Happy MT Week from all the staff at MTStars!

Dear Medical Transcriptionists,

In honor of National Medical Transcription Week (May 14 - 20), Spellex Corporation has started another contest in addition to our Spelling Quiz.

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To win your free copy of Spellex AccuCount, simply be the 5^th or 10^th MT to download Spellex AccuCount and send us a review. 

Please visit www.spellex.com/downloads/select.asp?Version=accucount to download a trial version of Spellex AccuCount.

Once you have reviewed the program, please send your review to mtweek@spellex.com.  Please make specific references to the program in your review.

If you’re not the 5^th or 10^th reviewer, you can still save!  All medical transcriptionists who send us a review are eligible for a 30% discount on any Spellex single user product during National MT week.

Once again, congratulations to all Medical Transcriptionists for the important work you do!

Spellex Corporation
www.spellex.com

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because it is a big vacation week.  Typically things slow dow a bit in the summer too because people are putting off elective surgery, but at the same time lots of people going on vacation so it should balance out.   

or AMA, whatever you choose. I've been seeing ads for QA personnel and they don't have to have been MTs. I don't get that.

As I've said before here, I work for an MTSO who believes if you have to have QA personnel, you've hired the wrong MTs. I tend to agree with her.

We get up in the morning, do our work and send it in. If there's something we don't understand, we put a note on the log for the doctor or the hospital - because we're all experienced enough that we either know what we're hearing or know how to find it.

1.  Are you paid by line, report or hour or salaried?

2.  What are your production requirements?

3.  Do you get incentives or bonuses beyond your base pay?

4.  How do you provide feedback?  (Directly to MTs, to a supervisor, etc.)

My answers:

1.   Hourly ($19)

2.  12 reports/hour

3.  No.

4.  Directly to MTs.

Please reaad the following if you think spanking is okay.

Spanking can cause a sensitive child grave psychological damage.  You probably won't even see it, and the child may never tell anyone or even recognize what it is.  Please, please, if you insist on spanking your child, at least give that child an outlet for the anger that follows.  When I child is forced to feel anger/shame directed at the person(s) they depend on above all others, and then to suppress that anger, it can cause significant, lifelong problems in his/her ability to have healthy relationships.

Another reason to reconsider spanking is the prevalence in today's society of spanking being related to sex - it's all over the place, and unless your kids watch no TV, no movies, read no magazines, and have no access to computers, they are eventually going to come across this.  It can be very confusing, very upsetting.

From:  http://www.stophitting.com/religion/faithMaterial.php

All of the biblical quotations advocating corporal punishment of children are taken from the book of Proverbs in the King James Version of the Bible. They were written by King Solomon, and presumably reflected his parenting beliefs with respect to his own son.

Proverbs 13:24
"He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (diligently)."

Proverbs 19:18
"Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying."

Proverbs 22:15
"Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."

Proverbs 23:13
"Withhold no correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die."

Proverbs 23:14
"Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (Shoel)."

Proverbs 29:15
"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

The Bible itself records the negative effect of Solomon's parenting style on his son, Rehoboam. He became a widely hated ruler after his father's death and had to leave to avoid assassination by his own people.

What would Jesus do?

If you take the Bible seriously, you have to notice Jesus' attitude toward children. It was wise, loving, and filled with compassion. Even when anxious adults wanted to shoo the children away, Jesus rebuked the adults. "Of such," he said, "is the kingdom of heaven." Given this attitude, it's hard to conceive of Jesus hitting a child on any occasion or for any reason. It's simply not consistent with what he taught. If Jesus wouldn't hit a child, why would we? SpankOut Day is dedicated to exploring alternate means of discipline. We believe that Jesus would approve. A simple slogan for Christians to consider might be this: the next time you are tempted to hit a child, ask yourself "What would Jesus do?" Then go and do likewise.
Reverend Dr. Thomas E. Sagendorf, Senior Pastor
Bexley United Methodist Church, Bexley, Ohio

Wisdom from the Talmud

Many people who strike their children do so not because they are evil or mean, but because they believe they are doing God's will. They often cite the phrase in Proverbs: "He who spares the rod hates his son." The problem is that pulling one line out of the Bible ignores the rest of the text. Much of the Book of Proverbs is filled with good counsel on how to be a better person. In Chapter 22 we are taught, "Train a child in the way he should behave, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it." Isn't it possible that the rod Proverbs refers to is to be used to point to lessons on the wall? When we fail to properly educate our children, we not only spoil them, we show them the opposite of love. We must use the rod to point out right from wrong, not to beat our children into submission the way slaves have been beaten throughout history. Even the Talmud says, "If you must strike a child, do so only with a shoelace." When taken in its entirety, Judaism can hardly sanction the use of violence against children. Even the famous sentence in Deuteronomy to stone to death the stubborn and rebellious son, was, according to the Talmud, never carried out. Instead, while discipline was and still is crucial for raising healthy children, striking a child need never occur. The mix of discipline and love is the recipe for a good future for our sons and daughters. The Talmud suggests: "A child should be pushed aside with the left hand, and drawn closer with the right hand."
Rabbi Larry Kaplan
Temple Israel, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

The Law or the Spirit?

In the book Spare the Child, Philip Greven suggests that our readiness as fathers to strike our sons explains why we men grow up so ready not only to tolerate but to perpetrate violence in our culture. A boy picks up his moral cues from Dad: "Dad hits me when he doesn't like what I have done. Therefore, men resolve differences by violence. If Dad did it, it's OK. I can hit people myself, especially when I think they've done wrong and therefore deserve it." Often a boy who has been spanked won't respond later to love, but only to more spanking. The Law, that is, has supplanted the Spirit within him. God's story of Israel says clearly that a son lost in the Law can be restored to appreciate and respond to a relationship with the Father only though crucifixion. In this case, that might mean the father's dying to his pride and asking the child's forgiveness, then begging Jesus to show him whatever brokenness in himself has led him to resort to the Law and how to become hospitable again to his Spirit's rule.
Reverend Gordon Dalbey, Santa Barbara, CA
Author of Fight Like a Man and leader in the Christian men's movement
Quoted with permission from Fight Like a Man

Also see:  http://www.nospank.net/toc.htm

Due to my company's payroll (it runs Sun-Sat), I'm able to work a rotating schedule with every other weekend off. Week 1 I work Sunday through Thursday with Fri, Sat, Sun off.  Week 2 I work Monday through Friday with Saturday only off.  Then I'm back to week 1 and get that following weekend off.

I've found that I'm more productive with shorter shifts and I have kids in school anyway, so I work a lot of split shifts during the week.  If possible, you might want to consider cutting back your hours to 30 hours and just work five 6-hour days in split shifts, 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening.