Typewriters - and we had to share the Selectric so SM
Posted By: Becky on 2005-12-30
In Reply to: How many of you started out the old way - pre computers? - omt
we wouldn't fuss.
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Before typewriters...
Why, I remember when we had to sit in the doctor's office with just a pen and paper while he dictated - it wuz great when typewriters were invented!
Typewriters (let us remember) sm
I know we are in a "throw away" society and some others would like to "throw us" away as well, but bear with us while we reminisce. We did not have "cut and paste" nor did we have the ability to spellcheck, use word expanders, etc., etc. We had to use carbon paper for copies and when we made a mistake, we had to use an "eraser" on all copies and not smudge or make a hole in the copy. If the error was not "fixable" via this method and made the document "look sloppy" we had to tear up the whole thing and do it over again. We had red or blue dictation "records", red, blue or brown "belts" and there was no dictating over these, we would mark the dictated portion "done" with a marker and it was reused at the blank spot until full. Then came white "correction tape" which would only take care of the top copy; the others had to be erased. At one service I worked for, we were allowed only one small 2"x4" strip for the day and had to sign for it. Then came "white out" and we had to buy our own bottle. So please, give us credit for paving the way for technology, it is sooo much better than before. If you think that's bad, before my time they used to use a round cylinder which was "scraped" of the dictation and reused. At one time, IBM came out with a "poker chip" for dictation - that went the way of the Edsel automobile. How we did it, I do not know. There were actually manual typewriters, no electricity. At one client's she told me she typed autopsy reports by sitting in the autopsy room with a manual typewriter while the doctor dictated directly to her what his findings were.
The next time you work with a senior transcriptionist, tell her you're proud of her for sticking with her profession and tell her you don't know how she did it in the "Days of Yore" and you'll put a smile on his or her face. We like to be appreciated, we spent a lot of time in the trenches with the troops and we were willing to change. Long live medical transcriptionists! We are from BC (before computers) and lasted this long!
20 years ago, MTs worked at the site, using typewriters.
Those who moved with the times and learned to use technology kept their jobs. The description of MT is changing and we need to be ready to change with it.
Do any of you think that offshoring is going to turn into one awful mess at some point, and MT work will come back home, because I do. This is like an accident waiting to happen, with records going out of the country. It's bad enough that medical records are being stolen here out of the backs of cars and from curbside dumping of computers, but just one unethical MTSO in another country who has access to records and can hold a US company hostage could pull the rug out from under the offshoring system. The same is true of other aspects of what's happening here. When some hospital is sued because of sloppy physician records that the Dr. entered into an EHR, and investigations start happening, we could see some tightening up of what is going on. Things have been pretty slack for a couple of years. That could change as fast as a CEO is put in the slammer for scamming investors.
Congrats, girl, and get your share of any money that you share before he wipes you out. nm
s
IBM Selectric
That is what I learned on, IBM Selectric and boy we thought we were fortunate when you could save a sentence or two and hit a key and it would print it out on subsequent reports, LOL. When I made I mistake, I had to use white out for the original and then put a piece of paper between each carbon copy and erase the mistake and correct the first carbon copy, then take the piece of paper out and correct the second, so on and so forth, cause we used to make about four to five copies. If the report looked too *crappy*, I would rip up the papers and do it over. However, it was a great and wonderful time being trained and all that kind of stuff, ya know? Then in 1984, I was trained on my first computer at a hospital I worked at. I remember those days with fondness.
YES. We had an IBM selectric with mag card
and we thought it was great! HAHAHAHA
I remember doing secretarial work on those old typewriters. I can't imagine MT w/o technology.
Every year technology makes my job easier. Google, internet dictation, spell checks, expanders. I can't remember the last time I opened a reference book. Direct deposit. Banking on line. I can't remember the last time I was actually inside a bank. Love the technology for MTs and payment process.
I do remember standing in line to get check cashed on Friday at lunch when I was a secretary in medical office. Ughh. I do remember having to get all dressed up to sit in an office w/o windows, too hot in the winter and too cold in the summer, to type and file. Ughhh. I remember lines of traffic going into town to get to work and then trying to find a place to park close to the building. Ughh.
Lovin the new things/gadgets to make my life easier and don't look back with any regrets for the "good old days"
Just one thing though. I wish we were paid according to 2005 cost of living standards.  What's up with that?
all that PLUS, when I started 13 years ago, electric typewriters were still used (smile!) no message
xx
I started out on a selectric & sometimes miss it!! nm
nm
I loved my Selectric!!! still miss those days...
don't notice things have improved much - less human contact - what's the big deal about speed? Are we in a race?
I would go back to those days in a heartbeat - it just seemed like we laughed more, had more time for each other.
Is that my imagination?
I used a Selectric for my first job and on the subject of whiteout, we used forms that were three
different colors, so each time you made an error, you had to white out on your carbons with all of the matching colors and this doc hated errors and would point out that you had to use the whiteout. Glad those days are over!
I worked on an IBM Selectric and used carbon paper
if the doctor changed something where you couldn't just use white out or correction tape on a few letters, you had to START OVER.
I taped a little paper duck on my selectric ball and sm
had fun watching it go back and forth while I typed. I was so happy when Selectrics came out, as those huge carriages always knocked over my cup of tea and anything else that was in its path on my desk!
Share, share, I've been looking for some time...sm
sending out resumes gallor, have great experience, but they sound like clones of each other in what they offer, yet what they want is it all!!! I'm so discouraged, in the depression boat myself! They want you to commit to FT, new equip, DSL, on and on!!!
I dunno. I sure do miss my Selectric and those onion-skin copies. nm
nm
Please share...
Favorite small appliance. I have 2 jobs now, love my crock pot but am looking for something a little more versitile... Something I can throw everything into in the morning and just set it and forget it! Any suggestions? Thanks! 
share
share any work ??
share
That is great pay. Where do you work. I read so many people who love where they are but yet no one shares the info. I have been looking the past few months but have yet to find one that starts out with a decent pay. I would have to take a cut in pay just to get more flexibility which I don't think is a fair trade.
Share what?
Our jobs that are limited as it is? So when we all lose our jobs to people in India, China, etc., can we assume you personally are going to share the money from what used to be our jobs with us so we can keep our homes and feed our families? I think not. Transcribe for your own damn doctors and leave the American patients to us.
yes please share with us !
Just had to share
Our Rottie had puppies Saturday morning!!!!! 11 in all, 6 girls and 5 boys. We lost a baby girl yesterday morning, but the rest are doing great. We're exhausted, but they're fine. They're sooooo cute..... 
Yes, please share
info about this.
Share What?
There are a lot of claims by a lot of MTs that cpl is the only way to go, and claiming that they are being paid more than most astronauts, but being given a salary/hourly rate to be recognized as the professionals that we are would be nice. When I started out the main issue was understanding the content of what you were transcribing and it was expected that you kept updated on all new terminology, meds, etc. You definitely would not find a nurse or other professional agreeing to be paid by how many blood draws they do and yes, it does boil down to the same thing.
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!
had to share, doc just said...sm
The patient was taped to the operating room..... Wish I could see that!
Let me share with you....
not really sure what you mean by the long-time MTs getting angry, maybe you can share- I didn’t have internet at all prior to 2004. OMG but made really big money years ago and has it ever dropped now days! But back to sharing… my grandkids who you know can show us all we need to know about the latest gadgets, computers, blackberries, whatever went with me up to my father's home. He was in his late 80s then. I asked the 14-year-old gdaughter to go in the bedroom and call someone for me. She went back but soon returned to where we were and called her brother, a 16-year-old with a puzzled look on her face. Finally the both of them came back into the living room and said they had no idea how to use granddaddys phone- it was a rotary. Laugh, laugh. See it is all when you grow up and with what.
yes PLEASE SHARE
We would all like to work for a great company to! Email me if you prefer.
Just have to share - sm
I have a discharge summary - the guy was in the hospital for a month. It's 42 minutes long. The doctor is dictating every consult that saw the patient every day, their impression, and then just reading the assessment and plan, numbering the recommendations, and then....."Thank you for allowing us to see this patient." Do they even think about what they're dictating???????
had to share this one!!
"She wil be put in an Aircast splint and with crutches and treated with Motrin 800 every 8 hours as needed for pain with food."
often HR will share your ap
Like, I applied for coding and ended up being recruited as an MT (and they never DID fill the coding position as that department was undergoing "internal issues").
Although it is a major slam when you apply for clerical work you get pushed towards being part of the janitorial staff! Do you have very little MT experience? I could understand if they offered you something in medical records, but wow, that's quite a leap to think you'd want to wash dishes!
just had to share this one - s/m
a local college has a job posted for an ESL instructor. Any takers? 
had to share
ESL dictates, "MRS. So-and-so is a 10-year-old female." Might be able to be a MRS. in your country but not in the USA.
Could you please share
the name of this company? It sounds an awful lot like what Medquist is doing to us. Thanks in advance.
I think you and I share the same sm
sense of irony! I totally get where you are coming from... :)
How funny. I have my share as well and when I
was trying to break my boys of the habit of leaving their dirty clothes wherever they took them off, I wondered how much it would take.
I taught them to do their own laundry when they were about 11 or 12 and then I stopped doing it for them. They were in control of it; if they didn't get it done, they wore dirty clothes.
However, they had a bad habit of taking their socks off in the living room and leaving them there, or in the bathroom and leaving their clothes there. They had clothes baskets in their rooms and in the laundry room for that. I would ask them to pick up and it was always, "later" or "in a minute" but those times never came around.
Finally, I started telling them one time then when they went to bed or left the house and it was not done, I started collecting those things in an old shopping bag. Each night I would quietly put the bag in the trunk of my car. I mean this went on for a few days...quite a few. They had a tendency to wait until the weekend to do their laundry and I remember the frantic desperate search for their clothes. They couldn't find them! Hadd I done their laundry? Nooo. Had I seen their clothes in the bathroom or their socks in the living room? Nooo. They were accusing each other, even! Hahaha They had practically nothing left to wear. HAHAHA I finally told them to bring in the stuff I had in the trunk (of course, they delayed all day on doing that -- all day while they were whining about not finding their clothes and it could have been resolved earlier) and when they did, they had a few bags of dirty stinky laundry! Hahaha I told them next time, I would not store it in the trunk of the car but store it in the garbage dump. They have done pretty well since. On occasion I ask them to pick something up and they realize if it isn't, it goes out in the garbage without another word. Hahahaha
Please share which program your are using.
From what I have read, it seems that EditScript is the only VR program that seems to work quite well. I hope this is not the one you are using. Could you tell us which one?
Well, share in the wealth, how?nm
x
can you please share what you found out
That would be greatly appreciated.
Share your secret, PLEASE!
Who do you work for? I used to do that, but got a crappy account now. I miss those paychecks.
You have every right to be happy. I'm happy for you (and jealous LOL)!
Had to share this e-mail (sm)
Little Johnny says "Daddy, how was I born?"
Daddy says "Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway. You see, your mom and I first got together in a chat room on MSN. Then, I set up a date via e-mail with your mom, and we first met at a cyber cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room where your mother agreed to download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a blessed little Pop-Up appeared and said You've Got Male!"
Let me share my dog story...
Our little girl was scared to death of animals!! Especially dogs. A dog showed up on our porch and we did everything we could think of to get rid of her, i.e. throwing shoes at her (that was my daughter's idea), shooing her away. We didn't feed her hoping she would move on to the neighbor's house. Anyway, she didn't leave....she adopted us! After a couple of days, my daughter became more comfortable with her (she finally stopped crying whenever the dog was in sight) and we fell in love with her. She is a real doll!! Needless to say, that was six years ago and the dog is still just as sweet as ever.
With that story told, have you called the game warden? They will come and get stray dogs. Maybe they can find out who owns her? Also, an area SPCA would take her. Just a thought. Good luck!!
Would you share the exact name -sm
of this keyboard? I'd like to find one with wrist rests like you describe. I have one that is split, but the wrist rests are quite right. TIA.
More about laptops, would you share?
What brand do you have? What specs, actual screen size, hard drive, RAM, ports? Do you have a parallel port for your foot pedal? Do you have a docking station? I'm looking and am curious what everyone else is using.
Care to share
x
Anyone with experiences to share sm
I don't suppose anyone has ever worked for both companies and can give me the real scoop?
Just wanted to share..
I just had a doctor, after stumbling over some words during dictation, say "I'm sorry, you have no idea the horrible handwriting I am dealing with"
I know this is off topic, but I just had to share with everyone that
$30,000.00 scholarship for her community involvement going back to 7th grade. She wrote a paper on how all people should get involved and make a difference in other peoples lives. I'm the proudest mom in the whole wide world! :D
Has anyone used Provigil? Could you share your
experience with it? Thanks in advance ''
May I share my experience?
My children and I are on a $5000 deductible insurance. Three years ago, my son had a terrible earache. I called the office (on a Sunday) just hoping I might be able to get an amoxicillin RX. The nurse practitioner told me they can't do that anymore and my son would have to be seen in an urgent care clinic or the ER. I declined and explained to her about our insurance situation. She called me back a few minutes later, told me she had spoke to the pediatrician and he said if I could get my son through the night with Advil and hot packs, he would see him first thing 7:30 a.m. Monday before office hours for no charge. We did go in, he did have otitis, he gave me an rx to hold (which we eventually ended up using the next day when the infx didn't clear). Last year, my son had to change his ADHD doctors as his retired due to illness. We went to our pediatrician. After waiting an hour to see him ( it was a 5:00 appt - you know how THAT goes), he came in and spent about an hour with us, doing a very thorough ADHD evaluation. The whole time I was cringing inside, thinking - man the meter is really running on this one. We wrapped up the visit and I gave him a CD of photos from a medical mission trip I did to Africa in January as he had donated samples for the trip. He finished our visit with saying, "and there will be no charge for today..." I about fell off my chair. "Excuse me, did you say no charge?" He said "No charge, your son is stable as a rock-- and besides you are spreading peace and love throughout the world" smiling as he held up the CD. I have had many, many experiences with wonderful physicians and staff who have been accomodating to me and my needs and also appreciative of the MT work I am providing for clients. My rehab account sent me a huge bouquet for MT week, delivered to my home office!
Of course some physicians are hostile - so are some gas station owners and stock brokers, etc. But I am still finding many docs who are in the business because they like helping people...
Oh DO share a picture with us all
We'd all just LUV to see him and please don't disappoint everyone with the old "Sorry, I don't have one" or "I don't know how to get the pic on the computer" because we just can't take no for an answer! We're sure you've got photos coming out of the woodwork on someone that cute but please, no substitutions with a pic of Brad Pitt all doctored up K?
We're all waiting ..........................................
What is this about? Can you share a link?
nt
Any other tips you can share and what should...
I be prepared to bring? I am going to Phoenix in November for 2 weeks while hubby is on a business trip and this will be my first travel/work trip. Thanks!
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