Thank you all. This gives me some insight into what to expect. nm
Posted By: searching on 2007-08-03
In Reply to: EditScript & eScription - IC-ES
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Thank you so much on the insight
into QA. We MTs do resent you sometimes. When I get a correction back, I always try to say thank you. Sometimes we MTs just forget that QA is human. You need a pat on the back sometimes.
More insight
I do respect and hope to learn from QA but at times the conflicting ways of doing things are extremely confusing. Something needs to be done so QA makes a good living without driving the MT crazy. I would never want the responsibility of QA. I use the BOS often but even parts of that are confusing when you are told type verbatim as very few doctors speak in perfect grammar. I once typed a phrase -- the doctor dictated exactly as it was listed in BOS so I typed as such and QA faulted me in regards to where the comma was placed. Heck it was that way in the BOS. There is just too much stress for the amount of money we get both QA and MT. There are days when I do my best and think I did right by the BOS yet QA will say different and I think have to wonder what is expected at 7 cents or 8 cents a line. The stress of the industry just is not worth the pay. I go over every report at least 2 times to be as accurate as possible and I still get faulted for things that according to BOS are not wrong. Like one person said one QA will say that is correct good job and the next QA even within the same company will say the total opposite about the exact same thing. It is just mad. I don't know how QA can keep so many doctors rules straight in their heads, especially those hospital accounts. I respect the nice/helpful QA people -- you have a lot on your plates!
More insight
In my experience, I have come across many QA who are not that good. They don't know the BOS. I have wondered how quite a few even became QA. I know that there is a lot of differences between QA. I've experienced it personally as an MT and as a QA. I would like to see companies start going toward a base hourly pay for QA. It seems lately the industry standard is becoming production pay for QA. I might work on 10 accounts in one day; all with their own style preferences. On production pay, it is difficult to keep all the P's and Q's straight. If an MT messes up or overlooks demographics, it takes time to fix that. In the time it takes to correct demographics for me, I could type a 30-line report. Fixing demographics, looking up doctors names (even though they are easily found but left blanked) takes a lot of time. It is hard to leave positive feedback when most QA these days are being rushed.
Keep in mind that most of the reports sent to QA are not the easy ones. We should see the hardest dictators and the drugs that sometimes seems impossible to find. So I could see a 30-line report (at 5 cpl) with only one blank. But that one blank may be extremely tough. It might take me 15 minutes to find it. On production, I would not give it that much effort. On hourly pay, I would spend the time to research it. So keep in mind that it would only take a few minutes to type the whole report but the time it takes to research this one blank might be 5-10 times longer. Paid production, far lower than typing. I simply made more money as an MT.
The production pay for QA is happening because simply there are some QA staff that abused the hourly pay system. They didn't work. They didn't do their required amount of reports. So the bad apples out there have spoiled the whole bunch.
I feel frustrated myself lately with the industry as a whole. If I'm not QA'ing overseas MTs who do not understand American slang, than I'm being production to find the impossible words on the hard ESLs.
I've worked with many QA over my career. I've seen some good QA and I've seen some that are just really rotten. They don't know anything about style. They shouldn't be in QA.
I worry sometimes that correcting something according to the proper guidelines is going to cause conflict because there are some rules to the BOS that not a lot of QA are aware of.
I do agree that QA needs to be uniform in their feedback. It would make my life easier as a QA as well.
But also keep in mind that some things in our field that there are 3 right ways to do it.
One example is the word followup. Now follow-up used to be an adjective. It is being tossed out lately. It is still NOT wrong but the BOS is leaning toward removing it all together. So why not just let it go and use followup instead?
You might see one QA correct it and another leave it. Neither are wrong.
It is almost impossible to input the BOS with your companies preferences on a ver batim account and not make someone mad at you! 
My advice, ask where they document their correction from so that you may look up the rule yourself for future reference?
If you can, email and say where in the Book of Style may I find this or account specifics, etc.
Best wishes to all of you and please keep this in mind that a lot of QA are being pushed to their limits and we don't make enough money. We are supposed to be superior MTs (which is why we are in QA). But most of us don't make near as much as we did typing.
Thanks for your insight . . .
this is the only mistake she found on my review.
Some insight please
My company is giong to be offering to train on voice recognition/speech. I currently do straight typing but I am going to take them up on the offer to get cross-trained for the experience.
I will at first admit I really don't know much about VR. It seems to me that the doctor transcribes, the computer transcribes it and then the MT listens and makes sure the document is correct? Is that what this is? Is it really that difficult?
I'm am not trying to cause waves but I would just like some clarification/insight on this. Thanks so much!
Thank you all so very much for your valuable insight
A job like this will not come my way perhaps.
I remember the days when 2-5 jobs for MTs would be in the Classified section of the newspapers and it was a matter of deciding which specialty we wanted to be in or whether to work in a physician's office or the local hospital medical records department.
Thank you
Thanks for you valuable insight -
...
thank you for giving me insight on this
I can see now about your point on the certain days there is more work because this company does handle clinic work. I really don't want to sell myself short. I have been looking a year if that tells you anything!! it sounds like they didn't have much to offer somone. She did tell me "her ladies that work for her do not have that much experience." Thank you for listening. I don't feel quite as bad now about marking yet another off my list.
I appreciate your wisdom and insight. Brava!
nm
No insight but good advice....sm
.... get to a doctor now! Better safe than sorry.
BRAVO...EXCELLENT INSIGHT!! nm
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For all the fans, very interesting insight from the writer of the show.
Shonda Rhimes long take on part two:
From Shonda: It's the end of the episode (as we know it)
Original Airdate: 2-12-06
So Dylan’s dead.
And I have to admit, I’m a teeny bit relieved.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Kyle Chandler. He was great as Dylan. Smart, funny, cute, and very much in charge. I was, in fact, a little bit in love with Dylan. Not as in love as I am with McDreamy or Burke but…you know, there were moments during the filming of the episodes when Dylan would be saying something bossy or helping Mer down the hall, pushing that gurney and being all bomb squad-y, moments that I was thinking, hey, maybe he doesn’t have to explode.
But still I am relieved. Why? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s why:
At the end of Act Five, there is a scene. Scene 52. I wrote this scene about fifteen minutes before I had to print out the script and hand it over to production. It reads as follows:
INT. OR CORRIDOR -- CONTINUOUS
Meredith leans her head out. Sees Dylan heading down the hall. She's just about to open her mouth...
...When the ammo explodes. When Dylan explodes. Fire, shattering glass. Meredith is thrown backwards.
Okay, that’s…what? An eighth of a page? A sixteenth of a page? A tiny fraction of the script, right?
The ammo explodes.
Dylan explodes.
I wrote those words and was actually ignorant enough of the horrors to come that I gave it to the production team and then slept the sleep of babies and angels for several nights in a row.
The ammo explodes.
Dylan explodes.
Seriously? SERIOUSLY?
All of the sudden, you find yourself in meetings with real live bomb squad guys and special effects guys and a very tense director and everyone is asking you things like “When you say, bloody rain…you actually want bloody rain or just like, some blood spatter?” And things like “When Dylan explodes, you wanna see chunks of Dylan or do you want like, a Dylan vapor?”
These are thing I don’t want to think about. These are things that make my head hurt. The ammo explodes. Dylan explodes. It’s in the script. I wrote it. I know that. But I don’t want to think about Dylan chunks or bloody rain. I don’t want to think about it at all. I like to write things and have them happen. I like to keep myself in a kind of stalker-ish fog in which I believe my characters aren’t characters but actual people. It’s how I can write them. So when you ask me about Dylan chunks, my brain gets all twisty and shuts down. Because Dylan’s a person, a very real person to me and I love him and it’s not my fault he has to die and besides…yuck.
But I’ve got Rob Corn on my ass.
Rob Corn doesn’t care if I try to kick everyone out of my office when they bring up bloody rain or he doesn’t care if I try to pretend I can’t speak English when someone asks me about bloody chunks. Rob Corn is the producer on our show and it’s his job to make things happen and, if I am stupid enough to write Dylan explodes on a piece of paper, Rob Corn is damn well going to make sure that Dylan explodes. Behind his back, I like to call Rob Corn Bossy McBossy. It doesn’t sound affectionate here but in real life, it’s really sweet and kind. Trust me. Anyway, Bossy McBossy told me that we had to do tests so we could figure out how exactly Dylan explodes.
Tests? Dylan explodes. What’s there to test? HA! I’m clearly an idiot.
They built this model of Dylan’s body and one day I am herded out onto the back lot of the studio at the request of Bossy McBossy Rob Corn. Then I have to stand and watch as 20 or 30 really happy guys (testosterone is a powerful thing) position the model of Dylan just right and explode it into tiny little pieces. Twice. It is very loud. Wow. Dylan explodes. I’m all, “great, thanks, way to go, very manly.” And I turn to flee, prepared to head back to my office, happy that the Dylan explodes part of this is over so I can pay attention to the other stuff, the estrogen stuff, the fun stuff like Bailey and George giving birth and Derek describing that kiss to Meredith…
…But Rob Corn raises an eyebrow and very gently says, “Uh, Shonda?” and I go really still with horror. Because I suddenly start to realize that a) that little test was only the beginning and b) that, for the rest of my life, I was going to regret ever typing the words Dylan explodes into my computer.
They blew up test dummies. Tall dummies, dusty dummies, dummies with helmets, dummies without helmets. They blew up test dummies filled with fake blood. They blew up pieces of our set. They set off an explosion on the set of our operating rooms. They used stunt girls and stunt guys. Ellen let them pull her through the air. I think there were blue screens and green screens and animated pieces of debris and glass. The genius special effects guys added fire and smoke and things I can’t imagine but things that made it amazing. The sound guys added over 100 layers of sound elements so that, if you have HD and you watch with surround sound speakers, the explosion flies at you and passes you and swirls around you.
Dylan explodes.
The explosion was beautiful. Amazing work and truly impressive. I told everyone so. I can’t believe the amount of talent and energy that come together to make this show happen. But next time I get a Super Bowl and post-Super Bowl time slot, I’m gonna write something different. Something a bit easier. Something less time-consuming and expensive. And without so many bloody chunks.
Dylan puts the ammo down and goes to have a sandwich.
Enough about Dylan, may he rest in peace. I want to tell you about the difference between the first episode titled “It’s the End of the World” and the second episode “(As We Know It)”.
I tried really hard to make the first episode very male and the second episode very female. I wanted them to fit together, like puzzle pieces. So that I could have two episodes about the same thing but that felt very different from one another. The first episode is all amped up energy, all naked girls and screaming and bombs and running down hallways and men saying things like “Get out of my OR.” The second episode is all long pauses. Long pauses and sitting and pushing out babies and kissing in linen closets and lots of discussion about how the hell this is all going to end. The first episode is what happens when danger strikes. The second episode is how we deal with danger when it strikes. The epicenter of this episode is the hallway/gurney scene. It’s the first scene I envisioned at all when thinking of these two episodes. I kept saying, “there needs to be this scene where Meredith and Cristina move down the hall really slowly with the ammo and Dylan and talk about boys.” And everyone kept nodding very politely with tight smiles the way they do when they are sure you have gone off the deep end. But Elizabeth Klaviter (she’s our super smart medical researcher) got on the phone with the bomb squad guys and the doctors and she got them to tell her how this would be possible. How I could get that gurney rolling so Meredith and Cristina could discuss the state of Cristina’s relationship. I needed that discussion which, for me, is really just a big old metaphor for how we deal with the tragedies in life. You’ve got your hand on a bomb but you don’t want to talk about it over and over, you don’t want to face it – so you talk about something else. Most of life is talking about something else. Plus, I found this really cool song by The Greenskeepers that I was dying to use.
George is a big key to this episode. If you pay attention, he’s the one who serves as our witness. Through most of the episode, he wanders around, a bit bewildered. He’s the one who feels the most helpless. And then he has that moment with Hannah where she talks about the nature of cowardice, where she says that to do nothing is to be a coward. And he acts. He helps Bailey through giving birth. In the first episode, he’s fantasizing about what it would be like to see three women in the shower. In the second episode, he sees what three women in a shower is like in reality. Because, guys, women don’t just climb in a shower and start soaping each other up for no reason. Hello!? Life isn’t porn. Life is Meredith, bloody and battered, being gently cleaned off (chunks of Dylan) by her best friends. And so he leaves. Because what he is seeing is too intimate.
The last thing I want to say about this episode has to do with Meredith. Because all she really wants is some kind of reason to live. I’ve heard a lot of talk about Meredith being whiny but the truth is, she’s got a mom with Alzheimer’s, no other family to speak of, and the man she loves is married. She’s pretty freaking lonely, people. She’s got a right to get her whine on. So, when she falters, when she doesn’t want to pull her hand out of Mr. Carlson, it’s partly because she’s got nothing to hang on to. As she says in the first episode, she needs a reason to go on, she needs some hope. Which is why she has to picture Derek to get through it. And at the end, when he shows up at her house (and he shows up just to see for himself that she is alive), she has to ask. She has to ask him about their last kiss because if she’s ever going to get out of that bed again and keep going, she needs a reason. She needs to know there’s someone out there for her. She needs some hope. And Derek (can Patrick Dempsey be any more amazing?) describes that last kiss, the last kiss they had as a happy couple, in such perfect detail that Meredith knows she’ll be okay. Because he wouldn’t remember that kiss so well if he didn’t love her. He couldnt. Its her sign.
He loves her. Even if he can’t be with her. Even if he has a wife.
He loves her, people.
I told you, there’s hope.
I can’t promise you anything because, like I said earlier, the characters are alive for me and thus, I can’t make them do anything against their will. But my fingers and toes are crossed for the Mer/Der love…
Once again, thanks for watching the show.
Thanks so much for the insight and advice, guys, I really appreciate it, books are informative but
when you are in the at-home world like we are, there's nothing better than getting it straight from people who have been there!
Very eloquently put! You have an EXCELLENT insight into what's going on in today's MT environm
nm
what then, do you expect us to do? sm
all go out there and open our own service? Some of us don't want the hassle of finding the work, paying the taxes, hiring the people to do the work, etc, etc...I, for one, am very happy working for my national, which happens to be MQ. I certainly couldn't do any better on my own...and have half the headache to boot! For some, a national just "fits", it just does! Sorry if some people can't comprehend that! 
what did he expect?
Yup! Good luck to him, he let a whole lot of people down, including himself.
where do you expect them to go exactly?
I mean really, telling a poor city "evacuate" is ridiculous. They have no car, no transportation, no where to go, and half of them probably do not have a television set to know they needed to evacuate. It was probably confusing and paralyzing to them.
What to expect...
Two things.... Responsible grown up 40 something people out for a good time, listening to a major staple of their musical experience as a teenager... AND.... possibly a group of 40 something people who failed to realize that they are no longer teenagers anymore. We went to a Styx concert a few years back and there were so many former 70s teens who had obviously NOT grown up yet. Long hair, foul language, smoking pot. Sheesh.
But, maybe since it's probably an indoor concert, you might get a better class crowd. Expect a WONDERFUL evening! Have fun
I would not expect you to
and there's no way for me to assess what you know. I would really be interested in finding about 10 people who are really looking for ways to improve and let them try this FREE to get feedback. I can tell you this, a few years back I went to work for a local hospital. The "top dog" there was a really sweet girl who had been there for 14 years. In 6 months, my production was higher than hers. My supe asked me to do a little one-hour presentation on shortcuts and I did. Before I worked there, no one even used a shortcut program. It was a stipulation of my taking that job that I could use one. Most people said it really helped them, although one or two "old-timers" said they could type fast enough without it. some people will just resist change whether it could help them or not!!!
more often than you would expect :( - nm
sss
Come on...you can't expect anything other
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![](http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb068&pp=ZNxmk762YYUS")
Actually you could probably expect
Phlebotomy is very desirable as well even in private practices. Good luck! Welcome to the medical field!
What do we expect?
Good old American kids are taught to the test, especially since No Child Left Behind; but even before that there were tests of reading and math skills at the state level. Writing and speaking skills cannot be graded on a Scantron, so they aren't part of the test and increasingly aren't taught. Text messaging ShortHand doesn't help either. They get into medical school - in a class with how many ESL fellow students? How many ESL professors? They get to their residencies - with how many ESL attendings? What medical school has a class for dictation? No, the people seen as the least educated (and paid accordingly) will clean up the mess like they always do. That would be you and me! Lucky for them, we're good at it!
expect a pay cut sm....
health insurance is HSA w/Aetna. If you do straight transcription you'll be ok, if doing speech, I'd look for another job (which is what I'm doing). Flexibility of schedule is really dependent on your super - I've had some who were horrible and like the one I have now, she's wonderful.
Well, they said I could expect OT immediately..??
We will see on the production. I was told the accounts were overburdened with work and there was a bounty of OT being offered.
We will see.
What do you expect MQ or any MTSO to do?
if they have MTs scheduled to work that don't work their shifts, or that don't produce, their TATs will suffer -- and keeping the client happy is the bottom line to staying in business and keeping you and me employed. So if the work isn't getting done, then they must hire some people that will work. Then of course those slackers will holler when they don't have any. I guess its just the way of the world...
What I expect from my government
When a mandatory evacuation is ordered I expect to be able to get on the hurricane evacuation routes and have enough gas available to get moving. Is this reality........NO.
As far as moving somewhere else, FL has a way of putting a grip on you. Low wages to the point you are stuck literally. I haven't been out of this state in over 7 years due to lack of funds.
Yes, I expect any minute now to
get an email from my supe saying the virus is the reason for the lack of work! 
I mean, I have been given every other excuse so I am sure this one will be next...
You are right on. There's only so much you can expect to be paid
x
don't expect miracles
Let me tell you what to expect on the floor. Expect older and experienced nurses who are biding their time before retirement to not be available for anything. Expect to get yelled at by patients and to get very used to the smell of feces and vomit. Expect to get yelled at by family members of patients who are angry with physicians, but since the physician's don't hang around, YOU get yelled at. Expect to get yelled at by physicians for just any old thing they want to yell at you for. Expect to try and find your orders on the chart, some written by the physician (good luck with that) and some typed by an MT who has not been QA'd....with you sitting there knowing your patient needs something but having no idea what (and don't expect the doctor to remember). Expect to be hit, bitten, kicked, spit on, having things thrown at you. Little children will hate you because you had to hurt them to get them better. Expect to get very very sick the first few months..you'll catch everything from everybody, especially if you have been rather isolated working at home. Also expect to do a lot of crying over that elderly person who died alone, over the child with cancer, the mother who lost her baby. You think being an MT is stressful, just wait.
Did you expect this reaction? n/m
n
Yes I expect him to fix the pipes.
BUT, he tells me when he's going to do it and how much he'll charge, and HE ALSO TELLS ME IF HE CANNOT DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If he cannot, he leaves, and I call another plumber! DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! 
How do you expect MT to know what is wanted
x
Can you ever expect a raise!?
I've been an MT- for 15 years, so I'm not new to this, but is it still common to keep on at the same per-line amount that you were hired at year after year!? I have been at my current job for 3-1/2 years and still make the same per line and also get no paid days off. I hate starting new jobs and when I hired on the per-line rate I got paid was higher than most, although it is IC work with no benefits. The cost of living has gone up so much and I need more money to make ends meet, but I am a bit wimpy about approaching my boss.
I would love some input on the going per-line rate (I do ER and clinic work) and also how often you receive a raise if ever so I can decide how to approach this issue. Thanks so much!
Did not expect a name, just want to see the experience
of people. I am deciding whether or not to be an IC or an employee again after being laid off is all. Believe me, I am not an MTSO or a suit trying to do PR here. Just wanting to know some information on trends to see if IC is a safer bet than being an employee. If I don't get much help here, I will go the IC route, because I already have a couple of offers on the table which are extremely flexible. Did not know if I should try to go back to an MTSO after being laid off again. Thanks for your answer.
If I expect perfection from my spouse, that must mean
I am perfect myself. I don't know of anyone who is perfect. I am not so judgmental of people that I expect them to never have bad days and never express frustration, or else the relationship is over. I'm sure there have been plenty of days in the past 20 years that we've known each other when I've annoyed him to no end. Sometimes intentionally.... LOL
I was disappointed too, especially that they expect me to believe that people who have been at each
other's throats for the last few seasons (mom and George, Keith and David, and now Claire and her new boyfriend) are suddenly going to have all of their relationships work out fine in the end. I guess why they call it fiction!
earnings - what can i expect from home?
Hello all ... I've been an MT for 13+ years and my current hospital has OUTSOURCED  my position! I'm in a crappy job at the hospital currently, working 3-11, to keep my benefits until I decide what to do, and go on interviews. I'm considering working for the company that took over the hospital account - but I'm not sure what to expect as far as pay per line.
If its not too personal - how much do you guys earn at home per hour/week?
THanks so much! Joanne
They expect so much from MTs but the other office staff
is paid well and make mistakes (x-ray techs, scheduling, etc), be paid full benefits.
What is UP with that?
You can pretty much expect to lose about 1/2 - 1/3
You will be required to turn in your tax papers and refund check to the Bankruptcy Clerk...he/she will then in turn tell you how much you can have of it back. They will disperse what they keep between some of the creditors you filed bankruptcy on. The portion you are allowed will be sent to your attorney. Our refund was about $3100...we got back $1200 from the bankruptcy court...then the attorney took out their fees for the bankruptcy and we ended up with about $200.
It definitely sucks..but compared to what we owed and got out from underneath of because of the bankruptcy, it was worth it.
WOW!! I knew I was told to expect some
rudeness here, but the degree is astounding!! Why I ask here and not calling a dr is because I did not have a dr to call. Not that it is anybody's beezwax. I did not post asking to be called ridiculous (an MT who cannot even spell ridiculous is just that, ridiculous!!). Syonara!!!
front tooth not sure about $$ but expect....nm
Yeah, I was in there the other day and saw them. I wouldn't expect that either.
Reasonable cpl to expect for newbie MT?
What would be a reasonable cpl to expect as full-time employee (not IC) with a national if you have no experience but do have MT education from one of the AAMT-approved schools?
As an MTSO do you expect more from an IC than an employee...(sm)
I personally would expect the same quality of work from either. Just curious if others expect better quality from an IC or an employee. For example, should an IC send in less blanks to QA verus an employee and overall have a better quality work?
Thanks for your opinions. I have never thought about this until it was recently brought to my attention.
I guess I would have to say I WOULD expect an independent
contractor to be able to work more independently than an employee. The whole point is you are saying, I can do this on my own, as an IC. However, I only hired IC's and I did my best for the training period to be as successful as possible for everyone all the way around. They still sometimes leave blanks and I find out what it is (although most of the time, if they can't get it, I can't get it LOL) and we all add it to our lists. Working together...
Not at all, but you cannot expect to sue her for stealing a client if she did not know the sm
client was one of yours. If you refuse to reveal your client list, then you are vulnerable and your noncompete clause is useless.
Why do they expect perfection for pennies?...
When you work on production to make a decent check you have to push it, and you have all these horrible accents, why, then, do they expect miracles? Maybe if I had an hourly salary.
you can't honeslty expect to be paid 75k
from at home courses. Let's not even start on the people who have English as a second language who transcribe in other countries. Honestly I think that's why the biz has gone down the crapper. You are delusional to think we are worth that kind of bread.
Funny how they expect you to pull a
freakin rabbit out of a hat?! I'd love to say, "I don't do magic lady!"
They expect us to make the corrections
which is the purpose for sending the fax out, so the MT information has to be on there, which is why I think it should be sent individually. Especially for those who are just learning I do not think they need every mistake broadcast to each MT. But maybe I'm being to sensitive? I just don't think you should be "called on the carpet" so to speak in front of everyone.
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