Need my fellow MTs opinions...sm
Posted By: mimi on 2007-09-27
In Reply to:
I've been working from home as an IC for my 7 years of MTing. MUCH has changed in my life and I find that it may be time to leave the home office and get back into the world of the living. I spoke wiht a hospial in my area and got a bit of info - full time position Monday through Friday, full benefit package, tuition reimbursement, life insurance, healthcare, disabiliy, etc. The top pay is 6k less than what I'm making now, but that is not that important as there are other factors I have to take into consideration. My question to those of you who are in-house MTs, would you share your hourly rate - just a ballpark. This is the first time I've ventured down this path and actually received figures from a potential employer.
So, what do you all think?
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Okay fellow MTs I know this
was probably asked many times before, but where do you all get the little spongy things that go on your headphones? Mine got a hole in and they were the last pair I had. Do they sell them in any stores?
Or you could help your fellow MTs by...
Taking the time to object to this settlement. Opt out and object! I am sending letters to the attorneys to do just that.
Not the OP, but he seems like such a sweet fellow.
nm
A fellow MT was asking for votes
for a singing competition she is in - like an American Idol type thing in her hometown
www.whiznews.com/ycitystar.php
Dear fellow MTs...sm
I am stuck and don't know what to do. I keep going back and forth and now I am afraid to make any move at all. Could use some of your opinions on this situation. At the moment, I have two part time jobs. The one I have worked for a little over 3 years as an IC. The other I just started about 4-5 weeks ago. I did seek the company out and I started with them full time employee so I could get some PTO for once in my life. However, I had to switch to part time employee because of the schedule thing. We all know as an IC, we have a lot more flexibility and this is very important to me, and the new company is a set schedule that must be followed. Long story short, I went into the new job hoping to make better money, work smarter, not harder, and drop the IC job. But, 5 weeks later, I just still can't drop the IC position so I am now working more, working harder, and working more than full time and I need to make a decision. The new job pays better but after taxes and all, not really! It is an employee position so I have to work a given schedule. The job itself is basically the same as my IC job, not easier, but maybe slightly more difficult to make lines. The IC job is a job and at one point, I was treated very unfairly by the owner and that bothers me a bit because of fear of that happening again, but for the most part, it has been good to me and is considered one of the best IC jobs out there. I really am stuck and need some opinions/advice from you all that have made the leap from IC to employee or employee to IC. I feel I am at a dead end being an IC, but yet I need the flexibility to some extent. I don't know what to do. Both companies are considered GOOD ones by MTstars company board criteria. Any and all opinions/advice appreciated. TIA
Hello, fellow Iowan!
There are plenty of MTSOs online. What are you looking for?
Fellow struggler
I, too, struggle with my line count (though slowly growing).
I have a few accounts but ENDLESS dictators with one of them.
If I didn't use an Expander I would be toast. Between spelling, word/drug oddities, and making tons of various sentence expansions (to help conform to soooo many dictators), I feel there is no other way.
It is true it takes time but worth it ultimately.
Any knowledge you can gain as far as medical language would be a big plus too. That is another problem I have ... trying to retain the meanings of things to verify if they fit.
g'night fellow vampire! I'm right behind ya (sm)
Hey, stick figures would be okay... heaven knows we're ALL thin in THIS city!!
Thanks for the fun ;-)
She is a fellow MT. I thought it was the right thing to do as many might know her. why?
x
Thank you fellow Northeaster. I'll try it! sm
I'm a Mainer. It's getting chilly tonight. I'm not happy. $2.499 for heating oil here and old man winter is coming. I'll break out the heating pad. :)
Thank goodness we have a wood backup and some wood. I've already told the hubby and kids to break out their socks and sweaters because that thermostat will NOT go above 65 this winter. 
to fellow psych major
I would like to start working in the field before I get my BA. Do you know how many credits you would need in order to do that, and is an AA degree far enough to begin work? You're a lot closer than me so I figured you might know this. It would be a big weight off my shoulders knowing I could work within three years rather than 7, which seems so long. Thanks in advance
fellow animal lovers/MTs
boycott Iams pet food - they have been charged of horrible animal cruelty in testing their food, see web site below.
www.peta.org/
good morning fellow MTs
Does anyone have a used C phone for sale. E-mailed a few people on board who said they had one but have not heard back from either one. Thank's in advance....
A fellow co-worker said it was all mucked up
last week. I think she's off today though so haven't heard. Wouldn't doubt it.
Ok to snag this and send to a few fellow MTs? sm
This really rings a bell for me, and I know it would a few friends of mine, also. I would never copy it and send it on without asking permission, though.
Merry Christmas!
Fellow QAs/editors: Using a mouse 8 hrs a day
is really making my right hand hurt. Has anyone found a mouse that's more comfortable? TIA!
Just wanted to say STAY SAFE to my fellow Tx MTs. sm
I am in East Texas and although we don't expect the hard hit, very high potential for flooding, tornadoes, and power outages. Everyone take care of yourself and prepare if you haven't already.
Good 4U! Fellow people-pleaser here LOL.nm
OT - Restoration of faith in fellow humans.....
Homeless man receives rewards worth $4,000 for honesty
7/25/2006, 9:55 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A homeless man is finding out that it pays to be honest.
Charles Moore, who found and turned in nearly $21,000 worth of U.S. savings bonds, has received rewards worth $4,000, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.
Moore, 59, was originally given $100 from the son of the deceased bond owner, but residents here and in other states decided that wasn't enough.
A Belleville man sent him eight trash bags full of returnable bottles and a bowl of coins. Three people pledged a combined $2,500, while two Troy businessmen donated $1,200, a shopping spree at a men's clothing store and a lead on a job.
"I was thankful for it," said Moore, who lost his job in Toledo, Ohio, as a roofer, moved back to his native Michigan and can't find a job.
David C. Smith, of Albuquerque, N.M., gave Moore $1,000. Smith said he and his fiancee wouldn't have thought twice about what to do if the bonds had belonged to them.
"We would have given him the whole amount, period," Smith said. "No questions asked."
Moore said he plans to use the money to find an apartment.
He was searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin when he made the discovery last week. Moore took the bonds to a 24-hour walk-in homeless shelter, where a staffer made some phone calls and tracked down the owner's family.
___
Information from: The Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com
I'd make fellow VLC students aware, to
nm
Hey fellow Montanans, I'm in Lolo, crazy!. nm
nm
Wow...cold reply. No empathy for a fellow MT at all. nm
s
You are welcome! I'm glad to help my fellow MTs. And to answer your philosophical
questions... it does seem they stack the deck against us. So that's why we have be sneaky, more clever, and technically savvy!
Nice to see a fellow dirt-roader. :-) nm
nm
Fellow of the American Association of Medical Transcription
x
A fellow back brace wearer! I wear one too. sm
And I wear a waist-nipper type undergarment underneath the back brace, for comfort and because it seems to help my back too (not as much as the brace, though).
I put off using the brace for a *long* time because my doctor discouraged it, saying that it's a substitute for strong back muscles, so better not to wear the brace and strenghen the back instead. Yeah, right! I did exercises every day for months, and I would still have back pain if standing for more than 5 min. (Chronic, muscle spasm type stuff, supposedly from mild scoliosis, but who knows...) I would be in misery with a burning kind of low back pain after doing something as simple as going to the grocery store. It was awful.
Now I wear the back brace for anything strenuous, and my back feels sooo much better. I found the brace at Walmart, under $20.00.
(Disclaimer: This was just my experience. Consult your own doctor! )
Hi, Fellow Georgian. I've been editing for years SM
and love it. This is a good move for you once you get used to the common corrections and work out your own ways of making them quickly. Like programming in a hot key or keystroke combo for backing up to erase a common, insert a period, and drop in a "The" to make two sentences from one runon. And so on.
It's great that your account is already trained on most dictators. So often, the speech recognition system is just beginning to learn the dictators and most reports are a mass of mistakes. People usually get paid more to train the system, but it can be irritating at that point. At your point, you'll breeze through twice the reports you used to, dropping in corrections here and there, and it'll be much easier on your hands and wrists. Plus, once you get used to it, if you read fast and speed up the dictation you'll likely make more money editing than transcribing. I do. Enjoy.
I knew I would get the support of my fellow 'gals.' As a poster said below, no affair -he's
been there 2 weeks. And the way he puts it, "nothing but construction guys down here." Yeah right. He's only 5 miles from the newest casino they just built and he's always telling me how there's so many people down there and I know for a fact he's gone a few times and I know those gals serving those drinks aren't ugly!! But then again, neither am I! LOL
Hell, I never thought I'd need the book, "He's Just Not That Into You" married! Tha's why I AM married! MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't live with them, can't live with them.....
Fellow is a highly respected title in the medical field tho--
not for medical transcriptionists!
Hello fellow transcription princesses - my daughter pimped my computer LOL (sm)
Yeah, I hate that word too but she did! She has this Barbie software that changes your icons and background color and sounds...so everything on my computer is fuscia, pink and purple and I have a cute pink barbie hand for a cursor and every time I spell check I get this starry wand sound. It's actually kinda fun...helping me stay awake and making things a little more cheerful. This is the third day since she did it and I think I like it :-)
My best friend and fellow editor laid off this close to Christmas! sm
For everyone complaining about his or her jobs, it could be worse. My best friend, who has been in this business for years and years and years, has a work ethic like nothing I have seen before, and is a genuinely caring and gentle soul, was laid off today from her job via a conference call! To add insult to injury, she is scheduled to have two surgeries next month, which she scheduled for after the holidays to accommodate her employer, even though she can barely see, which she will now be unable to have since they are terminating her health insurance today as well. They were aware of her scheduled surgery and knew she had been waiting for some time to have it. We will not even talk about what impact this has upon her family, including her young son, particularly here at Christmas time. How do you explain no Santa to a young child?
She is always the person helping everyone else, both in her personal life as well as professionally. I have witnessed her struggles and she always keeps a positive outlook. I think this will finally "do her in." Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the other THIRTY people who lost their jobs today.
They say that everything we do comes back to you ten-fold. I hope it happens quickly for this heartless company.
Thank you fellow MT. I love that site.....good source of info without the complaing....
Thanks again.
Thank you fellow MT. I love that site.....good source of info without the complaining....
Thanks again.
Need opinions
Does anyone use software for transcription that has the automatic faxing and e-mailing so the doctor's office doesn't have to pay staff to do this?
Was it expensive for you to buy - does the vendor charge you a per line fee or any fee for this - is it easy for you to use - and do you feel that the doctors like this kind of software and its faxing and emailing of transcripts to referring physicians functions? Also, do you have names of companies you could give so that I could possibly check into this? I am currently using a phone-in system but I thought an automatic faxing software would draw in prospective doctor clients.
Any opinions, good and bad, are welcomed. Thank you.
Need opinions please
Does anyone use software for transcription that has the automatic faxing and e-mailing so the doctor's office doesn't have to pay staff to do this?
Was it expensive for you to buy - does the vendor charge you a per line fee or any fee for this - is it easy for you to use - and do you feel that the doctors like this kind of software and its faxing and emailing of transcripts to referring physicians functions? Also, do you have names of companies you could give so that I could possibly check into this? I am currently using a phone-in system but I thought an automatic faxing software would draw in prospective doctor clients.
Any opinions, good and bad, are welcomed. Thank you.
Thanks for the opinions. sm
I'm still firmly of the opinion that it does suck. I hate it. The poster who said it's just a mess to clean up, is absolutely correct. That's the whole problem. Some doctors are great, others are so-so, and many are just a mess. You waste more time backing up and correcting, and could have typed it by hand in the first place with less grief and frustration.
Yes, maybe it is the wave of the future, but as many bad dictators as there are, there are always going to be people needed for them. Let the ones who love speech rec go for it. It might help some, saving some people's hands, and boosting production somewhat, but I'd really like to talk to the people themselves who love it and supposedly have great production, rather than just seeing a generic sheet of numbers that the supervisors wave around for show.
No, it was not the Dragon program, and not a national company.
This is not on just a few providers, it's about 70% of them in a quite large facility, ESLs included right along with the stumblers and mumblers.
Correct, the supervisors are pushing this program so hard, to save money. Yes, it can be a great help to some, but not to all.
Medical reports can be extremely complicated, and are in no way comparable to social work reports. One person, consistently dictating all the time, compared to an assortment of 20-30 dictators/speech patterns at random, with different types of reports? No, there's no comparison.
All in all, it does suck to work with. And if I'm not taken off the program at the end of three months, then I will probably quit. It might help me somewhat, but I doubt it's going to boost my production that much. We'll see what happens. To me, it's not worth the stress and frustration.
My opinions (which is what they are - opinions)
are just as worthy as yours!
You need not worry about my work production. It is still steady. I'm on here when I have time. Took the day off today to relax and rest.
I hope you enjoy your day! :)
need some opinions, please
I applied at 2 companies on Friday evening - heard back from both of them the same day - one wanted a questionnaire filled out, the other said they were very interested in talking to me and asked me when I was available to speak to them M-W of this week - I wrote back and gave times, etc. Haven't heard anything yet. If I don't hear by this evening, should I call them? I'm very anxious to get another job!
Opinions PLEASE!
I am SO sorry for reposting this. If I knew how to remove my other post from the pressure valve, I would... I do not want to get in trouble for multiple postings, so PLEASE forgive that mistake. I just don't think that the PV gets as much traffic as this board, and I really need some help right now!
Can I get an opinion from someone who is experienced in this business? I am a relatively new MT... I have only been doing this job since March 2005, so less than a year.
I work as an independent contractor at .08 per line. My employer is a really nice person, but she will frequently need help over the weekend. I have always said sure because I want to make myself valuable to her. However, I have always done as much as I can do comfortably and still have time with my family over the weekend.
I did an extra 1000 lines this weekend, which takes me about 6 hours because I am still new and research everything if I am not totally familiar with the terms. I got an email this morning saying that, basically, I had not done enough to help her and she ended up doing "most of it" herself.
My feeling is that she is the owner of this business. If she overextends herself as far as taking on work and she has to work all weekend to get it done, that's what she has to do as the owner of this business. If she wants to pay a weekend differential to me, then sure... I will make plans with my husband to take the kids on his own and I will work all weekend now and then. But if I am working for the same rate, I am not willing to work all week and then work all weekend too and miss out on my husband and children. Isn't it customary and expected to offer a differential for working weekends and holidays?
I am a bit miffed because I gave up most of my Saturday and an hour or so on Sunday to help her out, and now I am criticized for not doing more for the same pay. Any input from you experienced MTs?
I am sitting on my email reply, but it does have this in it:
"I am happy to help as much as I can over a weekend without a differential, but I will need to do so around my family's schedule."
I need to reply to her email, but am not sure what to say. Thank you in advance for your help.
Opinions please!
Have any of you worked at home for a long length of time and then had to go out to work in the public for any reason? I have been a home MT for a long, long time, 10++ years. I work for a big national, but find that I can no longer sit here and wait for work! I have applied for an in hospital job doing rehab! Is this type of work difficult? Any opinions greatly appreciated. I would really like to have your input!
TIA
Opinions please!!!!!!
It's not PT the add just said Rehab MT. So, this had me confused! What do you all think? TIA
Need Opinions-OP
I got things straightened out, but thanks for your replies. I ended up with a 13-page report right after posting. LOL He spoke clearly, too! It's for a psychiatrist, so it should be interesting to hear those cases.
You know what they say about opinions!
8>)
Need opinions
Yesterday, I received an announcement in the mail regarding the graduation of a long-time ex-friend's daughter's graduation...wheew!
My question to y'all is...the last time this ex-friend and I spoke, we were not on good terms..and actually, she wasn't really a friend. She was an MTSO that I worked for for about a year. Turned out (and long story short) she was a crazy person!!! Anyway, I was very surprised to receive this announcement.
What would y'all do? Send the girl money?...I have nothing against her, though I don't really know her that well...trash the announcement and forget about it, or what? I am by no means going to attend the ceremony, but should I even acknowledge the receipt of the announcement?
I feel like the "friend" just...like my daughter said...went through her address book and sent everyone in it an announcement...probably just for gifts...your help would be so appreciated! 
LOL! No wonder you have so many opinions on here!!!!
You are not allowed to have them at home :)
Thanks for all the opinions....sm
I don't believe I am looking for acceptance or any such thing from my mother, but rather I truly care about my father and aunt's health. I think sometimes people are very close to a situation and may not be able to see outside of themselves.
Also, I never said, nor do I believe, that an MT has anything on a NP. I only believe that we do have some medical knowledge and can sometimes pick up on things. Years ago my dad had a constant cough. His doctors (IM, card, pulm) or my mother couldn't figure it out. I asked if he had started any new medications and he had started an ACE. He changed meds and his cough was gone.
I have to think a little more about this, but I do appreciate all the help.
Would like some QA opinions...
I am very frustrated with inability of some of my IC's to punctuate and construct sentences correctly. Is this a common problem, or am I just being too particular? Do others correct this kind of thing and inform the MT or just let it go?
QA opinions
Well said sm! Well said!
Opinions please
I have been working for a small MTSO for over 3 years. My current pay scale is .0675 per gross line. This company recently merged with another company and I just received a new contract to sign changing the pay scale to .08 per 70 character line. Can some of you math experts out there tell me if this is actually a *raise* as they say, or if this is a cut in pay? and also, would you sign the contract and stay??? I may need to reconsider my options. 
I am asking for opinions here first
I can ask the doctor at any time what he pays and he'll tell me. I just wanted some other peoples thoughts before I start asking the doctor questions and trying to sell him the idea of keeping the work in the US.
I'm asking for opinions
I wasn't expecting an accurate answer. I just wanted to get some QA opinions. If you read my post, it says "do you think....," not do you KNOW.
Thank you to those of you who took time to share your kind opinions with me. The rest...I'll just take with a grain of salt.
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