Take your medical degree into the office and voice your concerns.
Posted By: MT2 on 2009-03-14
In Reply to: Anything an MT can do when you have grave concerns about patient care? - Concerned MT
How do you know the patient isn't getting the proper care? No two patients are alike, just because your child has the same condition doesn't mean anything. This parent probably has googled her child's condition and is working along with the doctor. As an MT, you should not talk about any patient even with the other people in the office. It is confidential information and very unprofessional.
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Associate's Degree in Medical Secretarial Science - sm
2-year program with emphasis on transcription. Terrific - wouldn't have learned it any other way. Taught me to be a good MT - not these quick-fix on-line programs where everyone things they can early a huge salary as soon as they are done.
33, Medical Secretary Degree, graduated in 1999
nm
No - fourth year resident, still in medical school - no MD degree yet. nm
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EMR (electronic medical record) and voice
Yes, they are pushing to make medical records electronic, instead of a paper chart. That doesn't affect MTs. We still transcribe reports and instead of the reports being printed and filed in a paper chart, they are part of the electronic record and can be accessed at any computer in the hospital , for instance. The doctor can sit at the nursing station and pull up all the dictated reports, the lab, radiology reports, etc.
Voice recognition, of course, is something different. There is no one saying that VR has to be used by 2012. That's simply an alternate way of getting the dictation onto the EMR.
It was a very very large medical office that
outsources the transcription to various transcriptionists rather than to a service. The form that I was sent for formatting, I was told is basically the way they do it, but yet, the transcription I did for them definitely did not apply to the format.
If it is a medical office, they should have one as we all sign one when we work there -- nm
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Does Anyone Know of A Good Medical Spell Checker For Office 2007?
Hello all! I am new to these boards :) . My husband bought me a new computer with office 2007 installed on it for Christmas :). I was curious if anyone knew of a good medical spell check for Office 2007. Thanks In Advance!!!
sometimes this concerns me as well
I talked with my account managers about the future of MT and does she really feel there is a shortage. On the 1 hand she said yes there is a lack of qualified MTs, but what she also did say is that those with experience have more job security, which makes sense.
For ideas, have you ever thought of possibly becoming a paralegal or perhaps a legal secretary? Also, what about maybe delving into possible general transcription? I did a bit of that myself and it was not too bad. At least some of the skills you have learned being a Transcriptionist can still be used. I always try to keep a mental list of 5 different "paths" I could pursue if things got bad, but luckily things have never gotten to that point.
Like I said in my heading, sometimes the future of MT concerns me, but the reality is there is no such thing as a stable job anymore. I also got into transcription during my college years, 2 year actually. I ended up completing my AA as well and went on to pursue a degree in IT with an emphasis in networking, but it really bored me to death. Your family should not look at you like you did not succeed. So many people that I know from friends and family all think it is so great that I get to work at home and do so well for myself.
concerns--sm
I tend to agree with the other poster below. Do not discuss things with your mother. You already know how she is going to react and it only serves to aggravate you. If you have genuine concerns about your aunt or any other family member's health, try to address it to the doctor directly. As far as your mother goes, it sounds to me like you are seeking her approval and acknowledgement for your accomplishments. Apparently you are not going to get that. I have a mother who is the same way and it angered me to the point where I confronted her a couple of times about it. It only caused alot of hurt and anger when I did that, so now I just turn the other cheek and try to ignore it. The only person you have to prove yourself to is you and the good Lord. Since He already knows your worth, you need to work on your own. Don't look to others to validate your worth. You don't need to. You are already special. :^) Have a good day, and think positive thoughts of yourself and your abilities.
Concerns/questions
As always, if you have concerns/questions/comments regarding DSG, I have an open door policy. Please feel free to contact me at kdenson@dsg-inc.net.
Thank you.
Offshore concerns
They are smart , and that is why the jobs are going to them! Jobs don't make people smarter; smart people do their jobs well. If you don't believe this then you must question the wisdom of the American MTSOs and companies that outsource. As I have said before, all Indian MTs are not bad and all US MTs are not good. I've seen excellent quality from India and poor quality from the US - that's the other side of the story which none of you wants to see, let alone admit.
This is why I call US MTs insular. If you will only look outside of your own town/state/country you will see how the world has changed and the so-called developing countries have advanced in many ways.
The problem with the US is it has been functioning too long in a cocoon, sheltered and protected. But with the coming of the global age, competiton has become fierce and jobs are moving overseas and it is now finding it difficult to cope in this new business climate.
You say "sadly" because it affects you but have you ever wondered how Indians like it when American companies dump poor quality goods on them and Indian businesses have to shut shop because they can't bear the competition? Of course most of you would not have heard that pesticides were found in bottles of a premier American brand of soft drink sold in India!
Instead of treating "offshoring" as some terrible phenomenon, it is high time US MTs learned to accept the situation because this is the New Age Economy where everything is decided in competition.
You are an IC -- state your concerns
You need to get some faith in yourself. If you are an IC and if you agreed on a certain rate of pay, they need to adhere to that. If you have a plumber come and work for you and you don't agree with his rate of pay, you cannot halfway through the job decide to pay him less. It is the same thing. I give an offer to my IC's and if they want to work for that they can but I cannot suddenly change halfway through without re-negotiating with them and they must agree to a lower rate, etc. So if you agreeed fine -- accept it but if they just did it, don't. It is hard around the holidays but is appears you are not making that much anyway so what do you have to lose especially if they took away half of your job. You need to read and see what an IC actually means and if they are calling the shots you are an employee and can raise a little bit of trouble for them. But talk to them as sometimes until you stand up to them, they will walk all over you.
Your concerns are valid, unfortunately : (
EMR and voice recognition has put me out of a job. On my former job, there was one other Transcriptionist besides me. Because she had been there longer, she got what was left over after most of the docs jumped on the voice recognition bandwagon. They use Dragon Naturally Speaking. I have seen it at work myself and it is quite accurate. There is no editing being done on their work. Now, I'm doing a job that is just that, a JOB. I enjoy transcribing and am looking for another job, but MT jobs seem to be few and far between where I am. I can't get high speed internet where I live, so most services are out. I may move onto a different career if something doesn't come around soon. I thought about legal transcription. Anyone have experience with that?
Outsourcing Concerns
Did any of you watch the special the other night on identity theft? I think it was maybe on Dateline. If so, you heard them say the identity theft ring reaches far beyond the shores of the US. It involves many of the countries that are receiving outsourced transcription work.
The first thought that came to mind when watching that was our medical records. I often have dictation that gives me a SSN and DOB. I also often have dictation on a new patient giving me other details, such as where the individual works, how many children they have, etc. I always get their height, weight and race. With these details, the individuals being outsourced to have everything they need to supply a terrorist or identity theft ring information to enable them to pose as someone else. This is very frightening to me!
What do we do? How do we wake America up to what we're facing? Sure, we can write our elected officials, but you all know as well as I do that such correspondence falls upon deaf ears. Does anyone have any suggestions on where we go from here? At this point, it isn't only about losing our jobs, its about national security.
What concerns me about newbies is
that often they write these excited posts and reveal how tiny their working English vocabulary is. That's a terrible place to start out from. I try to be polite, but I do remember being a newbie for hospital work and how appalled the trainer was with the other MTs who had tiny English vocabularies. She about dropped her teeth because the first time I had to spell shotty adenopathy I spelled it right. I couldn't believe anybody would think "shoddy adenopathy" would make any sense. It's not logical.
How do you train people to THINK and be logical in their transcription? Those are things the person should bring to the table if they want to go into a career in the written word. Then you can build on that logic as you interpret MD slurring.
Should be voice to voice (talking), not transcribing. nm
nm
I've had similar concerns
about blacklisting. After all, anybody can see how easy it would be to paint a dark picture of a company on this board so why wouldn't companies have a similar board somewhere to do the same with employees? I think the answer is because it would be considered blacklisting which would likely violate some employment laws and it would be too difficult to keep it a secret. But I could be wrong.
Faxing and HIPAA concerns
I need to know the regulations imposed by HIPAA for MTSOs faxing medical reports to referring doctors. Thanks.
Of course they do. That was one of the concerns about Medquist. Info from the VA
was going offshore. The info included the location of the soldier's troop when he was wounded in combat and more.
Offshore concerns blog
I mentioned this a few messages below, but the blog has its first post. I am NOT supporting any Ad things on there and will not be making anything off this.
http://violatingamerica.blogspot.com/
If you have a link that would be useful to others to write their gov't reps, companies, news sources, etc, feel free to post them or e-mail me so i can get them up there. I am also looking for any news stories or any information we can get. One way or the other, we might be able to make a difference.
Know is old post - but valid concerns
I don't kow what they could do to help you RE: Katrina but companies need to verify the NEED to cut back or do it across the board, at least in the department / job level. I worked for this company for 6 yr & had several cuts in my take home. The platforms used became slower & slower because of the amazing amt of data in the programs. I had 3 gig memory & STILL took forever & you aren't making a dime for that several minute while a report is sending & the next coming in & then doing the demographic page.
I've been trying to find out if there was anything of that investigation - I never did get that paper that so many other employees got. And I had a definite beef.
Please use Offshore Concerns board for those topics. (NM)
Goldbird
be sure to mention HIPAA concerns with offshore...nm
..
Anything an MT can do when you have grave concerns about patient care?
Is there anything at all an MT can do when you have grave concerns about the care a patient is receiving? I know the answer to this is probably no, but I am so completely frustrated with my one of "my" doctors right now. I know that one of his patients is not receiving the proper care, and I am really worried for this patient. I wish I could contact the patient's mother and let her know my concerns, but I know that is not allowed and I would be fired for doing so. I know that I'm not anywhere near as smart as a doctor, but my son has the same condition that this patient does and I know that the patient is not receiving the proper care or even the correct diagnosis. It is hard to go into all of the details for confidentiality reasons. I just know, 100% sure, that this patient deserves better care than he is receiving.
Sometimes the virtual world that we work in is great, and other times it really stinks. If I were working in the doctor's office I could gently share my concerns (maybe I would still be fired but I could give it a shot). Here in this virtual world where the doctors don't even know I exist I can do absolutely nothing.
I'm just so frustrated at the doctor and so very worried for this patient.
Interesting info on Offshore Concerns board
OSI offshores and that is why they can't keep quality MTs
In Reply to: Today, I landed a client that was using and Indian service. They said the service - Kansas MTSO sm
The MTs they do keep are basically no more accurate than the Indians. The QA department is a joke because they hire people fresh out of MT school. It is a sad company and is destined to fail if they don't start thinking more about quality than keeping the brownnosers happy. This could be true for other companies that offshore as well.
D I T T O D I T T O
Taking 2 polls on offshore concerns board
Please participate!
Thank you!
d~
Comedy Stop & Offshore Concerns were the last 2 boards to be changed over to the new format.
Archives will be available soon.
Have most people had good luck with their MQ office closing and moving to the regional office. Have
things gotten better or worse for you.
Yes, I lost mine. I upgraded the Office 2000 package to Office 2003. sm
I have over 2000 autocorrect entries and lost them all as well as my supplemental dictionary for my Stedman's spellcheck. Lots of grief!
Maybe you will be lucky and not lose anything. Good luck to you.
I get this to a certain degree also (sm)
It usually happens after quite a while of typing, and usually only when it is a little cold in the house, but I think it happens in warmer weather too. Mine doesn't sound as bad as yours though. It always resolves fairly quickly, does yours? I haven't had to wear gloves (yet). Let me know what you find out, if anything. I have always attributed it to poor circulation because my hands and feet seem to get cold easily, but I suppose it could be something else as well.
Sorry I didn't have any words of wisdom, just wanted to let you know that this happens to others as well and you are not alone!
Might be able to rent one from an office supply or office machine repair shop
s
I gave a tin of toffee for each office and a Lia Sophia necklace to each office manager. ~nm~
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I gave a tin of toffee for each office and a Lia Sophia necklace to each office manager. ~nm~
x
I would buy new a Dorland's Medical Dictionary, Stedmans Medical and Surgical Equipment...SM
and Tessier's The Surgical Word Book, 3rd edition. Books you could buy used I would say would be Stedman's Pathology and Lab Medicine and Cardiology/Pulmonary word book. These are all the books I use the most during my day. You could buy other speciality word books as you need them and could probably go used with those.
I wouldn't bother with buying a drug book, new editions come out every year and I just stick to the FDA website and RXList as my drug references.
Also FYI, not a book, but I use my Stedman's Electronic Medical Dictationary a lot. It's easier to open the program than it is to pick up a huge 30-pound dictionary.
Office politics. That is why I enjoy working at home. In the office,
people are in other people business. Just mind your own business.
Do you have a college degree, and in what?
I know there are MTs out there who have Associate's, Bachelor's, or Master's degrees. According to other posters, those of us with higher education who choose to do MT are pitiful.
what online degree are you looking at
.
However, a lot of people think getting a degree
is like getting an automatic ticket to an entirely different life with better job opportunities, more money, and career satisfaction. I thought that, too. Things have drastically changed out there, though. More and more people have degrees, so the competition is fierce. They're willing to work for less money, too, just to have A job, any job.
Also, minimum wage went up but middle wages didn't, cost of living went up, and wages have actually gone down in other industries besides MT due to offshoring.
I guess I'm just in an "if I knew then what I know now" mood. LOL None of my siblings went to college, and they're better off than I am. They make way more money than I do and don't have that monthly payment to make.
I love writing, too. Have you done any freelance writing or editing? If you get some clips built up, you might be able to break in based on talent instead of having a degree. With that specific career field in mind, it might be worth it for you to get a degree. I don't know how much competition there is in that field right now.
Bachelor's Degree
I have a BS in Communications 1990 with some graduate work. I worked as an instructor in a college doing medical assiting job placement and then I just kind of fell into transcription when my daughter was born in 1998.
PAs have at the very least a Bachelor's Degree ..
correct??
I think it's a 2 year degree (sm)
I looked into this also, but I think the pay is really low, like $7.50 an hour.
With your degree, there are a lot of things you could do.
This is only my opinion, so follow your yeart. As all the other posters have said, this is not an easy business to get into. Although many have done PT with young children, I could not have done it without help. My baby had special needs, though. When you consider working at home, the key word is "working". This job takes concentration and long hours at the keyboard. With many jobs you work a shift. My hours have been flexible, but you have deadlines, and you cannot always just stop to take care of your baby. My baby needed lots of attention. I was lucky in that my mom and mother-in-law kept her when I could not. I never tried to do transcription unless she was asleep or my husband was home. With a business administration degree, however, I think you would have a lot of options in starting your own business. Many people have done well with ideas they came up with themselves. I now do MT full-time now, but have other part-time home businesses that I am involved with as well.
Agree to a degree
I do agree to a degree but I do know that I have my clients basically because I do not balk at doing tapes and am agreeable to do them and accept them. Once they used me then they saw my quality but if I were to tell them it was digital or nothing, they would go somewhere that would come and pick up the tapes, that is medium that they wish to use. And if I pressed the point, I would be without 60K a year.
Eh, I am going ahead with the BS degree.
I can always take electives for x-ray tech. This program has a lot of identical courses, so it would not be hard to switch to another discipline like x-ray. X-ray pays less, but either of these careers is more than what we get as MTs these days... and in 18 months from now, hospitals and clinics will still need on site techs like this, unlike transcription which can unfortunately go poof gone any day now. It's going to be hard, but I am going for it...gotta get out of this business I am sad to say of Mting.
Might be something like a right-angled something-degree scope..nm
s
What are you planning to do with the psych degree?
x
How many jobs are out there (without a college degree) that actually pay this well? NM
A year???? Is that possible? What sort of degree is it? - nm
x
There are plenty more jobs if you have a degree
I live in Atlanta. If you go to craigslist.org right now and look under the admin. jobs section...there are dozens of jobs that pay 50,000 or more if you have a degree...in anything.
There are many jobs in many different fields that pay well. In many many cases, they just want the person to have a degree, it doesn't matter in what. The ad just says...must have a bachelor's degree.
I'm currently an MT and will graduate in May with a degree in Psychology. I intend to apply for some of those 50,000+ administrative jobs and feel very confident that I will get one.
There's still going to be some prerequisite degree you'll need before you do this. nm
s
I didn't know there was an associate degree for
Guess we do learn something new every day. How long did it take you to get this degree in MT? Did you go to college or tech school? If you have an associates degree in MT, you should be overloaded with job offers, I'd think...
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