Torn between two jobs
Posted By: MT 2 RN on 2007-03-12
In Reply to:
I need some advice. I am currently an IC medical Transcriptionist with three kids ages 12, 8 and 4 and I am also on my local community college's nursing school waitlist. I have been offered a job at a hospital as a unit secretary for the 3-11:30 shift. This job will offer better benefits than I get now (currently none) and the health insurance is much better/cheaper than what my husband gets. I just don't know if I should take it or not. I'm afraid if I do take it I won't see my family very often. I will see the two oldest for about an hour in the morning before I take them to school and the youngest I will see for a few hours in the a.m. before she goes to preschool and then to a drop in child care place if I take the job. Being an IC I know that my current home job can be taken away without any notice (no reason to think that it will anytime soon, just from past experiences) so I am wondering if I should move on with a different more stable job or stay put where I am at and enjoy the time I have at home with the kids? I know the unit secretary position will be helpful in the future when I am in nursing school but should I sacrifice family time to do that? I just don't know what to do. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Torn between two jobs
I worked as a MT in a hospital too working 5 pm to 1 a.m for the exact same reasons. That didn't last too long, about six months and then I worked at home after that.
I keep telling myself that exact same advice about if my MT job dries up then find something else at that time, not now. Maybe I really should listen to my heart and not take it.
Thank you so much for your thoughts, I appreciate it.
Torn between two jobs
Thanks so much for the encouragement. You are right, I am very lucky to be able to stay at home with the family and still bring in an income. Unfortunately my husband doesn't like the company that I am contracted with or how I have been treated in the past by them so he would be thrilled if I left them.
Torn between two jobs
That's what I am not sure if there will be enough time at night to make up the difference while I was at school during the day. I know that the hospital would be more willing/understanding to accommodate my schedule if I needed to change it. I don't believe my job at home would--they would find someone else to do it. That is another consideration I need to think about as well.
My 12 year old thinks I should take it, my husband thinks I should take it and my two younger kids don't want me to take it. Pretty much split down the middle.
Torn between two jobs
I never thought about what the kids might learn from my decision if I should take the job. Thanks for pointing that out.
They definitely will enjoy evenings with dad. I think he does more fun things than I do anyways!!
Torn between two jobs
I know exactly how you feel. If I don't get enough sleep my typing will suffer the next day. I also sometimes feel that all I do is work day and night and I feel bad for the kids that I am always in the den working that is why I thought if I got a job outside of the house it would be just that, a job outside the house but I must say I do feel that I am lucky to be able to work at home and bring in an income
Good luck in your change of jobs. Go with what will make you and your family happy. It would definitely be worth if it will decrease your stress.
Torn between two jobs
Thanks for you input also MT to RN. My husband said that he would help me in any way if this is a job that I really want to take. Like I said in a previous post, he feels that with my current IC status I get treated like ***t (no benefits, no pay raises, no paid sick time, no paid vacation to name a few) and he believes that this opportunity would be valuable in my future career as a nurse. As for the childcare issues he doesn't see how an hour to hour and a half day at daycare and the after school program would hurt our kids. He doesn't think there is a difference between me working at home and working at the hospital on that shift because when I am working at home I'm not spending time with the kids anyways. I know I have a lot to consider and yes, I do want to eventually become a nurse sometimes it seems like it will never happen because the wait list is so long and will take forever to even get into nursing school. I just want to do what is right for the family and my kids.
Torn between 2 jobs
I was in the same position. But, I figured a way out of the stress and how to be with family, kids, work with benefits and have a life and fit in sleep.
Maybe this could work for you. BTW: Yes, working in a hospital is great with great benes, but who watches the children when they get sick? Do you pay for daycare if anyone will watch them?
Anyway, what I am doing now is I get up at 3 a.m. and work until I take my son to school. Then, after he comes home from school, and he does his homework, I finish my shift in the late afternoon and it usually gets enough hours/lines in to make a full shift. I also try to pick 1 weekend day, when my husband is home and I work the afternoon then and early morning so I have a day off during the week. These both work because I sleep when I put my son to bed, and when I get up at 3 I have slept enough. I can take a nap in the morning and then I am ready for just a couple of hours in the afternoon.
I have found services and at least 1 hospital allowing me to do this shift, because not many people are willing, and you get great benefits if you ask the right questions of the right company or any hospital. This is best of both worlds. Just make sure you get good coffee for around 2:45 a.m. It is great to be with the kids then, and it is nice and quiet in the middle of the night to transcribe.
Just my 2c. Good luck on your decision!
Torn beween two jobs
The only reason I considered an evening job is because we can't afford full time daycare so day shifts would be out of the question for a year or so. I have heard that being a unit secretary gets you exposed to the "behind the scenes" of working as a nurse and experience on the floor. I'm not looking to get away from my kids and husband at night, I'm looking for a more reliable job than MT as this job has gone to India once before and came back so that reason alone has me questioning the future of MT in general.
Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.
torn
jobs can be replaced, families cannot!!!!!!
torn
I was a unit secretary and loved it. Yes it does exposure you to the "behind the scenes" of nursing and you will learn alot. I work the 2nd shift and hated it. I did not have children at the time but I felt that I missed out on everything since I was working every other weekend as well. Would you have your weekends off? That would be a tuff decision. YOu can always try it and if it does not work out there are always other MT companies out there. If you leave this company on good terms they would probably take you back to.
Torn glenoid implant
Its dictated under implants utilized and s/l Tournay medium polyethylene glenoid with Press-Fit stem
My right elbow is killing me. Feels like the muscle has torn.
dd
supposed to be, after people lose their jobs, they are forced to take part-time, lower-paying jobs..
with little to no benefits. service jobs. where are you going to work in a few years, when Medical Transcription is replaced by technology? McDonald's, Walmart? you really going to like that?
Several jobs on Monster & CareerBuilder for inhouse office jobs down there through an
s
I did 3 jobs for a while about 3 years ago, you burn out quick, I was doing 3 MT jobs though...after
10 months I cut down to 2 as I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket. But I am considering going down to 1 in September for my sanity, its a good steady job so financally it should not be an issue. I have 2 right but have not worked the 1 in about 3 weeks due to some problems at their end, supposed to learn a VA account but not sure if I want to pursue it right now or not, they are waiting to hear from me at this point. I still have a lot going on with chemo, etc. so am mulling things over. But if you have a full-time day job, then I would just go with 1 part-time MT job at night, unless 1 is during the week, and the other weekends only, then of course you will be working 7 days a week, very tiring I know. I have been working 7 days a week for 3 years now but I do slack off now and then of course to recharge and get sleep etc. But burnout happens fast and I doubt you want to lose your day job so be careful. Good luck. 
Two jobs very common, 3 jobs not unheard of.
x
Yup! Not only short jobs, but also jobs from
extremely difficult dictators, bad sound files, jobs that need lots of ADT info added, and anything else that is not "easy" to do. I also questioned them about this and was told the same - they do not allow cherrypicking. Definitely not true!
MQ R jobs
the R stands for Reserved. My office will call me to tell me they are reserving a job for me, for instance, if a doc calls them asking where a report is that he needs asap (don't they always) or if a doc forgot to make it STAT. The coordinator can then reserve the job for you, used to be just simply assign in the good ol days
other jobs
I think that if you were unhappy at your job and you weren't making money then it was a wise decision to get another job. I wish you well.
Where are the $20-$30/hr jobs?
Just wondering if they are out there. So far I make $10/hour or LESS and it's not going to pay bills. thanks.
no. of jobs
take some 20 files in the begining for working for 8 hours.
that is sufficient.
regards
aroun2000@gmail.com
Jobs
Like you, I've worked over 30 years in the medical field. Seems a shame to waste that knowledge sliding groceries across a scanner but what the hey, why not? At least you are working, getting paid and have some benefits. It "ain't" all that bad, is it? Our so-called "profession" is becoming a joke! I'm still working here and there but got dumped by my own group of doctors after 26 years--I think the bottom line is they didn't want to pay me big bucks any longer--even though I knew the ropes, obviously, knew more than the girls they hired, etc. Bottom line. . . money! They want to keep it all for themselves. I didn't even have sick leave for years until I screamed loud and clear! I did get a huge pension and profit sharing, though, for my grief so I guess it was worth it. I just didn't like being "dumped" so unceremoniously when I came to their rescue years ago because their Transcriptionist quit. Oh well, such is life, I guess.
Other jobs can be the same too...
I agree it is stressful to always be watching the line counts, but other jobs have stress too. I worked as a physical therapist assistant for 7 years before becoming an MT and it was all about numbers and paperwork at most places. Even had to keep a number chart at some places with how many patients seen and how many hours worked doing patient care, etc. The director wanted us to double up on patients, seeing 2 to 3 at a time. I feel lucky now to work for a supervisor who puts quality above quantity. We get paid by the hour, so lines per hour is not in the forefront, but we get bonuses if we go above what is expected. This job is much less stressful for me and easier on my back as I was lifting patients and injured my back in the process doing the physical therapy job. I also love working from home, so that is a wonderful benefit too.
Second jobs
I tried that for awhile myself. The first job picked up and I had to stop. The important thing is that you meet turnaround times for both jobs. I made it clear up front with the second job that it was a second job, and that I could not take on as much work for them, since I was full-time with the other company. However, whatever work I agreed to do, I was expected to get finished on time. It got to the point that I was not going to be able to do both and meet deadlines, so I had to give the second job up. I have worked a second job several times for various lengths of time. You just have to make sure you can realistically do both.
I'm going to try two jobs and see what happens...sm
I have always had my eggs in one basket. I recently picked up a second job and so far I really like it. When one job had no work, I just started my other job early. My first job has a set schedule, but my second has a 24 TAT, so this is beneficial to me. Originally, I was going to quit my first job after a couple weeks, but I'm going to keep both just to be safe. I have to make a certain amount in order to pay bills and I can't have my account running out of work (which happened three times last week). I just can't risk it.
Just an idea. I might actually pick up a very very part time third job too.
2 jobs?
Has anyone ever successfully worked 2 FT jobs?
2 jobs
Been doing this since 1976. Never had two jobs, but my first work-at-home job in the mid-1980s offered endless transcription. I, too, was a single partent. Before I knew it, I was working 12 hours daily (sometimes longer) 6-days-a-week on an IBM Selectric. I would work at times until midnight or beyond.
After my shift, every single day, I would pack up my reports and make about a 12-mild round trip to deliver them to the company which at the time was being run out of a residential home. I shopped cooked, cleaned and gardened in between. I would go months and months at-a-time with my only human contact outside of my home being with cashiers in the store. The only voices I ever heard (except for my son's) were electronic, from dictation and the TV.
Five years passed without a vacation. Can't remember too many holidays when I wasn't typing. It didn't seem to take much time at all before back pain was making it take longer to type the same amount of work, thus stretching my work day from 12 to 16 hours. By the time I was 34, I was diagnosed with DJD at multiple levels in my back. At age 42, I had a physical (and mental) collapse, and for the next 7 years I could not do transcription. I lost my home and my car. My son went back to live with his dad and I had to move in with my elderly mother. When unemployment ran out, I ended up on food stamps and at the door of the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. They told me I wasn't "handicapped enough" to warrant assistance or job skills retraining.
I had to figure out my own physical therapy because of the public health care system was such an abdomination. That was a long and painful process. I learned how to take care of myself again and how to restore balance back into my life.
Ultimately I ended up back behind the computer cranking out medical reports again. I work 5 days, not six, and I type 8 hours over a 10-hour window, allowing for plenty of "stretch" breaks and time out for lunch. When my shift is over, it's OVER
2 jobs
Been doing this since 1976. Never had two jobs, but my first work-at-home job in the mid-1980s offered endless transcription. I, too, was a single parent. Before I knew it, I was working 12 hours daily (sometimes longer) 6-days-a-week on an IBM Selectric. I would work at times until midnight or beyond.
After my shift, every single day, I would pack up my reports and make about a 12-mild round trip to deliver them to the company which, at the time, was being run out of a residential home. I shopped, cooked, cleaned and gardened in between. I would go months and months at-a-time with my only human contact outside of my home being the cashiers in the grocery store. The only voices I ever heard (except for my son's) were electronic, from dictation and the TV.
Five years passed without a vacation. Can't remember too many holidays when I wasn't typing. It didn't seem to take much time at all before back pain was making it take longer to type the same amount of work, thus stretching my work day from 12 to 16 hours. By the time I was 34, I was diagnosed with DJD at multiple levels in my back. At age 42, I had a physical (and mental) collapse, and for the next 7 years I could not do transcription. I lost my home and my car. My son went back to live with his dad and I had to move in with my elderly mother. When unemployment ran out, I ended up on food stamps and at the door of the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. They told me I wasn't "handicapped enough" to warrant assistance or job skills retraining.
I had to figure out my own physical therapy because the public health care system was such an abdomination. That was a long and painful process. I learned how to take care of myself again and how to restore balance back into my life.
Ultimately I ended up back behind the computer cranking out medical reports . I work 5 days, not 6, and I type 8 hours over a 10-hour window, allowing for plenty of "stretch" breaks and time out for lunch. When my shift is over, it's OVER. I have a life now.
I can tell you this much. When I look back on those years, my regrets are not because of what happened to my house, my car or even my body. I was able to get all those things back eventually. But I never figured out how to have a second chance to be there for my son more when he needed me. I was usually too exhausted to help him with his school work. Missed a bunch of soccer games. The TV and video games were his babysitter when he was younger. He was a latch-key kid and during his junior high and high school years, he and his friends (usually other latch-key kids of workaholic parents) virtually ended up raising themselves.
I was lucky. He turned out just fine. But I can say without hesitation that the extra money, the good house and the new cars were most definitely not worth the price I paid to get them and I am a whole lot happier (and better off) without them. I indulge myself in simple pleasures that money can't buy and live a full and satisfying life now.
If I had it to do over again.......
2 jobs
Whoops! Sent this incomplete message by accident. Completed message posted abov.
2 jobs sm
I did not lose anything, but for the grace of God, but you told my story work-wise. I had to "retire" because of the back pain and each day that goes by, I think of returning to the same work because that's all I know after all these years of 100 hour work weeks. However, the posts on this board are very discouraging as to who to work for, etc. If I had it to do over, I probably would not have "killed" myself the way I did, but then again, my son would never have gotten his master's degree. Can't win. I am using a laptop and can't do much else for too long without wicked back pain. Paying the price for being an over-achiever but still have high hopes "repairing the damage" myself once again and doing this again soon. I thank God to still be here but pray the back pain will go away. Tried PT, heat packs, all kinds of gadgets, but the damage is done - overuse to say the least. A rheumatologist had the brass ones to say he sees "nothing wrong" with me. Good God, I wish he could feel the way I do just for one day. I sure am relating to others today. My gift, I guess, there's always someone worse off. Take care of yourself. We all need to share to help others not make the same mistakes we did. Don't overdo it and do it ergonomically correct or the damage will be permanent. Thanks for sharing your story today.
That would be 2 FT jobs....nm
s
jobs
Check online on MT Jobs...there are quite a few services on there that are hiring, most of which are asking for only 5+ yrs experience. I've been applying past couple weeks. I have 24 yrs experience, & got the definite impression that they're nearly desperate for us seasoned pros!
JOBS.
I hear people complaining from the big companies that they hate their jobs or that they are low on work and etc. So, it brings me to this question; I have been working for a small MTSO and was thinking about trying to get on with a big company, but then I read all of the bad posts about them. What do you think is better? Dont the Big Nationals offer benefits?
Thanks tonz for all then INFO!!
jobs
Hi, I apologize in advance if this is posted in the wrong spot. I live in Grand Rapids, MI, and my husband has been looking for a job since September, to no avail. If anyone knows of anything open around our area, could you please send me an email? I would greatly appreciate it. My husband has 10+ years experience in customer experience. We aren't even getting any unemployment, so it's been very difficult. Thanks so much just for reading this, and God bless you.
Some of the new jobs are second and third
jobs obtained by people whose primary job doesn't pay enough to take care of basic needs - thanks to corporate greed and the government's complicity in absolutely ruining the middle class little by little!! 
There might be MT jobs but only 1 for every 10...sm
I've been in the field for 25 years and been watching very closely what is happening with outsourcing, VR and EMR. I bought a VR program and became proficient with it to see if it can be done. I went to the hospital in the next town when I heard they had a VR program that in 30 days, had the docs doing their own radiology transcription, without proofing. I went to the EMR conferences to see what the programs can and cannot do. If you think you have 30 years of MT work left until you retire, you will be in for a big surprise...There is a huge push to automate. The only work left will be crappy ESL's that the machine can't understand. Oh, there might be jobs, but 1 job for every 10. Wages will fall, and it will be cutthroat. Only the most shrewdest MT's will survive. Dictaphone is a million dollar company that will only exist if they can convince doctors to keep dictating. Yet they know the cost has to be competitive. Solution: Speech recognition. They put their smartest engineers on task to find a way to make it work. They consulted with MT's to find out how to make it efficient for editing. And guess what? They were successful. As far as India taking the work, in a few years, there will be experienced MT's that can do the work.
Best advice I can give is to at least get a bachelor's. It will get you in the door somewhere doing something you like. I'm getting mine in a field that is growing and can't be outsourced...nursing. I LOVE working from home  but I don't have my head in the sand.
VA jobs
I did VA overflow for a while and I did NOT like it. Talk about poor dictators, bad reports, etc. Also the government does not want to pay much. Very frustrating to me and gave up after a month or so. This was a couple of years back but it was way worse than any teaching hopsital that I have done. Of course I did to a lot of psych posttraumatic reports that were really weird. But that is just my opinion.
new jobs
i see where a lot of people are getting out of transcription and thinking about doing something else I was just wondering what else people were getting into knowing that MT will no longer exist in probably 5-8 years and the fact that we are getting older, etc. Are you staying in the medical field at all or getting out all together? Would like to know what some of you are doing to make up for the income that we seem have lost over the past 5-6 years and will continue to lose (as it sounds) to make ends meet???
I like my 2 jobs, too! nm
x
two jobs
This may not help, but just to add to your thoughts - I work 2 jobs, one 12 hour shift and then I go home and do transcription part time for now. I am trying to find a full time transcription job so that I can quit my 12 hour/day job. Luckily, there are many jobs out there for us that have flexible schedules, and that is my hopes. My advise to you is the same: Look for flexible scheduling.
two jobs
It is hard doing it that way, I've done it before, although my full time job was out of the house, so I had the break for the drive.
I now work full time at home and also part time. My part time position is a couple hours a day, but has a 24-hour TAT, which helps tremendously. I have a couple of choices of when I can do the work, which really helps.
Having a set schedule has its advantages though. When you are done, you are done, and can make plans for the times you don't work. If you have to do it the way you explained, I would at least give yourself an hour break in between.
2 jobs
I have a 35 hour a week job at a hospital coding and then 20-30 hours a week at home as MT. I need the outside contact with people. I like both jobs but wouldn't want to MT or code for that many hours.
My hospital job gets me out of the house and provide affordable insurance. My at home MT job is a lifesaver as far as extra money.
I think if you have to have 2 jobs
do MTon production for less hours and something else besides typing for an hourly wage. I think it would be very difficult to have 2 full time MT jobs. 
Yes I have one of those jobs....
I work at home but do so for the local hospital here.
Well, I think MOST VR jobs pay cpl...
but I used to get paid $15/hr to do VR. I absolutely hated it and it wasn't worth the hassle of having to retype everything. I guess it depends on what software they use and how good it is. I went back to doing QA, make more money and am much happier.
By the way, I have worked at another company doing VR for 6 cpl and didn't make squat because the software was horrific too. However, if you can find one of the few companies that pays well AND has good software, you can make good money at VR, but good luck with that!
US jobs
Its been happening and we can't do anything about it. Companies wants more money; and in order for them to do that, they go overseas. Sometimes it makes me wonder what, we, the middle class will be doing in 10 years. Just to save a few more bucks.
Are there really any jobs that don't have 85% OR BETTER ESL?
Really hard to make a living this way.
Where are all of the QA jobs?
I am an MT with dial up only. I have been an MT forever. Are there any QA jobs out there? There just aren't any ads for any recently.
Thanks
jobs
I work at as a dental assistant and office manager at a dental office, ambulance EMT, and do paramed physicals part time, plus church treasurer.
I have 2 jobs.
What do you do when 2 jobs run into each other.
I work for a place that says we must work OT today. It is an in-house position that is backed up big time. We have been backed up for the last several months and they picked a very nice holiday weekend to tell us mandatory OT Saturday 8 hours. We don’t get an incentive just the more you type the more you make. I have been working for a small online transcription company since Christmas because I wanted to be at home. I need to put in 20 hours for this little national but it is not possible to do if I have mandatory OT at another place. I told my OM at the hospital that she needs to figure out what she needs to do with me whether she is going to let me work from home or not. I told her that if she has me drive in house again that I was going to have to leave because I liked to have lost my shirt the last time I did it. To clarify, the hospital set me up at home temporary back in January because the roads were icy but they are trying to pull me back in house. The computer does not run well at home. They have several people also working from home who have computer problems and I don’t remember how they worded the problem but it is something about the distance and the large volume coming through that messes things up. I live even further from the MTSO and all their programs run real smooth. The small national treats me better. They do have incentives for their FT MTs and they do offer OT quite often. The pay is not as high though and the benefits are more costly but they way they treat their MTs compared to the way this hospital treats their MTs is like night and day.
Pay for New Jobs
I have noticed a growing trend on the job seeker's board for lower line rates. I read the new ad. They want this, they want that, oh, and we must be experienced, and, by the way, we are starting you at 7 cents a line. For an experienced medical transcriptionist, that rate is an insult. I just see another recent dip in the offered starting line rate, and I have to wonder if it is me. If I have this and that, and am all that, and with my 20+ years of experience, I expect no less than 9 cents a line to start. Just wondered if I am alone in my thinking!! Thanks for listening to me vent.
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