I agree with you. If a recruiter cannot answer your questions and you sm

• Venting on job interviews - sm - Disgusted
  • me too - me
  • what's the difference if they answer your questions or not - definitely
  • I agree with you. If a recruiter cannot answer your questions and you sm - A recruiter
  • Disgusted too!! - Stacie
  • I've had people tell me that I would need to wait to have my questions answered until I worked... - AzMT
  • You are correct in your expectations. I know the answers to these questions. - Recruiter

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Did you have a learning curve with this keyboard?  I was reading about it yesterday.  I understand the home, page up, page down, etc. keys are on the left-hand side of the keyboard.  That would make for some serious re-learning on my part!  How have you coped?  Thanks to both of you in advance

How did you get your accounts and what line rate did you start with? Also do you pick up and drop off? Who do you speak with (Doctor or office manager) when you have a question about dictation?  What is your normal TAT?

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Pounded the pavement 12 years ago, introduced myself in medical buildings/offices that I chose to walk into, handing them my business card, spending a few minutes with them, giving a resume if requested, showed a little of my personality, asked for their business cards, followed up with them with a phone call.  I did this once a week, a different medical building in my area(s).  I started charging at 12 CPL.....never upped them until this year.  They so appreciated that.  I pick up and deliver and also supply plain white paper if they request the work be printed on that versus their letterhead.  I also never charge for just one word on a line, no matter how long that one word might be, and I give them free 5-line headers as it's only 2 Keystrokes for me.  (Most docs like to see something for *free*).  I spoke originally directly with the doctors and some of them I still do talk with them, but many times I just deal with the office staff.  I rarely have to call though.

Hope that helps and good luck to you. 

Let me first tell you about my background.  I've been an MT for 15 years and QA for 7 years.  I have also worked as a supervisor of a MT department in a large inner city hospital.  I went to a business college and enrolled in their newly established MT program and it was awful.  I paid nearly $5000 for my "education" in 1992.  Fortunately, I lucked out and was able to get a p.r.n. MT position with a local hospital and one of the instructors at my school worked at the hospital.  She became my mentor at school and on the job.  I learned more on the job than I did from the school.  I started out making $7.86 an hour!  It seems like peanuts now, but I took it and ran with it.  Best thing I ever did.  I am a firm believer that every newly graduated MT simply MUST work in an office for at least the first year.  You learn so much from other, more experienced MTs.  You develop a trained ear by having someone else with experience listen and tell you what you should be hearing. 

I owe my career to Martha, Jane, Sherri, and Helen.  They are all retired now, but they were MTs back when they used typewriters and recording belts!  They were my mentors in the beginning and everything they taught me is still with me today!

what type of school is nec.? Personally, I feel that you can take a medical terminology course, anatomy and physiology I and II, and English at your local community college and that is a good start.  I don't feel like any of the online schools out there really prepare anyone for the real world of transcription and their tuition is outrageous!  You can go to a community college for half of what you pay some of those "business" or "career" colleges.

is school required? Those courses I listed should be required.

what is an apprenticeship? can i work as an apprentice and get paid? I think an apprenticeship is an excellent idea.  After you completed the necessary course work, on-the-job experience is the next step in the learning process and an essential step.  As far as being paid, there are companies out there that pay a minimal line rate (usually 5 or 6 cpl) to newbie MTs who are still learning.  Even if you don't get paid, it's still excellent training and education.

can i work at home straight out of school or do i have to work at an office or hospital first?  Unfortunately, you can work from home right out of school, but I don't recommend it.  Like I said above, there is a gigantic learning curve the first year or two out of school.  And even after 15 years on the job, there is still a little bit of a learning curve.  For at least the first year, you need to be in an office with other experienced MTs.

I'll sometimes see the same name pop up at different companies?      Why do they not stay?   LOL

It is so easy to blame the MT that's why!  I also have a list of recruiters I think are the pits! 

I'm a fairly new MT and have done all my MT-ing so far with C-phones.  I am being switched to a Winscribe system.  My question is this:  Will the MTSO be able to monitor how fast or slow I'm transcribing?  I'm not trying to get away with anything.  It's just that I've read horror stories from some MTs on certain platforms where the MTSO can see (and calls) whenever they're "off the system" (bathroom breaks, looking up a word, legitimate coffee-breaks) etc.  I work as an IC and have a window in which to get my work done rather than a set number of hours.  What I'm wondering is if the MTSO, with this new system, will now be able to "see" if I'm not typing every single minute.  TIA

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! 

Could you please let everyone know the name of this recruitment company?  First off, it would be a great service to all of us here who frequent this board -- better we should be warned first.  If they are soliciting, it hopefully should be no big secret who they are ... usually these people LIKE the names of their companies in the spotlight.  And third, how totally and completely IGNORANT this recruiting firm must be to make the comment to you that they would be "curious" as to how you "knew" this information ..... isn't it THEIR business to know this stuff?  What a joke of a recruiting company!    Kind of like asking a billing company to go recruiting for oceanographers.  Ha!

This probably doesn't apply to you, or many people out there, but it has happened a time or two when I was a recruiter. An MT applies, recruiter A talks with them. All looks good. Then, recruiter B notices the application, and has worked with the MT before. Turns out it was very difficult experience, either the MT's quality scores, or attitude/ethics, MT disappeared, who knows? It's not an easy situation to handle, and it might be that recruiter A decides to simply not follow up with the potential MT. We eventually shared our list of MTs we didn't feel would suit the company and it never happened again.

Again, not saying this is the situation, or that if it is that the situation was handled correctly, but sometimes we all might choose to take the easy way out in difficult situations. It's not easy to tell someone that their reputation as a substandard MT has all of a sudden come to light through someone else.

I hope that somehow this situation works out for you, or that a better one comes along.

I cannot believe the way this woman spoke to me in such a condescending manner.  She made herself sound so high and mighty, and yet all through the industry I had only heard good things about her.  I applied for a position, was contacted by phone, and she told me that my EXTENSIVE 14 years experience, along with 3 years QA experience was not enough for their company.  But it was the tone that she used!  I am not a sensitive person in any way, but she made me feel like I was inadequate and had no business applying for a job with their company.  When I told her what I made (which I said I could prove on my taxes and pay slips) she balked (?sp) as if I was making it up. 

Has anyone else ever been through this?? I do not want to say the name of this person or the company because I do not think it is relevant. 

I would like more information though as the archives give me a very mixed impression.  My email is above.  I just do not want to make a move without knowing that it will be better, not the same or worse.  Right now, I am with MQ.

Thank you.

rather see blanks that someone "guessing" at the blanks.  I think guessing and putting something down just so you don’t have blanks is really a "red flag."