I considered this as a career a while back...
Posted By: QAer on 2008-03-10
In Reply to: Above post is probably closest to the truth. - nm
I was actually training to be an interpreter for the Deaf and when that wasn't turning out to be what I thought it would be... I was looking into other options involving the Deaf community. Closed captioning was one of those options and at the time (this was about 10 years ago) they were doing live-captioning but it was NOT work at home. Of course, there may have been companies who did pre-broadcast captioning as well, this was just the part I had heard about/was interested in doing.
I always assumed the typos you see were due to people typing 500 words/minute, not voice recognition. 
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Has anyone considered going back to college after having a family?
Any advice? My husband is wanting me to go back to school and get a nursing degree, but I don't know if I have the stamina to work (which I would have to), take care of my family and go to school full time. I don't think you can enter a nursing program part time.
I don't know that I would like to enter nursing but the thought of going back to school is tempting. Of course, there are going to family obstacles to overcome first, the biggest being having someone available to take care of my son. We have no family close by, so it would be up to me and my husband to work our schedules to make sure he was okay. My husband's schedule is not flexible at all but it is such a weird schedule we could work around it. My son is only 9 (soon to be 10) but I don't feel comfortable leaving him home alone yet. He has some friends whose parents have let them come home from school to an empty home since 1st or 2nd grade, but I would NEVER consider that.
Thanks for listening. I would appreciate any advice or stories from others. This is really on my mind now and I guess I am weighing my options.
CAREER versus JOB--lovin' my CAREER
Career definition:
1. an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework:
2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking.
3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.
Job definition:
1. A specific task done as part of one's occupation or for an agreed price
2. post of employment; full-time or part-time position: She was seeking a job as an editor.
3. anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility.
Hence, medical transcription requires special training. This is a CAREER.
The report we transcribe is a job with a job number.
I love this CAREER and am proud to be in my 12th year as a medical transcriptionist. I'm not rich, but my consistent $18 to $20 per hour equivalent is pretty darn good in this small town where the cost of living is pretty low.
LOVING MY CAREER!!!! :)
Career? this thing is not a career anymore...sm
this is a sweat shop job right up there with all the illegal sweat shops out there.
Right now, i have no other choice but to do this "job" because with my disabilities, no other place will hire me and I especially cannot work out of the home anymore. Until I can get disability, I guess I will continue to do this job, until we are all phased out by Indian MTs and VR.
I seriously considered it myself because
my former coworker kept telling me how great it was. She planned on getting rich off of it and retiring by the time she was 35. She was too busy promoting her "home business" on company time and the company computer to even get her work done at her regular job. She's still not rich or retired.
Also, there are a lot of negatives out there regarding Ameriplan. There is one dentist in my entire state that accepts Ameripan cards. No other medical providers will even consider it. One good post by someone trying to sell Ameriplan doesn't negate lawsuits, BBB complaints, and thousands of people who weren't given refunds when they requested. I would never stand behind a company that wasn't ethical and honest with people.
Believe me, I understand what it's like to work hard and still live paycheck to paycheck. However, "Posting advertisements or solicitations of business" and "spamming" are against MTstars terms of service, which you agree to when using this site. Selling the discount cards (and/or recruiting people) is what you were trying to do, so be honest here.
Have you considered......
Where I work, there are a people who actually work part time, at 30 to 35 hours per week so that they do not have to meet the high line count for full time. If benefits is not an issue for you and you are paid by the line maybe you should consider 30-35 hours a week instead of 40. I am sure you would not loose much money and making rate would not be a problem because you would have that big gap i.e part time rate is 5,100 and full time rate is 10,200 that would mean your only required to make 5,100 a pay period even if you are 30 to 35 hours a week......then you would'nt have to work so hard and you could have more time with you son. From what I have heard from other MTs...it was actually a relief for them to have to go part-time because they did not have all the pressure anymore.....it is something to think about. However, if insurance/benefits is an issue than I could see how this might be difficult.
You might also want to try getting on earlier, ie. 4 am to 7am and then once your son is off to school get back on and complete your shift. I wish you luck. I am sure something will work out.
Have you considered
asking your company if you could copy someone's? You wouldn't happen to be working on ExText and using the ESP would you?
It's not anything I considered, but I just...
Googled scoping and came up with quite a few hits that should be able to give you some info.
re: anybody ever considered
A lady I know is married to an HVAC man, and she got a general contractor's license. She makes money off it, but subcontracts all the work out on building jobs. Her husband does the HVAC part.
Anybody ever considered
becoming a plumber or some other type of construction? My husband and I are looking at things we could do together. Don't even know if a woman could do the job and I'm 54 so might be too old to cut the mustard and been doing MT for 9 years so out of shape.
Is 4 cpl considered too low?
Is 4cpl, 65 character line including spaces and hard returns, very low for a new graduate? I've been told that this is exceptionally low. BUT, with companies offering MTs with 5+ years of experience 7-9 cpl I thought it was a fair wage.
Am I wrong? Am I working for a MT 'sweatshop'? The accounts are not difficult, and no ESLs.
Now after hearing some people tell me I am working for peanuts I am wondering if I need to find a different job. I like these accounts, but I also want a fair wage. I was told we'd renagotiate pay when I got off full QA.  Am I being taken advantage of?
I have considered that myself but have yet -sm
to find a product that I can get my hands on cheaply (i.e. wholesale) in order to re-sell at a good profit, not 1 or 2 dollars. I have 2 boxes of stuff right now that I plan to put on ebay, old kid toys basically, books, etc. Don't care much about making a bundle just want to de-clutter my house some, one man's junk is someone else's treasure and all that jazz. I have toyed with the wholesale designer clothing scene (returns/imperfects) but it requires connections and basically buying a tractor trailer worth of clothes for $5K or more, nothing to enter lightly. As with most risky ventures you have to have money in order to make money (i.e. stock market). But in regards of gettign out of MT I have just gotten my CDL for bus driving, have 10 more hours of training (paid too at $8/hr) then I can substitute drive for my county, yeah! Within a year I should have my own route (don't have to use my own gas either to get to work, nice, they have a shuttle pick you up at home), work 2-3 hours a day and get $60 a day for my trouble, a lot better than I make doing MT. Great thing is I get paid 12-months a year and make about $1K a month which is not much less than I make now and I work a lot more than 3 hours a day. I still plan to do MT but cut back some so I can reclaim my life a bit. I will still have freedom to do what I want during the day and have a well paying PT job (which they call FT and it has benefits too, health insurance and 401K). So it is an interesting alternative for me and will give me a steady income and I will have job security too unless I have a ton of accidents for some reason, but really don't expect that to happen as I am a good driver. In time may apply to the USPS for driving the smaller mail trucks (not tractor trailers, different CDL class), have to get 1 year experience before I can consider that. Just looking at my options for the future as my DH wants to retire in 8 years at 55 (who doesn't?)(I'm 7 years younger by the way) so I need a job with good health insurance IF we have to change insurance that is, something I do not want to do since we have phenomemal coverage. Doubt this helped you at all but maybe it will get you thinking of other avenues other than ebay. Good luck!
Have you considered therapy?
zz
We were considered a valuable
not just a sweatshop drone. 
Have you considered asking your instructor
for help? After all, you are presumably paying for your education. Shouldn't the school be helping you when you have difficulty? Why should you expect working MTs to drop everything and help you? Maybe you just need to put more time into your studies. If you're going to be a successful MT, you're going to have to learn to figure things out for yourself.
I considered a lease once (sm)
but when I found out my payment would be only $1 different I decided to buy instead. My loan was for the same length of time as the lease, had no "fees" attached, and didn't require a down payment. Make sure you read all the fine print on a lease. They can determine who services the vehicle. They determine "wear and tear" when you turn it in, early termination fees (you never know), and on and on. Any little dent that might be on the vehicle will need to be repaired, either by your insurance or out of your pocket, or they will charge you for it at turn-in. Beward of leasing salesmen that call you after you have already leased the vehicle and try to squeeze cash out of you. I've heard of that scam more than once.
The only way to end up upside down on a loan is to pay more than it's worth to begin with. As soon as you drive a new vehicle off the lot you are upside down on the loan and will be for at least 6-12 months. You'd be better off buying a vehicle from someone else who made that mistake. Not a lease buy-back, but from a private individual who needs to get out of their loan and hasn't driven the vehicle into the ground in a year's time. With a year-old vehicle you can easily determine whether there are major problems with them too, unlike new vehicles where you just hope it's going to be okay. Check epinions.com and read reviews from owners who are already driving that vehicle. Good luck!
Are you serious? Is 1400 really considered low???
nm
Have you considered the Kinesis?
I have the Kinesis Classic and I have tried several types of keyboards and find this one has the lightest touch that I have personally tried and it also stopped all my finger, hand and wrist pain I had prior to that. They are pricey and take some time getting use to but, to me, it is well worth it. I can't even type on a regular keyboard now. I use one even with my laptop.
Patti, have you considered
considered overnighting tapes? Find an excellent MT to subcontract and overnight the work back and forth when you need time off (we ALL need time off!!!). If your clients are willing to wait days for you to do the work that has built up, they may be willing to wait an extra 12 or 24 hours for overnight. Once you train your sub, you can go on vacation, your client's office staff overnights tapes to your subcontractor, the sub overnights the reports back.
I know how it is to come back from vacation and have piles of work staring at you. That is one of the reasons I stopped taking my own clients and now only subcontract from services.
Trolls are considered to be the certain--sm
individuals who frequent the board and post responses to other peoples posts that could be considered rude or inflammatory, just to start an argument.
Been at it 33 years - most likely that's considered well beyond
X
what are considered ops notes?
I currently type clinic reports but I would like a change. I was considering ops notes. I am not sure what it means when a company indicates Ops notes experience. 
No lawsuit even considered
I nor my friend have even considered a lawsuit. I just get mad at being pre-DISQUALIFIED no matter how good I am at my work. I have had to deal with this problem all my life, so it is nothing new. It is just that I have never been visually disqualified for anything before in regard to work and this was a real eye-opener to me.
And for the record. Morbid obesity is a legal handicap and so is being left handed which I am both. It is just sad. Oh well... I will continue to work where I am appreciated for my job well done...and so will my friend....:) They pay me way more anyway.
I think it's really sad when 0.095 is considered good
I made that over 12 years ago. To know that MTs really believe that 9-1/2 cents a line is mouthwatering pay these days just shows how much the industry has changed for the worst and isn't ever coming back to us.
All our skills, knowledge, intelligence, experience, work ethic, and everything else we bring to the table as MTs is worth little more than 7 cents a line, if that, no matter if you have 10, 20, 30+ years experience.
To get the ever-evasive 10 cents a line, you either have to jump through hoops with the most awful ESLs or American mushmouths you'll ever hear in your life...OR...you'll only get 5 reports a day because there's not enough work to go around.
I admit I'm just beating a dead horse. I really need to get out of this business, I know. I rue the day I chose medical transcription as my career of choice. What a stupid thing to do.
Just wondering - doesn't anyone remember probably about 1998 or 1999, if I recall correctly, when almost all the jobs on the MT job boards would pay at least 9 cents a line for experienced MTs?
At that time, I remember it was the norm for MTs to come on the boards and complain about any companies who were trying to get away with paying experienced MTs a measly 8 cents a line! LOL I remember those days well. That's why I have such a hard time with 8 cents apparently being the norm even for EXPERIENCE now, when it was higher a decade ago. And 9 or 9.5 cents being considered frickin PRIMO pay. ..? Uggh!!!
I'm just royally ticked. I know what's happened & no use going back and rehashing and torturing myself, so I have to let it go. Maybe go get a waitressing job here some time this week, too ;)
I considered polysomnography, too....sm
There's a school nearby that offers it. Then in researching online I found a chatboard much like this one, but for polysomnographers, and the complaints were rampant...long boring hours, understaffed, low pay. Didn't seem like much job satisfaction. Gave me a bad taste, and I dropped the idea soon after.
Isn't this considered a policitical discussion?
Along with daycare, mothers working, breastfeeding in public, cosleeping, religion, politics, and all those other hot topics that are just going to flame anyways?
Isn't your husband considered family? LOL
Come on, let your inner child out. Which movie star do you have a crush on?
Driving a van was actually considered "cool"
x
Have you considered a split shift? DH and I
are on separate schedules (though I have some flexibility) and we find we have to plan private time. I'm a night person, he's a morning person - just doesn't work very well. If you worked Sunday through Thursday schedule you'd have a chance to have some time to sleep on Friday and you could still have a weekend and not be dragging your butt. If kids are all in school you could sleep during the day and working nights might not be so bad. There will be a period of adjustment and there will have to be some compromise about when you sleep and when DH takes care of the kids, but you do what you have to do.
Has anyone ever considered going to med school after years of MT or
xx
Have you considered Physical Therapy?
Or occupational therapy? There is a great need for it, it helps people, and you generally don't kill anyone (grin). While it takes a master's degree to be a physical therapist, the assistant is a 2-year degree.
I have an application in to the physical therapy program at my university, and I'm a little nervous because I'll be turning 50 my next birthday. On the plus side, I won't have children surreptitiously sticking the cat into a Ziplock bag while I'm trying to study this time.
You are considered the transcription supervisor, yet you are the only MT. SM
So what exactly do you supervise? Yourself?
I think you are being territorial and I think they could hire Claudia Tessier and you'd find something to complain about.
If 35 hours is considered FT, at what point does
OT kick in, anything over 35 or at 40?
Is p.o. considered dangerous abbreviation?
nm
This is not considered a disabling condition...sm
There are wrist supports that you can wear that will prevent this. I use one called a "thumb-wrist support." The web site to get it is:
http://www.sportstek.net/thumb_and_wrist.htm
Since I work more the usual 2 jobs, I wear this starting about 2 hours in and don't experience any pain whatsoever. I use mostly the one on my right hand but if I work more or through my usual days off, I use the left one as well.
You'll find out that temporary Work Comp is available for this condition, but never a condition that would afford you disability.
Would a doctor be considered professional if
saw patients at home so they could stay home with their kids? No. The original post in this thread listed several things that make MTs look unprofessional. Working at home with kids is another one, whether you like it or not.
so, what is considered "competitive pay rate"
Hi I am an independent contractor and have been for about 8 years.
But it is about time to look for more work So I was browsing transcription jobs and most of them say the "compensation" is based on competitive pay and experience, etc. Then the one that actually listed it's rate was 6 CPL. woah. Is that considered low or competitive? or is that normally what people start out at? At 10+ years experience I'm hoping I don't have to settle for that... unless they have a bunch of templates and say the same thing all the time! haha.
Just curious as i consider myself pretty new to the concept of having employee status. It's been a long time since I have been and I know change is always hard and I never like it...
Any suggestions/companies/anything to get me started?
Thanks guys!
Will minutes of dictation be considered? Some
I considered your question legit as well
Especially in light of what went down the other night, which you mentioned earlier.
I bought Cortislim and considered Relacor.
My physician told me not to take either. There are no magic pills. Those "supplements" are not regulated by the FDA because they're herbal. They can cause side effects despite being "natural". He told me they just don't work and to use my money for a gym membership instead because that's the only proven way to lose weight. I have a weight set, exercise bike, mini trampoline, and exercise videos here at home, but I need to make exercise a priority instead of leaving it at the end of my To Do list. My eating isn't bad, pretty natural without a bunch of junk food. The problem is a sedentary job and having babies. I stopped gaining weight when I changed my diet to follow the glycemic index, but I have to pump up the exercise and expend more calories to lose weight.
Think about .07 a line ---IF a word is considered 5 characters - sm
So that would be 5000 characters/65 (if a 65-char. line), gets you ~77 lines. Divide 5.5/77 and get .07. Now are spaces included? If so how is that factored in? Presuming from the offer that spaces are not included, .07 is fine if just starting and probably the average if less than 2 years experience.
I always considered McAfee inept. AVG apparently is the best, according to some. nm
x
Oh, and $10 an hour is considered a "good" wage here.
Not...
Not according to my NIV bible. It says even if you have lustful thoughts, they are considered sin.
l
Have you considered editing voice rec files?
Fewer Keystrokes and easier on your hands. Might be a way to stay in the field.
Is Shortcuts for Windows considered an expander? nm
&
Yes, I am considered a business, I am IC and that is for 7500 mins/mo. nm
nm
Have you considered writing short stories?
Thank you for sharing your vacation!
In my state you can, it's considered a permanent layoff NM
NM
About $30,000 working 5 hr per day considered full-time
because I make my required line quota for full time, so I get the benefits. Would try to do more but take care of my three year old grandchild during the days, so only can work evenings and let me tell you by the evenings I'm tired!! In a few years my DH will retire and I will probably be putting in an 8 hour day for awhile then and hopefully can get up to the $50,000 at least for a year or two. Still have years to go for retirement for me.
Not even a done deal yet. I doubt it would be considered taxable
I don't recall having to report the last refund as taxable income.
As for EIC, it's for people that make under a certain amount. I don't understand why anyone would take that away from the working parents who don't earn that much. A tax credit isn't like they are milking Welfare, it's just a deduction from their wages to offset the fact that they make a whole lot less than other people. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how it was when I used it. I worked like a dog but my pay wasn't near enough to raise children so that credit was a nice break. While I'm sure there are those that take advantage, it is most unfair to judge or admonish the people who need it based on the few who abuse the system.
This is a big problem with America these days. Way too much generalization and people trying to stick their nose in other people's business where it doesn't belong. Many people who get those credits really need them. If you see someone abusing the system, report it to the proper authorities. If you don't like that someone who makes less than you gets EIC, write your politicians and lobby for the change. Otherwise, live and let live.
have always considered myself transcriptionist 'ist' is a specialist. nm
mm
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