Keyboard Kelly - Many thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions.
Posted By: Dixiekaye on 2006-02-26
In Reply to:
I really do appreciate it.
DixieKaye
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Thank you for taking time to answer nm
thanks
Thank you Patty for taking the time to answer.
That is good advice, but I don't know if I can give them 30 days notice because another 30 days of them and I'll end up in a padded cell. I'm thinking more like two weeks, which to me seems fair, especially considering if they found someone else to do the work for less, they wouldn't even give me a day's notice, right?
Thanks again!
Many thanks for all the suggestions! Sure appreciate you taking time to answer. nm
n
Bless your heart for taking the time to answer.
I was thinking macros were something else. I make heavy use of templates/normals, but I didn't realize those were called macros :0)
Shorthand is so fantastic for that. I love the suggestion window, too. I don't think I could type without it now.
Do you use the TCL script program? I need to study up on that.
Thanks Keyboard Kelly (SM)
I have been scoping out all the different keyboards, too. Sure can get confusing!
Did it take you a long time to adjust to the Gold Touch in the tented position? I thought that looked rather interesting and would be something I would like to try. At the end of the day my hands ache and I am anxious to find a more comfortable keyboard.
Have you ever tried or considered the Kinesis Contoured keyboard? (Been looking at that one too). It's the one where the keys are sunk into a bowl-like depression. I've done some research on it and it does take getting used to, but all who have used it declare their pain is gone forever.
Wish there was a place where all these neat (and strange) keyboards could be tried out.
Another question, I have only been an MT for 5 years,and when I started everyone said - Be sure and get a gel wrist rest. Well, I did, but according to all the scientific research, I have been using it wrong. I rest my wrists on the wrist rest at all times letting my fingers "do the walking." I have just learned I should actually suspend my wrists while typing and only place them on the rests when not typing. Had any experience with this? Many thanks!
Keyboard Kelly - One more question (sm)
Thanks for the info. Would you let me know how you like the Kinesis Contoured keyboard when you have a chance to try it out? I have enclosed my email address.
Also, the keyboards you buy on ebay - are they new or used? Have you ever been "bit" with a bad keyboard? Thanks!
Keyboard Kelly - Need Your Input (sm)
It's me again. I have narrowed my choices down to the Goldtouch or the Kinesis Maxim. I had leaned towards the Kinesis because it is advertised to be a really soft touch. Also, I liked the sloping palms rests. BUT - the Kinesis only tents at 8 and 14 degrees while the Goldtouch tents up to 30 degrees - quite a big difference.
How comfortable is the Goldtouch tented up w/o a palm rest?
How much tenting do you usually set yours on?
Does it have a soft touch?
Would so appreciate your reply. I really wanted a keyboard that had reprogrammable keys so I could put my backspace key where the left space bar is, but all those keyboards seem a little too pricey for me.... maybe when I get rich!! LOL
Many thanks!
I'm thinking about taking the CMT test and have a few questions...sm
How did you study? Did you take a course? How much did you pay for the course/test? Was the test hard? Did it help you with your job (ie raise)?
I have 6 years experience in acute care (with Medquist). My DH has been pushing me to take the test for years, but I'm a big chicken! I was a nurse before becoming a medical Transcriptionist and I just keep thinking how rough my nursing boards were. Major stressor for me!!
Answer to your questions
I am sorry I don't have time to answer your questions in detail, but the most reliable source and largest supporter of farmed animals is farmusa.org. Go to their site and click on links. There you will find all the answers to all your questions. Thanks so much for wanting to be informed, that is all that is neccessary in some cases to allow you to switch to a compasionate way of eating by eliminating meat from your diet. Wish you the very best and spread the word once you see for yourself.
Could you please answer some questions? (sm)
Did you have a learning curve with this keyboard? I was reading about it yesterday. I understand the home, page up, page down, etc. keys are on the left-hand side of the keyboard. That would make for some serious re-learning on my part! How have you coped? Thanks to both of you in advance
In answer to some of your questions...sm
How did you get your accounts and what line rate did you start with? Also do you pick up and drop off? Who do you speak with (Doctor or office manager) when you have a question about dictation? What is your normal TAT?
--------------------------------
Pounded the pavement 12 years ago, introduced myself in medical buildings/offices that I chose to walk into, handing them my business card, spending a few minutes with them, giving a resume if requested, showed a little of my personality, asked for their business cards, followed up with them with a phone call. I did this once a week, a different medical building in my area(s). I started charging at 12 CPL.....never upped them until this year. They so appreciated that. I pick up and deliver and also supply plain white paper if they request the work be printed on that versus their letterhead. I also never charge for just one word on a line, no matter how long that one word might be, and I give them free 5-line headers as it's only 2 Keystrokes for me. (Most docs like to see something for *free*). I spoke originally directly with the doctors and some of them I still do talk with them, but many times I just deal with the office staff. I rarely have to call though.
Hope that helps and good luck to you. 
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions.
Let me first tell you about my background. I've been an MT for 15 years and QA for 7 years. I have also worked as a supervisor of a MT department in a large inner city hospital. I went to a business college and enrolled in their newly established MT program and it was awful. I paid nearly $5000 for my "education" in 1992. Fortunately, I lucked out and was able to get a p.r.n. MT position with a local hospital and one of the instructors at my school worked at the hospital. She became my mentor at school and on the job. I learned more on the job than I did from the school. I started out making $7.86 an hour! It seems like peanuts now, but I took it and ran with it. Best thing I ever did. I am a firm believer that every newly graduated MT simply MUST work in an office for at least the first year. You learn so much from other, more experienced MTs. You develop a trained ear by having someone else with experience listen and tell you what you should be hearing.
I owe my career to Martha, Jane, Sherri, and Helen. They are all retired now, but they were MTs back when they used typewriters and recording belts! They were my mentors in the beginning and everything they taught me is still with me today!
what type of school is nec.? Personally, I feel that you can take a medical terminology course, anatomy and physiology I and II, and English at your local community college and that is a good start. I don't feel like any of the online schools out there really prepare anyone for the real world of transcription and their tuition is outrageous! You can go to a community college for half of what you pay some of those "business" or "career" colleges.
is school required? Those courses I listed should be required.
what is an apprenticeship? can i work as an apprentice and get paid? I think an apprenticeship is an excellent idea. After you completed the necessary course work, on-the-job experience is the next step in the learning process and an essential step. As far as being paid, there are companies out there that pay a minimal line rate (usually 5 or 6 cpl) to newbie MTs who are still learning. Even if you don't get paid, it's still excellent training and education.
can i work at home straight out of school or do i have to work at an office or hospital first? Unfortunately, you can work from home right out of school, but I don't recommend it. Like I said above, there is a gigantic learning curve the first year or two out of school. And even after 15 years on the job, there is still a little bit of a learning curve. For at least the first year, you need to be in an office with other experienced MTs.
There's no one answer to any of your questions. sm
Some companies might want you to have experience in QA; others might not. Either way, they'll want to know that your experience in transcribing covers the range of whatever kind of work you'd be checking, and that the quality of your own work is high.
Some companies might expect you to transcribe and do QA if the volume of work you'd be checking isn't enough to justify having you do nothing but QA.
If you're thinking of advancement within your own company, check with your supervisor about these things. If you're thinking of applying for a job with another company, hopefully the job description will indicate what the requirements are and whether it's full-time QA or would also involve transcribing. If not, you can ask during your interview.
Oh, and same with regard to pay. Some companies pay QA people an hourly wage, some pay "production" rates. Again, you just have to ask when you're applying for the job if the job posting doesn't tell you this.
An update and to answer some of these questions...
The account is psychiatry. The doctor speaks clearly, no big words. I scored her second one at negative 42%. She had no blanks and guessed at everything. Did not read over to see if anything made sense at all, so many sentences were completely OUT OF WACK. I am not able to speak to the MT directly, my boss does that. I have not sent the scores in/back yet. I would like to first speak with my boss on this, as I have no idea what to do about it. There were 8 reports, she did 4 of them, so obviously, I am typing the other 4 (THANK GOD). I come across A LOT of newbies and they do great and have a lot of potential, but this MT, to me, just seems lazy and unwilling to try. I see no potential here whatsoever. She is getting English words as well as medical words wrong and spelled incorrectly. I am at a loss!
what's the difference if they answer your questions or not
they're gonna be a bunch of lies anyway!
no easy answer to some of your questions
I was lucky enough to get my first account in response to a letter I sent - one of 100+ letters sent out. I've never been successful with advertising since then. The rest of my accounts I got through word of mouth - one office likes my work, the OM is asked who she uses as far as transcription by another OM, etc. So make sure you do your very best no matter how "small" the account is - you never know. As for what to charge, that depends on your area of the country, what will that market bear? That's a hard one - need to do some snooping as far as what the "average" is. Don't want to undercut but don't want to price yourself out of the marketplace either (personal experience - I've done both while learning). As far as questions re dictations, I try to dope it out myself - I purchase a reference book for that particular specialty if I don't already have one, ask on message boards, research the reputable web sites, stand on my head and howl at the moon - anything before I resort to asking either the doctor or the OM. As a last resort, I will leave a blank and flag it with a note that I couldn't understand what was said, or whatever the problem was. I used to pick up and deliver, but ALL of my work now is via digital dictation, so I don't pick up or deliver anything - everything transferred via secure ftp. Hope that helps some.
Put your condescension away and answer the questions
I understand it might be difficult to answer the question because there isn't a difference, but try.
THE ABOVE IS THE CORRECT ANSWER TO ALL THOSE BOS QUESTIONS
Amen, Amen, AAAAmen! We could work together! Thank goodness for like minds on this topic! Now I can feel good the whole rest of the day!
can any answer a couple if Winscribe questions?(sm)
I'm a fairly new MT and have done all my MT-ing so far with C-phones. I am being switched to a Winscribe system. My question is this: Will the MTSO be able to monitor how fast or slow I'm transcribing? I'm not trying to get away with anything. It's just that I've read horror stories from some MTs on certain platforms where the MTSO can see (and calls) whenever they're "off the system" (bathroom breaks, looking up a word, legitimate coffee-breaks) etc. I work as an IC and have a window in which to get my work done rather than a set number of hours. What I'm wondering is if the MTSO, with this new system, will now be able to "see" if I'm not typing every single minute. TIA
I agree with you. If a recruiter cannot answer your questions and you sm
are not satisfied, then you should move on to the next interview. I try diligently to have all the answers before I advertise for a position because I know what it is like being an MT and looking for work.
One thing I must say though is this, sometimes we try and still it is hard to pinpoint all the issues (and I know I try) . I know in my case there are different departments and while I do ask all the necessary questions, there are conflicts in the answers. I do my best to pull the answers from the managers prior to advertising for a job opening and believe me, if I can't do it, no one can. I understand what you are saying, but all of us are not alike. Some of us work very hard to think of anything you could possibly ask.
Now, if you have a recruiter that has never been an MT, they might not approach things like those of us who have been MTs and QA people in our career.
Just keep your chin up and stay firm in what you want and don't back off on it.
The links inside may help answer some of your questions:
You might wan to check out the CMT Candidate Guide: http://www.aamt.org/scriptcontent/Downloads/CMTCandidateGuide.pdf
To paraphrase from the CMT guide regarding retakes of the exam: If a candidate fails and wishes to retake the CMT exam, they must wait until 6 months have passed to re-apply to AAMT. There is no limit to the number of times a candidate may
retake the exam (it just cannot be taken more than twice per year). The registration fee is charged each time the exam is taken.
You can also check here for more info on the exam and answers to FAQ. http://www.aamt.org/scriptcontent/chub.cfm
You might also want to check out the CMT Review Guide, available from the AAMT: http://www.aamt.org/source/Orders/index.cfm?section=Orders&task=3&CATEGORY=INV%2DPRO&PRODUCT_TYPE=SALES&SKU=STED%5FCMTREV&DESCRIPTION=&FindSpec=&CFTOKEN=65179116&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=find&StartRow=11&PageNum=2
Good luck! :)
They did answer the questions. Then got swore at and had people
NumbersUSA has done their homework on this issue. If you have questions, ask them. They will answer
tell you exactly how their petition is bound legally. NumbersUSA has made HUGE differences in curtailing illegal immigration. They are really a great group of people. 
Since the poster below didn't really answer your questions, I'll try...
While I agree that things are being done to try to do away with transcription eventually, I think that hope is a long way off. Here goes:
1. A lot of work is being outsourced to places like India because they can do the work much, much cheaper than a US MT. Some hospitals won't all their work to be outsources, but the thought on this board generally seems to be that most don't care or don't know.
2. In order to work at home directly after school, it is highly recommended that you only attend one of the top schools. Two of them are Andrews and M-TEC.
3. Most companies, if you are an employee (not independent contractor) will provide you with all the equipment you need. You will have to have an internet connection and pay for that yourself most likely.
4. I believe the average you can expect to start is in the 6 to 8 cents a line range. How much you make depends on many other things, though. If you studied very hard and have a knack for MT you will do much better.
Hope that helps a little. But just remember...yes, working at home is a nice benefit for some, but there is a con for every pro to doing this.
Thank you for taking the time....
to share such good tips with all of us. 
Thank you for taking the time to do that!
That is hilarious. These girls go into so much detail in their posts. I could read their stuff all night instead of watching TV. I don't know how they make this stuff up. This is great!
thanks for taking the time
For these tips. I really need to buckle down and get my lines up, there IS money to be made but being at home and having the pain makes me slack lately. But if you're doing as much as you are, then it makes me think its possible. Thanks again! have a good night
I appreciate you taking the time here
I do know that not everyone involved with the church is a hypocrite, and that according to the faith all of us are sinners (I try to bear that in mind through my struggle in learning and understanding the religion). I just feel like for many people church is nothing more than a social event on their calendar, not to be thought of throughout the rest of the week. I believe that it would be more in line with Christianity to focus on God and what he does/would want all the time, and that not going to church does not disqualify one from being a Christian. Not saying it is not good to go to church either, just that you don't have to attend to be a true Christian.
Thanks again, I do appreciate insight from those who share it.
Thanks for taking the time to share!
nm
I am taking for second time in the last year
I took if for a while and was without insurance so had to stop for a bit. I am taking it again. I was previously on Paxil. My doctor said that Lexapro had way better withdrawal than Paxil. Paxil would "wig me out" if I missed a day. Lexapro has never done that and when I weaned myself off before I did not notice any major withdrawal symptoms. I also did not gain any significant weight and I am not skinny so believe me I did not want to gain any, lol. We are all different though, but that is my experience. Like I said, Paxil was way way worse on both.
Thanks all for taking the time to provide
a kind word and encouragement. I know there are others much worse off and I know too I'll get through this. This time of year has always been tough for me since my parents died and I've really been working on putting on a happy face for my family despite how I feel, but just couldn't do it today.
Thank you so much...I got it working now! I appreciate your taking the time to help out. nm
nm
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to respond..sm
I thought I was on the right track, but I've only been an IC for five years and have never had my own accounts. I passed on your opinions to my MIL and hope she will listen. I'm leaving to go to California in a couple hours and there is no way I can do it personally, so I hope and pray she does. We really need the account.
Thank you ladies for taking the time to (sm)
respond with some very helpful information. Can I ask one more question ? I notice in some reports there are {} marks after headings. While this may be inherent to this hospital, I wonder if there is a "jump code" to get to each of those marks. Thanks again. BV
I so appreciate your taking the time to inform me of this.
:) I'd be lost without this forum. :)
Thank you for taking the time to post back....sm
I'm sure he must be depressed, and my brother also. I'll bring up the subject to him and see if I can make him see that they are really needing some outside help here, more than we can do just as family members. You bring up a lot of good points. Thanks again.
Taking time off without the worries is great
I think too many times IC's are treated like employees. The OP is an IC and has a set schedule?  If you have a set schedule (no freedom), you should be deemed an employee and given PTO days, etc. IC's should not be made to let anyone know anything.  Two weeks is an extended amount of time and out of courtesy she should let her "client" even if that is an MTSO know in advance that she will not be available to work those two weeks. As for toting a laptop on vacation, not me! The whole idea of a vacation is to relax and not have to worry about typing. Most physicians do understand that you need a vacation. They will cut you some slack. Not sure about a two week period though. Someone with their own accounts that wants to take off extended periods of time (more than one week) should probably find someone to "cover". I have also found in this profession that transcriptionists do not trust others as they could try to steal their accounts if they were to take time off leaving the account in someone else's hands literally. All the more reason to network and find someone trustworthy who will scratch your back and you in turn scratch their back when needed. Tit for TAT so to speak but at a fair price.
TERRIFIC POST!!.....thanks for taking the time
Thanks for taking the time. I found 650-623-4000
x
Thanks for taking the time to respond nicely...sm
and to give me the good info. There are so many sour people on this board who it seems don't care about helping any fellow MTs.
Very good ideas! Thanks for taking the time to share.
Thank you for taking the time to post this good advice. NM
nm
That is an interesting site. Thanks for taking time to post it--nm
//
TAKING A POLL-PUNCH TIME CLOCK
Who works for a company that requires you to punch a time clock?
opinion question regarding taking substantial time off
I am so burnt out that I am seriously contemplating just taking the summer off. Does anyone have any opinions on how this would hurt me come fall and job searching. I have a job at the present time working IC that I absolutely am not enjoying. I have tried to give it some time but it has been since November and I have not fallen in love with the job yet.
I am wondering how will look on a resume in the fall to have a 3- or 4-month gap in my resume. I have 8 years experience and I am sure I would have no trouble getting back in to it, perhaps with a refreshed attitude? Has anyone done this, and how was the job search afterwards?
Thanks for any advice.
The easy answer, taking all the easy work and
x
To the person giving the ShortHand tips - thank you very much for taking time to share!! nm
nm
What irritates me is that people on here actually take the time to answer her
well, actually i had responded and given her the answer so it did waste my time. sm
if she was only doing "practice tapes", why try to be so perfect? Practice tapes to get an idea of the profession doesn't mean trying to find out exactly what each word is. i am not usually tacky on this board and don't like it when others are but i did consider that a waste of my precious time to help her when it sounded like she didn't need the definite answer just to get "an idea" of the profession and was most likely needing test answers. someone in the medical field should know those terms.
How fortunate that someone took the time to answer your question.
I was merely pointing out that it was possible that you don't need to spend the time or money to do all of that since I apparently wrongly assumed that you knew what you were doing. So much for the assumption that you were totally aware of all that the process involved. You're lucky that after reading your response to the original post that someone even wanted to bother answering your question.
clicking on your post to see an answer was a waste of time
nm
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