Lack of work advice.............
Posted By: april on 2006-03-07
In Reply to:
Hi all
I wanted to see if I can get some opinions on my situation.
I started with this company in September and the workload was good for a while. I promised to do 30 minutes per day. I do this part-time after 4p EST every day as I have a full-time job out of the house. Since the holidays, the workload has dropped off and by the time I get home after 4p, many times there is next to nothing for me to do and some days absolutely nothing.
I was thinking of asking the supervisor if there is some other fairer way to divide up the work that does come in so that I can have some too when I get home. Would this be a reasonable thing to do, or would it be asking too much of her?
Thanks for your opinions. In the meantime, I am looking for something else too.
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just got an e/m re lack of work
which we seldom have, but stating that we are all 'one team' and if we want more work we can call in and they can route us work from another CSC. So i wonder why other offices aren't doing that...
lack of work
 Are names of companies allowed on this board? I'm in the middle of applying to several transcription services, so would really like to know which one (s) don't have enough work available.
lack of work
Has anyone had a lack of work in the company they work for. I have been without work for two weeks and keep getting the run around from my company. I was wondering if anyone had to collect unemployment benefits or if there was something else I could do. thanks
Lack of work
I also did not have any work due to President's Day.
I am very frustated, No work due to Thanksgiving initially, then Christmas, New Years, and now President's Day? (Not to mention lack of work due to blizzards etc.)
I like the company I am with, supervisors etc. but am wondering if it is going to improve. I was promised paid health insurance, but have not yet reached the line count. How is it possible with any work?
Any feedback appreciated. Thank you.
Heartland - lack of work
Heartland never has any work for the US team, know why? They have to keep the Indian MTs overseas busy! Management (former MQ drop outs) try to paint a pretty picture for MTs that the software will get better or the clients are okay. Well the system is horrible and the clients are 110% ESLs!
Most companies won't have the patience for your lack of doing your own work. nm
x
Thank you. I agree. Lack of enthusiasm in my work is bound to show up
dd
Yep, liberals work really hard blaming others for their lack of ambition
It's all YOUR fault!
I used Abacus at the advice of who I work for once--sm
and yes, it is free, but it consistently counted less lines than I get with other line counter software. It would not count the headers, either. Depending upon the file it was counting, I found it to count from 1 to 6 lines different from others. To me, that is too many variables. JMO
Thank you for the work at home advice
I changed my phone number! I also signed up for a www.grandcentral.com #. I can give it out and change to voicemail when I am working.
Honestly we have had the best few days! :) We have had more time to homeschool and go out to play. I am getting my shifts in with less prep time.
 
Thank you for the encouragement and advice.
Best advice - work in-house a couple of years
You really do need hands-on experience in order to be able to do this at home. You will run into terms that you will have no idea how to look up - like "booj aw boo" would you know to look under bougie au boule? Or "terry onal craniotomy" would you know it is "pterional" or would you spends loads of time looking for "T" words? If you work face to face with experienced MTs, they can help you when you run into similar situations. I'm not being snooty, I am only pointing out real situations that you will be faced with and the reasons MTSOs insist that before an MT can work independently at home they have at least 2 years experience. I believe that most of us have worked in-house in the beginning to get to the point where we can do this efficiently at home. Once you do get that experience, though, stand back, the MTSOs will be beating down your door with job offers. Good luck and hang in there! Remember we all had to start somewhere. Best of luck to you!
Seriously could not be any worse that the lack of (sm)
respect we get as CMTs!! Seriously, we catch all the malpractic, flag it for them, and not even a Happy Holidays! dictated to us on any dictation, I correct that one doctor did say enjoy your holidays! I agree Applebees is looking better all the time!
Lack of memorization
Is the attraction for me! I can't keep what I have straight. And when I have multiple phrases that I want to use the same short for, it's just frustrating!
Thanks for your reply.
appreciation (or lack there of)
One thing I have learned is that not many people understand this working at home gig. I will say though that after I have let my kids listen to a few of these dictations they are totally amazed and over the years I have helped them with the words to quite a few songs they couldn't understand. One daughter is now a pharmacist and she is totally amazed at what I can understand. My son-in-law, also a pharmacist, asked if he could let me listen to the voice mail from ESL's that call in prescriptions and he cannot understand. My sister and brother-in-law are doctors, so they appreciate my talent and work ethic. However, just today my second daughter got mad at me because I told her I could not watch her boyfriend's new puppy (not housebroken) and work at the same time. I have been doing this at home for over 10 years now, so they have grown up with it, and still don't always get it. I left a hospital job after a divorce because I was never around when the kids needed me and it was difficult to leave work for emergencies. I made double the income - at first with no benefits. I miss the retirement, but I wouldn't have been able to keep my house, so everything is a trade off. Only we can understand each other
I think some of that is due to lack of training as well-
why not train Americans who are displaced workers or unable to find work for whatever reason, or just Americans who have no skills and are working 3 minimum wage jobs to get by? It would probably not cost any more than bringing in people from other countries, and it would probably save the government money, as more people would become self-sufficient and require less assistance.
I think a lot of these people would love the opportunity for the training if it didn't cost an arm and a leg, and I don't think they would be picky about what it paid- I'm sure it would beat minimum wage!
Lack of communication?
I recently was hired for a national MTSO and was wondering if this was typical for most companies who hire you as an employee. They train you, tell you who your supervisor is, turn you loose on your account, and after that you are hard pressed to get in contact with your supervisor, or anyone for that matter, for questions. I had questions about:
1) how to fill out my timesheet, a) when to submit it, b) how the pay period runs - all I got was a sample copy and told to submit it on such-and-such day.
2) questions on formatting that were not in the AI sheet - no response either by E-mail, IM and lack of contact phone number other than the 1-800 office number.
3) Two days into the job - ran out of work on both primary and back-up account. Response - "sorry, we're just slow." and not by my supervisor, by another company associate as my supervisor was nowhere to be found. Never heard from the supervisor again. Haven't bothered to log back in to work.
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and is it typical. Do not want to mention the MTSO, but it is a well-known national.
frustrated.
I don't think it is a lack of funds
I really think they are just ticked off that I quit so quickly. But after many years of doing this, 70 lph just doesn't work for me. Account was great, it was the administrative stuff required that killed the job.
My lack of experience...
I was told today by a national transcription company that "due to my lack of experience in the last eight years...." that I was unqualified to work for them as they need people with recent acute care status. I have worked for a group of orthopaedic surgeons for eight years and went to work for them because my job at the hospital was phased out due to outsourcing. I have 36 years of experience as a Transcriptionist and all but the last eight were in a hospital setting. I am shocked to find out that I do not qualify for their company. The work at our clinic is dwindling and even though they are hiring three new docs this coming year, none of them are going to be allowed to dictate as they will be required to use the EMR only. All of us sit by our desks waiting for that next job to show up and hopefully if you are lucky enough, you are the one who grabs it first. I used to work every evening and weekend. That has happened in the last five months. Sorry for the venting. It has been a tough struggle with a laid off husband, one income, and 10 grandkids to shop for, for the holidays.
Advice to YOU..1st learn to spell before insulting poster and trying to give advice...sm
OT: do you lack moisture or protein?
Your hair, that is.
Got this neat little trick at the hairdresser yesterday. Cut one strand of hair and put it in a small bowl filled with water. Wait about a minute or two. If the strand continues to float at the surface, you're lacking moisture. If it sinks to the bottom, you need protein.
Kind of helps you decide the right shampoo and/or conditioner to buy. 
lack common sense, one's I have met..nm
and your lack of expectations for yourself is showing.
x
Most people with hi IQ have problems getting along with others and lack
social skills, for this is probably an ideal job for them.
Personally, I like the lack of stress and no (sm)
flippin' academic politics, or driving to 5 different colleges each week, teaching one course at each as a part-time lecturer. I've preferred spending my time homeschooling my equally gifted children, writing for a couple of feminist pubs, and working on local grassroots politics. Working at home as an MT allows me to break up my day and do all those things, while being the sole breadwinner. Works for me.
motivation or lack thereof....
Do i totally understand! I have been doing this for 10+ years and keeping the production up lately has been a real struggle, not only financially but emotionally. Hence, I am returning to school. It is giving me something else to focus on - a goal. Otherwise, I feel like I will be typing the rest of my life. Take some time off??? I would love that !!
When MTSO say they offshore because lack of
x
Could be the acct and/or lack of specs.
I also think it is important to start off with people who know the account, follow the specs for the VR to learn the specs correctly. In time with everybody on the same page it should improve, but if you are using all the shortcuts and have experience in the account I can't help but wonder if it may be worth looking into another account. My line count is actually down now from the account that made me really start like the Escription platform. I had a mostly ER account with other basic 4 reports in it that would allow me up to almost consistently 800 lines edited lines per hour. The work was very inconsistent and the company was not reliable so I moved on making less money but much less stress. The accounts do make a difference but until you try another account you may not know what your potential really is.
In answering the other question regarding hot keys, I learned just like mentioned above. Learn them one at a time. Start with Alt k, then Alt Shift K, Alt ., Alt ,, Alt :, etc. Use you jump keys, which are very easy to learn and you'll use them all the time, ctrl arrows, ctrl shift arrow, ctrl backspace, etc. All of them used together really are a time saver. Get in the habit of using alt 2 and alt 1 too to adjust speed of playback. For the nice easy ones go ahead and alt 2 to your content and get the report knocked out, for the tougher ones alt 1 and slow down. I do this throughout the reports as I find it easier to listen quickly to some parts, and slower with others that need more changes. Any bit of time saved makes a difference.
Also, in my first report I mentioned working with kids, etc. This is a biggy for me. Working 3rd allows me to actually work without distractions. Small distractions make big difference.
QA's lack of knowledge really irks me.
Most of the time, they say the exact opposite the next day, anyway.
I, too, remember lack of reference books. I'd tug on sm
the doctors' sleeves to get answers to my questions, or I'd go to the OR and look at product boxes for proper names. I wouldn't trade a minute of it, would you?
Isn't it amazing the freedom, lack of stress, zip, gone.
congratulations!
Sign on Bonus (or lack thereof)
I was promised a sign on bonus when I was hired 6 months ago and I am still waiting on it! I call every week and email every week and never get a reply. Even my super always says she will check on it, but never gets back to me. It pisses me off! If they don't want to give it to me, eventhough I have kept track and have met every qualification for it, I think they owe me an explanation as to why. I wish someone would get back to me. I wish I would have found this site before I applied with them, I found their ad on another site and left an inhouse job that I held for many years to venture on to working from home, which the at home part I love, it is the the lack of communication part I hate. Has anyone gotten their promised sign on bonus from MedQuist, and if so, after how long and what did you have to do to finally get it? Threaten a lawsuit? Thanks.
they get booted due to lack of caller votes..nm
She fears because of her own lack of transcription skills, sm
not because the ESL doctors do not give good patient care. If you are not up to the job of transcribing the reports, then you should not try to do it. But do not blame poor patient care on the ESL doctors.
Have you talked to mgmt. about the lack of consistency?
Seems like mgmt would want to get all the QA on the same page, anyway b/c that is way too frustrating for the MTs to get conflicting requests all the time. Where I do QA we get mgmt emails all the time reiterating client requests and info to keep us all in the loop.
This lack of good spelling, grammar, etc
got a coworker of mine under the gun, so to speak. She talked ebonics and sent emails to me the same so I am sure it spilled over in her work. Short story, QA started looking at every report she turned it. Very stressful for her and she eventually quit. She was a nervous wreck- I could undersand that but it will happen if your work is not up to par.
Physicians and caring or lack thereof
recently I have experienced both sides of this aspect. In January I was hospitalized for asthma by my then family physician. I had been to him 3 times in the month before that with problems but he made no effort to adjust meds, etc. About a month later, he walks into his office and tells his staff today is your last day. I'm closing the office.
I got strep throat and went to a different doctor. She was absolutely the best. She looked at ME while she was in the room, not at the chart or her PDA in her hand (like the first doctor used to do). She talked to ME. Asked ME questions and answered any I had. asked about allergies (which I have many). The first doctor tried to give me medicine I was allergic to (and he had been told multiple times). Two weeks ago I was hospitalized through the emergency room with another asthma attack (brought on by the flu). My new doctor sat down beside me in the room. Talked to me. Got a very detailed history. Explained what tests she was going to do. Explained the results of what tests had already been done. Told me she was going to refer me to a pulmonologist to evaluate if my meds need tweaking. Even asked me which one I preferred based on how my insurance would pay. I have only seen her in the office twice and then while hospitalized and I already feel more at ease and reassured that 2 years of using the other doctor.
Also, at work this past week a patient was admitted after lunch. Because the patient had missed the noon meal, the PHYSICIAN went to the cafeteria and bought lunch for the patient and took it to him. Now THAT is a physician that cares about the welbeing of their patient!
I wish all doctors could be like these two - both of them female! Maybe it has something to do with our nurturing instincts!
My CMT lapsed years ago because of lack of interest. sm
in AAMT and the direction it was taking.
I've found that having been a prior CMT is quite enough to get the interest of potential employers. However, it is how well you transcribe NOW that gets you recognition. Your work will speak for itself.
It's up to you if you want to spend the money for the test and the money and precious time to maintain the CEs. For me, it's how well I get the job done now that matters to me and my employer.
IMO, once a CMT, always a CMT, whether active or lapsed. They are just letters, and I have no regrets.
Some bad grammar above, eh?, but you get the picture.
BTW, I was CMT by exam by proctor in the good old days when USA transcription was all-American (and then I became a proctor!)
I agree with your opinion about the "grandfathered" CMTs.
Hope this helps. And BTW, I admire your attitude.
One consideration is health insurance and lack thereof because
1 major illness and the money would be yesterday. It seems like a huge amount but really not in this age and time, good but still not what I call huge. I am older and I think wiser when it comes to money issues because I first would want to ensure the most important things covered- you could retire, I wouldn’t on this amount- if retiring you would have to pay out of pocket for really big expenses such as health care. I saw a program 1 day on winners of huge amounts, millions to be exact, and only 1 could account for any money and their spending it wisely - all the others squandered and had really nothing to show. Take your time and think it through clearly before quitting, retiring, spending it all, blowing it, investing, etc.
Sound advice from a fellow MT if you want advice or support (sm)
I have been an MT for over 10 years. I also am getting burnt out, tired of my job, day in day. However, I do love transcription and make excellent money at it, have grossed over $50,000 per year the last 5 years. I decided to go back to nursing school and am very happy with my choice. However, over these 10 years of transcription I have had my ups and downs. My biggest issue with being at home working is lack of socialization, being home day in and day out with just the kids and the animals really gets to a person, sure hubby is home at night and thinks working from home is the easy life, thus the return to school and boy has my overall enjoyment of life changed once I realized I was the problem, not everyone else and I needed to find myself again.
Anyway, my biggest advice to you three-fold:
1. Get into counseling for yourself, find out who you are and what your needs are, whether or not you think you need to, I sense you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone other than your family to talk to that can be nonjudgmental to your feelings and needs.
2. If you're only making $100 after you pay preschool you can either keep doing it and be miserable, or quit because you are lucky enough to have a husband who can support the family without your income. (See how fast his mind changes just by losing the income you do have as to whether your job means anything.) Or look for a different company or office that you like more and are more productive if you really want to do transcription (lots of fish in the sea as far as companies).
3. Find a local "mom's" group where you can get out and socialize. MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) is an excellent one that is nationwide, they have a website. Also Mom2Mom is in a lot of areas. They provide a once a week time for moms with kids the same age to get together, socialize, (some offer spirtual guidance some don't) and each week a different mom takes a turn watching everyone else's children at the facility that hosts it so the other moms can talk about things they have in common. Every stay-at-home and work-from-home mom needs to socialize with adults, without their kids, or they will have a nervous breakdown eventually no matter how much they love their kids.
Sorry so long but it does get better but you have to take the first step at making yourself happy.
That's just YOUR opinion, and you are a prime example of lack of patience. You want instant results
x
Drug called Spineral lack tone, I looked everywhere?????
HELP
Pardon me, but your ignorance and obvious lack of class are showing.
x
While AAMT does have a good QA program, they severely lack in other areas.
p
Combo of laziness AND lack of knowledge! Deadly combo!
nm
I get my work from an FTP site that they load the work to, however I don't have pool work so to
speak, but I tell them how many minutes a day I want. The work is generally put in my box by 5 pm every day, then I have until 10 am the following day for some priority work, or 3:30 pm for the rest, so TAT is not too bad. I would like to work less at night though, but I working on that. My downside is I do not get the same dictators day to day, there are a few I do on a semi-regular basis though, some generate great lines but take longer to do that other doc's and are not "money-makers", I also do not get paid for spaces so that hurts a bit too. This is WP5.1 too.....so very antiquated but that is what the hospital uses, so not much choice there. But I understand what you mean about the C-phone. I was just doing another job with C-phone recently...they incidentally did not tell me how to get off of the system, which was very simple. I'd finish a job, then hit stop and hangup if I wanted to get off or quit working. That is what you need to do if you want to sleep, eat, etc. Don't feel guilty, do what you signed up for, believe me they watch the pools and will get others to do the work you don't finish. If they get on your case remind them that you are only PT and only want 500 lines a day, etc. It's not worth killing yourself over. Good Luck. 
my advice
would be to get an MT job that pays by the hour until your experience and accuracy come together well.
I believe that MQ will pay by the hour until you reach "production" -- but i am not sure if there is a time limit on that. I believe i've seen where other companies do this also.
I admire your refusal to quit -- i believe that is one of the essential traits of a transcriptionist. Hang in there. Very little worth attaining comes easy, you'll make it.
Need some advice
I know this isn't MT-related, but it has gotten me so upset that I can't work, so maybe it is MT-related after all. Anyway, if anyone has been in this situation, can you please tell me how you successfully handled it? My son wanted to go away for the weekend and asked to use my credit card to secure a hotel room. We went online to Hotels.com and found a nice place. I put in my credit card number and was given a room confirmation. I then received an e-mail from the hotel telling me there were no rooms available. I called the hotel and they told me I would have to address it with Hotels.com since they were the ones with my credit card information. I called Hotels.com and they told me that my card had been swept for the entire amount of the stay ($276.00!) but since there were no rooms available, the money would be credited back to my account. I got my credit card statement yesterday and they only credited back $71.00 of my money, causing me to incur and over-the -limit fee of another $29.00. I don't know where to turn to get this problem resolved. Do I call Hotels.com and ask them to reimburse my over the limit fee? Do I call my credit card company and tell them that it was Hotel.com's fault for hitting my account for the whole amount when they said they weren't going to? If anyone has been through this kind of thing before, I would really appreciate your input. Needless to say, I will NEVER use Hotels.com ever again!! Thanks in advance for your help!
Well said! I will take that advice.
Here's some advice from another old MT
Give Medquist a try. I know there's a lot of controversy surrounding MQ, but there is a lot positive about the company, too. The transcription platform is very, very easy to learn and quite MT friendly. Set your boundaries about the number of accounts you are willing to do right from the beginning.
You will never have to worry about not getting paid on time. If you need no benefits, go with the statutory employee status. There's flexibility with that.
There are apparently many MQ haters on this board, but there are many more who are happy with MQ. They just don't happen to spend a lot of time posting here.
Whereever you land next, may it be a great fit for you. :)
Need advice, please --
My 15-year-old niece has confided that she has met a boy through an over 21 chat room and has been emailing him (supposedly, he is 18). He has been to her house, and her parents have met him and they think he is a nice boy, but they have no idea how they really met. I have serious reservations about this and feel I should tell her parents, because even if this one is very nice, he is still too old for her, and what about the next one?
Advice
Learning a secondary account can be challenging but it also makes you a more well-rounded transcriptionist. The more accounts, the more doctors you work on, the better off you are in the long run. If its hard at first, work that much harder to learn it. You can't have to much experience!
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