Oh, I do know the facts and the accounts

• LTS - Ag
  • No pay for spaces, which stinks. Your - decision, though.
    • They have tons of work, no low work volumes at all - sm - Laura
      • Oh, I do know the facts and the accounts - I know of
        • There are some accounts that do not dictate - sm - Laura
          • Completely different state, so that explains it! - DifferentCompany
  • 1 positive post near top of pg 2 on the Company board. - Make contact! :) nm

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they will be written in disappearing ink. 

Make up a theory and build on it.  That's the best fact you will have

from this joke of a corporation.  It is a non-business.  The more deep they get

into the world of transcription the more complicated and nonsensical it becomes.

We are so FAR removed at this point from what the job was originally designed to

do it's impossible to recognize the goal.

p.s. the original GOAL was:  Transcribe what an English speaking physician dictated in place of him having to write it out.  They were clear, distinct, and appreciative of the chance to get home to dinner on time instead of sitting writing notes for 2 hours after making rounds. 

A lot of legal-ese, mumbo, jumbo, useless lab values garbled in a nurse cackling station in the hallway was not where they dictated - nor were they doing it in a car, on a boat, in the men's bathroom, or in the doctor's lounge with one eye on the football game.  They were in the MR room in a soundproof cubby with their charts.

All a transcripionist did was put a tape in the machine, type the name of the patient as good as she could make out from the doctor's dictation - type the report - take the paper out of the typewriter, put a sticker on the bottom of the page HISTORY AND PHYSICAL and the like and put it in a stack for the MR clerk to put the Pat ID number and other info in the little box at bottom of the report.

If we couldn't make out what the doctor was saying, we could get up from our chair, go to the files 2 feet away, pull the chart, and look at the word, number, name of whatever we had question about.

We were not "bean counters", doing transcription as an after-thought.  Ever since the time they put MTs in front of a computer we have become DATA ENTRY first and foremost, collecting information, and along with that trying to still PRODUCE the same amount of reports as we used to squeezed into the same 8 hours - while trying to now understand illiterate people calling themselves doctors and who have lost every bit of respect for the person at the other end of the dictation line and who have become for the most part rude buffoons hardly due the title of human being much less physician.

And to top it all off, now with all the added functions companies want from an MT they want to pay less. 

During the "season," the weather's great - the lines are long, and the prices are shooting through the roof.

During the summer, it's just the opposite, but the weather's so hot and humid you'd swear you've got steam coming out your ears. 

recognize the BOS as an authoritative guide for medical writing.  Fact.  No "personal feelings" are involved. 

Now, my PERSONAL FEELINGS are that I hate to see people waste their money.  Way too many MTSOs and MTs have been duped into believing the BOS is an authority. 

This is in response to a post made earlier to the MT who wanted to know if EMR is doing away with MTs. 

To answer your question, I would only direct you to the "job's wanted" board here, as well as to various other MT boards around.  Seeing the vast number of companies who are screaming for qualified MTs should answer your question and put your fears to rest.

EMR is too expensive and cumbersome for the vast majority of docs to use.  They will either have to pay big bucks for it and spend their time playing secretary or hire someone to do the input, which equals employee - benefits - paid vacation time - paid personal time, yada, yada, yada.  WHERE'S THE SAVINGS?  There is none. 

If the doc wants to play secretary and input the info himself, he's cutting his own throat doing it as he's earning secretarial wages instead of M.D. wages. 

EMR will not and never will wipe out our industry.  

Okay, here are the facts for those who care (like me).

There are many standardized IQ  tests.  Some only go to 140.  Some tests can go up to 180.  So basically it depends on what IQ test was given just how relatively smart these people are.  I seriously doubt any of these folks actually published something as personal as an IQ score and even if they did, I would question the validity.   You cannot make a blanket statement when comparing IQs.  One more time (for those who didn't read my last post) -- think about high IQs like this -- it is simply processing speed, just like your computer.  Many IQ tests are auditory memory and/or processing skills -- i.e. you have $1.75 and three of the coins are dimes -- what are the other coins and how many of each. ..that type of thing.  I stress that while IQ is important -- what is more important are other qualities such as character, learning from experience, attitude, resiliency, etc.    I would also add that unfortunately research shows neurocognitive diseases such AD, etc. are very unkind to the extremely intelligent.

I have been a member of American Mensa for years....and find it to be a very valuable wealth of information -- ESPECIALLY  in regard to the testing and studies they have done on gifted children.  Very interesting research and publishing in their magazines of information on smart kiddos (like yours I am sure.) 

: I left Houston and moved to Chicago increasing the average IQ of both places :)

AND if you are going to dis MENSA -- there is another organization called Intertel of which I am also a member whose IQ requirement is 99.9.   What we actually do is covert -- but I am at last relieved that they can no longer harvest my eggs :)

In 1960 the average yearly income was 4,743 dollars.

I'm looking in my 1960 Sears catalog right now:

Console television 23 inches  - 429.00

Reel to reel tape player - 279.95

Gas range 289.00

13.8 cu ft (can you say SMALL?) refrigerator - 369.95

Can you see how expensive these things were back then in comparison to income?  You can buy a really good sized refrigerator now for about 700 dollars on sale.  That's not the fancy schmancy one, but it's very cheap compared to our average income.  Same with everything else.

In my 1973 Sears catalog we have a microwave oven for 500 DOLLARS! 

My point is, many things are very cheap now if you take a historical look at it.

The risks of the Roux-en-Y include organ failure and death.

The risks of the Lap-Band do not include organ failure and death.

I type this everyday for 2 years now so the facts come from the professionals and not me. 

Speculating gets us nowhere.  Does anyone have any facts yet?

You get your news from CNN?  Well, that explains a lot.  As far as being ready for kids...Plenty of people have only as many kids as they can support themselves, AND buy their own house, AND provide for their own retirements.  It's called planning, not reproducing to the extreme under the umbrella of being a "good Catholic" and then being unable to provide.

Medical Transcriptionists

Well above 90% female with an average age of 49

Most were on-the-job trained for years prior to the development of formal transcription curricula

Majority of new entrants receiving too little education and/or training

Retiring faster than qualified transcriptionists are entering the market

The vast majority resides in the US; however, increasing quantities of entrants are from offshore including

India , Pakistan , Philippines , the Caribbean , etc.

 

My national employer has 19 accounts in my queue, though I rarely work in all of them in a week or a month.  Still its too many.  I'll often work 5 or 6 accounts in a single shift, despite the promise of a limit of 2 or 3. 

This is a terrible business practice. If you are a dedicated MT, it requires extensive time to review account-specific instructions, not to mention being unfamiliar with place and people names associated with the different regions.  It is unfair to "quality patient care" to bounce MTs into unfamiliar territory.  After all, how quickly and accurately can one transcribe a record when you are overwhelmed with studying your fifth or sixth different set of instructions in less than 4 hours?  I believe the substantial amount of MT shuffling is to slow us down--they have overstaffed and its to their benefit to force familiarity with odd accounts so they can do it again next time.  They do phase people out of primaries and secondaries and even tertiary accounts once they become proficient.  We hear the work is low due to summer slow down, yet they keep sending their "please welcome our newest recruits" memos.

And, yes, I will definitely be searching for a new company very soon. 

best way of getting your own accounts?  I have one small local account that I got from a newspaper services ad eight years ago.  If I had two or three more like this one, I'd be a happy camper.  I've mailed postcards and made cold calls with no luck whatsoever.  I've even done intro letters with business cards to new providers on the city business license list and in response to help wanted ads.  No nibbles there either.

It doesn't even necessarily have to be a local account.  It could even be Internet based or via mail/UPS.  One guy used to priority mail tapes to me from New York back when I had my virtual assistant/secretarial business.

Any positive suggestions are welcome.  Thank you.

It is like selling a house or anything, it takes a large volume of people to get one buyer.  Even if I am not looking hard,  I send out flyers every year or so to keep my name out there -- have a lot of people that are willing to subcontract for me.  I also hit the smaller ones sometimes and do the rounds in the medical office buildings by the hospitals.   Send flyers out to smaller cities/towns if you are set up for digital as those are the ones that are sometimes looking.   Do networking with other MTSO's in your area. I know many in mine and we all network together.  A lot of it is being at the right place at the right time as they often just throw our flyers out and that is why you have to keep sending them out.  Offer something unique -- I cut apart chart notes and that helped with a couple of accounts.   Stupid but they love it.   Also accounts that use transcription services -- take them a flyer personally with some cookies -- it does work to get it to the manager's/doctor's desk it really does.   I have also offered my own accounts a "finder's fee" if I get an account.  Anything works.   I have gotten a few through the yellow pages.  But it takes time and persistence.  One mailing does not usually do it as there are a lot that start up and stop so if they see it once or twice, they remember it.   Good luck.   Keep your prices fair and offer a good service.   Patti