Now! I work smarter - not harder. I learned through the years how to do this.
Posted By: Just turned 40 - YIKES! on 2006-08-27
In Reply to: At what age would most MTs like to cut back and just have a nice job and not worry about the money - MTPA
I have a pretty stress-free MT job and absolutely love it! Make good money and am enjoying life and my teenagers a bit more.
I realized that the job is not everything.
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An IC working smarter, not harder, does not
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Anyone on this forum working Smarter and not Harder?
I have been in this profession 28 years now; turned 50 this December. Back in the day, I could sit down and type nonstop and be done with my work in 6 to 6.5 hours at 2000 lines. Now it is all I can do to get 1200 lines, and I am working from sun up to sun down. I work a full time employee position and part time IC position. Full time consistently running out of work, so first of year, I will be subcontracting full-time, but will also keep the part time IC position- just so I don't have all my eggs in one basket. What is the key to working less and making more?
had my expander on meant can not, and smarter not harder
I love this job.....
I am 60, stronger, smarter, and better work ethic than any 20 yo
The only *perk* to offshoring is the companies get to pay them even less than they do us, not to mention they can train them to be a lot more obedient and not actually demand to be treated like humans.
41 YO here, learned on the job 22 years ago(sm)
and still love MT. I do acute care, clinic, whatever they throw at me. Started out in a hospital in 1983 and went home/nationals in 1996. Been working at home ever since and have no desire to go back in-house.
I'm 49, confident, learned this 18 years ago on the job, sm
still learning. Looking to get into another profession. Offshoring keeps our wages here low.
Haven't heard in years. Supposedly making it harder to get money
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I learned this many years ago: I type in phrases ,even when I'm not expanding but SM
I use Expanders VERY extensively. Doesn't ever have to be a canned report. Everybody says "the patient" and everybody says "within normal limits" for two examples that I'm sure you already are using. No telling how many thousands of abbreviations I have.
We do work harder
Than most people at an office, I think. When I worked in an office environment, it was so easy to get caught up with talking to everyone and not really getting as much work done as I should have. Here at home, I HAVE to get my work done if I want to get paid! Most people don't realize that. I think that they believe we just around and eat bonbons all day! Ain't so!
You Know WHY They Work Harder?
Because they actually think they are making good money to "live in wonderful country that is free." They don't pay taxes, they don't pay for health insurance, etc. Not to mention, they don't do a good job, you could turn 'em in and have their butts back in their own country. Fear is a great motivator.
Cost of living keeps going up and wages don't. Why would ol' Joe America keep breaking his back working for peanuts when he KNOWS it's not going to pay the mortgage? There ARE hardworking Americans out there but they have to make a profit and shouldn't have to compete with people who aren't even in this country legally.
Basically, harder dictators and harder reports with a lot of formatting with tables, etc. SM
give you extra lines because of the time involved in doing those particular reports. Not so much you get paid more per line, you just get extra line credit. For example:
You have a 100 line report, but it is weighted because of a table that you have to input. Then you would maybe get credit for 130 lines for that report.
So sad how I work so much harder now doing the same thing...
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You can work those machines harder than a lot of people do
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People (& animals, too) will work harder to get
nm
funny how upgrades make work harder for us
.
Not anymore unfortunately! They want cheaper labor to work harder!
I made more per line my first 2 weeks interning than now with a lot more bills and expenses.
I have to agree that cherrypickers will be out of work when VR takes over, since the harder reports
Even when I worked inhouse and had the opportunity to cherrypick, I didn't. Even now, I am finding out that ESLs are probably easier than than some of the American doctors in the long run, because they get down to business and dictate their report. Most times, they say the same thing over and over. Learn the doc, know his quirks and bang, you are done.
I've been doing this doc for many years, so I've learned how to function with him. sm
I can tell what's a stutter, what's another word, what's just an "uh." Years of experience will get you through a lot.
Wouldn't want to do his charts all day, of course, but a few per day aren't bad. I haven't had to send his to review in a long time, but they do take a little longer to shuffle through.
Never learned it? Hah! I learned it and still didn't like it.
Do you feel smarter than everyone else now?
Just showing off, I guess. Apparently, no one is as smart as you and no one but you has the right answer. Here's your shiny star. *
because they are of the Gods and thus smarter than you, and
have no clue they are hit and run liabilities...
There should be a required medical/legal, in's and out's class on dictation....something more than 'push this button and talk.'
My dream is to have them transcribe each other, but only if I can watch.
But don't forget how much smarter she is than you - not. NM
/
technology smarter than you think
An advert for *TAKE THIS MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION COURSE AND START A NEW CAREER!* was sifted into my junk email box.
 
Smarter than the average bear :-)
xx
You're smarter than I was as a newbie! I've - sm
gotten myself into some terrible job situations in the past by jumping on board too hastily.
I think the person applying for the job in that original post probably wasn't that good at timing her questions. Even so, we do have every right to ask about them, just as they do to ask about us.
Apparently management is smarter than you - they're your boss!
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oh wow, so that makes you smarter than me because you corrected an error on a message board???
Congrats...how have I not been supportive? I never called you anything nasty or said anything negative...I merely stated sometimes you have to suck it up...ESLs are never going to get any easier...you just have to adapt...and the pay will get better once you prove yourself...I think you just don't like the reality of the situation...sorry for being honest...
Ten years ago work was being
I find this nothing new. It is just accelerating. I wouldn't recommend this field to anybody new, unless they are ready to eventually find something different.
Remember back in the 60s and 70s, the steel industry was oursourced to Japan. Now I think it is going to China. It never came back. Everything is being outsourced. We are losing (or have almost lost) our manufacturing industry. The jobs go to where they can pay a few dollars a day and get away with it, they don't have to pay taxes, no environmental protection, no worker rights, unemployment, social security, etc.
I don't know what will happen with this country if this trend continues. I hear politicians say the answer to outsourcing is Americans should go to college and get degrees and become doctors, lawyers, etc. These jobs are also being outsourced. They already are reading our x-rays in India by outsourced radiologists. Now I hear an insurance company is encouraging their customers to go to a foreign company for surgery. Go by a pair of pants. They are all made in China, it seems everything is.
This is those "fair" trade agreements our government has made. And don't blame just the Republicans and Bush, this started back with Cliniton. The Democrats and Republicans are equally guilty. I don't know what the answer is. The world is changing and that is a fact of life. My strategy is to just try and make sure my family is provided for.
After 25 years, nope. Just work. But I used to. nm
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I work for a company in NY and they had to do this a few years ago. I think sm
that most will need to do this as the IRS does not think that MTs are eligible to be ICs.
The company that I work for had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines because of it all.
For insurance, for professional liability insurance, I was told that you have to be incorporated. I don't have a problem with this. If I hired someone to build an addition for me, I would want him/her to have insurance. Why should medical records be any different?
I actually make more as an employee. I still take my deductions as unreimbursed employee expenses (per my CPA), take home office expense and do not have to pay the 7+ % for SS match that the employer usually does.
I have work going back years - sm
others keep it a month or two. I have one doctor who sees patients on a yearly basis, I pull the previous report so I don't have to retype a lot of it, as he basically repeats the old one with a few changes, I'd have a lot more work to do otherwise. I have another account that constantly misplaces their work, I have to retrieve work from months earlier because they cannot find their copy. I can either pull it from my stash, or the MTSO has a FTP where we back up all our work just for this purpose, she keeps it all there going back years. I have no idea how often she cleans it out, but she hasn't in the almost 2 years I have been with her. On another note, I only keep the sound files for a month, then I dump them.
Well, I have 25 years experience also in all work types
and only do acute care with a line rate of 10.5 cpl M-F and 11 cpl on the weekends.
You can negotiate it a little harder, and you will get it depending on their needs, I guess.
It is MDI-Maryland.
Well in my company, nobody's work was checked for many years~!
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I haven't missed a day of work in 10 years
I can't believe so many ICs do this, taking days off! It's unheard of to me.
I don't blame you for getting frustrated. Seems no one has a good work ethic these days.
I, too, work for MQ out of one of their CA offices - 7 years now. Steady workflow sm
I wouldn't say I don't run out of work, but maybe 3 times a year I do. Just depends. Around school time beginning I do. May pay is probably above average because the company I worked for that MQ bought paid really well.
I have had absolutely no problems with MQ, though the things I keep hearing and seeing do bother me that I belong to a co. like this. But personally, they've been too good to me.
I guess not all offices are the same, for sure!
I had the same thing with a client in Indiana - did their work for 5 years
Then someone from Connecticut stole the account - underbid me, and the work just kept getting slower and slower, and I asked questions of what was going on, and no answer. Finally the girl that USED to send the work to me called me and told me they were going with Mary's service, and I should be looking for something else, and that they had no intention of telling me because they were using me for stats, etc. (I didn't charge extra for stats, and she did).
So Mary, I know who you are, and I hope RP's dictation is driving you NUTS!
There I feel better.
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!
Well I don't know anything with all my years experience because I only transcribe clinic work ..
Other than that, I see quite a few replies to your original message so hmmm
We have to work alternating T'giving, Xmas, and New Years. sm
Other holidays, Mem Day, Lab Day, 07/04, don't seem to have scheduling issues so they don't dictate which of those, but we have to work 3 of 6 holidays per year.
This year I took off July 4th, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving, and work Memorial Day, Xmas, and New Years. Next year I'll work T'giving but have Xmas adn New Year's off, and the other 3 I haven't decided yet. And, we have to choose all of this in February, which is difficult.
After working 2 years, I average 220-250 lph for clinic work.
nm
I would bet its harder now being a kid than
You almost have to be mean, because mean people get respect and heard. Nice people are easier to stomp on. While your teaching your kid please and thank you, other mommies are teaching theirs to be ruthless and cruel. Truly to the core nice genuine people are so hard to find these days.
It was harder for me when they were that age too - sm
They are 6 & 7 now....though when they are home sick my work goes in the toilet basically. When they were younger ( I started when then were 2 & 3) I basically just worked when they napped and at night, about all you can do. I still get up early a few days a week and work until 11 or so despite them being in school all day (though the last day is June 1, ahhgggg, way too early this year), and will have a more radical plan this summer (i.e. work 3 a.m. to noon is my goal) so I don't have to make sure they are occupied while I work all day and I can actually spend some time with them, granted I will have to take a cat nap at some point, amazing what a 20-minute rest can do for you.
I would definitely be harder but obviously
all of their clients. I would set up an 800 call-in dictation number or a TASP and then wherever the place you move to, look for new clients in that area while keeping the old ones when you move, dialing into the 800 # to dictate (or using a hand-held and uploading, but I personally have never done it that way). I think they feel more comfortable using a service that is local to them; that seems to be their first choice. And then they will go with a national service if there is nothing available locally. I think just concentrate on whatever area you are in, build a rapport with clients in that area and do a good job for them, and then when you move just continue to have them dictating long distance on the 800#. Of course, you will have to set up to send files back electronically and not by delivering because you can't deliver once you move - so just set it up where you send files back through an FTP site or encrypted email or whatever from the beginning.
I tell them it's harder than it looks!
Every one of my neighbor friends who has kids has asked me that question. They see me home all day, know I have a mortgage, car payment, etc, and think they can do it too. I always give them the example of a relative of mine who tried to teach a nurse how to transcribe. The nurse obviously had the terminology, but could not make the leap to hearing something and typing it on a keyboard. The last neighbor who asked (baby due in 2 weeks), I just said "Find yourself an account and I'll help you learn". This was 6 months ago when she first asked and, of course, didn't bother to do that. In other words, they don't want to go to school, don't want to get an account, don't want to do anything other than sit down, starting typing something and get a paycheck in 2 weeks. It seems to be one of the only professions that everyone thinks is easy (and we all know it's NOT!!!).
I have never seen a harder worker than
my husband and he can do 2500 tops. He used to QA between 4500 and 5000 daily - so he can really move through reports once he learns the doctor, their style of dictation, etc. I'm on my second VR account and I'm embarrassed to tell you what I can do - I think 600 yesterday? I am dead serious. It is a whole 'nother skill....
by doing the harder dictators you....
get valuable experience and when it comes down to it, YOU are the one who looks good and has more potential for raises and promotions because you can do those and do them well when no one else can. Also, you are the one that they'll see can ultimately do ANY type of report/dictator without hesitation or problems. So let them cherrypick. They're only hurting themselves in the long run. (that is, if you work for a company who actually appreciates it's employees!)
looking for people that used to work for small MTSO in Suffield, OH a few years back.
ss
Quit after 2 years. If I wanted to work 8 hours a day, I would have stayed in the hospital. Seemed
to be working all day long just to make a decent living. Although, I wanted to be home with my kids until the baby was at least 5, had to breakdown and return to working outside the home, to make ends meet. Just to stressfull trying to make a good living with the rates they are paying now.
Does anyone know of companies that hire for physical thearpy work? Many years experience.
nm
I agree with Misty, after doing rescue work with cats for over 20 years, they do adjust and become v
x
from what i've heard, its a lot harder
I know they could care less about us, we're just numbers/slaves to them, but why don't they get a little integrity for the business, make us happy for once, in turn improving quality and giving themselves a good name, and pay by the hour while we learn this technology at least. How can any company cut pay across the board like that and get away with it?
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