Total Burn Out
Posted By: Old Stressed MT - Very LM on 2005-07-23
In Reply to: Burnt out and under appreciated - bev
Well, I've tried everything to change my attitude & outlook & always feel I've succeeded until I log on every morning & encounter the worst of the worst ESL or American Doc on a cell phone dictating 50 feet away from the mouthpiece with every extraneous background noise imaginable! I can handle a few of those in a row, but that seems to be the majority of what I now get, with dictation times varying from 3-4 hrs or more apart to minutes - depending on who the doctor is.
I'm seriously questioning why I'm doing this to myself on a daily basis as I, too, have only seen my income decline, my hours increase, & am mentally wiped out at the end of the day. I'm doing good to fix something for dinner, let alone anything else that needs to be done! I just seem to sit here in a daze and/or stupor every evening - telling myself tomorrow will be better!
And, Whining Wendy, you're not alone. I thought the days of crying out of total frustration & despair ended in the 60s when I was a "Newbie". Wrong!! During the last 2-3 yrs, this has & is being encountered by me almost on a daily basis - & I'm an "Oldie". In years past, once you mastered deciphering an accent, doc, etc., your days of frustration were over. Now, working for a National, I have found that every day is filled with different, new doc's, new accents, etc. Problem arises when after you finally master an "impossible" dictator, you find that in 6 months or more, since you were so "good" - you get all of his horrible, undecipherable dictation again - none of which is consistent nor repetitive of prior dictations. Back to frustration level 1.
I hate to say it, but my love for this profession has totally been annhilated. Really wish I could offer words of encouragement or suggestions but, at the moment, I have none. I'm just really saddened to see how many of us feel this way & what has happened to a once highly regarded, elite, "profession."
Never in my life have I ever pictured myself working at "Bob Evans" (Geez - could just picture it all now - dumping trays of food, etc.); however, went to dinner there the other evening & they had an Ad posted in their window for help wanted. Jokingly, told hubby I thought I'd apply for the job. Sad thing is, his reply was that I'd probably make more money & be less stressed!
I don't know where we're all headed & wish I had answers & a magic wand - but I regretfully don't. I do know I'm seriously looking into what other options are available to me.
Sorry all - just venting after a very, very bad week, on top of my normal very bad weeks, only now with a Bonus offered until the end of the pay period. Just another stark realization that with the dictators in my pool, that is an impossible, unattainable bonus to achieve unless I want to work 24/7 trying to decipher such. My price to pay for being an experienced, good, at-home, Oldie?
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ABC told Star not to come to work anymore because of her stunt yesterday. Burn bridges, burn! nm
x
Burn, baby, BURN! ]:-)
I agree wholeheartedly! BURN that mutha! Our new boss has been trying to inflict that AAMT "Book of Style" crap on us for the past few months, and even the doctors we type for don't want things done that way. All our REAL dictionaries and reference books have it as "q.i.d.", "q.a.m.", etc. And it can be EITHER "ml" or "mL"... both are correct, it's just a matter of preference. I agree, it just a bunch of snippy little nitpicking minutia they are worried about. Our boss is now so worried about periods and commas, that she doesn't even see the forest for the trees, i.e., she doesn't notice that we are all well-trained, hard-working employees who are turning out high-quality work. Alot of the things AAMT gets so anal about are just matters of preference, and we have always gone with that our DOCTORS want, not what the boss says we have to do in order for her to feel important and in control. I don't work for HER, I work for my DOCTORS, so I still do things THEIR way!
Burn-out
I, too, have done this for over 30 years and am just about fried. It's the same thing, over and over, except I worked for a private group for over 26 years--they purchased new equipment and they didn't want to pay me what I had been making. They never came out and told me that but that is the bottom line. . . money! I figured with my expertise and years of experience I should be paid more than the gal they hired that can't even spell English let alone medical words. My daughters all tell me, "Mom, you've done this for so many years now. Quit and do something different. Like work at Joann Fabrics or ??" I do love to sew so (I like that word combo, don't you?) perhaps I should look into that. I am officially retired anyway but worked on a contingent basis for five years making very good money--not line count pay but a good hourly wage. I am working for a company now on a contingent basis online; however, it is so contingent I made $25.20 last month! I don't know what I'll do with all that money!!!! Ha! Sounds like we should all just do a 180 and start over with something new. I hate to lose all the info stored in my brain over the years but after reading all these posts, is it really worth it anymore??? Another Oldie!
Burn the BOS!!!!
I think the authors of it are bipolar anyway because they change so many snippy little things between every edition. The doctors could care less about the BOS. I mean really, who elected the AAMT to speak for all of us? I certainly never joined their offshore-loving organization.
Burn out
I think it sounds pretty normal. I type specifically x-ray accounts right now, that is the job I was hired to do, and I feel that after years of typing, this is about all a I want to do! But, I recently accepted a position as floater, and that means I have to do stat xrays, but also typing x-rays that need done in the TAT that is specified for each account....but when the x-rays are low, I hve to type whatever account needs help...this could be surgeries, H&P, etc......and lately, as you said, the xrays have been low, and i have been getting more and more of the other accounts!
It can be confusing and frustrating because each, as you probably know, have different account specifics and different things that need to be done. The only reason I like this and have agreed to do this is that the company I work for offered me full time but at an hourly rate.....I think this is awesome and really the only reason I don't get too upset with the different accounts that I type....I think, well yes they are time consuming, but I am getting paid by the hour, which gives me a little breathing room to look up information and make sure I am doing the report in the correct way!
Good luck, and if you would like to know the company I am working for, as I have found they are the BEST to work for.....just let me know, and I would be glad to share that information with you!
burn out
Been doing MT for 31 years and have come to the bottom. I'm quitting the national I've worked for for 6 years because of the stress  of working for them and am going to try to transcribe part time and edit part time. Haven't been allowed to take a day off since end of Sept. The only problem is, will have no health insurance and now I'm probably going to be even more stressed about my finances. Am looking to get out of MT altogether-one way or another. The national sapped my will to MT! (and almost my will to live  ). I'm not a fast typist anymore (and I say typist because the national didn't want an MT, just a fast typist), in fact, it's sometimes physically painful to type and production is the only key these days. In fact, had the national tell me they didn't want knowledge and experience, just production. Very demoralizing to have someone tell you that. Anyway, out of there in one week! 
burn out
I have been in this business for almost 20 years and I am not surprised about your situation. It seems that medical transcriptionists are supposed to work like dogs all the time. I have had to battle to get time off in a number of situations. My coworkers seldom took time off as they had no life outside their job which I did. I have a full and enjoyable life. My husband and I love to fish, camp, bicycle, snowshoe, ski, etc. When I took off in my last job my employer who had personal problems besides had a mad look on her face when I came back and treated me coldly for about a month afterwards. I really believe the reason we are treated like this is because most of us are women. They think they can take advantage of us. Right now I am looking for a new medical transcription job on the Internet. I am appalled on how many companies require their medical transcriptionists to work every weekend. Don't they think we need a break? That's why so many of us get burned out. Good luck. Hope you get a break.
Burn out
Remember to get enough exercise and eat well and get enough rest. Going back to school sounds like a great idea. Taking some time off on a regular basis is also important.
Burn out
HOw do you combat burn out from MT. MT is all I can do right now. I do not want to start at the bottom of any job....Maybe a WalMart Greeter for a few days a week would work, but I am not about to go to work in an office where some 20-yo chicky will tell this late 50-yo chicky what to do.....
so how do you deal with burn out?
I SAY BURN THEM AT THE STAKE...
 just kidding of course !
ha ha ha crash and burn
if and I repeat if you are doing that much you will
crash and burn. you either pace yourself in MTing
or you leave pretty quick.
but unless you are doing only OPs or only ERs i
honestly doubt you are doing quality work of acute care
with all the crap that comes with the docs not being able to
enter right numbers, say right names, say decent drug doses
or even say the drugs correctly. nope doing all the leg work
necessary to do most acute care, you won't do 2800 lines in a
decent number of hours a day to have a life.
Never like to burn bridges
as someday I might want/need to reapply to a former job. As long as the company was decent to me, I have always given notice of some kind, usually two weeks. On the other hand, if the company was totally horrible, I would probably jump ship. It just depends on the situation, IMO.
I did it for years - then I got burn out! sm
I guess the key to not burning out is not to do it every day. If you can work two jobs (1 FT and 1 PT) make the PT job 2 or 3 nights a week and not 5. That helped me during my burn out phase. To do it every day 5 or 7 days a week is just too much. You will feel like you have no life, no "me time" and no time for family and friends. After a while that starts to wear on you big time!
Good luck - Hope everything works out for you!
Burn out after 11 years
Today I absolutely hate this job. Tomorrow may be a different story. The monotony of typing all day is really getting to me. I need to work smarter, not longer. My goal is to work 30 hours a week and get paid like I am working 40. That means minimizing interruptions (like surfing the web, talking on the phone, etc.) and constantly adding Auto Corrects (we don't have an Expander in our hospital system except for this). The only thing that keeps me going is the flexibility and great pay at about $22 an hour with full benefits (as I work for a hospital). I can try to increase my hourly wage by several dollars as we work on a base salary plus an incentive program; that would allow me to cut hours without sacrificing what I am used to earning.
Can relate to burn-out
I know how you feel. Been doing this job for 22+ years and I feel like I have to fight myself to start each day, my productivity has gone to the dogs and I need a major break, which is impossible to get. The apathy concerns me because I've never been so unmotivated in my entire life. I cannot afford to take off and I cannot afford to keep doing what I'm doing. The more burnt out I get, the less I produce and the less I produce the less time off I accrue (as in zilch). I understand the rut you're in. I sometimes wake up crying, knowing I'm going to pound my brains out for nothing. The harder I try, the worse it seems to get. I used to be a huge producer in the past but I am so fried right now that I can barely stand to log in to work. My back hurts, my shoulders hurt and I'm so sick of sitting here watching my life go by that I feel like I've melded into an extension of my computer and foot pedal. I've never been this burnt out before and it has taken me by surprise. My family, friends and even my physician are on my case about not having a life but I don't know what else to do for now.
There was a time when burn-out was recognized in this field and steps taken to prevent it. But now the theme to MT is "mush, mush, mush! 24/7." I sometimes envision someone cracking a whip behind me like a horse, then putting me in the barn wet. And like that horse that has gotten too tired and just lays down, I'm becoming completely ineffective.
Never burn bridges. Never know who may go
x
You will burn out...in time... I know, I've been there
Did over 250 minutes (100 being mininum) of dictation in 7 hours with breaks...stayed at the grind while others workers too their time, chatted and barely got the required 100 minutes... I've learned to slow down and just be happy producing quality work instead of having to be the "top" because I've found you can't keep that pace up forever. I was young and needed the money and did what I had to do. Do it while you can.
I am not one to normally burn bridges. I am just upset *sm*
because I thought I had such a good chance at getting this account and I know that I could have provided better quality of work and a faster turnaround time; two things that I thought mattered. This is the closest I have came to obtaining my own account and I have sent out hundreds of letters with proposals. I know it is a competitive market but some day I am going to hit the right place at the right time. It is sad that it is who you know and not what you know because I have seen people working in certain positions that I have no clue how that got there. Thank you for your response.
RAM can burn out or become infected. Here's a way to check.
Open your computer and locate your RAM. Remove 1 and restart your computer, check how much RAM. Replace that and remove the next, repeat. My computer has 3 slots for RAM, I don't know how many your's has, but remove each one and check. This will help you figure out which chip is bad or if several are.
gotta burn my prairie...
we have about an acre total of reconstructed prairie. It needs to be burned every year to wipe out invasive plants and create the best growing conditions. What huge flames we get when a little bit of wind picks up. Looks like this weekend will be good for that job.
About once a year I get burn-out, but I've always been able to
shake it off by taking a few days off, adjusting my schedule, etc. This time I just can't seem to do it. I absolutely have to work as I am the main support. The bills are still getting paid, but we need a new roof, new windows, furniture needs reupholstering. There just hasn't been much extra money lately to put away for these things. I need to be at home 6 more years and I couldn't get a job in an office making what I do now so I'm kind of stuck. I am exploring other avenues though that will allow me to still stay home and work, plus I'm selling things on E-bay to try to help compensate for my low line counts lately.
It's called burn out. I suffered it, and never recovered. NM
x
I never knew you could burn them. I've had them ground out
nm
careful - that's how sound cards burn out...sm
I have my speakers plugged in behind the tower as I was told that if you plug your earphones directly into the tower you could blow out the sound card. I'm no maven but it's what I was told.
I would be inclined to take the job you really wanted but try not to burn any bridges
with the job you don't want - either going part-time with them or something - easing out gently if at all possible in case the other job does not work out and you need to go back with them....Best of luck if you get the new job!
I have learned not to burn bridges in this industry..sm
Yes, I have burned bridges, I'll admit, and everytime I remind myself what a small world this industry is.
Managers and owners changes names and owners. One day so-and-so will be with this company and later with a company you're working with.
We have a small company, not a MT company, and the corporations will just find another contractor without any notice whatsoever, usually when they change management or whatever.
But, we always let them know professionally and politely if we are no longer to do the account. Word of mouth is our greates form of advertisement and we don't want to jeopardize that.
I burn through keyboards like they're goin...
outta style, so I'm no help there. However, I do have joint pain and sometimes it really flares up and almost cripples me...especially in the ol' digits. I snagged a pair of these things called "Smart Gloves" from the office supply store and they have been a LIFESAVER on days like those. I don't use them all the time, because they do slow me down a tad, but when I still need to work and really need the support, these serve their purpose beautifully. After a few days of using them to support my hands, I'm right as rain again as if it were a weekend.
I found a link to show you which ones I use. They've got this bubble of little beads that lands at your palm and at first I thought it would be irritating, but it really is quite a comfortable unit. I really like that the spine of it, the piece that goes along the back of your hand, is not metal...it's like a super rigid piece of flexible foam...quite comfortable and I highly recommend them.
Best of luck whatever you go with. Taking lots of breaks and running your hands under warm/hot water really helps ease the pain too.
Here's one link to that glove I use, but you can "Google" many more:
http://www.imakproducts.com/products/smart_glove.htm
Burn-out, carpal tunnel, RSI, obesity,
blood clots in the legs, very high stress to produce fast and still 100% accuracy, years of training... we are waaaay underpaid.
I usually burn a nice incense--works great! - nm
.
Call old company. If didnt burn bridges, would
x
They were pretty quick to burn women as witches
Kinda similar
You burn out, you ask for help nicely, some folks lay on the guilt. I have offered money out of my
But you cannot make anybody do anything they do not want to. I would rather try and pleasantly ask for help than lay on the guilt. People send you hate notes whether you are pleasant or ugly though. I find that even when you ask for help, a lot of the time with the team I am on, it tends to make fewer people show up than would anyway! 
Isnt it easy to burn through 500 lines per hour, though, editing?
s
TOTAL RIP OFF
This is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard - VERY BAD SITUATION!!
I have 4 total - not 5.
nm
Total BS.
What company do you work for? Give me a name!
Total gym, etc. - sm
 I am being very careful. The videos online are very instructional and I am going slow and easy at first. I also have a Tony Little "gazelle" and do 1/2 hour at a time and at a good pace now that I have used it for more than 1 year. Hope to do Pilates once a day and the "gazelle" later in the day, but will pace myself.
Thank you for your concern. I did also consider the Total Gym, but went to our local Play It Again Sports store and found this Pilates for $59 so thought I would start here. If I really, really use it and like it I will possibly invest in a better one, but for now this is where I am.
p.s. Most any exercise equipment is available "used" so you might shop around before investing too much money, see how it works for you, and then think about perhaps spending your money on something either better or new.
total agreement with you - sm
I myself am in favor of trying to find out which hospitals outsource the work to India and then writing letters to the local newspapers as "letter to the editor" kind of thing to let the residents of the area know that their medical records are being sent out to India. But that's just my opinion.
That would be a total ripoff - s/m
Works out to 5,500 characters per $5 - or $0.0009 cpl.
Just say NO.
I have a total of 9 accounts.
x
We had maybe four kids total.
When we used to live in the "suburbia" neighborhood by the schools, we went through hundreds of pieces of candy.
I use Total Assistant Pro
and it works great for me. You can download the trial version and then purchase after 30 days if you like. It does all the work for you. I love it.
total cost
Total cost of $60 for two phone lines, which includes taxes, etc. It also includes call waiting and voice mail. But my C-phone line has nothing on it, no call waiting, etc. by my choice. First month on my residential phone is free because they are just starting up in my area.
Does anyone know what the estimated total # of MTs in the US is? nm
nm
Yes, that's it. Total concentration...
PLEASE let that be it.
I'm in total agreement with you.....sm
Do not kill them....unless poisonous or unless they strike! They can be caught and released or given to someone or some group who specializes in handling snakes.
Killing is the coward's way out...killing something that you are 10 to 100+ times bigger than......unless of course it's about to strike or is poisonous!
I think 6 seasons total.
I too did not watch from the start - but began to watch the reruns on HBO on Demand from the beginning - and have now seen them all, around 3 times each!!! If anyone hasn't seen it - do yourself a favor and watch on Demand or rent the DVDs beginning with Season 1 and enjoy - you're in for a great ride! The most cleverly written women show ever - hysterical AND poignant! It will make you laugh out loud and sometimes cry. I am in love with all four of those women - Samantha, Carrie, Miranda and especially Charlotte - and I'm straight! LOL!
About $125 in PA - total electric, about
Pretty happy here, bill runs about the same in winter and includes heat :)
Agree - Total RIP OFF!!
Curious me wants to know -- which trans co.?
re billing - am I being a total *ash*?
I have plenty of clients, no shortage of work. Recently I started picking up some extra legal transcription from a company who is swamped & always begging for help. It's not something I've had much opportunity to do and it's fun to do something different. But they're totally out of the technological loop. I bill all my clients by an Excel spreadsheet attached to an email, and I have a master spreadsheet set up that keeps track of all my invoices for me. They are the only ones who can't open it. I know they can because someone who used to work there could, but now they have a new person and no one there can open it. Of course they can probably right click and "open with" some kind of viewer, but why is it my problem to teach them that? (here's where the "am I being a total a$$ question comes in!) I'm tired of their clueless clerk emailing me five times every time I send her an invoice asking me to resend it and having to respond "If you can't open it, it's not going to help to resend it." Sure I can mail it, but why should I when I have plenty of other clients? Do you think I'd be an a$$ for unceremoniously dumping them? would you do it in a quieter way and leave the door open for further work?
They are so technologically out of the loop, it's not even funny. I asked them for an electronic copy of one of their style guides for easy searching, and they said they don't do that and they "don't keep" things. They just have one hard copy they are xeroxing over and over. I knew it was somewhere, it had obviously been typed it on a computer. It's a .pdf file on the web! Someone had downloaded it directly from the court's web site. They are supposed to provide me with the names of judges and attorneys on the tapes but they don't and I have to struggle to hear names and spell them phonetically or designate unidentified voices somehow so I can tell them apart and then go back and globally replace them when I hear the name or I'm sure of the spelling. This adds countless time to transcribing their cases AND THEY HAVE THAT INFORMATION. I've asked them for lists or links for judge's/attorney names so I can at least search when they don't give them to me. No dice. I have since found good links on the web, of course.
I'm worried about getting in deeper with them, I'm not overly familiar with legal work and I'm just going to keep coming up against their not being able to provide me with the tools I need. Every time I have to find something for myself it's costing me money, obviously, being paid on production. They annoy me and I seem to have a very low threshold for that. But it's valuable experience and they are desperate, the owner won't be happy. But she's as clueless as her staff.
As a total aside to this thread here...
about dentists in Maine...I haven't been to a dentist since I was a kid, strictly out of fear factor. I tried to find one yesterday because I think it's time I see someone whether I like it or not. Of the 4 I could find, only 1 is accepting new patient's and where I don't have insurance and would be be a self-pay, they don't cut any breaks....just the initial visit and cleaning is going to run $310 buckaroos! I asked if that price included a happy ending and the voice on the other end just went dead. (No sense of humor apparently.)
No wonder why people are losing their teef up heyah!
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