I guess no one should comment unless it's what you want to hear, huh?

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Please also check borderline personality disorder on the internet.  True bipolar has fairly long periods of either mania or depression and cycles.  Bipolar is more ongoing pervasive personality of poor coping skills and conflicted interpersonal interactions.

My advice is to realize there is probably nothing you can do to help them or change them other than altering the way YOU deal with THEM for the good of your own mental health!

Not sure why you needed the computer as I am assuming you already had a computer and the equipment?  Most computers with fairly new Windows system would work okay.  I personally feel the rental fee is kind of a bad idea in the long run at $48.00 a month.  Sounds like you may need a phone line again unless you can get wireless.  You'll have to talk to tech, I guess.

As far as learning and training, are you on DQS? 

Hayseed, Aren't you the gal who did 1700 lines in 6 hours or something like that?  In that case, it's likely you wouldn't have any problem making their quota.  But, how about that hourly rate?  Will they be saving money by putting you on hourly, will you be making more money than when you were doing MT work?  Ask for all the details in writing, would be my advice.  Ask them to also state, in writing, if you can return to MT if you don't like QA.  Congratulations and good luck!!

This is a good solution; it puts it in their face, so to speak.  I've heard that people have to hear or see something an average of 3 times before it sinks in.  If they receive no feedback, they think everything is okay or totally horrible, depending on their own point of view (this is for all people in all aspects of life; I suspect that doctors will just assume that everything is okay).  If they receive negative feedback with a smile, they tend to believe that improvement is optional.  A more dramatic, serious approach is necessary. 

My situation may be a little bit different from yours, but you are not alone, and ER reports seems to be the main star.

I don't have any answers, but I'm kind of in the same boat with you.  I have been working on an account that has all worktypes.  I begin working very early in the morning, when I might be the only one working on this account.  The ER reports supposedly have top priority, right after the stat reports.  My problem is that lately I've noticed that once I complete all stat reports and am getting to the good stuff--the ER reports, whoever is managing the queue changes the priority of the more difficult OP reports and consultations, so that they float to the top of the queue, above the ER reports.  This maneuver would sometimes make sense, but the account specs are such that the ER reports have top priority. 

So, then, it takes several more hours to get to the ER reports, at which time there are so many workers on board that I end up getting 1 or 2 ER reports.  I've lately gone from making over $22/hour to a mere $7/hr.  I feel like I've been messed with, simply because I really got used to the account the way it used to be and now someone has come along and purposely made it more difficult for me.  I have the option of signing off, changing my hours, or going elsewhere.  I do have another interview pending after successfully completing the testing at another company.  I know that the grass is not always greener, but there is a limit to what type of treatment that I will tolerate.

I agree with you. 

This situation seems to be the end result of long years of MTs trying to do their best, while plugging along and accepting the treatment of the facilities, that filtered down to them through the MTSOs, who may or may not be addressing the issues of bad dictators with the facilities, for fear of losing the contracts.  I believe, it is the job of those who have direct contact with the doctors (i.e., those at the facility in the HIM dept).  According to what I have observed, they are not doing this job, and are either clueless, don't care, or enjoy this special power of oppressing the workforce from afar.  It also seems that they are not required to properly train their dictating clinicians.  Some of them are very active, however, in checking reports for proper comma use and such details, and do not hesitate to contact the MTSO to complain when the MT left out a comma, or failed to select the proper date of service on the header, failed to read the doc's mind and did not realize that when he/she coughed in a certain way, it was a clue that he/she wanted a copy sent to Dr. Joe Doe, etc.  Of course, they actually do not pay for headers and footers and they do not provide the MT with enough information to fill in all the details on the header and footer.

I have an egg timer.  I spend exactly 3 minutes trying to figure out a blank or the correct name for a doctor that requires a courtesy copy, etc.  If I cannot accomplish this in 3 minutes, given the lists that I have been provided or internet resources, the report gets a blank and it is sent to the QA department to figure it out.  Each report gets a grand total of 5 minutes for multiple look ups of blanks that are the fault of the dictator or due to me not having enough information to fill in headers, footers, consulting doctors, etc.  If it is my fault because I do not know the terminology, and the word was dictated clearly, I will take more time researching.  If the MTSO wants to address the issues of poor quality dictators/dictations with the facility, that is their choice.

If I were to have my own accounts, I would hope to have a deep pool to draw from so that I could include sanctions for such difficulties in my contract with the option of discontinuing service to those who proved to be so difficult.  However, I do not wish to be a dreamer, and don't think such deep pools exist, at least not in my part of the country, so I haven't even tried this option of having my own accounts.

I"m not sure I understand your comment, and I am not here to debate, but the account that I work on has plenty of difficult dictators, as well as plenty of easier dictators, comparatively.  My point was that you cannot depend on what type of report you will get at any given moment; there is no picking and choosing and the next in line might just change due to major shuffling.  It is not predictable by worktype either.  Whether there is plenty of work depends on how many MTs are working at the time, whatever jobs have been added to the pool, etc.  There is often no work during third shift.

From a blog by a critical care nurse:

"Levophed is so powerful that it is almost always the last-ditch drug to maintain blood pressure -- especially in sepsis -- hence its nickname, 'Leave-em-dead'.