Need some advice please on best way to learn new types of transcription

• Need some advice please on best way to learn new types of transcription - Brandi
  • Family Practice trains you with a little of everything - MTmidwest
  • Well - sm
    • Thanks for that advice! - Brandi
      • Can be one specialty or multiple ...... - nm

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

I have been doing medical transcription for about 5 years now and I am very interested in getting into other areas such as auto insurance claims, police reports, interviews, etc.

I was wondering if anyone has ventured into this area  -I would like to try something new but do not even know where to start.

Thanks for any advice!

It's been a long time since I had to do this.  I've been given a couple of report types to do.  The first appears to be a discharge summary.  Should I just type in the headings the way I "think" they should be based on how I was taught in the past?? 

Also, is it best to transcribe verbatim or try to make the test report look as professional as possible (like we would be expected to when on the job)?  As far as listed items are concerned, i.e. medications.....The old MT in me wants to number them.  Is that acceptable?   I'm really concerned with trying to format the report based on how I "think" they would want me to. 

I would appreciate any helpful advice anyone is willing to share!!

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.

lines in a day it is considered cherrypicking? I just finished my shift for the day and had 3897 lines. Did I cherrypick? No! I can't see what work I'm getting until it shows up on my screen. I worked a total of 11 hours with my 3 breaks figured in. Yes, I did work 2 hours OT but they asked for OT so I sat and worked. I can work steadily for 3-4 hours and then get up and stretch. I had no normals except the ones that I put in myself for the doctors. I've been doing the same accounts for about 8 years and have tons of "normals" for a lot of the doctors. Once in a while they will change their wording to throw you off course. The only doctors that slow me down nowadays are the new residents who must talk for no less than 30 minutes for each patient. Out of the 132 charts I transcribed, I had about 65% ESLs. Just because some people type a lot of lines in a day does not mean that they are a cherrypicker.

That's one of the things I hate about some nationals. You should NOT be allowed to see the other line counts of your fellow workers because all these accusations happens. If you see someone with a constantly high line count, you automatically assume they are getting all the "good" doctors when it is not the case with a lot of people. It may be true in some cases but you're lumping everyone with a high line count into one group.

Easiest-family practice.  Hardest-OB/GYN.

There is Olympus, VEC, Infinity, many, many.  Look at the bottom of your pedal to get the code.  If it is an Infinity, you will see something like IN-USB1, or IN9B (for 9 pin) or IN-DVIUSB.  All the Infinity foot pedals work with ExpressScribe EXCEPT the DVI because it is a higher technology than is compatable with ES.  Run the foot control wizard on ExpressScribe to help it locate the foot pedal and recognize it so you can use it.  You may have to try all the COM ports on the wizard before you hit the right COM port and the foot pedal is recognized.  My Infinity foot pedal USB1 is recognized in ES as the _VEC_ if that helps you.

I have had to do the hand control thing and it is very frustrating and can make the test take 4 times longer than with a foot pedal.

Hi everyone,

Do any of you have other types of jobs besides MT, QA, Editing, etc. like me?? I just started another type of job for evenings to help out financially, and I like doing so.  I still do my main MT thing, but the other one is actually fun for me, and not just slaving away all day at a computer!! 

from the lowliest to corporate level, and I take pride in all work that I do.  I do not find this profession in any way boring -- there is always something new to be learned and every case (usually) is different and fascinating to me.  Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes they make me cry, but it is never boring!!.  I just get so frustrated with the regard that everyone else looks at this profession -- that because I work from home, it is not a "real" job, or that what we do is not important or significant.  This job requires a myriad of language and technical skills that I believe an "average" person could simply not do. I have done brain-numbing data entry, and this work is far, far more involved than simply transferring numbers or names into a format. 

Did you leave a lot of blanks or guess?  Were you familiar with those work types?  Were the accents difficult?  Did you follow the BOS (BS)?

Of the 10 years' exp you have, is it well-rounded (including acute care and clinic).  Have you ever worked in house (in a hospital or clinic)?

Just some things to consider.  I wouldn't throw in the towel just because some national didn't like your test.  Consider a local service with specialties you are familiar with and ask the owner/QA person to help you with learning new ones.

Sometimes it's like the game of Monopoly - I'll trade you St Charles Place for Marvin Gardens. You take a couple of choice dictatators in exchange for doing a couple that other people have trouble doing.

Another example is giving a "good show." By that I mean ... there are 20 reports on the system - Two of them are 10 minutes each and the rest are 2 minutes each. You've got two hours to get the work done, so, you do all the small reports. Changes are it'll be the same amount of lines either way, but it's psychological for the client. They think they're getting more work back.

I remember years ago when I worked in a hospital. There was one doctor who sent me screaming from the room (he sounded like a deranged chipmunk). They hired a new gal who had no trouble doing him (she also had a lot more experience than me). She knew I hated him and said, "I'll go him if you let me down so-and-so." You betcha!! We were happy as clams. I got rid of the worst one, and she got to do her favorite one.

The truth of the matter is, I would speak with those in charge and explain the situation. Tell them how you feel (very frustrated). See what they can do/say. If they won't ... personally ... I update my resume and look elsewhere.

Then again, maybe I just have a lower tolerance level than others. 

On the one hand there are the elder parents who are still very functional but maybe not able to live alone.  In that case I feel they should move in with the middle-aged children or vice versa. 

However, on the other hand, there are those elder parents who are no longer able to function and require 24-hour nursing care.  In this case, I think it would be better if they were in a nursing home setting where they could get the around-the-clock care rather than the children having to pay a private-duty nurse.   Yes, the elder parents, when they are young, provided for and took care of the children.  However, we're talking nursing care at this point.   And the other argument is:  How far do the middle-aged kids take the nursing care?  Do they get to the point where they're having to sell their house and belongings in order to keep the elder parents at home?  JMO

cardiac caths because most docs will say the same thing over and over, same for bypass grafting, just different grafts and locations.  All in all the procedures stay basically the same.  This also works for cardioverting, just change the joules where appropriate.  When I do a cath or other procedure for the first time. I will make a normal for it then make changes as they come along.  These procedures can be good for the line count!.  Also, in your short keys, make short cuts for left and right anterior descending, ejection fraction, end diastolic pressure, etc., you get the picture.  They will use these a lot. 

I have found that most of the time the more difficult dictators are the ones that will basically go word for word in dictating their reports.  Good luck! 

constantly have no woek or constantly runs out of work.  At least half of the MTs on MTstars need to follow this advice.  This would stop the majority of the whining on this board.

You can probably set your computer to automatically back up critical files but you're not going to be able to completely back up everything, like OS or program, because that would be illegal.

You can set a restore point on your computer so that you can return your computer to that point should there be a problem. This is always a good idea to do before installing new software.

If you right mouse click on your hard drive (usually C:) and choose properties, it will tell you both how big your drive is, how much space you have used and how much you have free. Only you can decide how big of a USB or Zip drive you will need based on that info.