I know some prefer to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear...
Posted By: BUT on 2008-08-25
In Reply to: Oh my gosh; we get it already. - Give it a rest please...
this is a very important issue that affects us all and I for one wanted to hear AHDI's response.
But I digress --- what would you like to talk about --> Rainbows, butterflies, and sunshine? Should all have a metaphorical group hug and not care about anything?
Sorry, but YOU give it a rest. I get so tired of those warm and fuzzy people who never want to talk about anything negative. Tell a person to "give it a rest" and tack a smiley face on the end and that makes is okay!
Ignoring all the issues hurting medical transcription and our paychecks won't make them go away.
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Is there a shortage of experienced MTs here in the USA? Am I blind and deaf? sm
I was talking to a prospective employer today. First off, it is a start-up company in US. They already have a base in the Philippines. Well, that turned right off; however, we continued the conversation. My question to this person was this.....so, if you were to get contracts for MT here in the US, are you willing to just hire US MTs? Answer...Well there is such a shortage of good quality MTs here in the US and we would like to have the work done in the Philippines. My next question, and if the contract specifically states all work is to stay in the USA, what then? Well, then we would hire only US based MTs.
Finally, I had to stop him in his tracks....I told him I emphatically disagree. There is not a shortage of US MTs. The problem is that you or any other Internationally based company is not willing to pay the US MTs what they are worth. You want cheap labor, and you won't get that in the US. Our MTs here in the USA produce such a high quality patient record and you have to be willing to compensate for that. If you are interested in USA contracts but want to use cheap labor with no concern for quality, than I am not the person for this position.
I am so furious right now as I mull over the conversation......am I just blind or is there really a shortage here in the US of quality-driven MTs.
I am an MT myself as well as QA Specialist and I just do not agree with this mentality. I think they use this excuse to justify their wanting to offshore. I see through the smoke screen; however, I guess I just need to hear it from my fellow MTs.
What are your thoughts on this issue of not enough trained and experienced MTs here in the USA? Personally, I don't agree.
This was an executive-type position with an awesome benefit package and salary; however, I turned down any opportunities with this company. I will not encourage or support giving our MT jobs to the Philippines, India or anywhere but the USA.
Going deaf 2
I have to have things repeated, eh?, and I'm only 35....
Unfortunately, it will fall on deaf ears.
But give it a shot.
Just turn it off and wait for the electricity to dissipate and then clean it and turn it back on. nm
:
Turn down such low low offers, turn industry around. sm
The way to figure is how many lines an hour do you do. There are 13 lines characters in a line (65 line length)
So say you TRY to average 4 pages an hour say 34 lines a page equal 139 lines, times your line rate.
139 X 4 cents a line = $5.56 an hour
and what if you don't do 4 pages even less.
MTing hourly hourly output is not very predictablel, so ya never know and predict what you can put out each hour.
THE WAY TO TURN THE INDUSTRY AROUND IS TO SPEAK UP, SAY 'NO' THAT IS TOO LOW AND GIVE SHORT EXAMPLE.
If the MTs continue to accept, that is what the going rate will continue to be. Yes, Yes, it will. Just keep looking. Email for general lowest to highest line rate prior to testing and resume, just say it saves time on both sides and it DOES. Why waste time. Soon, the message will get out there.
Turn off puter, wait a min, turn on with delete key pressed down, then hit delete key NUMEROUS times
dd
blind...
Well, I think you have too much negative emotion against this woman.
First of all, you are free to feel any way you want to about anyone.
Secondly, how do you know what has gone down in Aruba? Natalee's parents have been down there for several weeks. Have you ever even been to the island?
Thirdly, chances are the Aruban legal authorities would have let those guys go even if there was evidence. Not every place has American-style legal proceedings. Besides, chances are the Aruban authorities know these kids or even related to them in some way. It is a very small place.
Fourthly, I would be mad as hell if my child disappeared off the face of the earth and I would not rest nor would I let anyone else rest, until I had some answers.
I see said the blind man
THAT is why I couldn't get my adaptor wihout a game port switch from RS to work. I bought an adaptor at RS for about $43 but never could get it to work so I took it back. When I went to the RS web site to find one like I have now (with the switches on it), their site was temporarily shut down. I'll try again.
Blind MT -- yes
When I worked as a secretary for Social Work Dept at a Catholic Hospital, a nun was a social worker and she was blind. Prior to getting her MBA in social work she had worked at the hospital as an MT and that was when we were using typewriters and not computers. As a social worker she had someone read the charts to her and she typed as that person read and believe me she made way less mistakes than I did. I always forrgot that she was blind and when she needed to run an errand I almost offered my keys to her so she didn't have to walk. But she was an MT for 8 to 10 years while going through school -- so yes Dorothy there are blind MT's. She would come into the office and I would not say a word and she knew I was there and when my husband came for lunch she would know that he was there. Amazing -- but her typing skills were top notch and she typed on an old Royal typewriter that was not even electric.
Blind loyalty.
And third comment. ISSUES! Just because this person is American and lost her daughter does not give her the right to call everyone but herself incompetent. She CANNOT call these people criminal w/o EVIDENCE. I wish you would think that thru. If she is so SURE these people are criminals, let her step up to the plate with EVIDENCE and share that with the world she is urging not to take in the two brothers who were released for LACK OF EVIDENCE. So tell us what EVIDENCE she has to stand in judgement of everyone. Oh that's right. She is American and lost her daughter. We don't expect evidence just rambling emotions based on.....????
LOL The blindest leading the blind
LOL
Thanks.. just call me blind!!!! hahaha
Blind date 30 years ago, love at
first sight, still happy, happy, happy. Moved in together about 5 days later. Never looked back. Got married and living happily ever after.
i count blind everyday-it totally sucks!
i work for a local hospital and we have 2 systems, one system can view their lines in realtime and the other side of the department doesn't have any idea what our lines are. we have to wait til the following week for the report to be ran. you can always tell if you made the manager or lead mad that week because your lines will be really low. if you dare to question them then you have to face the rath! they screw with our lines on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. there are a few people that watch their lines by report and catch them doing it and have to fight, and i do mean fight, to get it corrected. 
Blind boys are being taught MT now in Indonesia or someplace like that. Was
s
I'm already legally blind and I think all this staring at a screen is making them worse! sm
I'll look into these computer glasses you speak of. Wearing glasses rather than contacts really did help.. I don't know how or why, but it did. Maybe the combination of antiglare screen and antiglare lenses?
My monitor's screen is supposed to be antiglare, but I still am thinking one of the antiglare hook-ons might be helpful. Only problem with that is I have an 'old fashioned' monitors (the kind that are huge and weigh a ton) and not one of the flat screens so not sure if I'll find one to fit.
Bud of mine is an almost-blind MT. She uses devices, huge print, magnifcation
s
I saw HOWIE last night on a late night episode of Blind Date. too funny.
I'm thinking if they are smart they'll boot Rachel. I think she's really smart and a good player. I don't think Howie is all that smart or able to be a winner. I think this could force Howie to hook up with James to go for the final 2.
I prefer IC . . .
simply because of the flexibility. I don't want to feel chained to my computer. To me, one of the reasons to work from home is the freedom it provides. I also find I have a lot to write off at tax time and have never had a problem tax-wise. I don't need the benefits and don't want the company control that comes with being an employee.
Neither...I prefer
my taxes to pay for defense of this nation, protection of its citizens through federal regulatory agencies, police, fire and emergency rescue programs, libraries, public schools, educational assistance for anyone who needs it, assistance for those who cannot help themselves, drug and medical research, paved streets, streetlights, utilities, assistance for new business startups, and few other oddities.
How would you prefer - sm
Wondering if you have any suggestions for a better way? What would make it easier for you?
ME vs MT WHAT DO YOU PREFER
and why.
I prefer only the ................NM
I prefer
by far short reports. Doing long reports, well, I just feel like I'm being held hostage, KWIM?
I much prefer sm
to work for a company and let them hustle up the work, provide the system and equipment, and get paid by the line. Maybe if I were 20 and not 60, but I find that by getting your own accounts, you lose a lot of money. I prefer transcribing fast, and being paid for just that. No setup. No delivery or pickup. No office managers to deal with. Pure profit all the way.
I prefer IT.
xxx
I just prefer it.
There is so much wrong information out there that I like to look in my books first. I also hand write in "sounds like" in there so I can find oddly spelled things. Plus it is a business expense. ;-)
Most will prefer DSL for
security reasons I believe and specifically say "no satellite". It is one of the downsides of living in a beautiful rural area.
I prefer...
Quick Look Drug Book but not actually the book, the CD version, that way you do not have to get off computer, grab book, and manually look up the med you need. You just click on to get into the information, type in name, or a version of it, and it automatically pops up with everything you need to know, including what it is used for, and doses applicable...so much quicker.
I prefer my ESL
over the English speaking mush mouth one that sounds like she drunk when she transcribes or the one who talks so low I can barely hear him with the sound on as high as it can go.
Myself, I prefer sm
Stedman's surgical equipment book. The Surgery Word book is pretty well useless, but the equipment book is fabulous.
I have had a Tessier's and I gave it away, found it completely useless.
I prefer it
I cant sit for 8 hours. I have to break my work up into 2-4 hours at a time.
I prefer In-Hock Rd.
dd
I certainly prefer Word but......
I have become accustomed to it. It is not too difficult to learn and overall I don't feel a bad program. I have used DQS as well and I think Emdat's InScribe offers more options from what I see.
My biggest complaint is the spellcheck. I copy/paste and save all my reports in Word and spellcheck in Word as it catches errors that InScribe's spellcheck does not.
Also, I do not use their Expander - I use Instant Text which I love.
I have done both and prefer IC because I can write
everything off. You have to be very diligent about receipts and setting aside tax money though.
The only real difference in pay between the two is 7.25% for social security (self employment. You have to put aside the taxes rather than have the company pay them for you but either way, that tax money comes out of your check not the company's pocket.
I also prefer in-house
... but I am doing radiology. I worked at home doing hospital work for 4-5 years, and it wasn't interesting enough. There wasn't enough variety for me. I could see problems that I would be sooooo good at fixing if I was working in-house, but there was no way for me to have an impact on quality issues working at home. I now get to improve the referrer database, look at the future schedule to look for missing referrer names, work with schedulers, techs and radiologists, and just do lots of little things that really add polish to our business, and are very satisfying to me.
To each her own. 
I prefer VR, MTg for 28 years....nm
thanks but prefer programs not from...
She does prefer that I type in EMR
but said she we would discuss what would work best for both of us. Thanks for the info, that was the kind of thing I needed to know.
I prefer the CD. I can travel with my
job and used a laptop. I am able to have all my references available because I have them on the computer. Stedman's only allows 2 downloads though, so if you are one who may have lots of computer issues where you will need to reload your computer a coupld of times a year or if you might want to resell then CDs wouldn't be the way to go. The books you can find used on the classified board.
You can use www.drugs.com as a drug reference.
There aren't a separate set of books for clinic work, but I would recommend a book called Sloane's Medical Word Book by Ellen Drake. It is a large book with all the specialities and while obviously not as thorough as the Stedman's books, the terminology used in clinic work isn't as technical as acute care and will probably be good enough for you. I haven't looked at Stedman's lately but they may have a similar book.
prefer books
I prefer reference books, as all my work stays in one spot in my office. Have tried the CDs in the past but didn't care for them. I can understand wanting the convenience of having everything on a laptop since it sounds like you move around frequently. Guess it depends on the work sutation.
I prefer ESLs
I personally prefer an ESL to a native English speaker any day of the week. At least I know with an ESL, I am dealing with a tougher ear level, a level not many folks can do or are willing to do, and 99% of the time, they happen to be the best dictators out there, they don't rush their dictation or speak half-thoughts/utter a sound that means 10 words, they do their best to speak clearly...all I need to do is learn their accent and clean up their grammar.
I have only 1 current ESL who speed talks with a thick accent...Just 1 of out say 50+ that I handle between 5 acute care accounts. I handle a lot more ESLs than that due to the logistics of 3 accounts being major city hospitals, but I didn't want it to seem an inflated, BS number.
In the long run, my willingness and desire to deal with ESLs allows me to build my ear skills further. When it comes time to job hunt, that little line on my resume, Heavy ESL experience gets my foot in the door to show what I am able to hear and do, making me a bit more marketable. Don't get me wrong, MOST ESLs I can handle. Russian accent still leaves me saying WHAT?!?! but hey, at least I am willing to try to step up to that battle to conquer and learn them.
I worked for a company that NO ONE wanted to transcribe the 52 ESLs. I kid you not. The TAT on those files was disgusting. MTs would actually refuse to transcribe them. I took them on, they became my primary workload, my preferred work. I'd log in for the day, my supervisor would ask me what I wanted for "breakfast" as she read me off the list of who she had. I had the freedom to choose back then, and let me tell you, it was CAKE, I was loving it and laughing all the way to the bank. My queue for the day was set with just about 120 minutes of assorted accents, my daily line requirement, as a part timer, exceeded the full-time requirement. I never ran out of work, I never NEEDED to worked late, never felt pressured, and didn't have to worry about leaving a blank, for it became clear to my supervisor/QA/team leader, as well as the CMT/owner, that if I couldn't get that blank, there was no way they could either. I took care of my supervisor/QA/team leader and she took care of me, we were in a win-win situation. But, that job is gone now, as the company folded and closed its doors. My comfort zone is gone.
Currently, I work for 2 nationals. They do not filter and distribute files broken down between ESL and native English speakers. I pull my daily workloads from a pool, so I never know who I will end up with. It's in my own best interest NOT to shy away from an accent.
I prefer the CDs but use the books...
because I can pass the books on to new recruits who may not be able to afford a lot of new reference materials right off the bat.
Getting into QA prefer hourly
Do you know which MT companies pay QA by hour? Also who would be willing to train a QA person. I have been an MT 10 years and would like to get into QA...I have excellent editing skills and have worked in-house, IC, home-based employee and have an associates degree in science (pre-nursing classes).
I actually prefer the variety to doing the same old - sm
thing day in and day out. The downside, of course, is that you don't get the line counts, what with all the research, backing up & listening again to the difficult dictators, and not using full-page templates because every report is different. It took a long time to get to the point where I was comfortable with this much variety, and now actually enjoy it. Unfortunately, the average MTSO's pay scale doesn't reflect that. So I guess there are 2 choices: Be bored to tears and make more money by mass-producing 'McDictation', as I call it, or be mentally stimulated, and continue to learn, doing harder accounts, but making Third World wages.
I'm with you sister; I'd much prefer using my pc
rather than any company provided one. We are not children here, but professionals. I need to have a watchdog hovering over my shoulder documenting every single site I click on to keep as ammunition to eventually fire me for misuse of their pc.
I've seen the pcs these companies provide for their employees -- like they are doing them such a big favor. BULLSHID! The pcs are refurbished pieces of junk, which they deduct a rental amount from your already poverty-striken paycheck. Nationals: Keep your pcs -- they are worthless pieces of crap.
used to prefer stethoscope
but now find i just don't want anything inside my ears at all -- didn't want to mess with batteries, so found (on ebay) some Bose over-the-ear kind. Very good sound, very comfortable ear cushion, long cord, great swivel ear/headband part and they passively block outside sound very well.
If IC, use which ever you prefer; most of the Nationals
xx
you say that like there is something wrong with that - prefer them to bulldozers.nm
:)
i hear ya. I prefer being tucked away
 Nonhostile, nonstressed, maybe just a little goofy. I think we lose our thick skin working alone for so long. I start college next week, I better find some people armor.
I prefer non-Southern accents
I'm from the south but lived out of the area for several years. My favorite accents are Northeast and MidWest. For a while I did MT for a hospital in rural Alabama where a resident from Cuba was working. He had acquired a number of southern altruisms that cracked me up with his thick Hispanic accent. I'll never forget when he treated an elderly woman who had received a rattlesnack bite to her foot through her "teenie shoes." (if I hadn't been from the south, I wouldn't have known he was referring to "tennis shoes!")
Once my dryer needed servicing and the repair man came out. After talking for a while I asked if he was from somewhere near southern Russia because of his accent. He got so excited that someone knew the geographic area of his origin! He was from a tiny little country bordering southern Russia! (one of my neurologists was from Russia). I love to try to place someone's accents
d~
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