Time management issues

Hi all - just wanted to get a few opinions to see if I am being slow or if I have too much work on my plate.  I am transcribing for three doctors, two internal medicine and one orthopedic.  Right now one of them is on maternity leave but I am still having a really hard time keeping up with my work.  How many hours a day do you all think is reasonable?  Do you guys work eight hours a day and call it good?  I find myself on the computer from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on weekdays and then I still usually have to work weekends to either catch up or keep from falling behind.    At this point I am wondering if all this is worth it - yeah, I don't have to commute and I can work in my sweats and I'm here when the kids get home, but I don't have time to run errands or god forbid meet a friend for coffee, that's for sure! 

I guess my question is, how do you all manage your time?  Do you have set hours that you work?  Am I slow?  Are you able to sit and work for hours on end without getting up to do other things?  I feel guilty if I stop to clean the kitchen or start dinner or go grocery shopping! 

I have been an MT for going on two years and I have increased my speed significantly but I am still struggling.  I think I am doing an average of about 26,000 lines per month right now and when the other doc gets back from maternity leave that will add another 4100 lines.  Would anyone be willing to post their average lines so I have something to compare to? 

Thanks, any thoughts are welcome

• Time management issues - Sheila
  • Thanks for all the replies.... - Sheila
    • Yes, I would suggest using a commercial expander sm - shipaddict
  • Good question. Here's what I do (or try to). - Snapdragon
  • You are exactly where I was for many years...sm - good luck
    • it's called true grit..sm - cat
      • thank you, but I'm not sure I would call it a legacy, maybe more like a state of - psychosis for many years!
        • yeah, you and me both...sm - cat
  • Time management - Patti
  • Are these direct clients or for an MTSO? - How long have you done their work?sm
    • oops, replied in the wrong place, please see my reply under the original message. nm - Sheila

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that is the problem with working at home - there are so many interruptions.  However, you have to remember that this is a real job - you have to commit your time to it.  If you worked outside the home, would you take a day off to help with the kids, would they let you bring the kids to work with you, and would anybody even ask you to do that? 

I know that flexibility is supposed to be a big advantage of this job, but it is only an advantage if you are willing to give up the income.  You have to decide, do you really want to make the money or do you want the flexibility?  If you want the income, then you are going to have to set yourself some hours, just as if you were working outside the home, and use those hours as working time and once those hours are over, then it is time for your family and home life - just as if you were out in "the world" working.

I have two IM's that work 4 days each and I average about 4,500 lines per week, 525 or so per day each doctor -- about a 30 minute tape, and when I am doing my monthly schedule I schedule 1.5 hours per day for each doc.  So that it 3 hours for that clinic.  My monthly total is about 20,000 lines and so yours is a little higher but if you have been doing them for a while you should have a lot of Expanders saved, physicals saved, etc to save you time.  I can average 350 to 450 lines per hour with them.  So I would guess that 6  hours per da, 3 hours per doctor is what I would shoot for.   Will the one returning from maternity only work part-time and that is why she is only 4100 lines per month?   But again, I look at my schedule each Saturday morning and schedule out what my averages are for the days coming and figure out my schedule.  ON M-Tu, Thu I work 4 hours morning, pick up and deliver, go to a clinic do EMR's for 2 hours, come home and work 2 hours --  my busy days, but then I have 2 IM's, 2 Surgical Oncologists, 2 GI's, 1 Hand surgeon, 1 plastic surgeon and 1 psychologist.   But total I don't put in more than 38 hours with pick up and delivery times.  My two IM's = 12 hours per week, SO = 6 hours, Plastic/hand = 1.5, Psychologist = 3; EMR = 10 and GI's = 4 or so.    Total monthly lines are probably 40,000 or so without the EMR's as I get paid by hour for that.  You just have to set time aside and stick to a schedule which is easier said than done sometimes but find out how your body works and when you are the most productive.  Work with that rather than trying to make your body productive when it doesn't want to be.   Also, again work with expanders, auto correct, etc.  When I do a physical I bring over the one from last year and add in the changes, saves me a lot as the diagnoses are almost the same.   Good luck.  It isn't easy. 

I am new to this board, but not to MT.  I have been doing this for 13 years with an acute care hospital.  We went home about seven years ago.  My problem is trying to get in my typing around my family.  I have a 5 yo, 3 yo and 1 yo and my husband is a police officer with rotating schedule.  The kids go to a babysitter three days out of the week and are home on the days my husband is.  My husband is on me all the time to make more money, keep the house in better order, plus take the kids to activities (gymnastics, soccer).  I don't have a problem with any of that, but when he is home with the kids and when I should be able to get more typing done than normal, I end up watching the kids when he is outside, sleeping or is just tired of them.  I personally want to take them five days a week so that I can get into a schedule better.  I feel now that I don't have a schedule because if I get up early, so do the kids and then hubby doesn't get up so I'm taking care of them.  I stay up late, but then the little one will start crying and then I'm back up taking care of him instead of typing.  I feel like everything is chaotic and hubby tells me it is because I don't have a schedule, but I can't make one unless he is going to commit to REALLY watching the kids.  Can anyone offer me some suggestions here?  I am just about ready to scream.  Thanks all.

Tami

I don't understand.  I hear people complaining about their wages.  Yes, I know we aren't exactly paid that great of an amount, but seriously.  I see people complianing about making $20/hr or more.  I am lucky if I make $11.50 an hour right now (including shift differential and 5 years experience), but I don't care.  I have the luxury of being at home so that I can work while my son is sleeping (thus not paying $500/mo for day care).  I don't have to pay for gas to get to and from work.  I don't know about most of your situations, but I would be forking out at least $100/mo with gas prices at $2/gal in order to get to and from an outside of the home position.  And, I even qualify for benefits.  Add all that up, and it is more than worth it.  Why can't we just be happy that we have a job and can make money?  I am the sole supporter of my family right now, and $11.50/hr, I still can make it.  Yeah, I don't even have an extra $5 at the end of the month, but I can make all my payments, provide a roof over my family, and provide food and clothing.  I have a nice house (only 4 years old and +2300 sq ft), with a nice chunk of land, so it isn't like I am living poorly.  I don't understand how those of you making $20+/hr can sit here and complain that you aren't making enough and can't pay your bills.  I think instead of complaining about your wages, you should reevaluate how you are living.  I know different parts of the country are more expensive to live in, but I could easily make it on my income alone in most of the country.  Every position is suffering right now.  Our business is not the only business where people are taking pay cuts.  Why can't you just be happy with what you have? 

both deceased, but I have "disowned" all my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews.  I grew up believing I was the black sheep of the family and maybe I am, but their lives are so screwed up and I never heard from them unless they needed something and there was lots of bitterness and anger about various events - mainly my parent's death.  The only way I was able to deal with the issues was to disown them.  I was not interested in making things better because they aren't willing to make an effort and I just don't have time for that. 

My oldest sister hated my mom and was very ugly to her.  My mom did so much for her. All I heard was what a lowsy mother she was.  Well, my sister's daughter had a baby and gave it away, did drugs big time, drinking big time, has lived with several guys.  Her son is gay and can't hold a job, has had so many wrecks he has lost his license twice that I know of.  They just keep buying him vehicles very time he wrecks one.  He can barely make a move without having to ask mommy, is a druggie/drinker/liar.  Only my sister can't see all of this.   We all make mistakes and I don't claim to be a perfect parent, but.....

There are many MTs out there I have encountered on other websites who all have different opinions and solutions regarding state of the AAMT.  Questions:  Would you like to see a new organization built and structured for the MT, not for money or politics...or would you like to see MTs unionized.... or do you think it would benefit MTs to have state licensure to practice?  Please go to website http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/hardworker1111  and place your comments.  Hopefully if we all voice together we can make some real changes.  Looking for real solutions.  Thank you.

I copied my autocorrect .acl file to a disk to load it to my new computer.  I copies it into 3 separate files that each had .acl and nothing comes up but the stuff normally put in, not my personal stuff.  Any help greatly appreciated.  Been searching internet too and I've been at this most of the day and I've just about given up.  Windows 2000, XP OpSystem

I was very careful about punctuation until I had to research things and found that the MTs at my hospital NEVER use commas. I could barely understand some of the long, strung out sentences. I always researched obscure medical terms to make sure my work was accurate, yet I make $10 less an hour than others there because the pools are set up so some MTs get the profitable work before the rest of us. The point of this is, I don't feel that my excellent work is appreciated, and I don't believe the pool situation is fair, so I just do minimum to get by.  I also work IC to supplement my income,  and my IC work is much better because I feel appreciated.

What a long thread!  I wasn't sure where to post this within this thread, as it goes back and forth in topics from dying field, to let's strike, to managers are Satan, etc. 

My only conclusion from this thread regarding the unhappiness so many have with being an MT is that the majority of you are young. I say that because you have such passion to defend a field you feel is worth fighting for, and that certainly is not a bad thing.  I used to be you.  I am older, though not necessarily wiser, but I have learned what works - the hard way.

All your complaints are very true for this profession, as well as for every job on the planet.  There will always be office politics.  There will always be a gossip.  There will always be somebody who doesn't like you or that you can't get along with.  There will always be a supervisor you think is incompetent. On and on and on. 

At my last on-site job, there was a very tight clique and I did not fit in, probably because I didn't try, nor did I have the desire to do so.  I brought my lunch, ate it outside, in the office, where ever.  Sometimes someone not in transcription would come in and join me, which was great, and sometimes I would eat alone, which was great.  I was invited to go to lunch with my co-worker out of politeness I'm sure, and I did go - once.  After listening to the gossip and the complaining and the attacks on everyone who walked by, I knew that would be the last time I would go to lunch with her.  She thought she knew it all, and I let her think that.  It made her happy and my life easier.  She did her thing, I did mine.  We got along great at work, but we would never be friends, and that's why it was a great place to work. 

In a nutshell: Do your job and do it well.  Do your time, and when the day is over, it is OVER.  You don't worry about what others are saying about you or anyone else.  As for being the meek little typer flying low and never saying a word, don't be quick to judge.  She is the smartest one of the bunch provided she sticks up for herself on the job front if need be.  She doesn't get involved, she minds her own business and does what she was hired to do, and doesn't go home with a headache or an ulcer at the end of her shift.

If you don't like your pay, approach your supervisor with facts and figures backing up your work.  If you are unhappy, start looking elsewhere.  Unless you have legal recourse for some action that management has done, you are wasting your energy.  Actions speak louder than words, let your work speak for itself.  No company wants to see an A+ trancriptionist head for the door, but by all means do so if the job is not right.  Trying to change the mindset of your supervisor will come back to bite you in the butt because you are not the one with the power, she/he is, and you will be looked upon as a threat.  Live by your job description, the one you agreed to when hired.  If your working for the social aspects, lots of luck. 

This is a dying profession.  I will be 50 shortly and I am looking to change my profession because I don't want to be looking for a job at 58 because low pay, outsourcing and VR made it impossible to make a living.  I do not see this being a viable way to support myself in the long run. 

Wow, do I sound OLD!  

The wage demands (usually union-driven) are what have priced Americans out of the more than this business. You need to get beyond this drama that you've created for yourself and look at the issue. Your 7 years in the business are nothing compared to my 21+ so don't think that your name-calling and having to have the last word are impressing me at all. You are letting emotions control your responses, not level-headed thinking.

My satellite transmission goes out if there is heavy rain, snow, clouds.......birds flying by (just teasing).  Very frustrating when you are trying to meet a deadline, but this is the only thing I can get.  It was also EXPENSIVE.  $600.00 up front to start installation and then they stuck me for another $150.00 for "additional" costs.  Monthly fees are expensive too. I live in the sticks though so I am lucky to have satellite.

Her medical records were indeed compromised several years ago and they did a sting with the doctor to find out who it was.  The person responsible, ironically, died of cancer before she could be prosecuted.  Farrah talks about it in the documentary.  The documentary itself is Farrah and Alanna filming her treatment and journey over the last year or so.