Then how is it that you have time to post here all day long?

• MS Word platform--who are the good companies? - Smartype User
  • I work at OSi in Extext and my Smartype - works fine along with their expander
    • Then how is it that you have time to post here all day long? - How much are you getting paid to do that, FA?
      • Geez, come on. I saw all of the OSi posts, - but that wasn't me. (sm)
        • Well, I, for one thank you! - Smartype User
  • smartype - aa
    • Save yourself some $$ - Speedtype and Shorthand are the exact same program. - Get Shorthand. nm
      • shorthand - aa
      • Heh ... twice the price cuz they're an AAMT business partner! - nm - Lady Parker-Huffington

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

I used to make $70,000 and up a year and did so for most of the late 80s and 90s (one girl used to make six figures a year working 7 days a week!)  Because we were making more money than the supervisors and Medical Records Directors in hospitals, they began to switch to transcription services which were sprouting up all over the place.  Plus AAMT came into existence and even though in the beginning it claimed it was to fight for transcriptionists (although assured us it was NOT a union), they eventually morphed into an organization that was more management friendly.  They developed the "guidelines" and the 65-char line.  That was the beginning of the end for those high-end wages.  Then all those mickey mouse transcription schools popped up, and now outsourcing overseas.  YES, we're complaining. 

And, I must confess to a bit of stupidity ....... the description talks about foot switches or whatever -- what's that about? 

Thanks for sharing! 

I try to encourage new MTs to learn as much as they can from their experiences.  The reason that companies do not hire new MTs is because they worry about production and having to utilize their QA staff.  I know it is a catch 22, but that is why it is best to try to work on-site for at least a year to gain some experience.  Most companies require a certain line count each and every day, which can be tough on a new MT that has to research and look things up.  I'm with you, not against you, and wish you all the best.  With anything, take the good advice and leave the bad advice alone. 

I was working for an attorney and he wanted me to get into court reporting so I would be able to travel with him as his private court reporter in his cases. I checked around and there was only 1 school in my state. It was a 3 year course and cost $10,000. Of course, I had to say no, as I couldn't afford it.

I had also checked at our county courthouse for transcribing the tapes and they showed me the ins and outs. For a job there, I didn't need schooling, just the smarts, was told that type of job is solid once you get in the door, but not to depend on it (waiting), as nobody quits. They retire...and the girls I talked to were my age, so that bummed me out, too. Gave up that idea, too.

MT was my 3rd choice. It's okay, but too stressful anymore.

I'm not an expert but this has worked for me.

Since I am the primary breadwinner of the household, I made the whole family a part of the budget process.  We have two kids left at home (2 grown and gone) and I still manage to pay them their allowance (10.00 per week each). 

How about we start there.   I have a Chore Chart on a dry erase board on the fridge (so they see it every single time they hit the fridge) with the name of the chore written in permanent marker so they can't erase it, then put the initial of the one responsible for that chore that day.   If, at the end of the day, those chores are NOT done?  They get a black X in the box next to the chore.   Only their initials are written in dry erase so I can change that around from time to time.

If they miss doing their chores 2 days out of the week, they get NO allowance.  If they argue or procrastinate, that gets 1 check. If they get 2 checks by the chore, then that is the same as not doing the chore and they don't get the credit for it. Even if they eventually get it done, they still don't get credit that day because they procrastinated OR argued about it.  Pay day is Friday.  

Time is money people and I don't have the time to clean as I should, they are old enough, and they want money too.   I don't give money for movies, candy, or trips to the dollar store.  They now have their own and are learning to budget.

Sometimes I give them bonuses too for doing an inventory of the freezer, pantry, organizing the cupboards, etc... Helps us keep track of the things we have for the next step.

MENUS ~ If you get Woman's Day Magazine or First, or anything like them that have the monthly menu calendars in them?  PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THEM.   They can save you BIG $$ on your food bills.

My kids are horribly picky eaters and meal planning has saved me a lot of money.  I now have them sit down with me, look over these meal planning calendars and see if it is something they would like.  If they put it on OUR calendar, they initial it, and we make our grocery list.  If the time comes for a particular meal and they turn their nose up at it, I send them to the calendar to see if they initialed that day.  If they did.... Eat it! PERIOD.  (by the way, I never put anything on the calendar that they don't agree with so, after a few months of doing this, there is never any more turning the nose up at dinner time - HA  fixed their wagon!)

We also do a mass cook and freeze fest now and then.  The kids get into it too.  Very easy for them. THey are 12 and 13 so I have the meal calendar taped to the inside door of the pantry.  When I'm working, they can go look and see what's on the calendar for that day, pull it out of the freezer, and put it in the oven.  I have written the temp and time for each one next to the item on the calendar.  Works out fine.

Power bills... Yikes - LIGHTS OUT.  When I go to bed, every light in the house is OFF except the porch light, the little light above the stove, and the nightlight in the hall across from the kids rooms. 

GAS- Holy Smokes.   Up to 2.79/gal here now.   No extra drives to here and there for anything.  If you just want a cold pop to drink cuz it's hot?  Make iced tea instead.  Not worth that kinda money for a wasted trip to the mini mart.  Just plan better the next time.  The kids want to go to the pool or their friend's house... pump up the bike tire kids and grab the walkies.   I make my kids take walkie talkies (Cobra brand 5-mile radius at WalMart for 80.00 and WELL worth it.)

One last little tidbit....  SAVE your receipts for EVERYTHING for at least 2 months then compare them after the end of that 2 months when you have learned to tighten up the wallet a bit and see the difference for yourself.  Makes it really worth your while.

I have cut enough fat out of excess spending in the past year to put away 400.00 or more every month into a savings account that I can use for emergencies, vacations, whatever.

By the way... Would be a good idea to have a forum JUST for Budgeting and Money Saving ideas here wouldn't it.  Administrators????  How about it?

My cuz kept telling people to call me because I worked from home...they would ask how easy it was to make 2300.00 partime from home (you know all those ad's all over the place).Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I finally just got fed up and when folks would ask what I do I'd tell them that I was a medical language interpretor!  ha shut a lot of them up caus they can't scratch their heads and be rude at the same time.

and let it sit overnight, and the next day it worked fine.  I think as long as it wasn't anything sticky like a soda or something, you should be okay.  It just has to dry out.  Of course, I'm not that technically oriented, so I don't know, but I'll certainly cross my fingers for you. 

am I reading this right as 1 cent per line??

"For all other states we offer IC status only and a competitive line rate for ICs up to $0.010 cpl."(From the All Type Inc position on the Job Seeker's Board)

I am assuming it is a typo on the job post, but you never know....it made me laugh

I would like opinions from everybody but especially those that have 20+ years experience in MT.  What are your opinions on the Book of Style?

This is my opinion.........I think its a bunch of crap!  Seems to me a few people got together and decided to come up with this BOS and then put it on the market as "the law" of medical transcription. Of course they make money from it.  I have wondered who gave this author or authors the authority that everything they say to do is correct and anything that deviates is incorrect?  

On top of that, every now and then they decide to change it MTs learn this baloney all over again, thus more money for them.  I see so many questions and comments on here about the BOS that it seems to me it has become the
"end all, be all" in the medical transcription profession.  Horse puckey!

I literally have seen companies especially the BIG ONE let excellent MTs get away simply because their test scores were not what the "X" wanted with the reason being a comma here and a comma there when the content was EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!

If I were hiring folks again, that BOS would go out the window and I would take an MT based on their MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SKILLS!  The preferences for punctuation and other things can be learned on-the-job.  Not all companies think the BOS is the BIBLE of Medical Transcription.  Personally I think BOS is a crock!.

I forgot though, AAMT started all this and they are not AAMT anymore.  That tells me a whole lot too!  Money, money money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No CAD for me, will buy my own CABG. 

computer issues and I lost it.   I've traveled for 5 years and can give you lots of info.

Click on  the blue TW to e-mail me. 

Hello everyone.. I don't know where to start and I'm just taking a quick break from my work
sorry if this is long, i want to get the best answer and help so i'm gonna give some background (and i dont bother usually with capitalization in my friendly emails, but i assure you it is not how i type my work).. .LOL

Anyways, I am 25 years old, have been doing transcription for seven years (my mom taught me when I was in high school). I love my job and work for two places. One is a hospital so I don't know how negotiable that pay rate is. The other one is a doctor's office.

Urology. I started with them September 11, 2001. (crazy, sad, i know)... I started at 12 cents a line.(the hospital pays me 10 cents) They are located in California, where I used to live. Two years ago, they got a new office manager (i was pretty close with the first one). Well this office manager happened to be someone I had previously worked with, who had screwed over my mom and I because they sent their work to India without EVER telling us until two days before hand (even though we told her to just tell us when it was going to happen). Well that practice eventually broke up... and what luck I had, she is now AGAIN my office manager. Well a year ago I decided I was going to move away and I bought everything for the office that they needed to go digital (we were doing tapes before). Now I live in Nevada and do their work over the internet, returning their work within 24 hours.

My question is, I think I deserve a raise, and I have no idea how to go about it. I have been with them for five years, obviously the cost of living has risen, including health care. By the way, I receive no benefits from either the hospital or the office.

Is this reasonable, and does anyone have any suggestions or pointers? I still feel pretty young and vulnerable because I have never been in a position to ask for a raise. Since I am an independent contractor, I suppose it wouldn't be asking, rather than just telling... but I want it to be more appropriate than that.

And I'm basically wondering what others are making as independent contractors, i know companies don't pay as much, but they also offer benefits...

Thanks for taking the time... back to work for me.

Emily

I am 53, divorcee with 1 child in college,  been MTing for 32 years. When I started out I was one of the best in my field, accurate, at my peak was making close to 50,000 a year, only one job and only 40 hours a week.  Now, here I am going through menopause, working 12 hours a day (1 full-time and 1 part-time) and barely making ends meet.  My production is at an all-time low, and I'm working on my 3rd or 4th job this year- I forget, it's been so many, for various reasons why they didn't work out.  But, now I find myself, going into my third week of employment with this company, still in QA, making stupid grammatical errors, and leaving out words, that I am not aware of. I would like to say one of my problems is that this is a huge Children's Hospital with a lot of procedures, diseases, and terminology I have never heard of, but I cannot really say that, as most of my errors are gramatical, i.e. not putting comma or semi-colon where it belongs, leaving out it, and, but and they.  I am beginning to feel they may not keep me.  I am 1 pay check from being homeless, now jobless, already uninsured, as I could not afford the Cobra.  I have applied for jobs completely out of the MT field, so far with no luck of being hired.  I put in an application last week for a State Job with excellent benefits, paid by company, and although the salary is 22,000 to 36,000, if they call me, I am definitely going to take it.  I figure I have 15 more years before retirement, and if I can tap into the retirement for the next 15 years, that would be a help, as I don't have any 401K to fall back on.  Anyways, if you guys can give me some proofreading tips that will not take away from my production, I would greatly appreciate it.  Most companies don't offer a training pay that would last at least 2 weeks, which would be a help.  So here I am trying to make money, which is virtually impossible when you're training on a new account, new company, new software and everything.  Help Guys. 

Speech recognition (i.e. Dragon) is not for everyone.

If you are an expert at templates and programs such as ST and IT (IOW, you have the capability of memorizing thousands upon thousands of abbreviatons), and you're a reasonably fast typist, then I'd recommend against using speech recognition software unless you have to (i.e. CTS, broken wrist). When the need arises, the program can make the difference between making a decent salary and making practically nothing. Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing.

However, there are those of us who don't understand how to create templates with pop-up boxes, who don't have the capability of remembering thousands of abbreviations (AutoCorrect is about the limit for us), and who don't fly across the keyboard "with the greatest of ease." For us, speech recognition (SR) can boost our production to a level higher than what we would with a keyboard.

I feel that those who give the thumbs down to SR have not been sufficiently trained on the proper use of the product (i.e. how to speak correctly, the proper way to correct errors, using the global commands features), and/or the department utilizing the program has not used the features to allow the product to learn enough about the terminology and context of phrases (out of box, into computer, and off you go). NOT!!!   

I've been working with SR consistently since November 2001. Some days I use it all day and other times just for a specific specialty, It all depends upon my mood - whether I would rather vocalize more to produce more or prefer "The Sounds of Silence" and would rather keep my fingers limber and type, even if it means a lower production.

Either way ... I rarely have more than two errors per page, and sometimes even less than that. And for the record, I'm doing acute care reports with a wide variety of dictators and specialties.

So, if you want the "real story" behind SR, I think you need to speak with more people who have been successful with product and compare their stories against those who chastise the product ... and find out the specific differences. I'll guarantee you that it's not the product that is to blame.