IMHO and experience, in most, if not all careers-SM

• Here is a question for anyone interested.... - ETMT
  • I really don't have any problem jumping accounts - MQ'r
  • Out of curiosity, how soon do you think they should be able to accomplish a decent amount? - DS
    • I don't believe there is a set time. sm - ETMT
  • I do hundreds of different docs. Not a problem. - omt
    • I don't think it's the dictation itself that's the problem, it's the SM - Becky
  • I would not have a problem with this - - If they were the same 7.
  • IMHO and experience, in most, if not all careers-SM - No. Cali MT
  • Yeah, right. - PJ
    • The only way to fight this (I do know what you mean now) is to SM - Becky
    • This was NOT posted by myself. - Original PJ
      • How's this? - PJ2
    • Absolutely correct! And . . . - sm
    • Isn't it nice... - Prowler
    • I totally agree! - Walk a mile in my shoes
    • totally agree with this. - yes
    • Addendum - PJ
  • I've never had a problem switching from account to account. - ugh, style issues
    • Ditto, ETMT. I was being taught plateform and - MTGurl
  • I've been doing this for 25+ years. SM - Becky
  • I agree! - MTD
    • Thank You!!! I read all the posts and this is what I - ETMT
  • Do 7 different accounts in my - me

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I have been an MT my entire life.   I had no formal training - just had a knack for it and always had a job doing transcription.  I was sought out many times. However back about 1993 I started hearing rumors about voice recognition. I at that time decided to go to school and get a nursing degree as I wanted to stay in healthcare. I obtained my LPN- RN - then BSN in 1999.   Took me awhile but I did it.  Since that time I have done some coding, worked as a nurse and been promoted to transcription supervisor in 2000.  I also teach transcription at our local college.  Since I have such a broad range of experiences in all the things you are looking at I would suggest nursing - you are going to get the most valuable education in that field - with many opportunities.   If you don't like it you would have the bulk of your education and could easily slip int to coding or transcription.  Just my opinion.

It seems a lot of people are feeling the same crunch.  I have been an MT for 10 years  I too used to have a excellent hourly plus incentive with great bennies in-house jobs which was outsourced to an Indian Company. I worked from home and make ok. Now it's hard to even find a decent line count with benefits at all. I am working as an IC at 9 cpl and no bennies. As a single Mother I simply cannot do this anymore.  There companies who offer employee status and bennies but the line rates are so low or they want you to work 2nd or 3rd shift and with my family situation this is not possible.

I too am making a career change plans.  It seems that nursing is all the rage with the high paying jobs and plenty of them. But as a former nursing student years ago before MT I know it's not for me.  Too high pressure and the bullying in nursing school is unbelievable as is the 2 year committment to school full time.

I decided to try Assocaites degree Accounting/CIS. I hope to enter as a clerk or bookkeeper and work towards the Bachelors degree once working as a clerk.  In the meantime I have been brushing up on Powerpoint, Excel, etc and applying for secretarial and admn assistant jobs. 

 I had considered medical billing but I am somewhat soured on the healthcare system and outsourcing.  I figured Accounting is much broader and can work for more than one industry, but have seen accounting positions in healthcare systems too. 

I wondered if people would share what fields they were considering.

For new MTs... the field IS dying between VR contsantly improving and outsourcing/offshoring our jobs are dwindling as are the pay and benefits.  If you are a married-stay-at-home type of Mom with luxury of a second income and your husband's benefits MT might still be ok for a little extra money on the side.  But for anyone trying to support either themselves or their family on MT -- forget it.   Its a good part-time Mom job these days and that is about it. 

Sad.  There are many excellent and quality MTs who have a ton of knowledge.  I wondered how they intended to transfer skills to another profression.  The writing is on the wall.  I hope to be out in 2-1/2 years tops. 

Guys, I've finally made up my mind that the profession that we used to know is gone and is never coming back.  The industry leaders have made it their business to turn MT's into the equivalent of sweatshop workers, and I don't find that dynamic at all appealing. 

Can any of you give any suggestions as to what types of careers we might transition into and make a decent income?  I'm polishing up my resume now, but I fear that I've stayed in this industry for far too long and have handicapped myself from being able to take advantage of any other career opportunities that might exist out there. 

Any and all feedback would be appreciated. 

QA gets the pits because the good ones aren't hard.  I've never done QA, but I know the reports with blanks I do have are from really awful ESLs or Americans.  I think I'm pretty good with ESLs, but some of it is just flat mush.  And of course there are those folks who don't really care about what they're putting out, figuring QA will cover their butts.  You're going to get the dregs just by nature of your job.

As far as going back to MT, if you love it, do it.  Life is short, why hate your job?  It's a big part of your life.  I work for MQ and I'm doing fine, contrary to all the nay-sayers out there.  I'd say research companies or look locally, because it's not all as bad as you might hear.  I've worked in offices, as an IC, and now as an employee at a national.  Good situations are out there, just do your research, and take all the complaining with a grain of salt.  Complainers are usually the loudest people on the boards, it's human nature.  Email me if you want to chat more.  Best of luck!

Okay, with an hourly rate you can do some figuring.  I believe that, even though one would typically have more experience doing QA, they do not necessarily make more money on a per hour basis because their line per hour rate is much lower than the MT rate to make up for the greater number of lines done when editing.  I think QA is primarily a bonus in that you don't have to do all that physical typing.  I think MT and QA makes about the same amount per hour in general.  Assuming this, then you can figure out where you are pretty much. 

If you type 160 lines per hour at 0.08 cpl, then you are making $12.80 per hour.  I don't know for sure, but that sounds like a pretty average number of lines per hour and line rate for many MTs out there, so what you are making sounds pretty average, IMO. 

If you want to challenge yourself, however, you can do better.  I can do almost 200 lines per hour and make 0.09 cpl, so that's about $18 per hour.  That's as an independent contractor working at home through an MTSO, not an employee, and not as an IC on my own accounts (make much more on those with no MTSO middleman).  Even if you stayed with the 0.08 cpl and upped your lines by 20 an hour to 180, OR if you went to 0.09 cpl and stayed at 160 lines per hour, you get a raise to $14.40 per hour. 

Hope this helps!

I have this to say to that person

1.  Its stealing from your fellow teammates.  You are awarding yourself 4 hours of their shift and their work because you're too lazy or too incompetent to get your speed up.  They have bills to pay just like you do, and are sitting there out of work because YOU stole it.  Especially if THEY are honest and only work approved OT.

2.  Its lying to your employer and yourself as to how efficient you are, when you are falsifying your time card.  It is also putting them in jeopardy with the labor board, should you both get caught.

3.  Its bragging to post this - bragging that you are lazy and incompetent, and like to steal work, so you think you're smart and slick to have found a way around hard work and better skills.  Shame on you!

Thank GOD where I work the ONLY way you can type a job is if you are punched IN to the time clock.  So I know you're not my coworker.  I pity those that are.

MT Word Seeker is definitely better IMHO.  The search results are more to the point, perhaps because it searches 1100 medical / MT websites. 

MS Word's AutoCorrect.  I bought is and asked for help in transfering my AutoCorrect entries to it.  The owner kindly answered she would do it FOR me . . . for an additional fee of $25!!!!  Being as I had just paid $189 for it, I thought that was terrible!  Her instructions for doing the transfer do not work.  I honestly think it is just a ploy to make more money.

I finally did the transfer myself, after numerous tries.  Now I don't even use it.  Since it isn't anything "special," it isn't worth the trouble.  I much prefer IT to SpeedType.  In fact, ANYTHING other than SpeedType is better, in my opinion.

I constantly see all these job openings asking for experience.  How can I get experience, when no one will hire me without experience???

ratio is about 3 to 4 on a large hospital account doing all specialities and report types.   I think it would be closer to 2 or 3 with clinic work.