POLL: How do you handle stress when you're having a bad day transcribing?
Posted By: EmmaMT on 2006-07-19
In Reply to:
I have a bad habit of eating junk food....trying to break it! What about everyone else?
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you really should see someone about how to handle stress constructively...
and stop reading the boards for a while. sounds like implosion is emanent.
good luck with that.
Nasty? The poll is only about whether you wear bifocals or not when transcribing.
l
you're funny - but I change my handle....sm
to usually fit the threads here.....but email me anytime - just click on the email thingy when you post to me :) I DO email *lol*
Yeah, eTime does keep me more together and putting in more hours....*grins* I only work for them PT.
Thanks for what you said about my post - if I was going to call someone that, I would've spelled DUMB and I would've not called them DUMB but voiced an opinion that I thought they were DUMB. I was merely being dramatic, like you said.....and starting with a dum-de-dum-dum-DA or DUM, I forget how I ended that......
I now think that poster didn't know what eTime was nor worked for our national but who knows? I'm certainly not sure. *l*
Email me - and we'll do email :) Perhaps we even live in the same state....*giggles*
Be well, sugar!! :)
don't stress too much about it (sm)
It's really not hard to learn at all. It may seem overwhelming, I mean all the manuals they send you about it, but honestly, I haven't even opened them, except during training...which BTW, I didn't get paid for...but that's another issue! Anyways, it's fine...I only use the built in expander also, and I like it! You'll be fine...don't stress over it. Good luck! 
stress
I either play with my dog, walk or read something that requires no brain!
Stress
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to relieve stress? I work 8-10 hours a day, have a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and a husband who does not believe MT is a real job, and major financial stressors.
I have been slowly losing my hair over the past 6 years which I believe may be due to hormonal shock (2 babies in quick succession) and then stress and maybe adrenal fatigue.
I am hoping a stress-free living will help me regain myself and my hair! Thanks.
The pay is really good, but the stress so-so!
I do have some great MTs that I QA for and I bless them every day LOL. The title is nice on paper, yes. I don't plan on being in this profession forever, but since I do have some type of supervisory under belt, that will be good.
Hand stress
I've transcribed since 1983. You can lessen hand stress if you observe how you hold your hands as you type. When I was in my twenties I noticed that there was a real difference in the way I held my hands and how the older transcriptionists (they had their wrists up and hands pointing down at the keyboard). I have always had my wrists laying on something and my fingers are going up. I have never had one bit of carpal tunnel or pain whatsoever.
Stress in the office
I'm one of the unlucky ones NOT at home, but still in the office. The stress level in there is making us all sick, both physically and mentally. I would get out of MT and learn to do something else if I didn't think that by the time I finally got through school, I'd be too old to be hired.
Yes, but no. I used to stress over it when we had to eat two meals
between my parents and the in-laws. Then I started hosting, but that was stressful because it was expensive and a lot of other reasons that I won't get into. DH and I got into an argument because he's upset that I refuse to host this year. I've done it for the past several years. We don't have the money and half of our house is ripped apart for repairs, plus I have to work both Wednesday and Friday while all the in-laws are off those days. I don't care. I quit. They can do whatever they want to do. I'm tired of being a people-pleaser.
reduce your stress
i guess you have someone sharing the load. it is hard to reduce your stress level if you are the breadwinner, caretaker, and housekeeper.
STRESS ECHO
Agree with the other poster. More than likely, in my experience, the tech just didn't do a good job and that is why the images are not clear.
What do you do for stress reduction?
I am 100% stressed to the max, all the time. I wish I wasn't so high strung and jittery. So what do you do to relax and reduce stress? I need ideas. 
stress reduction
I have lots of hobbies that I enjoy soI can easily immerse myself in one of those and forget my troubles for awhile. My favorite hobby is scrapbooking. I also go to the gym daily and that helps reduce stress as well.
Less stress so true
A few of us on this particular discussion feel the same way. I have felt only a tiny degree of stress working overnight transcribing. It is the only luxury time just for me. This is why I switched. It is so quiet. I am not scared the kids will bug me or husband or some emergency at school etc. I love my work at night I get the stats and ops and they are so interesting. I must say I would have died early if I kept days and or second shift because the family has needs. Now, at night I am 100% me and transcribing, my productivity is great. So, if I get cancer I would be surprised because I think that stress makes a person open to all kinds of diseases. To you night owls out there enjoy your peace and quiet, this is your "me" time!
job stress. die or get fired.
i am quite upset. one of my co-workers passed away. we here all know it was from job stress, but we are not to admit it and were repremanded so by our superiors. basically it came down to "die or get fired". lucky for her she died before she could get fired.
now i am sitting here at work today wondering what the heck am i supposed to do? we cannot talk about the job stress and that is what did her in, but she was sick and getting sicker and this is why she passed away. she was sick and getting sicker from the stress dawg-gone it.
nobody gets it.
tuesday she told me that a lot of her sickness had to do with wondering if she was going to have a job or not and what would she do if she got fired? she was beside herself with worry. she worked her for 25 years, and was a good employee and excellent Transcriptionist until the new supervisor took over and started ragging on her like a pit bull dog and his prey. and this is a catholic hospital. i guess this is the new christian work ethic.
i need to vent. any comments would be appreciated but since i am at work please make them nice. i have had enough bad stuff happen around here today.
How do you handle
Your first year as an IC regarding taxes? Should I go ahead and set up some type of payment plan like that?
What? That's what you can't do - handle someone else having a
Take your own advice, please.
here's how i handle it N/A
when enrolling my son in high school they wanted all sorts of information like that about family history...i left all blank with N/A....
They also wanted his social security number....N/A There is no reason in the world they should need his social security number and I asked about this.. They said it was for when he signed up for college loans etc. I told them he's not in college yet and I would not be furnishing that information to anyone.
In a post below someone said something about ppl being over paranoid these days....I had my identity stolen a few years back. It nearly destroyed my credit, wiped out my bank accounts, and took me literally years to clean up. In this day and age you can never be too careful with privacy. You just cannot be sure what anyone is doing with your private information. Better safe than sorry.
How do you handle if you are an IC??
Exactly! The money was great, but the stress...
and long hours were certainly not worth it. I still don't get why JJ or whoever would care about anyone's bb name.  Personally, I have more important things to get my panties in a twist over. We all have our hangups I suppose. 
Stress and long hours
So, you're saying that you got tired of the stress and long hours so you bacame a TRANSCRIPTIONIST! You crack me up. Everybody knows that as a Transcriptionist there is never any stress or long hours.
Morning stress reducers
When my kids were young, there were a few tricks I used to cut down on hectic mornings. I didn't make sandwiches ahead but I did prebag chips and cookies and place is a drawer. That way just had to reach in and grab a couple of bags and lunch was halfway prepared. The night before, kids always picked out the clothes for the next day. And there was no changing minds that morning either, or they lost 1/2 hour of TV time. Also, backpacks got loaded up the night before and placed by the door. A little extra thought and effort the night before made mornings a little less hectic.
LOL! And stress will kill you or make you
now have some incurable, difficult to treat, chronic, crippling, painful disease brought on by stress!
Repetitve Stress Injury
Thanks so much for the help and advice. Yes, I do have the screen eye level but I might be able to adjust a few things. I think the doctor is my next stop however. One thing I notice is maybe I need to get to stretching more between dictations. I have a tendecy to focus on the work for too long.
If you think you have stress now, wait until you are a teacher.
s
Anyone with experience with stress echo?
Does anyone know what it would mean to have a stress echo where everything was normal at rest, person exercised normally to 99% of predicted with minimal symptoms, and at the end of the test echo images were not clear. Tech then said this was the wrong test, and of course, lips were sealed as to what that meant. Anyone with any knowledge of this or experience? Thanks.
Personally, I like the lack of stress and no (sm)
flippin' academic politics, or driving to 5 different colleges each week, teaching one course at each as a part-time lecturer. I've preferred spending my time homeschooling my equally gifted children, writing for a couple of feminist pubs, and working on local grassroots politics. Working at home as an MT allows me to break up my day and do all those things, while being the sole breadwinner. Works for me.
Never said she was big...maybe it is stress, not on an eating schedule, whatever.
Not that she needed to at all; she just did! Sorry!
He's using the puter to relax & de-stress, same as you. - nm
Because those who have someone else to contribute to the household have enough stress?
nm
Turn it in and don't stress. Companies that
have several reports for you to transcribe have different degrees of difficulty. One may be ESL, one may be dictating on a cell phone on his car, one may be trying to do a 15 dictation in 3 minutes, etc. Leaving a blank is definitely better than guessing. They are just trying to get a feel for your skill level. Okay you can't do the ESL or the speedy doc, but you can do the orthopedic doc with ease.
They may need someone for a difficult account and maybe you won't get that job, but they may need someone for clinic notes, or maybe an easier account and you would do well with that. You'll get paid less than if you could so the slurring doc without blanks.
With the slurring doc listen to the report one time time all the way through. Don't try to fill in any blanks. Next go back and listen again, this time trying to fill in blanks. You may be able to get one or two of them this time around.
If you don't pass/get hired at least it was one more experience you have had.
I don't test well. I can ace the transcription part, but if they have questions on the test I may not do well. I had one test that was timed and I was really freaking because I didn't know some of the answers without looking them up and the test timed out on me before I even finished it. They still offered me a position.
One thing is for sure, you won't get the job if you don't turn in the test.
I have heard that this can often be caused by stress.
In the early years of my first marriage, my husband soaked the sheets nightly. He was in the middle of a nasty divorce and child custody case. When those issues resolved, the night sweats disappeared.
I want your job. :( simple, ok pay, no stress. LUCKY. nm
It is no doubt stress related
and you can relieve it by getting up using a bungie cord under your feet and pull up and down on it. This stretches your shoulder and arm muscles is a stress reliever. You need to strengthen your abdominals also as sitting weakens the back and abdomen. Get an exercise ball. Those can be great little stress relievers. You may even try standing at your computer by raising the keyboard and monitor. This keeps one awake and refreshed also. Eventually, the pain will dissipate. Take daily walks if you can and definitely stretch every day for at least 1/2 hour. Swimming good, too. Hope this helps.
You need to know how to handle these people. sm
They will try to get you to work like a dog, your fingers to the bone. You just tell him no. I will work x number of hours a day and that is it. That is what I did and it worked out fine. They will try to push you to work 24 x 7 if they can. That is the way they are (men from India). Just hold firm and they will accept it. You need to be "thick-skinned" I think to be able to work with them.
My DBF can't even handle the 2 hours
that he watches them every evening. They drive him nuts. He doesn't help with the cleaning, cooking, laundry, and like I said-those 2 hours from 8pm to 10pm, I don't really get much done cause they are in the next room screaming-him included. It's not fun. He does his best with them....when he takes them places in the evening, but of course, this can't happen every night. (I'm ready to bail in the relationship anyway) Just be so thankful to those of you who have "adult" spouses, he's like a big kid, leaves clothes all over, etc, doesn't know where the garbage can is. He is still in the dark ages I'm afraid when it comes to "women in the house, barefoot and pregnant" attitude. He's only 39. Blames it on the way he was raised. K. It's 2005, get with the program. It's a lost cause.
easy to handle
Merely sent an email. In the subject line put MTSTARS (company name) so when you get a response you have the details.
Merely say, I have a couple of question prior to sending in a resume or testing taking. This saves time on both sides.
May I ask, what is the lowest to the highest rate of pay. What pay rate formula is used, for example, by the line, by the minute, by the word, by the gross word. Are spaces paid, ALL spaces.
some in their ads say "we pay for ALL spaces" so I guess some companies pay a percentage.
For instance Medquist does not pay for the demographic screen, the CC notation or the headings. and prob more that is not known. .
You need to know how to convert this to an hourly rate so you know how much you actually are making.
Below is a quote from a company in Texas TSI and I sat down with the calculator and figured some of the hourly rates. For the most part, way too many lines for most MTs
Below is the quote in email from TSI. The calculated figures are mine.
.____________________________________________________
Less than 1000 lines per day average = 6 cents (these we consider to be part-time positions and we really prefer to work with full-time employees.)
1000-1100 average lines per day = 7 cents
(this is $70 for 8 hours ($8.75 hr)
1200-1399 average lines per day = 7.5 cents
This is $90. for 8 hours $11.25 hr and 150 lines an hour about almost 4.5 pages/hr. This is a lot of pages/hr.
1400-1599 average lines per day = 8 cents
This is 1400 X 8 = $112 per 8 hr.
8 divide into $112=$14/hr
1400 lines divide 8= 175 lines/hr
Figure 34 lines/page+ 5.41 pages an hour.
No way I could do this. I would not work for 6,7,8,9- no less than 10 and this is not really great. You cannot predict what you will end up with. You could be on target and lose it all, wham. .
1600-1799 average lines per day = 8.5 cents
1800 or greater average lines per day = 9 cents So then this would be:
225 lines per hour, about 6.61 pages
112 lines 30 minutes, 3 1/2 pages
56.2 lines 15 minutes 1.65 pages
nearly 4 lines per minute
Well over one million keystrokes/8hr
.
Here's how I'd handle the situation...
First off I'd tell my mom that he's a pig and what he has done.
Secondly I'd never be around him without a recording device turned on in my pocket so that way you can record his comments, and if he touches you or flirts then get a recording of your asking him to not touch or look at you that way and his response. Then play the recording for your mom and other relatives.
While it may be true your mother may go into denial you need to stand up for yourself. My mom was a fool and protected my father when she was told about his untoward advances towards women for years.... and then something happened that made her realize that she had been a fool for years and that he was the one with the problem.
Here is an even nicer way to handle it!
I totally agree with having her over in YOUR space and being nice to her. Tell her you can hear everything through the walls and celings (blaming them was a good idea) Tell her other things BESIDES her that you can hear. Tell her what you do for a living and what times you work, and how those "other" noises are so distracting. You don't have to tell her she is too loud; she will surely get the picture if she has any sense at all. If that doesn't fix the problem, then I would go to the manager and ask if there have ever been other complaints about her first. He/She may already know this is a problem. You never know how people will react if you tell them you would appreciate it if they would be quiet, no matter how nice you say it. I would have her over for snacks and a "chat" real soon though or you will go insane!
And another one who can't handle reality.
/
The reference I handle THE MOST - sm
is my Medical Phrase Index - I happen to use the 4th edition and I mean I use it often. It really comes in handy for mush-mouthed docs and ESL docs.
How do you handle no work?
I have not had work for most of July. I am an IC and have been doing this for years. This is the slowest I have ever been and I'm stressed out. Luckily, hubby pays the majority of the bills so I am not starving! I have applied several other places with no luck. Is this just a summer slow period or what? How can I keep from going a bit crazy? I am getting rather depressed. TIA
How would you handle this situation?
I picked up some extra IC work back in May, and since that time have covered for the owner by editing for her while she was on vacation for a week, and then taken extra work as the MT with whom I share dictation from this doc was on vacation for a week, then sick for a week just after return, the next Friday had a family emergency, etc. This was supposed to be part-time work, and has turned out to be more than I would expect for part-time . . . to the point where when this doc was going on vacation, I was trying to hold out and not say anything about it being too much, thinking that I'd be caught up and fine to take on the work when he returned, but wound up "breaking" with one day left to go, and told the woman it was too much, and she asked if I could just hang in there with her as she was testing another MT, and would reduce the amount she gave me if this girl worked out.
Well, the doc returned from vacation and I did not get any of his work for about a week, and then the next week (this past week), I was given slightly more work than in the weeks prior to his vacation, although I had already told her it was too much, and it was still the same girl working the account with me. At the end of the week it seemed that she had hired another girl, but did not reduce my work, just switched from girl 1 to girl 2.
Sorry so long, but here's the BIGGER problem . . . in the early part of the week, the owner e-mailed with an attached voice file, requesting that I download the voice file and listen to a blank she was trying to fill-in. I listened (over and over) could not find her sentence, so responded with what I was hearing in and around that area. She then gave me another location and said that she had two counters on her program and did not know which one my program used, could I listen at xxxx location, so I did, gave her the fill-in, but was a little bewildered as to why she would request my assistance in that way as SHE IS NOT PAYING ME FOR THIS KIND OF HELP.
Here we go again, yesterday she sends an e-mail with some voice files attached and some sentences with blanks, and she is requesting the same thing, that I listen and fill-in the blanks. I am just not sure what to do here. Early on, a couple of weeks after she returned from her vacation, she asked me if I could "proofread" the other girls files for that day as an appointment she had was "screwing her up". I e-mailed back that, due to my heavy workload, I would not be able to EDIT work for her. (The girl's work requires editing, not proofreading, which I quickly found out while covering the owner's vacation.) I thought that I had let her know then that I do not work for free, in a nice way.
I would like to keep the work, but only what I am being paid for, so . . . How would you handle this situation? 
How do you handle burnout as MT? Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've only been doing this for 7-1/2 years and I've about had it with all the junk. 
How do you/your company handle this--sm
Once a report is typed and checked in by you and someone else accesses the report be it QA or another Transcriptionist adding a line or making a change per the dictator, is that second/third person required to indicate in some way that your report has been altered? Thanks
Need advice on how to handle this --sm
I am an IC and have several accts -- One of my accts has not pd for services since early Nov 2006. I have given notice that will no longer be providing services as of 02/09/07 -- Should I continue to provide services, knowing that I may not be paid -- or can I just give notice saying that since I have not been pd -- i can no longer continue. I have no written contract with physician.. pls advise Want to do right thing as this is small area but also want to be pd for work performed. ...
Question ... How would you handle this?
I have 44 clients for my business. I charge 18 cpl. I pay 7 and 8 cpl for my MTs (ICs). With the 10-11 cpl left over, I have to pay all my overhead. Sometimes, I have no money left over to even pay myself, and have even put in my personal savings to make sure the MTs get paid. Now, I have a company that has offered me to do work for 5 cpl but it is offshore. I have to say, tho, that the extra 3 cpl would allow me to sometimes even pay myself something. My contractors are complaining about wanting more money but I will go under and close down if I do that. Also, this company will do the work overnight and return it in the mornings when I have to constantly juggle with my current contractors because they only want to work days. I don't want to cut my contractors but I don't see any other way around it. What should I do?
See the dilemma? It's not as easy as you think.
how to handle -- be sure and dot your I's and cross your t's
First you need to be able to substantiate what you are saying.
you need to know who is signing off the report? Is she??? or is the physician???? or is she signing the report off by another physician???? If she is how is she doing it.
You need to get all your ducks in a row so that you dont go to administration and look like a troublemaker making things up.
Personally I would gather all my proof and turn a copy of it in to adminstration anonymously (make sure that cannot trace it back to you because when the fire starts you dont want to get burned in the aftermath).
If doesnt take care of it take that same info, write a letter explaining what you have witnessed and that you reported to administration but it continues and anonymously submit all of this info to JCAHO.
Complaint Hotline
800-994-6610 complaint@jointcommission.org
How do you handle your mistakes?
I am an IC and for the past 5 years have worked for the same doc. He still uses tapes so I deliver on a daily basis. I already load the work on his PC and make sure the pages line up etc. and do not get paid extra. I also convert some reports from WP to Word and e-mail to him at no extra charge. Now he starts calling me after I leave the clinic and expect me to either turn-around and come fix the mistakes/changes (15 minutes later) or I must wait in his office until he is finished with a patient consult, can go through the work to check for mistakes/changes for me. The mistakes range from doctor's names misspelled (workmen's comp with lots of different doc names, impossible to search and find as no clue where the doc is located) or template changes etc. and sometimes silly mistakes which is totally my mistake. Am I fair in stating that I do not mind doing the corrections when I return the next day but that I cannot wait around in his office for him as he does not pay me for that and I will also not turn around after I have left the office to go back when they call me? How do all of you handle this type of situation?
if you get a handle on the situation - let us know, k? NM
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