I would strongly discourage anyone from
Posted By: Linda on 2007-01-14
In Reply to: Re: Advice - Melissa Varner
getting into this field. I'm trying to get out after 8 years. By the time you get your schooling, find a company that places newbies into a position, and get up to speed --- your newborn will be in school. Don't bother, enjoy the baby and find something else.
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- Re: Advice - Melissa Varner
- I would strongly discourage anyone from - Linda
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There is a way to discourage someone like that
nm
Yes. Don't let the naysayers discourage you.
A lot of companies want people with experience and there are very few companies out there who will hire newbies, but they are out there. You have the terminology experience and you have the transcription experience, you just have to hit that right person on that right day who decides that you're worth taking a chance on . . . . . . or that they're desperate.
Right now may not be the best time to do it though, because of the economy. I have seen lots of comments on these boards that people are sending in resumes everywhere and not getting any kind of response, so I think the recruiters are overwhelmed right now.
If/when you do find a job, be prepared to not make much your first year. The companies that hire newbies tend to do so at a very low line rate. I sort of viewed it as what I needed to do to get that first year on the resume.
If you're serious about wanting to do this, send your resume to every recruiter out there. When I was first looking if they said they wanted two years of experience or less I sent them a resume. Most of them said no, but there was that one that said yes.
Good luck.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but this is no longer the profession to get in. IMO. nm
nm
I strongly agree.
now full-time and in this business for 19+. I only used daycare when my first was small and I worked on-site. Other than that, they were home with me. They are both in school now, but it can be done. Amanda is making a broad statement with no facts to back it up. Many o' Moms have done this job at home without day care and faired very, very well, myself included!
I would strongly consider putting that
comment into the report. They certainly can't think any less of you and maybe seeing it in print will make them realize the harshness of their words as well as their own stupidity for assuming you are the only MT who types for them. Some dictators have no clue or class.
Not to discourage you, but wanting to work at home
just to be with your baby is the wrong reason to get into this career field. If you want to be a stay at home Mom, be a stay at home Mom. If you need to work, you need to get into a field that interests and challenges you. Otherwise, you'll find it difficult to sit down and make yourself do the work. The ads are overwhelming about making big bucks doing MT while your children play quietly at your feet, but that is far from reality. There are other work at home jobs you can do that don't paying for an education, like selling yard sale fodder on eBay. I don't mean this as a slam, but I've BTDT with the babies at home while trying to work.
You should be good with grammar and English, have an interest in the medical field and a good ear, and be able to sit for long periods of time. You might have to put your child in daycare if your first job is inhouse, because most companies don't hire newbies to work at home. You might have to use daycare anyway if your child is demanding on your attention at every moment.
I beg pardon, but I have to strongly disagree with above post.
If your heart is pounding, if you cannot catch a breath, if your vision is blurred, if you no longer recognize your surroundings (even for a few seconds), if you feel like you are going to die.......yes, you may well be experiencing a panic attack. Or you may not.
There have been too many times that people diagnosed themselves with a "panic attack", not even knowing what that is, and ended up dying with a heart attack or stroke. As in dead.
This is simply because of ignorance.
Once again, the first thing you do is to make sure the symptoms you have are not physical. And, you go from there.
If, once diagnosed as actually having panic attacks, with no physical reasons, then you learn to deal with it. You learn to "feel" it coming. You may be happily shopping in a mall or whatever, and suddenly feel like you cannot breathe. There is not a breath to be taken in. Your heart pounds. Your vision goes. Your extremities are not responding at all. You feel you are dying right there, right then. My first impulse was always to run, but I felt my body would not cooperate. It did. It always has......because it was panic attacks, and not a heart attack or stroke, etc.
So, you sit down. You pull your car off the road. You stop frying chicken. You take yourself out of harm's way, in other words. You learn to deal with it.
But, if you do not know for sure that this is what is occurring, you're a fool to treat it as anything less than some kind of breakdown in one of your systems. Cuz that's what it feels like. And, anyone who treats that particular feeling without seeking medical advice is a fool.
Any other advice is ludicrous.
Sarah, I'd strongly recommend training SM
in a medical program in a community colleage, bypassing all the MT schools, and not aiming specifically for MT training. It seems likely that many those of us doing this work in future won't be doing THIS work precisely, i.e., transcription, but rather filling whatever future medical/clerical need evolves. It also seems likely that good-paying jobs will require a higher level of knowledge in future as mechanical dexerity (i.e., keyboard speed) becomes much, much less important. For that reason, going for at least a 2-year degree with a good medical knowledge base is recommended so you do end up with a decent-paying job as change progresses.
If at that point you wanted to do at-home medical clerical and wished to start with MT, if at all possible it would be best to begin by getting a salaried position in a medical office or hospital to carry you while you developed experience. The learning curve is very long and flat, and much of the angst displayed on these forums comes from people who still aren't making a living on a production basis after months and months of investment.
BTW, I read a newspaper article this morning suggesting that the current fiscal crisis could actually precipatate an overhaul of the medical system, forced by a desperate need to save money for patient care. I'm wondering if most of these nice long verbal reports could something the bureaucrats decided could be slashed. As I mentioned before on this forum, England went to the EMR, with doctors poking at the 1, 2, and 3, and A, B, C, and D, a long time ago.
Strongly dislike Emdat. It is not transcriptionist friendly.
It gives a great report to the doctor and the companies like it....the only shortcomings directly involve the lowest on the pay scale, the transcriptionists.
If the company is using the program fully it is not too bad, but when they won't even instruct the docs to do their part then you might as well forget about maintaining your line count. It's sad.
Not to discourage you, my concern would be if you can find someone to hire you. Good luck. I agree
nm
I strongly disagree. I dated an engineer; most ingenous, humorous, generous
man I ever had the pleasure to meet. Being smart is smart, he has the Yummie! Wow factor too.
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