I would be 43 and have no life at this time and wish I was making decent money, but not ;0( ...NM

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

Pretty much, yes.  Unless you work in a small hospital and even then sometimes that is the case.  I worked in a small hospital where we did 15 different work types plus radiology.  You can make normals for some of the doctors and others...  Line count comes with time and experience.  Gaining medical knowledge helps because it helps you figure out what the doctor is saying, even if you can't understand his dictation. 

make in most fields today that don't require a degree or experience.   I'm just burned out with the monotony of it.  Type, type, type and then type some more because the account is behind and others aren't pulling their weight, so type, type, type, go to bed without spending time with family, exhausted, kitchen not cleaned up, and get up the next day and do the same thing all over again.  You have no control over your paycheck because you are paid by production.  If you have one of those days where you get the worst dictators or the sound quality is really bad you don't make your lines.  If you don't feel well you don't make your lines.   

I've done this nearly 20 years, about 19 more than I ever thought I would, but I'm tired, I don't enjoy my job, and I want to do something different.  My problem is that I need to be home 5 more years and I don't know what I can do and make the money I need to make. 

than I could make working in an office, even though I haven't had a raise in 5 years and not likely to get one anytime soon.  I homeschool my children, we don't have a 9 to 5 lifestyle, DH doesn't have a 9 to 5 job and it allows him a 3 day weekend so we like to travel.  I am able to work anywhere I can get internet access so we can pickup and go at a moments notice w/o me having to worry about work.

I hate office politics.   I don't have to spend $$ on clothes as I work in jeans or sweats, or can stay in my jammies all day.   We only have 1 car and that works for us now, but wouldn't if I worked outside the home. 

Life is just less stressful not having to get my kids up at 6:00 a.m. to get ready so they can catch the bus by 7:00.   My DC would be getting home at 4:00 or later if they were in school and by the time they did homework and we had dinner it would be time to prepare for bed and we wouldn't have much family time.  By homeschooling my DC have been able to explore their passions, have really developed a love of learning and we have developed a wonderful family bond.  We spend hours every week talking about world events, relationships, etc.   My DC are my #1 reason for working at home.   When they have left the nest I may consider working outside the home, or at least exploring other work-at-home options. 

Don't be fooled by their latest spins. If it didn't benefit them, they wouldn't be doing it.   The only ones with a good deal at MQ are the suits. They should be eating some of the slop they feed MTs.

Any of you who do this, how in the heck do you make any money? I accepted a job with a company for 4 cpl for VR, but I nearly have to type the entire reports over.  I was doing it part time and it takes so much time that I figured out I am only making 5.00 per hour.  What's the average rate for this?  I  gave it up, it's not worth it for the line rate, considering I was editing typed transcription as well that came back from India and it was just as bad and took just as much time.

I think the only way we newbie MTs can make any money is to make it ourselves, like counterfeiting. 

I consider myself still a newbie at almost 2 years of nearly full-time working at home with IC status.  Love my company and enjoy my work; it is mainly VR and 3 cents per line.  I am rather slow because I keep double checking everything, but on a good day at 8-10 hours and 800 lines I will make $24.  Isn't that encouraging?  

The extra dollars do come in handy and so appreciated for my farmer husband's income, but this could no way support a single income. 

Working for $3.00 per hour was great sometime in the past, you know?  Like 35 cents per gallon of gasoline in 1969. But it 2009.

I do think if we newbies hang in there long enough and become good at our work then we will move up to better pay.  However, we who work for 3 cents or 6 cents per line and are so thankful to be making even that are probably the ones others may blame for the poor pay since transcription companies can hire us so cheaply.

Don't know what the solution is.   

If you consider an 80-hour pay period (which I don't do), at $27 per hour with the 800-number company, you'd make $2160.

At $33/hour, paying $1.80/hour, you'd make $2640 minus $144 (a deductible expense also), still netting you $2496 -- substantially more than the company giving you the toll free number and less pay.

Makes no difference to me.  I personally wish you all would stay away from MDI-MD so I could have more work ... LOL

As a hard worker in this industry to put my son through school to become a medical professional, I can tell you that after all my hard work and broken back, he is still paying student loans, works like an animal, hardly has time for his family, continues his education and is not "rich." He treats his staff like family (constantly haunted by his mother to do this) and barely has time to take a bathroom break. I know there are those with fast cars (always thought they did it to get to the patient faster, but I'm sure that's not the case with some of them) and those who are rude (perhaps not taught right by their moms) but some are just ordinary guys and gals who put their pants on one leg at at time like the rest of us and worry about the next payment like the rest of us. They're not ALL the same. I read another post about docs yawning while dictating. I think in most cases they're exhausted and the paperwork is just another thing to deal with after they put their kids to bed, if they get the chance to do that even. I didn't understand this until I "lived in it". As the babysitter, I can tell you, "it ain't pretty." They suffer just like the rest of us.

Just like tapes get misplaced so does digital dictation.  Also, have you ever timed how long it takes to download and upload files?  I think it runs about the same.  I am assuming this is clinic work.  So, if you don't go the office, then you'll need patient lists faxed or e-mailed, what have you.  It also costs money to have a secure FTP site for transfer.  So, no matter how you look at it, there is that time taken for the administrative end of transcription so to speak. 

To the OP:  I would ask if the problem really is the delivery if you could cut back to two days a week and given them the option of typing STAT reports to be faxed to them OR you could ask if they'd go halfers on a courier service.  But, I think the problem is the cutting of the paper, so you may just want to mention that you'll need to attach a fee. 

I had to attach a FAX fee to an office that was constantly calling and requiring me to search for letters that they apparently hadn't filed yet, so I started charging them for that service.  Guess what?  They don't call as much.  Just a thought.

I'm new to this career. Have only been working for 6 months or so. Does anyone have any advice for a newbie? How do you make a decent living on 6 cpl? Any advice for increasing speed? Thanks.

MB

I applaud you for being truthful and NOT GREEDY..