I promise I will once the survey is completed....sm
Posted By: Jay on 2006-03-21
In Reply to: Let us know what your opinion is! - nm
I don't want to influence the results in any way so the information will be unbiased and more meaningful.
Jay
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I've completed the survey & I hope all
x
You will, promise!
Know that we ALL were there at one time. I remember at my first acute care job at a hospital being so frustrated about asking the experienced ladies for help, that I just sat and put my face in my hands and cried a little out of sheer frustration. I can't imagine starting out at home as an MT, but it seems some of these schools prepare you new ladies well. Kudos to you! Keep on truckin'.
I promise this will help
if you do it regularly!! ... Pinpoint which muscles/tendons are involved and massage, massage, massage!! Also press and hold the trigger points--can tell those by the high pain level--for a few seconds and then on/off in different rhythms. It works, but you have to do it a lot when once it has gotten out of hand. Don't get your pain level (during massage/pressing) higher than an 8/10 for very long at a time though.
Unfortunately, we should be doing this before we feel real trouble, but it is easy to neglect it.
I have trouble with my right hand getting weak with tight wrist extensors and an almost always upset infraspinatus muscle. I let them go and then have to massage myself while I proof each report. It makes a world of difference but you have to be diligent.
We also should be taking extra care of our midback to occiput areas as well.
Lie on the floor with a tennis ball in your palm and put it under the knobs in the occiput area (at different angles) sometime ... ouch!! Mine hurt like heck on both sides, and when they are extra tight the pain goes all the way around to the front of my head. I can only stand to hold it in one spot for a few seconds.
It really works and if done before it is too late will prevent surgery.
Yes, I think it is a responsibility and I mad a promise...
to mom to not ever put her in a nursing home as a young 20-something. As an only child, I followed and kept that promise.
I cared for her for 6 years. It should have been more but I didn't realize she was going downhill so fast. I was very stressed out in her later years as she started to develop a lot of problems including memory problems, but when I look back, I would NEVER, EVER, change my mind. She was happy here with us and although she was having a lot of problems, the only thing I wished for was for her to be comfortable and happy. (She was in a nursing home temporarily for 2 months after she broke her hip and was very unhappy. This was sort of a test to see if she would like it, but she didn't.) I did everything necessary to make her comfortable in her last years.
It was hard, but I kept my promise even though every doctor told me to put her in a nursing home. Thank heavens, I worked for a great company that understood and allowed me to take as many breaks/days off as I needed to care for her. I would never have changed a thing even though I got very worn out during the end myself because she was almost totally bedridden. Still, I loved my mother with all my heart and still miss her even though she died 6 years ago.
I only hope my children would do the same for me unless i have Alzheimer disease. If a parent is unhappy at a nursing home, by all means do what is necessary to make their last days happy. After all, they raised us, and we should return that love.
You need to be patient, be a nurse, doctor, etc. for an elderly parent and if there is none, it could be very, very "unhealthy" for the parent and the child, but I feel we need to make sacrifices for our parents happiness in their later years as they sacrificed for us in our early years. After all, they are the only parents we had, andI I have NO regrets, knowing I did the best I could for her.
Sorry to ramble. I'm still grieving. I wanted her to live to be 100 if possible.We were really close all our lives.
Nope, I promise you I'm not.
I asked all the right questions before I was hired, so I understood pay and everything. They have been nothing but honest and nice. It's one of the two most often recommended companies on this board, and I'll leave it at that because I doubt you'd go wrong with either. But do make sure you ask about everything that is important to you so you aren't disappointed.
How do these companies get away with this when they promise
nm
Check out MQ - they actually promise you
CRAP and that's what you get! 
Thank you! Because she just completed...
an LPN course and is considering going on to finish for RN. If she was a PA she would be way beyond that point and totally unnecessary!! Now MAYBE he will finally hush about it! LOL 
Completed it. Thanks!!
Good luck  .
YOU are right! These companies promise the moon so they (sm)
can get the accounts and the MTs are the ones that get the bad deal. To be honest, I too, am not good with heavy ESLs but I sure try. I am also slower than most - but I sure try. There are some ESLs that really try hard and I appreciate their efforts. Then there are ESLs that are so fast and so sloppy I haven't a clue what they are saying. There are also horrible American dictators too. As the above poster said - the lack of decent courtesy is gone. Their excuse - I'm in a hurry, blah, blah, blah. Well sometimes I'm in a hurry so maybe I should stop capitalizing words, quit looking up strange words, forget punctuation. Really! Have dictators forgotten that there is a real human being transcribing his mess?
Last word on this subject, promise!
One other thing I'd like to mention is that I would have almost no problem with transcribing an ESL if I could hear them clearly! That's not to say that the doctor is not speaking loudly enough - it's that the onus is on the people choosing the systems used to record their dictation, be it that it's been re-recorded, crappy system, etc. The radiologist I referenced below would have been bearable if all the extraneous crap was not a factor, as well as the quality of the sound/speakers, etc. If you could hear clearly, you have a fairer chance of transcribing more seamlessly to make your lines per hour, etc.
Now that I'm an IC working at home, my main issue with being productive with ESLs is not hearing them clearly - I have enough experience to be able to decipher a lot just based on context (like a lot here say, have developed an ear for it), but if I can't hear it well, c'est le vie.
If you want to hold out "as long as you can" to not transcribe ESLs, that is, of course, a personal choice. Most do not have that option and have to bite the bullet. If you'll notice, most residents are of a foreign land and will be in the workforce too. Yes, you can get your own accounts with whatever physician you choose and work with them on those issues. But if you're working for an even small to large MTSO, most have ESLs. Thx!
Candidates are always going to promise big things
in the heat of the race; then when they are elected and start to serve, all of a sudden their hands are tied! Truly, though, how is one person, such as the President of the US, going to be able to implement change if he/she is,in fact, up against a hugely influential and strong population, such as the NRA (BTW, I'm neutral about the NRA...just using that group to illustrate my point).
I just completed my first week of DQS and WOW (sm)
Thank goodness I had one week of Cottage to keep my line count a little above bankruptcy level. One day I typed ten reports like we used to do in batches and these were approximately the same type of reports I normally did. Later next day, checked line count and what would normally have been from 500-800 lines was 372. I was flabbergasted and it took me almost 3 hours to do this.
Another problem I have is the lack of feedback. I was trained, sent in a couple of sample documents and that was it. Even those where I requested QC check over I got no feedback on. I tried to call QA and was given voice mail and told someone would return my call in 24 hours. Not much help when you are in the middle of something.
I better quit complaining and see if I can eke out a few lines this morning.
I just completed my shift for the day and
I had an easy doc for most of my shift today and she does mammograms and so it is copy and paste and change the necessary material. I worked on Meditech once, and found it very cumbersome. My platform now is word based and I love it. I get an accurate line count daily.
I promise you - I begin work at 7:00 p.m. - I'm only PT, and my day always begins with
stat, H&Ps, consults, etc! I love it!
When they have me working mornings I am getting special procedures, ops, caths, and don't like it one bit! Maybe 2nd shift would work for those who just can't see themselves working from 11 to 7. Good luck!
How many MTs have a completed Bachelor's or higher currently?
nm
Well, let's see 15 years ago I completed a transcription...SM
program. Not an "online" program. I actually went to a college and attended classes which include A&P I and II, Medical Terminology Greek and Latin, and Pharmacology in addition to a number of computer courses. That's in addition to my Bachelor's degree in English.
Then, of course, there is my 13 years experience as an MT before I decided to move into QA.
Completed COBRA recently-VLM
The following speaks of my personal experience with Cobra - Insurance premiums out-of-pocket for any reason are an expensive undertaking (they are also tax deductible if you meet deduction requirements). I was appreciative of having the option of Cobra because of my personal circumstances. If you are considering going without health insurance for any amount of time, I would suggest that you may be gambling with more than your health. One emergency surgery or health crisis not covered can cost you everything - I know because it happened to me. Hospitals and physicians are bound by no debt code - they will sue you and take your home, business, car, pots, pans and the shirt off your back if they can redeem a penny for it. They are not required to accept a payment plan. My hospital told me that an indefinite payment offered by me to start of $100 every 2 weeks to start was not worth their time and effort. A bit of trivia - I was employed by this same hospital for 10+ years.
COBRA guidelines are set by the Fed - all rules must be followed to the letter by all parties. My premium was 120% of what my original premium while employed with the company was. I went the entire 18 months during which my premium was raised once - without warning - if you fail to pay the premium exact to the penny, by the exact postmarked indicated date, you are terminated from the plan. I was nearly terminated with the premium increase which arrived in a separate envelope along with the premium notice. There are no exceptions to the rules governing Cobra - this works sometimes in your favor and sometimes in the ex-employer's favor. After the first premium increase, I called 1 time each month on the same day and asked if there was a premium increase - the point being don't take anything at face value when dealing with this issue.
These guidelines also direct what happens when your Cobra involvement ends or if you terminate it before the 18 months are finished - there are also exclusions which may make the amount of Cobra coverage available longer than 18 months. The day your Cobra ends, you have a set number of days to get involved with another plan - if you choose Cobra, make sure someone explains what happens when the plan ends, and if you are told "nothing" or "you are on your own," ask someone else who knows that they are talking about.
If you choose Cobra, you need to speak to whomever administers the plan - some companies hire a third party, others do not. Make sure you get all the facts.
There are obvious negatives but one thing is an absolute positive, if you meet all the guidelines each month and pay the correct premium on time, you will have continuation of your health coverage and time to plan for the future. My research led me to understand that I might find a cheaper interim plan, but I might just as easily lose that plan for any number of reasons, leaving me high and dry. I personally could not risk this. I saw an earlier comment about not letting coverage lapse and preexisting conditions - If there is a plan anywhere which does not have a preexisting clause of some type for every new enrollee, I would be very surprised. I talked to about 14 carriers over 6 months. Not having a lapse in coverage or not exceeding the cushion of days provided by Cobra between policies is most beneficial, I feel, when you are applying for new coverage on your own - Companies are much more receptive to someone who has existing coverage as opposed to someone without, for obvious reasons. However, this varies from ins co to ins so and you need to do your homework.
One last thing, I cannot speak for every state, but I called our State Insurance Commish - wonderful lady whose staff went way out of the way to make sure I was fully clear on what my Cobra rights were. These people were totally on my side! I highly recommend this phone call to anyone trying to get health insurance. The state is not allowed to recommend an insurance co; however, they do have ratings and data that you may find very helpful in choosing coverage.
I spent many, many hours learning about and personally experiencing this process - I hope you find something helpful here. Whatever happens, I wish you the best of luck!
XX,, I promise you can double that typing speed quickly SM
then triple it, and eventually quadruple it with an Expander used right. You're doing something wrong, but I assure you once you know what it is you can correct it easily and immediately start seeing the benefits having your expander do much of the typing for you.
To begin with, though, most of your increased speed is going to come NOT from inserting blocks of text standard for one dictator but rather abbreviations for the individual words, phrases, and headings you're constantly typing anyway.
For instance, I type RPSV for "reports that." It wasn't hard to remember. Variations of "report" are used constantly, so RP became report, RPS reports, RPG reporting, RPD reported. V is "that." AO is "also" for me, and F is "he", so "he also reported that" becomes FAORPDV and "he also reports that" becomes FAORSV. This is the first time I've seen those on paper; you don't memorize the long forms, just string together the constantly used short ones. Amazingly quickly your fingers remember (muscle memory?) so you don't have think about it.
Smartype is probably not the best expander but fine to start on since you have it. Later on, better programs have conversion programs that will allow you to move your abbreviations to that program.
In the meantime, go to productivitytalk.com and start reading and asking questions. If you wish, you can import a whole ready-made dictionary compiled by an MT abbreviations.
But you could also take another tack for now just as a trial. Instead of trying to use Smartype's abbreviations, if that's what you're doing, enter just a handful of your own that you can get very familiar with. I love these that I use and am happy to pass them on to anyone who wishes to try them:
Make T expand to "the"
F expand to "he"
G expand to "him"
K expand to "she"
J expand to "her"
T expand to "the"
B to "but"
Q to "who"
R to "right"
L to "left"
F to "for"
D for "and"
That's more than enough for now. If you do this, I think in a couple of days you'll be loving how a quick tap of the finger drops in all these little words so much that you'll eventually become addicted to abbreviating everything in sight--and to watching your scores on your speed tests rise and rise and rise... Best wishes.
you will be editing a completed ASR report vs typing
x
I'm working a festival this weekend, but I promise to get those scriptures to you asap. Thanks fo
:-)
So you enjoyed the candy? LOL! My daughter completed college at FIU and
aa
What's the survey for?
We have this one, and it works just great.....
MT pay survey!
I am a MT working part time, like less than 20 hours a week. I was curious to the ones who work full time at this. What do you make a month and which company do you work for? I would like to see if there are actually MTs out there making some good money or decent money and what kind of companies provide that. I just wonder what the majority of you are making. With me working so little hours, I don't know what to expect if I worked full time. I just want some insight.
Have my own ftp site for receiving wave files...return completed
reports to the doctor the same way... secure, safe, easy. I purchase the space from startlogic for $90 a year. Hope this helps!
Please be sure and weigh in on the survey, thanks. nm
nm
Hold on before you take that survey!
I have seen this lady before. I could swear when we first checked out her "pay me to take surveys" MLM scam site before she had previously worked at Bloomingdale's, but I do not recall that she had worked there for 20 years or had worked anywhere for 20 years. Seems to me she had references from several people she had supposedly worked with from several different places all swearing up and down what a wonderful and qualified employee she was (too much so, if you get my drift). I don't recall ANY of those said jobs being QA positions, more like sales or clerical. She seems to have had a lot of jobs for someone her age who worked for 1 company for 20+ years.
My point here is that this gal was operating a pyramid scheme just a couple months ago. Her original site was "Join here and pay $20 to take survey's about our MT business, and then refer people to me and you will get $5.00 per person who signs up under your name." I don't believe she is interested in any of this information being factual, she just wants to collect it (along with our personal data) so she can make money by selling it to God only knows whom, probably costing us our jobs or at the very least a whole lot of aggravation with e-mail boxes being filled with spam from other companies. Her only goal (in my opinion) is to make money in a marketing scheme. I guess she thinks the national MT companies are going to pay her for this data just because she collected it? She will claim its accuracy because she did a survey? I also find it odd that while she talks about QA this and QA that, it seems to me what she really means is quality control - and that is a big difference, odd she would not know the difference, isn't it?
Being a former Spheris employee myself, if she was as "all that" in the QA field, she should have started with them. I do wonder if she is still with them and, if not, then my guess is this is how she thinks she can make a living since, apparently, no other companies will have her?
One thing we all noted before, and it is rather apparent on her new site too, is that for someone who has been an MT for 3+ years and is supposedly as good as she claims herself to be, she sure makes a whole lot of errors.
Umm, I took the survey and it had no questions that
^
Survey on IC's vs. Employee
Could anyone tell me if they are an IC or an employee and who they work for? I am trying to find out if I should change all of our IC's to employees or not. Also, could you tell me which one you like better?
Thanks
2007 survey
Says MTs make an average of $27K a year.
Remember pay is production based. If you don't have experience, you're going to be slow.
I would advise you to enroll in one of the better schools. You're going to have a very difficult time getting a job otherwise.
MT salary survey
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Medical_Transcriptionist/Salary/by_Industry
Interesting Survey!
I hope I posted this in the right spot! Kind of new to this forum, especially with posting messages. I downloaded a medical transcription survey from 2007 from the MTIA web site which I thought was very interesting and would like to share it with you all if you have not read it.
I loved the summary point stating "Doctors do not generate revenue, documents do. Accurate and complete healthcare documents are essential to a doctor's and institution's revenue cycle."
I remain hopeful and optimistic that in the future that we will once again be recognized for how important our jobs really are. All of us can go out and get ourselves a medical secretarial position or other positions in the medical field, but it takes a special talent to do the job we do, and I think many people who think our jobs are not worth the money we deserve, possibly can't do OUR jobs.
This is the link and if it does not work, go to the MTIA.com web site, search under press releases and it is the Bentley MT survey for 2007. Hope you find it interesting.
http://www.mtia.com/Downloads/MTSurveyReport-Preliminary.pdf
if you purchase bytescribe/docshuttle, you can actually upload the completed work back on there. nm
;
Regarding poverty in America... A little survey
Do you believe that:
A: Poverty is mostly the result of poor choices in life, either by yourself or by your parents and grandparents before you, thereby setting up the vicious cycle. Early parenthood, out-of-wedlock births, no father in the home, recycled boyfriends in and out of a home, lack of early childhood stimulation with books/toys, lack of routine and academic expectations, etc.
OR
B: Poverty is societal. Poor people have no choices in America and no real opportunity or ability to raise themselves out of poverty. The way to end poverty is to increase social programs until people are not living in poverty anymore. Poverty is societies fault and the government's fault and therefore theirs to fix.
Line rate survey
Can I get some examples of line rates people are getting from MTSO's. Also if you do give me this information let me know what part of the country and what type of line. (ex. 65 character with spaces)
The Hay Group did a national survey
in 1999. It was very comprehensive, and covered hospital, service and IC MTs across the country. I'm looking at it now, and the drop in compensation between then and now is sickening.
If you contact them, perhaps they have updated the figures. They're online at haygroup with the usual before and after.
I think it is kind of odd that this survey showed
 posts were on here this morning telling people they'd pay $5.00 for every e-mail address you sell them. I'd be very careful when you are dropping your e-mail address. The survey does not seem to have any company name or anyone's name attached to it for that matter.
Survey Notebook Vs Desktop (sm)
Which is preferred, Notebook or Desktop for working 8+ hours per day doing MT? Any specifics you'd like to share about processor/memory would be helpful. Upgrading my computer and deciding which would work best for me.
I am doing a survey on radiology rates of pay. If you would like to
l
I have a call in system and also use tapes. We send completed reports via encrypted email.
I use MPCount, which is a free line counting program that you can download and it works great.
Voice Recognition Editing Survey
I have the opportunity this spring and summer to speak to MTs and business owners in various parts of the country, and one of the topics I'll be discussing is voice recognition editing. After working with it for a year, I have my own opinions on the subject, but I'm hoping to collect information from other MTs who have been performing both editing and traditional transcription for the past 6 months or longer. Your participation would be greatly appreciated.
The link to the survey is: http://www.webstream.us/survey/index.php?sid=1
Jay
I "work" for an online survey place
I do surveys for PineCone Research and that is the only one I know of that is legit. I get products before they come out in the store a lot, too. With each survey I get chosen for (not much, maybe one or two a month so you can't make a living off it, lol), I get a $5 check in the mail. Sometimes, I get chosen to do an online brainstorming session about some new product a company wants to put out, but that has only happened twice in the two or three years I've done it. It's a nice little bonus, and you get to see some new products before anyone else does but you definitely couldn't make a living off it. :) Just thought I'd share. I usually just read here the past few months.
Survey - inquiry minds want to know - how many lines...sm
can you normally type in a 6 hour day? Not your highest, your average please. I know there will be specifics, but base it on your average day, average dictator, average workload. I am very curious to see what everyone else can do. TIA
It took six months to compile the results of the survey/questionairre
asking about how MQ can do better. We got a letter telling us the findings 9 months later and on it apparently lots of MTs beitched about no pay increase and they are looking into it. That was 3 months ago.
MQ is too busy plotting and planning how to rip off the clients and MTs to be bothered with the current problems. They have a bazillion managers but no one seems to be able to keep the simplest things done on a timely basis.
What do you think your company will give you for Christmas: (Survey, I guess, LOL)
x
Free webinar to discuss Bentley College MT survey
This afternoon, May 16, at 1 p.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Mountain/3 p.m. Central/4 p.m. Eastern, Vance Digital/Webstream Information On Demand is hosting a free webinar to discuss the preliminary findings of the Bentley Report. This will be a round-table type meeting and anyone who wishes to comment or ask questions will be welcome to do so. The webinar will be recorded and will be available for purchase. If there is sufficient demand, we'll offer more of these webinars in the near future.
To join the webinar, visit http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs34fe20e1c1ac and download the tcConference plugin. Log in with a username of your choice and use guest as the password. You'll need PC speakers to hear others speak, and a PC microphone if you wish to speak. A microphone is not required to participate, as the webinar room has text chat capabilities also.
This session will be limited to 100 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please contact me by email at jaysvance at yahoo dot com if you have any questions.
The report can be downloaded from http://www.webstream.us/downloads/Bentley_MT_Survey_Preliminary_Report.pdf
Work for 1 hour, then count your lines of the completed work - sm
either check you total characters in word (with spaces) then total them all up and divide by 65, and you get your total lines per hour. 10,000/65 is 153 lines. Or if you have a line counting program us that to figure you count, either way will work quite well. Maybe do it a few times and then figure an average over 3 hours or something like that, it will vary with the ease/difficulty of the work you are doing.
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