I run a home daycare and transcribe.
Posted By: momoftwins on 2009-04-18
In Reply to: I do this job with young children around and neither my job nor children have suffered... - OrthoMT
Have done so for 9 years now. Never had a problem with doing both and both jobs are done well, children are happy and I transcribe 98 to 100% accurate reports ALL the time.
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My kids were out of control before daycare, when they were home with me while I worked all day.
Are you against school too? I guess you are going to homeschool......
Keeping small children at home will cost you more than paying a daycare ... see message
If you are really committed to working, then transcription can be beneficial. It is not a job where you can attend to your children at the same time you work, you either work or you attend to your children. You make choices.
I would recommend this career field - I make 50,000 a year working 6 hours a day. It is still good if you work it.
Definitely at home if you can transcribe a minimum of 150 LPH. sm
That is usually the bare minimum for nationals. Ask about the national's incentive plan. Is it tiered? The more you type the higher the incentive bonus? Some companies have great communication. Having worked in the corporate world in the past with a 60 mile roundtrip commute, I would never go back. But you have to be realistic. It you sign on for 35 hours a week and do not transcribe 35 hours worth of work, you could lose your benefits.
This isn't about daycare.
It's about taking a couple of years off full time work to raise your child - or maybe doing IC or very PT work. I am all for moms raising their own kids, just not working full time while doing it.
To daycare or not to daycare?!
I am a home-based Transcriptionist who worked VERY part time (2 hours a day or less) until my daughter was a little over 1 year old, and then my husband got promoted, I went back to school and quit my job. Now my degree is almost finished, and I am getting ready to start back at home again on a full-time basis with my old company. I cringe at the thought of sending my daughter to daycare, especially while I sit at home all day typing, but I am not sure I can get enough production done with a 19-month-old around all hours of the day. Does anyone have any experience with YOUNG children at home and working full time? I'm not going to push myself to produce the huge numbers I know I otherwise could, but I would just like to still be in the mix and have full-time status AND be with my daughter...I guess I want it all!
I agree. The daycare and gas are
probably more than the cost of insurance. This doesn't include the time you get back each day that you lose while commuting.
price of gas and daycare
I have a 30 mile round trip to my job. After being home for a few years on and off, it finally hit home that I needed bennies. So I bit the bullet and went to work at a hospital doing acute care. I take the bus every day. Much cheaper per week to ride the bus than putting gas in my car and my boss lets me flex my time as needed. I made a list of pros and cons and the bennies were the deciding factor as they are excellent. Much better than what I had which was zippo...Good luck in whatever you decide to do. 
Also, by the time you pay daycare (sm)
If you add up the numbers, you may find like I did, that by the time you could pay day care, you might as well just work part-time when you can, because you end up with the same amount of money. Makes it not worth it to give up all that time with your child and spending more time working, if you don't even see any more money for it!
To HappyMomMT. Me again. LOL. I agree with you about daycare, I do. SM
I wish I didnt have to put my kids in daycare. But honestly I couldnt work at home with them. The ultimate option would be for me to stay at home with them and not have to work. But I cant do that. I so wish I could. Fortunately I went to every day care in the community and found the one that I thought would benefit them the best. It is more of a school atmosphere, not a place where they run around with all different age groups. It is very structured and they love it there. They do all different kinds of things there. They even go to the pool in the summertime, which they really enjoy. Because it is summer I have been trying to keep them home with me more, while I work of course, and they have been miserable. They would rather be playing with their friends.
It has worked out better for us. It allows mommy to work and then when they come home, all work is put aside and all attention is on them. It has worked out well for us. Although like I have said in my previous post there are a lot of issues I have to work out because of the "neglect" from the years of me trying to work with them home.
I will admit, I am anxious by nature, and I still get anxious thinking, how can I possible get this work done before they get home, etc. I guess if you are a calm person it might be possible to pull it off PT, although I still no not believe that FT would ever be possible.
I am sorry for any negative comments I directed toward you. I just felt a little hurt by your comments about careing and love, etc. because I do care for and love my kids.
OF COURSE we know what daycare is! Its anyone OTHER than Mom spending the majority of the day
course, just the way lots of you like it!! Dump and run!! Unreal. The Govt monitors day care - oh, there's a relief! Then the Govt monitors schools, which are your next dump off point for your kids! And of course you can't spend the day with your own kids - they grow AWAY from parents over the years, not closer. You can't control your own kids, cause they're NOT your kids - they belong to daycare and their peer group friends.
keep daycare. you can't do everything and make money.
i know...tried it.
Daycare costs have tripled between the time I had my
first and third children. Yes, many of us do work at home and need flexible schedules to accommodate our kids. It would cost $1,040 per month to put my three kids in daycare, and that's considered CHEAP!!! You might as well work in the office if you're going to just put your kids into daycare anyways. How much money do you think will be left of a mother's paycheck after daycare, gasoline, car expenses, wardrobe, and all other work-related costs? Besides, I didn't have kids for someone else to raise them in a snot-infested daycare where the workers are underpaid and don't care for your kids as well as you can. Times have changed since you raised your kids.
Unless you have small children and want save on daycare,
xx
I got into this because it paid more money and I didn't have daycare expenses.
I have more time for a social life now that I work at home. I go to lunch or coffee with family and friends. I used to run errands on my lunch half-hour at my old job and either pay my bills or balance my checkbook on my breaks. I know all the other parents at the school now, so we get together on weekends or chitchat at the school. When I used to work outside the home, I was so exhausted from dealing with crabby people all day long that I just wanted to isolate myself at home on evenings and weekends. Now that I work at home, I actually seek out friends to keep from getting isolated.
Have you thought about putting her in daycare only part time?
I don't know if you are able to set your own hours or not, but if you can put her in daycare for 4 or so hours a day and then work before she gets up in the morning and/or after she goes to bed at night that might be a viable option. She would get the benefit of socialization in daycare, you would get some solid, uninterrupted work time and you would still get to spend a good part of the day with her. Just a thought. When my daughter was 18 months old I began working part-time in the outside world and I truly felt I had the best of both worlds, because she really enjoyed daycare and got to socialize, and I enjoyed my time being productive away from the house and I didn't feel like I was away from her for too long. Best wishes to you and your family!
My kids have suffered greatly from me working at home with them home. SM
I have been working at home as an MT since my two kids were born. They are now 4 and 5. In the first few years, I had no help whatsoever. Their father was a bum who didnt work or take care of them while I worked. Your children get neglected while you work basically. And babies and young children desperately need your attention while they are home with you.
My kids have so many behavioral problems right now because of their neglect. I would try to set them up with things to occupy themselves, like coloring or a movie, etc.
I finally put them in day care and things have improved, but there are still a lot of issues because of the damage that was done. They still try to seek attention by doing bad things and they dont listen to me because they are so used to me letting them get away with a lot of stuff because I was too busy typing to discipline them in their early years.
If I could do it all over again, I would definitely have put them into day care from the very beginning.
My advice would be to seek PT care for your baby. Maybe you can do some work around her schedule a little when she is home, like when she takes a nap, and then bang out a bunch of work while she is in day care.
I enjoy being alone at home, but I've got one home sick from school already.
One on one with a kid is nice, too.
This summer has been absolutely crazy. I haven't had a moment to myself for three months because all of my kids were home traipsing their friends through the house and yard. My husband switched his work schedule, too, so he's around more than usual. However, I like not having to do two loads of dishes and four loads of laundry a day. There are no toys or clutter dragged out everywhere. I can clean the house first thing in the morning, and it stays clean until everyone gets home at night.
I even got to relax with a cup of coffee and watch TV for half an hour this morning, something I liked for a change instead of cartoons or kids' movies. I signed up for an online class that I've been wanting to take. I can exercise without being interrupted. Yesterday, I went to the mall and spent all my saved up gift cards. I got some clothes, books, bath stuff, and a new coffee mug. My work gets done a lot faster, too. Call me nuts, but I've never had the luxury of being alone in the house for 14 years. It's kinda nice. I love my family with all my heart, but I love having a few hours to myself each week, too.
Except now the cat and dogs have been acting weird since the kids went back to school. They must think that I need someone or something to clean up after and correct behavior on. They're getting into everything and racing around the house behind me.
my take is that she worked inhouse, not at home, and now wants to find out how to work at home. nm
x
Forget "per line." Your take-home pay should be taking home SM
roughly what it was before. If it is not, is it because your current pay rate for editing (which in many companies keeps changing as the VR system is developed) is too low or is it because your talents and skills are more for speed typing than speed editing?
If the first, discuss it with higherups, and go get a new job if you don't get the response you need. My last MTSO was secretly refiguring how production was counted to pay us less. I can accept hard reality, it was the secrecy that burned. Sometimes, though, it's just that the learning curves of individual editors and that of the system aren't in sync, and you end up temporarily making less.
If the second, though, recognize it as soon as possible and change to straight transcription work, in your company or a new one, for as long as you can find it.
As for why we aren't paid more for a higher skill, that's just the way the labor supply ball bounces. Best wishes.
I think she means she has wireless TO her home, not IN her home..nm
x
hospital at-home -vs- national at home
I have an interview today with a hospital...work in-house for 3 months, then go home, paid on production. I don't know as of yet what they pay production, so my question is to anyone who works for a hospital at home AND has also worked for a national at home...
Which would be the best to choose? The hospital offers great benefits, but the national I work for now also has benefits, not as good as the hospital, though. Any input would be most appreciated!
transcribe it
there is no reason not to. You are a "professional" which presumes the information will remain confidential no matter who it is. I happen to live in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and half the town is related. Nothing would ever get typed if that was a consideration.
I tried to transcribe one of those
*mask* things once (and ONLY once). What a crock! It's like trying to transcribe an auctioneer. I always wondered how the accuracy couldn't suffer with this method. (I guess I was right, considering the government is now using it.) They make less money because there isn't much skill involved in doing it that way. Legitimate court reporters go to school for quite some time and have to learn what's basically another form of shorthand. (It's been years, and I might be wrong, but I believe, for example, the letters PB=N (or something like that. LOL).
I was around when the court reporters in my area went from straight dictation to *the computer.* In fact, I did editing/scoping work for one court reporter who bought the new system, way back when the technology first became available. (She also bought my computer for me to do her work and anything else I wanted to do on it, and part of her *offer* was that after two years, I would own the computer outright!) It's a whole different world than transcribing. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. It's easier for the court reporter, who can pull his or her notes right up on the screen when something doesn't make sense and see where the *typo* was and figure out what it actually should have been. So in order to be an Editor for a court reporter today, you basically not only have to know how to read their notes, but knowing how to read their TYPOS is the important thing. This particular court reporter had the wisdom to know when her notes weren't that good, and rather than give me a very sloppy transcript to edit, she'd dictate it instead. She was a great person, and I miss her a lot.
Scoping/editing for a court reporter is a great field to get into if that's your cup of tea. If you're a typist, it's real difficult to get the "rhythm" that you can get when transcribing, and that's what I don't like about it. (Very same thing with VR in medical transcription today.) However, after doing this kind of work for 20 years, I might wake up tomorrow with carpal tunnel and might be forced to pursue it.
One thing about court reporters, from my own personal experience in my area: They are the most generous, easy-going, NICEST people I've ever encountered, considering the enormous amount of stress they're always exposed to. Back in the 1980s, I remember reading stats on suicide rates, and court reporters and DENTISTS were right at the top of the list!!
Do you transcribe too? How much are you
required to transcribe per day/pay period? What are your responsibilities.
Sorry for all the questions, but I think one of the biggest problems in this industry is lack of consistency. If the positions were the same, we could compare apples to apples, in terms of hiring and applying :)
How many of you transcribe while
using your telephone line as in you're 'on the phone' the whole time you work? How does that work out for you both with your phone usage but also with unlimited LD. Could you recommend any unlimited LD plans that are good? Our local one isn't that great as far as a high price, so I'm looking around. Thanks for any help!
I transcribe ...
IMEs, Consults, Re-exams, Followups, Treatment notes,etc.
I am located in Texas, but I work directly for a doctor in Florida and then I transcribe for a small MTSO out of New York also doing chiropractic.
Why don't you just transcribe it?
Get creative - and type ... the patient...peeing, peeing, peeing, more peeing... is a 38-year-old
sorry i could not resist
transcribe from CD
Is there a way to transcribe a church audio lecture from CD? It is a .cda file. I have "associated" the .cda with Start/Stop and ExpressScribe, but I still have no control with my foot pedal. any suggestions?
Thanks, Debbie
This is how I do it. I transcribe
a minimum of 2000 lines per day x5 days a week for 8 hours a day, making 9 cpl which equals out to $180 per day. That comes out to $900 per week or $46,800 per year. That is just at 2000 lines per day. This is w/o shift differential and line differential added in. We get a bonus for going over a certain number of lines per pay period and we get a shift differential for working 2nd and 3rd shifts, which then works out to over 10 cpl. Transcribing 2000 lines per day works out to 250 lines per hour. W/o using an expander, I probably type about 100 words per minute and with my Expander it is a lot more. My pay stub shows how many lines per hour I average each paycheck. This week it was over 300 lph. I use my expander to its fullest. I have macros for everything and anything you can think of. I do radiology, oncology, and ER transcription - lots of phrases said over and over. I do not cherrypick. I cannot see what report or doctor I am going to get, the chart just pops up and I type it. Some days are all good docs, lots of days they are horrible but in this profession you take the good with the bad.
Everybody's work habit is different. Focus on what you can do instead of what person A or person B can do. When I first started I set goals for myself. I wanted to be typing 1000 lines by so and so date in 8 hours. When I reached that goal I made the goal higher by 100, 250 and then 500 lines. To me, it's all in the attitude you have for work. I look forward to work each day because every day there is something new to be learned.
This sits over my desk: Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden
Does anyone use Transcribe+
that you can use Dragon naturally with? Starting the new platform and just wondering? TIA
You know ... just transcribe (nm)
what you hear!
I transcribe
250 to 300 lines an hour, is it possible to edit voice rec up in the 600 lines per hour to make an equivocal line rate to transcribing?
I don’t even know if I could transcribe
without my expanders. I have basically typed so long using them it would really be hard.
Sorry, but our job is to transcribe
what is dictated. If you leave out a word, you did not transcribe what was dictated. Where I work, leaving out a word is considered a "major" error, but it is "discounted" if it does not change the meaning, however, it was left out, therefore transcription was not correct. Not sure what you mean when you talk about deleting paragraphs. Our job is to be as accurate as possible for patient safety, if nothing else. Audits are needed.
Well, at least we don't have to transcribe Elvish (yet?)
I don't think fat people should be able to transcribe either.
They have personality problems that may lead to selling info about famous people just to get more food. They also munch while they type and they are slower in getting the work out. I think there should be a weight test throughout the year to ensure MTs don't gain weight sitting at their computer.
MANDATED to transcribe?
By who? Harvey the rabbit?
Correct way to transcribe
Can someone please tell me the correct way to transcribe 10 to the fifth E. coli.
Thank you very much for your help.
Transcribe it and keep quiet. sm
We're professionals. We do our job and we keep any info learned to ourselves. I've even typed reports on family members. Never disclose any info you learn as a part of your job.
I transcribe anywhere from 25 to 40 per hour. sm
However, on one account which is mostly MRIs, CTs and ultrasounds, I only do 20-22 per hour. Expanders, expanders, expanders.
Every day I transcribe an op report on someone who is REALLY having a bad day, sm
and no prospects at having any kind of a happy life.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, especially when you're feeling down. And never lose faith as you're supposed to be learning something from this, and God really is looking after you.
I'm sorry things aren't going well. My very best advice,again, is for you to be positive--look at the ever-present bright side--COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, and never, ever lose faith.
I used to transcribe for a county (sm)
agency where they interview sexually abused children. I can't describe all the emotions that ran through me while listening to them try to bare their little souls to complete strangers.
The hospital I transcribe for uses it. I know
about Smartype. I HAVE Smartype, but I've never tried to use it with ExText.
I PRAY that you NEVER transcribe my
Your attitude is scary! You think we don't need knowledge or skills and are just "hamsters on a wheel?" Believe me, I QA work for people with your attitude and it shows. I pray to God that someone who thinks like YOU, never, ever touches my medical records!!!! Maybe you should look for a different career option.
Do you transcribe on Word with that?
Thank you!
To MTs who transcribe via tape- SM
I found great, low-cost software that allows you to convert tapes to digital files (MP3, WAV, WMA, etc.). Check out www.dak.com ! Your PC needs a sound card and a line-in connection (usually next to your line out to plug in your headset or speakers), as well as a tape player and an actual line that plugs from your PC line-in to your tape player. Think they call that line a male-to-male or male-to-female or something like that (got my line from www.martelelectronics.com). Use Dak to convert your music cassettes, too. Hope this helps!
P.S., I'm an MT, not from DAK
and you should buy Wavplayer to transcribe in. nm
x
Do any of you transcribe using a laptop?
I'm just looking for information about how laptops work for transcribing. If you answer, would you give me a little information to let me know how much transcription you do on your laptop, etc. In other words, if you only do a few reports on one, that's one thing. If you do major transcription on it, that's another. Thanks for the information!!!
I proof as I transcribe, unless (sm)
I have a blank or blanks. Then I listen to the whole report.
I transcribe for 2 GBS MDs.....it works...nm
Me again...heck, I transcribe
doctors once and may never hear again!! Every day is like a new day on the job. Just really sucks!! Just sayin' that even though you are seemingly having it tough where you are now, it could be a LOT worse. Whatever you do, for your own sake, do not quit where you are now to take a national job. There are so many variables that you can't even imagine with these places. It is more like slavery in your own home than a real job. Worked for one national where I averaged 150 lines an hour for 8 cpl, that's only 12 dollars an hour, before taxes! Who can live on that? Most of my time was spent on looking crap up, demographics and such! Had to buy own spell checker and abbreviation Expander and other crap, and it's just a big racket! Well, as I said before, just my humble opinion, but wish I was in your shoes! Good luck, but don't do anything with the job you have now....
I truly wish I was in your position than mine  (that's green with envy ;) lol
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