I'm thinking about taking the CMT test and have a few questions...sm

How did you study? Did you take a course? How much did you pay for the course/test? Was the test hard? Did it help you with your job (ie raise)?

I have 6 years experience in acute care (with Medquist). My DH has been pushing me to take the test for years, but I'm a big chicken! I was a nurse before becoming a medical Transcriptionist and I just keep thinking how rough my nursing boards were. Major stressor for me!!

• I'm thinking about taking the CMT test and have a few questions...sm - KJ
  • I'm thrilled! Just got my letter from AAMT saying - sm
    • AAMT / CMT question - Jmk
      • Hope this helps. - sm
        • Laughing! - old MT
          • CMT - anon
        • You do not have to belong to AAMT - CMT-me
  • Personal preference - CMT-me
    • CMT - ann
  • CMT - joan
    • CMT exam - Veteran MT
    • CMT: "I know what I know, and if I don't - know ... please sm
  • CMT - anon
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It is not appropriate to do so.  The company is asking you to complete their test in order to determine your skill level.  If you cannot complete the test on your own, then you may not be qualified for that position.

Moderator

I really do appreciate it. 

DixieKaye

I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

It's called www.typingtest.com

Atleast it will give you an idea.. Sadly, I had to take it twice before I passed it LOL

Don't think that has to do with the knee.  How about "bucket handle tear" of the knee?  Never heard of Neer having anything to do with the knee. 

we only had one computer so I did all my practice reports on that one.  I had made up a few shortcuts in word and one was *be* for barium enema.  Didn't give it a thought until I was reading a paper my son had written and gotten back from the teacher and the phrase *barium enema* caught my eye.  No remarks from the teacher, so I don't know if she caught it or not.  BTW, the paper was on torture in the Middle Ages, so maybe the whole thing wasn't so far fetched!

I wonder if that is what the Native People said when the white man came and took over their country. 

to share such good tips with all of us. 

Goodwill or similar store and taking a tax deduction.  I spent 2 days sorting, cleaning, and pricing items, had name brand children's clothes in like new condition and I made a total of $6.00.   If I paid myself minimum wage for my time I came about about $100.00 in the whole, plus my DH and children helped some.    I have one box that I allow myself for e-bay items, the rest I take to a charity resale store and take a tax credit.  I don't have to sort, price, and it is gone, gone, gone and I feel so much better.   We still have so much clutter in my house and it makes it much harder to clean.  I don't let anyone in my house and I have put off having some repairs done because I have such much clutter.  I'm getting there and not adding to the clutter, but I'm not at the point yet that I can make a definitive decision about some items.  I have several boxes that I label, a trash box, a pieces box for all those game pieces and legos in hopes of trying to complete them, a charity box, a keep box, and the I can't decide box.   I still have way too much stuff that goes in the keep box and the I can't decide box.  I do sort through them again eventually and narrow stuff down, but still can't find a place for some of the things/paperwork and end up throwing them back in the box until next go round.  

I don't do Flylady because I don't have time for all those e-mails and I can't work with shoes on, but I do feel much better when my bed is made and my sink is shiny.   Once a week I have everyone take 15 minutes and go through their rooms with a trash bag, but my DH is the absolute worst and he puts everything in a bag and sticks it in the closest, under the bed, on the bookcase, etc. and never gets rid of anything.   We have VHS movies that he taped junk off TV that is nearly 20 years old.   He has restaurant receipts that are probably 5 years old.   He wants me to just throw all my stuff away, but he isn't willing to throw anything away. 

I took 3 documents in Word and the program calculated the amount of characters with spaces and without spaces.  I divided the character counts by 65 to get a line count.  I then multiplied the line count with spaces by 8 cents per line and the one without spaces by 9 cents per line.  In all 3 cases, you are better off taking the job at the lower rate counting spaces. 

Example:  1 document 4339 characters without spaces, 5179 with spaces.  Divide each by 65 comes out to be 67 lines without spaces, 80 lines with spaces. 

65 lines x 9 cents = $6.03

80 lines x 8 cents = $6.40

The others came out with a discrepancy of 78 cents and $2.16. 

I did other size documents and none of them came out where you were getting a better deal by being paid the higher line rate with no spaces.

I hope this helps.

I had a TVH/BSO in Sept and was put on a HRT patch.  I now do not have insurance for 90 days and am going to have to discontinue the patch until I get my insurance back.  It was a $40 co-pay when I did have insurance, and there's no telling what it will be without coverage.  Can anyone tell me what effects this will have on me?  Will I just maybe get hot flashes?  I'm thinking that will be all, or maybe mood swings, and it won't hurt me just for this temporary basis.

Along the same lines, the doctor really did not discuss this with me at all, and I'm confused about what I read.  Does the HRT protect me against osteoporosis and heart disease, or does it contribute to it? 

Thanks all! 

stating facts, she is 19 and she is an adult and it is her body and ultimately her decision.  Those 4 things happen to be factual (reality).  Can you not face reality?

Nobody is *taking up for her* as you so stated......

I see a lot of posts complaining about hospitals with many specialties and many different dictators and not wanting to do ESLs etc.  I have got to voice my opinion about this.

While most folks don't like to do ESLs/bad dictators (myself included) it is a PART of the job!  If you have many different departments/specialties/ESLs you are probably doing a teaching hospital.  If you are doing a large teaching hospital usually that is the "bread and butter" of the company that you work for.  Being in this business for so many years, I hear MTs, new and long time MTs, complain about their accounts.  When I get complaints about large teaching hospitals, if possible I take that person off that account, BUT I also warn them that while I can NEVER guarantee the workload it makes it harder when folks don't want to do certain accounts or certain dictators.  It is a part of the job.  Most of the ti these same people are the ones who are screaming first if the work is slow.

After almost 30 years, there are dictators I despise just like anybody else, but I take the good with the bad.  My opinon is that any MT should make it their plan to learn how to do every type of MT, not just certain kinds of reports or dictators.  It saddens me when I hear folks who do not know how to do operative reports or some other kind of dictation and don't want to learn.  You will never be a successful MT or feel completely comfortable if you are not willing to learn everything you can.  Besides if you are willing to learn everything and can do any type of transcription you make yourself a more valuable MT!  To do that it takes years of experience.

MT is a continuous learning experience.  No one EVER knows EVERYTHING  about this profession as medicine changes at an unbelievable rate.  MTs should be continuously learning.  In my opinion, a good MT always wants to be learning.

This is my opinion and I hope I didn't get anyone ticked off.

A way of not taking the Lord's name in vain.........My religious studies raised us this way.  It's done merely out of respect.

 Hope that answers your question.