I'd like to have a tall glass of eggnog spiked with a shot of rum.

• Is the work day over yet? - almost!
  • I'd like to have a tall glass of eggnog spiked with a shot of rum. - Yum!

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Been so short, my feet rarely hit the floor in a restaurant, a train, and especially in a plane they do not reach. I never minded being short until I hit my 40s.....and those top kitchen cabinet shelves cause I probably stopped CLIMBING in my 40s.  *LOL*...had my kid(s) climb to get things, but then they moved out...*lol*....so I try not to store things on those top shelves that I need on a regular basis.

Also, not that I'm that overweight cuz I'm not these past 10 years, but I always said I'm not overweight, I'm undertall...*L*

Please tell your b/f that I thank him for being a considerate soul....a rarity in this life, eh?

A while back there were several messages when someone made a halfway joke about drinking and I never answered but I do have to admit that when I sometimes have to work on Sunday nights or some late evenings I do sip on a glass of wine while typing, not an entire bottle but a glass of wine.  Just thought I would not comment on it as several people were shocked that anyone would even consider it.  Not all the time but occasionally and in moderation. 

That is my Sunday comment.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_wood_glass_etching/article/0,1789,HGTV_3348_1383604,00.html

I can agree on a few points here.  If you expect to be stroked, you won't find that in healthcare at all.  I have worked in a hospital setting, have my own accounts, and also currently IC for a company online at this point.  I just love what I do, and I'm pretty good at it.  A lot of what you write is true in that this profession has evolved, but think about it this way.  If we didn't evolve, then how long would a patient wait for you to get that report off of the old typewriter?  How many people would go months and months before finding that lung mass or brain tumor?

Just like the typewriter has evolved, the technology in which we diagnose and treat patients has evolved with leaps and bounds.  I still feel I'm doing a service to the patient.  I like my job because I know it helps people.  I'm sort of behind the scenes at this point and not visible to the patient any longer unless there's one in the waiting room when I pick up my tapes (doctor won't go digital), so I see the difference I can make.

Do I need to be stroked and told I'm doing a great job?  No.  I know I do a good job, but being told that every day or two is not why I'm in it.  Money is just the means of a transfer.  No one told me I'd get rich being a transcriptionist, but no one told me how much I would learn about the human body and functionality of it either and that I could most likely take that experience into another field.   

Wow, when I type a report on a patient that has a serious illness, I think my lucky stars.  I think at this point, reading your post, I may go back to school.  My transcription skills could really help me become a coder (are they stroked/given raises every year?) or maybe I'll become a nurse (are they stroked/given raises every year?), or maybe I'll become a physician myself and pay my transcription enormous amounts of money and remember to call and thank them to express a job well done when really I should be calling my patient with the brain tumor or lung mass or any other disease.  I wonder if the maintenance guy sweeping the hall deserves a raise or the nice lady cleaning the windows, then again maybe the physician himself wouldn't mind being reimbursed for the services he renders to someone without health insurance? 

Buck up camper....  It's going to a long trip! 

there are few points that are not necessarily correct..at least with my company MedQ.

While I can still "type in my pajamas" I have no automy over my schedule, need to clock in, in my own living room, to maintain an impossible TAT.  I agree schedules are very important...but rigid scheduling held to the minute is not even possible in an office envirment, let alone your own home.  A 10 hour window has and always will be a more productive way to produce your work.

I do not agree we have it good.  I feel it is an abomination that our profession and hard earned skill (a skill that takes a minimum of 3 years to perfect in order to work at home...alone) is paid such a paltry amount.  I have never complained over the years of not receiving one raise...I was more than happy making my 45-50 K a year...but systematically reduced to 20-25 K a year..and working harder for it..is unacceptable.

What really frustrates me is the axiom.."well you don't like it..go somewhere else."  I wonder how nurses, x-ray techs, pharmacy techs..and other group of medical professionals that also require 2-3 years training before performing their jobs would take being systematically deducted 40-60% of their pay..and told to..You don't like? Go somewhere else!  Of course that would not happen to them...they have a union to protect their interests.

So while I agree constant bellyaching gets you nowhere and the inevitable deterioration of this profession is a fact, I am not grateful for this job...nor do I think I "have it good."  Other than the extremely poor economy which does in fact make me grateful to have any job....it is patently unfair and criminal what has been done to MTs.  And until I see contracts between MTSO and hospitals that delineate how ASR work is paid at 40% less than MT work..I will never believe hospitals pay a lower rate for ASR.  They have no idea what work goes through ASR and what does not. 

Can someone tell me how to make a screen shot of whatever is on my computer screen?  Sometimes it helps to have a screen shot when contacting the IT department for help. 

First of all, you may be very good at what you do. That does not mean that you would be good at TEACHING what you do. Developing a curriculum and working with different learning types is a big job. That's why educators keep going to school to learn how to do it.

Second, what is your plan? Having newbies pay you an additional $500 for more training, after they have already paid $1300, $1500, $2000? You would be competing against the schools who INSIST they turn out job ready MT's. M-Tec, etc. would be all over you. In addition, the newbies themselves believe they come out of school ready to work. Now, we all know different, which is why we don't hire newbies, but the majority of them don't "get it." And they sure ain't going to be happy about forking out more money.

Third, crunch the numbers. If they pay you $500 tuition, in order to bring in $30,000 you would have to 60 people sign up. But don't forget they just sign up for their 3 months exp. or 6 months exp and then they are GONE! And they need to be replaced. You would need to be having 10 people per month sign on with you.

Finally, why would you encourage people you care about to invest time and money in a dying field? It would be like training them to be typewriter repairmen. Or maybe professional ironers, in a permanent-press world. The field is changing. If you have been on this board any length of time, you have seen the wages go down. Remember when we used to get 9 and 10 cpl routinely? Now it's 6-7, maybe 8. How about the MULTIPLE postings from people who have lost jobs to VR and EMR? How about the MT's complaining about the dictators that are left, ESL all the way, baby. And we won't even go offshore.

So if you're obsessed with the idea of helping people, I might suggest literacy tutor training or ESL teaching or even doing a short stint in Africa, working at an orphanage

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

Just adopt a steady, calm exterior as you perform both jobs.  I would not try to get it all done.  I would do what I could but not frantically.  That's all you can physically do.  They can't expect all of it to get done with all of those interruptions.  It's not conducive to doing good work for either "hat" you are wearing. 

And since they are so fond of doubling up duties, tell them you'd like a free Pap smear, since they are doctors and went to med school.  Sheesh.  This is the most put-upon career, and it never stops to astonish me what new lows people will go to, to cheat us.  They must be good limbo dancers. 

Good luck to you.