with them September 11, 2001. (crazy, sad, i know)... I started at 12 cents a line.(the hospital pays me 10 cents) They are located in California, where I used to live. Two years ago, they got a new office manager (i was pretty close with the first one). Well this office manager happened to be someone I had previously worked with, who had screwed over my mom and I because they sent their work to India without EVER telling us until two days before hand (even though we told her to just tell us when it was going to happen). Well that practice eventually broke up... and what luck I had, she is now AGAIN my office manager. Well a year ago I decided I was going to move away and I bought everything for the office that they needed to go digital (we were doing tapes before). Now I live in Nevada and do their work over the internet, returning their work within 24 hours.
My question is, I think I deserve a raise, and I have no idea how to go about it. I have been with them for five years, obviously the cost of living has risen, including health care. By the way, I receive no benefits from either the hospital or the office.
Is this reasonable, and does anyone have any suggestions or pointers? I still feel pretty young and vulnerable because I have never been in a position to ask for a raise. Since I am an independent contractor, I suppose it wouldn't be asking, rather than just telling... but I want it to be more appropriate than that.
And I'm basically wondering what others are making as independent contractors, i know companies don't pay as much, but they also offer benefits...
Thanks for taking the time... back to work for me.
Emily
Proofing Help Pleeeez! (long post)
I am 53, divorcee with 1 child in college, been MTing for 32 years. When I started out I was one of the best in my field, accurate, at my peak was making close to 50,000 a year, only one job and only 40 hours a week. Now, here I am going through menopause, working 12 hours a day (1 full-time and 1 part-time) and barely making ends meet. My production is at an all-time low, and I'm working on my 3rd or 4th job this year- I forget, it's been so many, for various reasons why they didn't work out. But, now I find myself, going into my third week of employment with this company, still in QA, making stupid grammatical errors, and leaving out words, that I am not aware of. I would like to say one of my problems is that this is a huge Children's Hospital with a lot of procedures, diseases, and terminology I have never heard of, but I cannot really say that, as most of my errors are gramatical, i.e. not putting comma or semi-colon where it belongs, leaving out it, and, but and they. I am beginning to feel they may not keep me. I am 1 pay check from being homeless, now jobless, already uninsured, as I could not afford the Cobra. I have applied for jobs completely out of the MT field, so far with no luck of being hired. I put in an application last week for a State Job with excellent benefits, paid by company, and although the salary is 22,000 to 36,000, if they call me, I am definitely going to take it. I figure I have 15 more years before retirement, and if I can tap into the retirement for the next 15 years, that would be a help, as I don't have any 401K to fall back on. Anyways, if you guys can give me some proofreading tips that will not take away from my production, I would greatly appreciate it. Most companies don't offer a training pay that would last at least 2 weeks, which would be a help. So here I am trying to make money, which is virtually impossible when you're training on a new account, new company, new software and everything. Help Guys.  
As long as it takes to post on here, google came up quicker
nm
Best post I've read in a long time.
I tend to go back and forth with my feelings about this profession. In the mornings I am glad I do not have to get up, get ready and go to an office. Many times in the evening, after I have during the day and still have work to do, I feel like stuffing it all. Many times I am disheartened when I get my paycheck, but I am glad to be getting one, while my sister worries about getting laid off from her manufacturing job. MT has advantages and disadvantages.
Actually, it started long before the post you're talking about.
'Shroom had nothing nice to say in a number of different threads, mostly because she didn't want to believe what people were telling her about the kind of income they are able to generate by working for themselves. Either way, the word is inappropriate and should not be used. Fighting among each other is non-productive and only makes this site less useful to those who need information, encouragement and a place to turn for advice. The "advice" and name calling that was undertaken by 'Shroom is inappropriate and should be deleted.
There is NOTHING to post! The boards were trolled for a long time by the lawyers AGAINST MQ, looking
for any lame info in a very unprofessional (not to mention unethical) manner. They used us and left. Now the law suits are in the "discovery process", where both sides are gathering info, where they can then decide whether to proceed forward or not. No news at all for us MTs. Again, the $$-hungry lawyer(s)? were all over this board months back, stirring up the pot, begging us for info, and then VANISHED!
steps to becoming an IC
Just need someone to tell me the steps that need to be taken to become an IC. I would love to have more flexibility in my schedule/hours than a national company can give. I have a few people who have found out that I do transcription and seem interested if I would work for them on the side. I would love to, but don't know how to get this going. Do I need a business license? If someone can either tell me what steps to take or where do I find just plain, straightforward information, I would appreciate it.
steps......and usually remember...say R U....sm
in your 50s? This happens in our late 40s and 50s.....*L* - I call them brain *_arts*........don't know if you can type the word for flatulence *lol*
Steps for control T.
When using control/T to close out the Control/S document, you must make sure the Control/S document is fully open and that it is the document on top. The document you see should have "read only" next to the patient's name. If it is not on top, control/T will close out everything.
Here are the steps: When you open Control/S, pull up the doc you want to review, etc., it comes up first. When you go back to the document you're transcribing, the Control/S document goes behind your working document. When you minimize your working document to Control/T the viewing document, it will go to a split window, and then you have to make sure the reviewing document is on top before you Control/T. I hope this makes sense--You can't Control/T with a split window or both documents showing at the same time. You must click on the read only document to open it to view so there is no split screen and the only document you see is the read only document. Otherwise, you close out both documents.
Follow these steps....
You have 3 keys at the top of your C-phone, press the one on the far left with PROGM above it. Then press KEYS (far left button also). Select progm key comes up, press the button you are wanting to change (the one causing you to disconnect). It then will ask you if you want to revise, answer yes. Then press the multiplication sign X on the far right of your keypad (also labeled select). Then press the Stop button located on the bottom section of your C-phone. This is what works for me, hopefully this will help you too.
That's too many steps in a dialog box.
Word 2003 has a List Number style already formatted at the left margin that you can assign a keyboard shortcut to, then switch back to your default paragraph style after your list with Ctrl + Q.
Or you can turn on automatic numbering in the AutoCorrect/AutoFormat as You Type tab. Type your 1 and period and auto numbering starts. You'll get the auto indent, but you can hit Alt + Shift + left arrow to move the list to the left margin. You can shorten that shortcut by assigning something like Alt+L to the OutlinePromote command in the customize keyboard dialog box under all commands.
correct - they took global steps and is why they
since they are NO LONGER DEALING WITH ONLY AMERICAN MTs, their name is no longer AAMT -
Please recognize this. Thank you.
You need two macros. Just record the steps
to change to higher level, and the second one to change it back. Be sure to assign shortcut keys to each.
I fell down my steps in MARCH of 05 and my tailbone still ...
hurts a lot of the time. Both soft and hard chairs are hard to get out of, depending how long I have been sitting. My sister said about trying an inflatable pool ring, but there aren't many to be found this time of year!
Thanks for the link. Interesting. Looks like they skipped a couple of steps. (nm)
v
I am taking baby steps to achieving the life I want.
Reducing food intake and increasing exercise slowly. Turning a hobby into a potential career. Yeah, right! Who am I kidding?
Does anyone like the new Healthgrade website after they upgraded - it only takes 4 or 5 steps to
nm
Do away with automatic numbered list. See inside steps.
Tools, Autocorrect, AutoFormat as you Type, uncheck Automatic Numbered Lists.
Tell us the exact steps you are taking to create your AutoText. sm
How many letters are you assigning to the shortcut name? You can't have 5 entries with the same name. Every name has to be unique. For example, if you assign abcde to an entry name, then create another entry with abcde as the name, Word will not know which name you want and you will get nothing.
Also go to Tools/Templates and Add-ins and tell us what shows up there. Some add-ins block Word from saving anything to the normal.dot (like Adobe, Norton, and Winfax Pro). Are you in fact running any of those programs? Some add-ins don't show in that window and you need to check for what's called COM add-ins.
you can try a test to see if your normal.dot is corrupt. Close Word and Outlook if you use that. Search for the normal.dot and right-click the file in the search window and rename the file to normal.old. Open Word and try to create an AutoText. Does it save now? If it does, you can use the Organizer to transfer your other customizations to the new normal.dot and then delete the old one. If it still doesn't work, delete the new normal.dot and change the name back on the old one.
see enclosed
I recently signed up for a health insurance savings type program called Equal Access, where you are covered for prescriptions, get some sort of credit for doctor's visits, etc. for a reduced rate. If you want additional information, let me know. Apparently, participating doctors give reduction in rates for people using this plan.
seen enclosed-sm
http://home.adelphia.net/~ktm58/links.html
see enclosed sm.
Tools, Macro, Record new macro, box will come up to name macro, choose toolbar or keyboard. I use keyboard F12 since that is easy to get to. You will see a box somewhere on your screen that looks like a cassette. Do Ctrl F, in the find box, I use the ^ as my code, but enter whatever you want to be you code. Find next. Close. Stop record.
You will need to go through you document and insert you code where you want them. By pressing F12 or whatever you set as you key, it should go from one to the next.
If this does not work, e-mail me and I will try to help furtehr.
This is also a good site for Word help---http://textware.com/board/msword/index.html
site enclosed--sm
http://www.transcribers.com/product5.htm
try enclosed site-sm
http://www.mt-resources.com/sample_contracts.htm
Link enclosed
dangerous abbreviations should be avoided.
|
