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I'd force her hand. sm

Posted By: Amy on 2006-07-12
In Reply to: Advice Please - In a Crunch

I'd definitely force her to do the deed if that's what she's up to. I sure wouldn't make it easy for her. It sounds like you've done a good job for them all this time. As for the pay, I think I'd be tempted to mention something about how they could afford vacation, but not be able to pay you, especially after you spent your vacation at home. The idea that she'd do that burns me up for you! Furthermore, you know darn well they've got the money. She's just being vindictive. Make sure and update after next week. We'll be wishing you luck with this sticky situation.


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I'd force her hand while you line up other work.
I would continue doing the work and returning it as soon as it's done. Once you've transribed/printed it's their responsbility from there. I've seen so many docs think they can't afford to pay a measley paycheck but can well afford big houses, cars, vacations. Let's face it, they really don't know what 'tight' is. She seems fishy, very odd. What doc wants you to postpone getting work done? That's just plain bad business. I'm very sorry for you. I think you should keep doing the work, line up something else, and let her squirm and have to face you. If she phases you out by trying to avoid you, nicely get in her face, and make her be accountable for how she's treating you. I'm also very sorry about your husband. You'll be in my prayers.
I've used Hand-Eze and Thergonomic Hand Aids. sm
They help with the carpal tunnel and keep hands warm for me. They cover the hand and wrist but leave the fingers free. I wear them inside out, though, because the seams rub on the skin too much for me. I've gotten so used to them, that it is more comfortable wearing them while typing than typing with nothing on.
Don't talk about hand, I still remember the one that got her hand chewed up by her pet rat....

had nightmares for 2 days after that.



Well, if you broke your right hand and were right-hand dominant, can you see how this might be a fac
It may not be relevant at the time of dictating a physical exam or social history but in the future it would be good to know if the patient breaks the finger(s), wrist, hand, arm.
it was K-force, but I don't think they do it now.

force yourself ...

... to absolutely stop at every heading.


Think about what you're doing.


Then do the right thing.


It slows you down when doing it, and you'll get aggravated at that too!  But little by little you'll find yourself doing it without thinking -- once in awhile.  Then all the time. 


This is how I learned my short forms when I first started using the expansion programs.  I'm so glad I took the time!  Others wouldn't do it, and they suffered in the long run.  Patience is virtue. 


 


And if they try to FORCE it on us, then if ever there
nm
The day they force me
get certification, CMT or whatever, is the day I retire. Totally ridiculous. What, someone with 20+ years experience is suddenly not qualified without some letters behind their name? Please.
You can't force them to pay what isn't in their
You state you are tired of your life revolving around your PC, used to be this and that. Well, that is your personal choice every single day and minute to sit there in front of that PC.

No one is making you stay in this business if you think it is going under.

Without the understanding of what part of the puzzle your particular job has in the picture for your employer, for your industry, for this country, you'll never be successful at any kind of bargaining or negotiation.

No one said you should feel sorry for MTSOs but before you go off charging like a mad bull, you need to understand what your options are and what the reality of the financial picture is.

I feel more sorry for those who bark off with the general statements that unions will save this work, a strike will bring you more wages, just band together and demand more and POOF, it will happen, etc., than I do for anyone else with other problems here.

After all my time in this work, having been in business with it, worked for other companies (nationals and smaller), it is clear that you are not understanding the whole picture at all.

Vent, gripe, complain - yes - but if you think words such as union or strike or demand are going to get you anywhere, you are sadly mistaken, my friend. It would be more sad to see you lose what you do have because of this.

Of all the companies announcing layoffs each week on the news, not one single company has been an MTSO.

It is not the end.

you have to get rid of this! Force yourself to think
always about what you are doing at the moment. If you do not do this, then the quality of your work - whatever you are doing - is going to suffer.
Do you have a wandering mind, in general? When you transcribe, do you then think about cooking?
I do not mean this ironic or sarcastic, I want to help you.

She's my fave, too. I don't force anyone into my car either.

My son is leaving for the Air Force
I am so proud of him, yet so worried with the situation the world is in right now.  Please pray for him if you would! 
Yeah, May the force be with you......
n
yes, legal to ASK--not force as

mandatory. Again, I've worked for other companies before, and I've either been very lucky or, as I've stated, this field has gone much downhill and there is less respect for the work and skills of MTs than ever.


No, it's not their job to give me an easy living, but neither is it my job to lose what little money I do make--compared to their ????--because they've overloaded themselves in their greediness to take on more accounts when they know they don't have enough MTs to cover it.


If I made $250,000 a year and had Air Force One to myself, I'd
take a lot of vacations, too.
Yes, I could easily become a recluse. Force myself to go out
dd
I had to force myself to work with it, but I'm glad that I did.
It took about two weeks until I could get used to the idea of typing words differently. It has really helped with the fatigue in my arms, shoulders, wrists, etc.
Here is why they're trying to force 'certification'
Because we MTs are starting to get wise to them.   U.S. MTs began to realize that a CMT was getting them NOTHING.  And I think when U.S. membership started to slow to a trickle, that's when they started going after the Indian MTs.  (For the sole purpose of course, of making money off of THEM, too).  And then of course they'd have another selling point for their offshore workers when trying to sell hospitals on the idea, saying all or most of their offshore workforce is credentialled, but the U.S. MTs are not.  So who knows - maybe the Indians have caught on to this con game, as well.  After all, they can read these boards, too.  So now that we've gotten wise, they're gonna try to FORCE MTs to get their certification.  I for one will never give them one cent of my hard-earned income for some useless letters behind my name. 
Obama's new task force
Maybe if all of us posted something here about medical transcription jobs being sent overseas, it could help? I'm not exactly sure if this would be the right place, but I think I'm going to write something about it. Have a nice weekend! :)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/
Maybe this will finally force DH and I to NOT eat out so much, save money there. nm
x
Anyone have info on K Force Health care? nm
nm
K-force, yes they still do. They offered me 11 cpl and 40 c/mile in San Bernardino, CA. nm
nm
maybe you oughtta try cherrypicking too...force the co. to deal with bad dictators! nm
1
never ever force anyone to attending funeral rituals, but especially a child who does not want to go
nm
Head's up! AAMT Task Force has posted about their name change
I know some posters here are members who may be interested for various reasons.  :-)
You tell them my sister MQMT. MQ fire patrol out in full force today!
But we can contain their idiot remarks with logic.
Personally I would not force her to go - she can alway visit the grave site to say goodbye- sm
My mom died about 18 months ago, but has there been a funeral I would not have had my kids there (they were 6 & 4 at the time). I know my in-laws would have thought me a terrible person for that but I would not have cared (my mom donated her body to science-- my dad is too). An open casket is a lot different than a closed one and can make quite an impression on some. I just don't think that is something that should be pushed. She is old enough to make the decision, you should abide by it.
Get out the timer. You'll have to force yourself to work uninterrupted for periods of time.
Just keep in mind that you WANT the money. Best of luck!
Guess what? If companies fired the shoddy MTs, they'd lose more than half their work force in eve
company! Pretty sad state of things, but that's the quality out there right now, and AMERICAN MTs.
Do you expect businesses to cease operating because the U.S. work force refuses to provide services?
What will be wanted is that the immigrants pay taxes and that there are no outlaws coming and going. This is all about taxes.
After divorce, child chronic illness, involuntary job change, parents illnesses and death, was force
I frequently regret it, the changes it has made to my life, but when life hands you horror, at least there is this "final solution" to your financial situation. I must admit, I sleep better, and I can finally hold my head up, and I no longer feel hopeless. Find the attorney you can work with,get your free consultation and DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU TO DO. If you have doubts, see a 2nd and a 3rd attorney, till you're comfortable with the person you choose.
Actually, chosing "cap after period" will not force a period in the instances I mentioned. --
Even with it checked, it WILL NOT cap after a number with a period in it. Like "white count 14.1. hemoglobin 10.9.

If you know of a way that it WILL, let us all know. I have never had a version of Word that will work that way. Always puts in the lower case, even though there is a period there.
On the other hand....
if you're an experienced acute care MT, you can pick up radiology in a month or two.  I just did it earlier this year.  Never typed a minute of radiology before and a couple months later I'm "flyin" at it.  Yes, there's a learning curve, but it's not brain surgery. 
on the other hand...
If you knew the TAT on the account when you took it on, and accepted it as such, then your obligation is to have the work done on time.  If your personal life is getting more complicated and interfering with your ability to maintain the TAT,  then maybe you should let your employer know so they can replace you with someone who can meet the TAT.  Their first obligation is to the client, after all. 
On the other hand....
Just the fact that you would be working on only one type of report would tend be for better production.
None I can think of off hand LOL!
xx
on the other hand..emp vs IC sm

status.


Anyone have experience with companies who hire you as an employee, certain hours but don't provide you with the equipment you need?  Worked for a company that did that but no medical spell checker on their software, some accounts they want YOU to buy a C-phone for etc. etc.  Asked them up front if account I would be working on would have medical speller, told yes.  It did not.  Also there was some kind of ShortHand program built in that they knew nothing about, we couldn't get to and conflicted with the autocorrect I used in Word.  Kept asking and it was always we will ask the hospital and then nothing.  Went out bought my own spell check and whatever I needed then three weeks into working, they dump the account.


Start over with a new account, different problems, they want me to buy even more stuff.  Said no I am outta here!


Anybody had that problem?


You're right .. and here's 1st-hand knowledge -- sm

I start med school (been an MT for 24 years) August 2006. 


One of my classes last semester was Intro to Medical Practices.  I especially inquired about pro bono work by all the physicians and dentists who spoke to the class as guests each week.  All gave significant amounts of their practice to pro bono work.


One physician in particular impressed me.  He is a cardiovascular surgeon.  His main area of expertise is doing cardiac bypasses.  To make a long story short, because of insurance changes (MCare) over the past few years, he only makes about $650 per bypass for his own pocket and that is gross.  Of the $1850 MCare and insurance companies pay him for this procedure, it costs him $1200 in overhead for that procedure.  Until last year, he would often do the procedure for free for patients who could not afford it and had no insurance.  However, for 2 years he had to BORROW MONEY to pay his OVERHEAD because he did so much pro bono work.  He finally decided he just could not go bankrupt doing that.  So now, he STILL does HIS PART for free but the patient has to pay his overhead.  He tells them to call their family, friends, churches and if they have the $1200 for his overhead, he will donate HIS skills/time/energy for free.


The physician (maxillofacial surgeon) who directed this class said his annual pro bono work runs around $250,000 a year. 


As well, while dentists recoup 95% to 100% of the fees charged for their services (they are ALWAYS getting their money up front), physicians (with the exception of cosmetic plastic surgery) only recoup an average of 31% of their fees.  For every $1000 they spend on a patient, they will only get back approximately $310 and must write off the rest. 


Now that is INSIDE information - direct from the physicians and dentists we had in class.  I was shocked.  Not deterred, but shocked. 


Regarding that lovely cardiologist who gives so much away, take into consideration that the $650 for HIS skills/time/energy for ONE cardiac bypass -- he invests a total of 12 to 15 hours for that one procedure (that is WITHOUT complications happening) including his consult/operative time/followup visits, hospital rounds, etc.  That comes out to about $54 an hour -- and plumbers and electricians around here make more than that.  My Ford dealership in town gets $76 an hour. 


And now, since we are starting to do bypasses endovascularly through the femoral artery, he has to really put the money down for more education to train to do this or he will be out of business shortly. 


Interesting huh?!  When people make comments to me about my future as a physician as a way to "get rich", I tell them not necessarily so!!  LOL  I'm not doing it for money!  You couldn't pay me enough to go through all this at this time in my life!!  LOL  


Because I live with it first hand

I do get offensive when someone doesn't like my children simply because of their skin tone.  I'm not saying that the OP said anything about my children or even posted about the topic.  I was just offended that she can so casually admit to being a prejudice person.  Prejudice causes hate and violence.  I take offense to that.  I think that you should, and everyone should take offense to it so that it can be stopped.  If everyone were okay with it or  no one ever stood up about the subject, where would we be? 


Also, there is a difference between knowing someone as an individual that may be a "bad seed" and be a minority and not liking them versus not liking someone without knowing them as a person simply because they are a minority.


All I know is, when those of us who are saved make it to heaven, there will be every race there right along with us, as God has created us all in his image.


Don't need hand holding.
I don't expect them to hold my hand, but it would be nice if they at least pretended to be somewhat human! Compassion for another person's loss only takes a second to respond to.... as you said in your post. It only took a second right? Most of the time I am with you, I would rather NOT hear from them. But of course I sent an e-mail to tell her that I would be out for the funeral, she could have replied with a condolence. That's all I am saying. I think that's a bit of a problem with the world in general these days, no one even seems to have time to be kind. Thank you for your second to respond and give your condolence on my loss!
Hand stress

I've transcribed since 1983.  You can lessen hand stress if you observe how you hold your hands as you type.  When I was in my twenties I noticed that there was a real difference in the way I held my hands and how the older transcriptionists (they had their wrists up and hands pointing down at the keyboard).  I have always had my wrists laying on something and my fingers are going up.  I have never had one bit of carpal tunnel or pain whatsoever.


I agree 100%, on the other hand
They are all "red" states, you would think Bush would give them a payback for giving him a job....hey, maybe if we tell him Osama Bin Laden is there he will send some troops.
Two first hand accounts..that's where
Any excuse to blame him...that's okay. Very expected. Very insignificant.
Well, Bush DOES consider himself at the right hand of The Man...

I have Short Hand. Never used the others -sm
You can install ShortHand on multiple PCs. I like it. You can actually have one shortcut for a few things (found that really, really useful). You do have to pick from the list which one you want, but I'd rather be accurate even if it might slow me down a little. It has drawbacks too though. If you forgot to put -ed on the end of a word for instance, and you go back and do that and if ed is one of your shortcuts, it will expand when you don't want it to. You can save your personal shortcut dictionary (which is nice for backup) and install it along with the program on other PCs. You can also convert an old PRD dictionary from WP if you had one and possibly others too.

It works with anything windows and you can have multiple dictionaries for multiple jobs or facilities that might have different rules.
best hand lotion..sm
This stuff is great. It's about $12.00 a bottle..maybe more now..check out Silver Lining.com ... it has MSM in it and I have actually used it to relieve my carpal tunnel pain. It's a great healing lotion. Wonderful stuff!
Help! Does anyone have first-hand experience with VR, and if so,
what about the MONEY? I do not mind learning it and am excited about the new possibilities and where MT fits; however, am I to expect a major pay reduction? I imagine full-time with benefits will no longer be an option?

Please, any substantial information will be very appreciated...I am only interested in the money, so I can pay my rent, my utilities, my groceries. I do not have a husband who supports me, so live paycheck to paycheck.

Is it possible to make any money?

Thanks all!
leg and hand edema

I have had a problem with swelling in my lower legs and feet and also my hands for the past few years now.  When this first started I had problems with headaches, went to the doctor and found my blood pressure was high.  So now I take HCTZ 75/50 once a day and do pretty well on it.  It is a pretty good diuretic and my B/P is very well controlled on it. 


In the mornings I have no swelling at all, but I notice though that by the end of my workday my hands and legs are really swollen.  My doctor says to just start exercising regularly and elevate my feet whenever possible.  I also try to avoid salt.  I'm a bit overweight so I'm sure that is not helping either. 


I'm just curious if any of you other MTs have this problem also and how you deal with it.



Hand raised...
I too tell my teens to get off the phone, bed by 10:30 usually, curfew and such. It's hard because her friends don't have curfews and she does. It's very difficult to be the "party pooper" but somebody has to.
Want to hold my hand.
I agree, insulting a fellow MT is uncalled for, let alone a PS to imply this is unprofessional. I guess the word "brain" "dense" and "childish" are your words for the week! That makes what now, ? MTs you are wondering whether they have brains or not, are dense or childish. Oh, and please stop YELLING at people posting on this site. We are not children nor do we act like a child. Be kind as if we were your children, because you obviously are not around adults often enough. Geez!!!!!!! PS: Congrats to making fantastic money. I'm sure you are very dedicated.
This post is getting way out of hand--sm
consider dropping all comments now, before some people end up getting banned. just a suggestion.