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MT goes unit secretary ... check out my story!

Posted By: joanneMT on 2005-10-29
In Reply to: I agree with Former Unit Secretary sm - mlstoo

Ive been an MT for 13 years. I was an IC for 10 years, and a FTE for a local hospital for the last 3 years. I came back from vacation in June to discover my lovely boss was interviewing companies to outsource the MT department. He lied to us - told us not to worry - and then a month later our union received the '60 day notice' letter and we were out on our assess. I took a job as a unit secretary - and a $5 an HOUR paycut along with it, working 3-11 and alternate weekends. Am I crazy to do this. Well yes and no. I'm keeping my awesome union benefits, building toward being vested in 2 more years, and just landed an IC MT job doing guess what: MY OLD JOB. The company that outsourced us hired me. I plan to rake in the bucks in the AM and do the b.s. job at night. 3-11 is half the work as a day job - plus you get the shift differential. Wish me luck ! Joanne


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IC MT to Unit Secretary - sm
Do you like to answer the phone? Do you like to file? Do you like to have people order you around? Are you neat and organized? Can you do three or four things at once? If yes, then go for it. The hours 7 pm to 7 am may not be as busy as when I worked during the day, but your hospital may well be busier, depending on what type of unit you're on. I learned a tremendous amount working as a unit secretary, one thing being I didn't want to be around people anymore, the pubic being the most obnoxious of them all. An doctors in person can be very arrogant too; a lot different than on the other end of the line. Don't know how you will do those hours with small children, but good luck to you.
IC to unit secretary

You brought up some excellent points!  Since you have done both US and MT, you definitely would say that you prefer the MT over the unit secretary? 


 


Thanks for your input!!


I agree with Former Unit Secretary sm
Great job, learned a hell of lot, meds,diseases, etc., but I worked days and weekends, notoriously busy,busy,busy, and saw a lot that I just didn't like. Staff personalities are really much worse behind the nursing station than they are on the floor, believe me.  Got tired of getting reamed by doctors who thought I was the nurse just because I answered the phone. I never had as much problem with IBS as I did then. If anything went wrong, a med order, lab order, whatnot, it fell on my shoulders. You need a tough skin to work days, nights might be easier, who knows. My skin thinned out faster with that job than 13 years of prednisone usage did. Good luck
Whether or not to leave IC MT job for unit secretary job at hospital???

HELP, PLEASE!!! I am currently an IC, which I have been for eight years, and I recently applied for a nursing unit secretary position at the local hospital.  I interviewed and who would have guessed it, they offered me the job.  The position is third shift, 7pm to 7am three nights a week.  I do have little kids to think of when considering this.  My ultimate goal is to go to nursing school and I am thinking that  working in the hospital will be good experience.  I don't know if it will be easier to go to nursing school while working as an MT or as a unit secretary.   I am having a hard time deciding what to do.  I don't know if I would be better off staying put even though I have no motivation to sit down and type or should I take this chance to do something new.  Like with any new job I am afraid that I won't like it but I don't particularly care for this current job.   What do you think would be the better move?  I know you can't make my decision for me but some input on what you would do in my situation would be helpful.  Any advice is truly appreciated. 


Thanks!!


Probably medical records or unit secretary
In my area the pay is about 50 cents less an hour than MT seems like a gravy job compared to this.
Take at home transcription job or unit secretary job at hospital?
I've been an MT for 12 years and have worked at home doing MT for 10 years. Recently got replaced by EMR so had to find work elsewhere. I took a job at a local hospital as a unit secretary working 3-11 now I have been offered a job with a national transcription company. I'm not sure if I should go back to transcribing since the line count/money making potential has me worried. I've been assured that I will never run out of work but I'm worried that I will actually be working longer than the 8 hour shift in order to make the amount of money I need. I would love to be back home with my kids typing again as I miss not seeing them as much as I used to and they want me to be home. I am just not sure if I should stay in a job at the hospital which has a guaranteed amount of money per pay period since I'm being paid by the hour and not by the line where my paycheck can vary. Any thoughts/suggestions/opinions, recommendations out there? Any and all would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!!
Unit secretary will help somewhat with terms, meds, and learning the flow of the shift, but it won&#
s
IC to medical secretary
Thanks everyone for your input.  I have a lot to consider and you all have been a great help. 
Look in your area for medical secretary jobs
get a chance to transcribe.  You have to understand that a lot of MT's are wanting to work from home.  The ones with the experience are the ones that will most likely get the positions before someone fresh out of school.  Even though some students do better than others, this field still takes the experience.  You can't really blame the companies, it is their loss when you can't produce because of lack of experience, and I do not mean this in an unkind way.  Think about it though if you were offer a job with benefits... who would you choose?  The one with the experience right?  I know it is such a catch-22, but I guess the training institutes do not clue you in on this part.  I agree with the other posters, try to get a small local account for yourself and do not set your expectations too high at first.  You'll gain experience and self-confidence. 
33, Medical Secretary Degree, graduated in 1999
nm
In MT ads on the net, more and more I see ads for combo positions - MT/front desk, MT/secretary, etc
b
Another one from back when it wasn't an insult to be called Secretary

I actually went to a secretarial program at the local technical school.  AND I learned Gregg shorthand, but haven't thought about that in a number of years.  Boy are you all bringing back memories.


Now everyone is an administrative assistant.  Secretary is much easier to say.


Need transcriber unit
You need a transcribing unit that has a pedal that comes with it.  Your digital pedal will not work.  Depends on size of tape -- micro, mini or standard. 
Unit Coordinator
That was my first job in a hospital, although I had worked as an insurance examiner for an ins. company and had medical terminology.  It was actually a job I loved.  I answered the phone at the unit desk, called for missing reports needed for the patient to go to surgery.  When I did it I transferred all the doctors orders onto a cardex and filled out the necessary lab/x-ray/PT, etc. requistion slips.  I filed the lab slips and x-ray reports on the chart when they came to the floor.  When a patient coded I had to respond and take notes of when CPR was started, all meds given, who responded, time ended.  If the nurses were all busy I often answered call lights and relayed the patient's needs to the nurse caring for that patient.  I loved it because at the time my boys were little and I worked part-time 3-11.  I only needed a baby sitter for two hours till DH got home and I got full benefits for my entire family at no cost.  So besides the small check I was bringing in I was furnishing my family's medical coverage.  Every job now wants you to be certified in ACLS (Advanced Cardia Life Support)  they want you to often times be able to monitor patients if they are in CCU or ICU (that is be able to tell when something out of the norm is showing up on the monitor).  I wore scrubs, so no work clothes expense.  If the pay works for you go for it...it is totally different from MT and often times there are opportunities for advancement to other positions once you get your foot in the door.  I loved it, it was a great job.  Just be aware it is a 7-day a week position, so not every weekend off and you will work holidays, Christmas was always the worst but at least it was 3-11 so I had Christmas morning and early dinner with my family.
TENS UNIT
I have used in the past all day.
Could also be life support unit. nm

Anyone work with a Lanier VTI unit?
Just started today for a new service.  I have plugged in the  Lanier VTI unit and have checked the connections; they all seem to be correct.  I can dial in to the hospital system and access a report, but the foot pedal won't work.  My MTSO is calling in a technician but I hope it's not something silly I'm overlooking.  Any suggestions?
Lanier is a digital unit
There is a screen on the front of the unit letting you know the job information, number of minutes, dictator, etc.  The unit itself utilizes a phone line.  The dictators call the server and record their dictation.  You access their dictation through the Lanier. 
Your still have to have software with the handheld unit

that allows upload to FTP.  Without that, FTPVoyager is useless.  Make sure you buy handheld units that have the software capability to upload to FTP otherwise you'll be stuck.


If you find that handheld units with the upload software is out of your price range, consider the EZ-Voice solution.


Good luck!


Long-term skilled unit?
ss
There is a small microphone on the front of the unit
If you look on the front panel beneath the volume slider, below the button labeled 21, you will see a very tiny hole. It is a microphone hole. I have used the stick from a Q-tip to fill it in and it lessened the hum quite a bit. I left the swab tip hanging out as an extra buffer. Looky weird but it worked!
Try this and see if it works, but unplug and replug the unit first
Programming Dictaphone unit:

1. Press the "Program Key" key (far left button under the display screen) and you will see the word "Keys".
2. Press the "Keys" key (same far left button under the display screen).
3. Press the first button on the left vertical row of black buttons (remember this marked button as it has been programmed for the display), and put in the following: # * 1 8 (to program the display).
4. Then press the "select" key (look on the right hand side of the phone keyboard itself and press "x" where it says "Dictate" aka the multiplication sign), and the display window should clear.
5. Lift receiver to get original display back and hang the receiver back down. You are done programming.

To get a job, dial the hospital phone number, enter your ID#, and press 6. You will hear the prompt say "at start". To get the demographics, press the "programmed key" (or the button you programmed on the vertical row) twice. You should hear four rapid tones and it will start giving you the demographics. If you miss any part of the demographics, you can press the "programmed key" again twice, and it will start the demographics again. Every time, you sign off a job and get a new job, you will have to press the "programmed key" twice again for the demographics.

The code to program the display button on the Dictaphone is # * 1 8. If for some reason, your Dictaphone will not give you a dial tone or seems locked, trying reprogramming the Dictaphone as above.

What model is the unit? I used one a long time ago..sm
However, the doctors called into it to dictate. There was a hard drive with it that was connected to phone line. I would log in on the machine and pick up the jobs to transcribe. Is it similar to that? Or is this something else? There is also a Philips call-in station that hooks to phone line, but that's only for the docs to call and dictate.

How are you using the Philips to get work from your friend, that's what I don't understand? Does the friend have the same system? Just trying to figure out the setup and how to be more helpful. I know I once tried to use the Philips call-in to re-record dictation from a microcassette and it wouldn't recognize it and just timed out. It would only accept an actual voice, and that was using landline phone, so I think they do have certain parameters set up. It might be that the Vonage isn't compatible. Maybe you could call a Philips tech support person and ask. There's a tech number in the manual and on their website.
Handheld unit software question. sm
Is there a software for the Olympus WS-100 and other units with USB ports that copy from the unit to FTP or designated site for file transfer, store a copy onto computer, and then delete from unit?

If so, please advise. Thanks.


Hospital Unit Coordinator/Clerk
Anyone know what this kind of job would be like? One of the local hospitals has a few of these positions open in various departments. I'm wondering if it's a high pressure/low pay kind of thing, if only because they seem to be hiring from the outside. When I worked for a bank many years ago, they hired "outsiders" only for the crap jobs. I'm tired of MT and want to explore my options.
TENS unit inquiry minds want to know:

Just wondering if anyone has a personal experience using a TENS unit they could share.  How long do you use yours for, if you find relief that you forgot you could have, etc.  As a chronic low back pain sufferer, I’m looking forward to getting mine on Tuesday! 


Thanks


P.S. The temperamental Sony unit was a bargain at $100! Ouch!
Anybody want to sell me a bridge?
Maybe you local Cancer Society unit would have suggestions? nm
s
Which hand-held unit is simplest for doctors? sm
Need a handheld unit, but need to know of simplest one for doctors to use. Also, is there a program that uploads the dictation as soon as you connect the unit that sends it automatically? Thanks.
Also plan on getting a cooling unit to park laptop on
they run anywhere from $30 to $100 depending on features. Worth it definitely to run a laptop for 6 hours or more to keep the unit cool.
I am lucky for the most part, my only hard ones are in the Trauma ER unit, where it's crazy but t
just love to dictate while on the spot there, talk about noise.  But the name spellers are the worst, as suggested below that will spell "Smith" but not "Teona" (1 I had earlier). I do several divisions that are supposed to supply patient lists (but tend not too), but I guess they get their jollys seeing how bad I can butcher the names.
This happened to me once. I had bought a Lanier transcribe unit from someone advertising over on SM

MT Daily.  I sent her a money order for $500.  She sent me one email after she received the money order saying she had sent the Lanier and of course I never received it and she didn't answer my emails for a week.  Then she finally emailed again saying she had asked her daughter to send, but she hadn't and that she was going to ship the next day.  Still I didn't receive it.  At that point, she stopped answering my emails and eventually blocked me from being able to send me emails.  I had her mailing address and phone number.  Of course, she screened her calls and never answered the phone. 


One thing people should know about MT's, we do our homework.  I immediately researched what my legal options were and here is what I did:


1.  I contacted the adminstrator of the website on which the original classified add appeared.  They attempted to contact her to no avail.


2.  I contacted the police departments in both her city and mine and filed a fraud report.


3.  I then contacted the Attorney General's off in both her state and mine and immediately filed a report with each office.  I was told that the claim would be investigated, but more than likely nothing would not come of one complaint, BUT if they received more than one complaint regarding fraudulent practices by the same business or individual, then they could file charges. 


In the end, she made the mistake of forwarding one of those chain emails to everyone in her address book and mistakenly sent it to me.  So, I had the email addresses of her business associates, co-workers, employers, friends, family.  I promptly sent an email to everyone of them telling them exactly what she did to me and that they should be very careful in dealing with her.


I got several angry emails for people asking me not to include them in my email war.  I apologized to those people and took them of the mailing list.  However, three of the email contacts emailed me back and said they had bought stuff from her and never received the equipment.  And finally, I received a very angry email from the perpetrator's other daughter.  Apparently, her mother was freaked out about the fact that I had reported her to the police and the attorney general's office and I also let her know that I had made three other contacts ready to file with the attorney general's office which would probably get my case more notice.  The daughter Western Unioned me my money within 24 hours.


Casey, I say break out the big guns and start shooting.  That's what I did and it worked for me.  You probably have the person's mailing address, so you know where he/she lives or at least what city and state he/she lives in.  I wonder if we dealt with the same person?  Is this person from Texas?


a phone/transcription unit with foot pedal and earphone...
dials to hospital dictation system for reports to transcribe.

If Google it - might find a picture of one.
Check at a local nursery/garden center for varieties that are bred for your area, then check online
s
Check the connections from where the cable originates to wear it comes into the house. Also check t
had a similar issue with TWC and they had done some upgrades and the modem I had was no longer compatible.  The tech knew what the problem was the minute he saw the modem, only it took me about 3 months and threatening to cancel for them to get out here. 
No brainer here. Stop payment on first check before you issue 2nd check.
:+
I have had a check bounce over a boo-boo in the check book...NOT A DEADBEAT!!
c
DID you check with Social Security& does your son receive a check???

Go to SSA.gov and research the payee options.  You may have to use the search engine, but your answer to this particular issue should be there.


I am disabled and while my kids were minors, I had to fill out a form each year on how I, as the payee spent each and every penny of the money they received.  I don't see how his mother can justify how she spent his money for things that you normally would pay.


That said, he is getting Social Security right?  Is your son receiving a dependent check?  Under law, if a parent is disabled and has minor children, each and every one of those children also receive a check until they turn 18 or graduate from high school, which ever comes first.


The check is a percentage of your husbands, so for 800.00, your son should receive at least 350.00.  If you have not been getting this, they would pro-rate it back to when your husbands disability started and that in itself, could solve a lot of your financial problems.  You can also find this out on their website,  HTH


no - don't check out wildblue. check out hughesnet. sm
i was on wildblue. i absolutely HATED it. i paid $400 for install and equipment and bill was $51.51 a month for smallest plan. no bills, had to be direct debit from credit card or bank. wasn't a lot faster than dial up and i frequently went over my download limit so i had to upgrade to the $80/mo plan. speed was no faster on their "fastest plan". they had a 1-yr contract and only 1-yr warranty. well 20 days (kid you not) out of warranty my tria (the eye on the dish) went out and it cost me a total of $275 for replacement and tech call (had to wait a week and a half before tech could come and then he no showed and rescheduled for the next day stating he didn't have the equipment he needed to fix me and the repair order had been in for over a week by that time. no call to say he wasn't coming either, just no showed). they TRIED to sell me the entire package all over again to get me locked into another 1-yr contract and i declined. it was best in their book so your warranty and equipment would be "new". i had to tell them for 5 months to change which credit card to debit from, never could get it right. had to tell them for 3 months when my phone number changed. i could not wait until the day my 1-yr contract was over. have heard really good things about hughesnet. i think it is a tad more a month, but supposedly a lot faster than wildblue and not near as many problems from what i have heard from others. wildblue was down for an entire week at one point throughout the year i was on it. always got lost signals and page cannot be found multiple, multiple times throughout the day. i used wildblue with VPN (with transtech) and could not keep a connection enough to get a decent line count as i was dropping signals too much and it did slow it way down. i finally got clinic work rather than acute care where time and speed wasn't a factor. research message boards for complaints about wildblue and hughesnet before deciding. also hughesnet i think told me a 2-yr warranty rather than only the 1-yr with wildblue.
Check the classified board here and check
E-bay.  Some companies will provide them for free or a small rental fee. 
There was a story in the
21-year-old Mexican illegal whose citizenship was sped up so he could go to join the army because that was his dream. He died in Iraq. Funny, all of a sudden he was welcome in this country.

Yeah, and it's so easy working in the fields picking your vegetables so you don't have to pay more than a couple bucks a pound.

And those Vietnamese freeloaders....working 12 hours a day,7 days a week in their little markets and restaurants. Sheesh!
Okay, here's my story.
My Mom's middle name was Violet.   She died in Spring of 2003.  This year, guess what tiny little flowers are growing next to her headstone, not planted by me.  I looked around to see if there were any nearby, and there was one violet a little ways away, but not 3 or 4 like they were clustered right next to her headstone.   I know, the birds are responsible for it, but I really like to think she had something to do with it.   
My MQ story

I was hired by MQ in April for clinic work.  The clinic account was huge and always behind when I first started.  There were constant emails begging for people to work extra and on weekends.  Slowly, it started running out of work and they started slowly adding more and more accounts to my pool until I think I was up to around 20 (yes, 20).  Most of this work was ER notes.  I complained several times.  The ER notes were done by some of the worst dictators I've ever heard -- mostly American's, but sounding like they were eating while competing in the world's fastest talker competition.  I complained -- several times -- about no work, multiple accounts and the quality of dictators.  Finally, I received an insulting email from my supervisor telling me that I should be able to do this work.  I promptly replied that I could "do" this work, but that they did not pay me enough for the headache and resigned on the spot.  They really complained about everyone sending things to QA and QC, but with most of the accounts I was on, every report went to one or the other.  I'm not used to turning in reports filled with blanks and I and was not comfortable with the quality of work I was producing.  I'm certainly not the best Transcriptionist in the world, but I'm not the worst either and I actually care about what my work looks like.  With MQ I was lucky to make 100 lines an hour.  With my current job where I have been almost 2 years I make about 200-250 lines an hour and I also have gotten another part time job working for a local person where I make about 250-300 lines an hour.


I already had a full time transcription job with a smaller company I love and only went with MQ part time for tax purposes.  My experience was not a good one.  I personally would not work there again nor recommend employment there.  On a side note, an MT I used to work for locally went to MQ, she lasted a little over a year.  She referred someone who started 2 weeks before me and she lasted a little over 2 months.  These MTs left for basically the same reasons.  I can say that experiences will vary depending on what office you are at as will pay.  An MT I know was hired by a PA office at 7.5 cents a line for acute care (15 years acute care experience).  I was hired by the Dallas office at 9.25 a line for clinic (8 years clinic experience).  My base was actually 8.25.  I had to produce 6,000 lines in a pay period with 1600 of these lines done on the weekend to get the extra penny a line.


It's the same old story...
You can lead a horse to water.... There's planned parenthood, free clinics, and 3 dozen forms of birth control.  In a time of more ways to prevent unwanted pregnancy than ever, we have rampant unplanned pregnancies.  It boils down to taking responsibility, and you can only do so much.  There's a whole lot of partying and "hookin up" going on out there, and when that happens, the birth control goes out the window.
SO WHAT IS THE STORY???
Is it better for us SE people or worse?
"A" story?
Royal Philips announces it will write off $753 million for MedQuist. Spokesman indicates Royal Philips may need to restate earnings.

Philips's Profit Drops 17% On Big Medquist Charge.

There's much more..do your own research!
My story!
Hello I wanted to tell you my story so you know it is not just you. I was thriving at the local hospital I had worked at for over 2 years having working my way into transcription and coding successfully. Then there was a boss that did not like me. I was finally at full time transcription and zooming along at it. The doctors were pleased, the administration was pleased, etc. The jobs were finally staying caught up. Well this woman was very very rude! A lot to tell but the basis was she told me that if I ever planned to work at home I would never make it because my 80-120 radiology jobs a day would not cut it (these were x-rays, CTs, MRIs, mammograms, CT-guidance, needle aspirations). I knew better but she still hurt my feelings by saying that. Nobody else except the combination of myself and two other girls, one old timer and one very new had ever been able to keep things caught up before and after I left either one. I got a work at home job and left there asap. Finally got my first radiology job after having worked at one national for 4 months and one a year. The second had a radiology opening and I am thriving like mad. I would love to find her and let her know a few things. Anyways, the moral is do not give up if you feel you can do it. Every company and every account is different. The first national company, account, and superviser were not for me and I strugged big time. This second company has been pretty good. My acute care was fine I just always loved radiology and am better at it. Some hate it. Keep going until you find your fit and I wish you the best of luck!! Don't let one person and/or company get you down. Keen on keeping on!!
Here's my story.
I worked in a doctor's office for many years and loved it. I would still be there except I now work at home which is better for me because I have children. There are some advertisements for Transcriptionist but like you said, not a lot. It may not hurt to start calling different offices. They have such a hard time finding transcriptionist, they may just be "making do". You could call and say you were interested in filling in when their regular transcriptionist was on vacation. That would get your foot in the door. I got my job the regular old way, I answered an ad. Good luck!
The story was (sm)

Letterman went on and on about wanting to be on Oprah's show.  Well, Oprah never called or took his calls.  Then she was reported as saying that she doesn't watch Dave's show and doesn't know what he is doing.  So Letterman finally laid off and didn't say much more about it because she never called.


So to him it probably was the event of the decade because he has been wanting to see her for so long!


Yes, it was touching.


Let me tell you a story.......
I worked for a very small MTSO, had two great accounts, no problem. This went on for several years, right up to the day she went off, fired several people, and threatened to fire me, also. I took that as my cue to leave said MTSO. I quit.

Several days later, she "needed" certain files that I had transcribed, which had already been sent to her and to the client. I had erased them from my computer. It was then, and still is MY computer. She told me point-blank that I had "no right to erase anything from that computer". Huh?????????

I suggested she contact her attorney, as I had done.

I never heard another word.

If it is your own property (computer), no one any way, any how, any where......can tell you what to do with it. Period.

Stand your ground and leave this company if they insist upon this policy. It is simply not right and it sure as heck is not legal.
Here's another story
A friend of mine had a contract with a local group of doctors and subbed some of her work out occasionally to me and another lady. The other lady didn't have a lot of experience, but had been subbing for her for over a year when all of a sudden she told her she had too many errors in her work and was not giving her any more. The lady got so upset by this that she wrote a letter to the doctor. The doctor in turn was so upset with the MT with the contract and wanted to know why she fired her and was concerned about getting sued and was just very upset that she had not even had a discussion with her or put her on probation or something. Maybe I should contact these docs adn apologize? It's not like I'm trying to get their business, just wanting to let them know I got fired and that I'm truly sorry they were unhappy. This lady doesn't even want to talk to me either by e-mail, messenger or phone. She is taying logged off of her messenger and won't answer e-mails at all. She is just hiding and avoiding this. I am not a confrontational person and have sent a nice e-mail to her, but she will not respond. Unbelievable. Maybe her docs will respond if I send them an apology.