Uh yeah, in a debate there's usually defense and an offense. Hence someone is always "on the
Posted By: Tinks on 2006-11-07 In Reply to:Awfully defensive... - tiredwornoutMT
defensive." I simply posted my opinion about non-compete clauses and my experience with an untrustworthy service and how I handled it and then I'm called unethical and unprofessional. That kind of puts me on the defensive, dontcha think? Kind of begs me to defend my actions...
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Other related messages found in our database My "on" days tend to be when I don't (sm)
have bills waiting to be paid, dishes needing washed, errands to be done or in-laws asking me to do things for them. Not that I stop and interrupt my shift to get up to do those things, but I think the underlying stress distracts me, no matter how hard I try to fight it.
I saw some postings on another board about listening to classical music helping them concentrate. I tried it and it doesn't work for me (I keep stopping to listen!) but that might be worth a shot.
Keyboard text stuck "on"
I hope someone can help me. I was trying to print the computer screen and for some reason could not and my husband came to "help" me and somehow he got the desktop text that normally shows up under the desktop icons to be stuck in the "on" position. Does anyone know how to turn them off? My husband does not even know what he did to get them that way. We never were able to print the screen. If anyone can tell me how to turn off these desktop texts, please let me know. Just in case this helps, I have Windows XP PRO and a Microsoft erganomic keyboard. Thank you all in advance.
thank you for coming to my defense (sm)
Of course I know my financial situation, but we have missed a few payments, have tried to contact the lein holder, but to no avail.
The best defense for a child...
As heart tugging as they are, accurate transcription is sooooo important for any person, there is a lot at stake and your best effort at triple checking what you have typed is our little helping hand at helping those seeking help. Flag ANYTHING you doubt, if you get lost in the "he said, she said," someone else will too and calling attention to those items WILL HELP to ensure the reports are easily read and understood. Keep up the good work, the job we do IS IMPORTANT! Any complaint or abuse is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, just be sure those you do are the cream to help those who in need.
In defense of Dano....
Further down on this board, someone posted a very rude post that implied that people who didn't think a college degree was important were inferior. Dano requested that the poster not put people down that way. So it's very understandable why she would ask this question.
But you already know that, don't you? You responded to that post by telling her she has issues.
Since you obviously have you own issues concerning your abilities to understand how this board works, the most current posts are at the top, which means the less current posts are at the bottom, which means she posted her request to stop putting down posters BEFORE she asked the above question.
You're even more rude than the *superior feeling* poster who started all this.
In defense of kids
I only have a niece and a nephew, but they tell me the same thing. I was stressed out at the time and probably bit their heads off. On further reflection, they were doing their best to be caring and supportive. They can see what the upheaval at the Q is doing to me, and they're smart enough to know it's not good. As my niece said, You work all the time, you have no money and you're no fun! She's got that right! They both think their aunt could do better and deserves better, as I suspect your children do for you. They still believe in us - that we're smart enough to learn and/or do something else. They're trying to give us the kick in the butt to look beyond the obvious - there are other in-hospital jobs we could learn and do and there are other jobs besides K-Mart (at least where I live) - and to get out there and try for them, as scary a thought as that is. They still have the optimism of the young, and maybe us old folks could use a bit of that right now. At least we know they love us, and that's not a bad thing either.
Not in defense of errors or anything, but - sm
one reason the QA field has exploded is the low wages. Taking the time to proofread is costly for an MT racing through the day's work in order to make a line count that will even pay her electric bill for that day. We shouldn't have to work that way. It would be easier to take pride in one's work as an MT if we were afforded the luxury of a living wage, so we would slow down a little and produce an even higher-quality document.
Ok, in my husband's defense, he apologized.
Then he made breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday for all of us, did the grocery shopping, mowed the lawn, put up a swingset for our little one, fixed our broken outdoor faucet, set up the pool for the kids, gave me a foot massage, cleaned the house, and washed my car. I think I'll keep him....
In her defense, there are far too many men out there that really should come with warning labels. nm
nm
Conversely.... in defense of the MTSOs..
.....where would the MTs be if the MTSOs just quit?
I realize this commentary may raise the ire of some MTs out there, but I believe the long-time MTs and MTSOs will understand what I am saying.
It really isn't as easy at might seem to some managing multiple accounts, turnarounds, IC flexible schedules, covering for the ICs when they want to take off for the afternoon and go shopping or to the park with the kids, doing the QA on the blanks to find that medication or doctor's name that the IC did't feel like spending the time looking up in the resources available, and still meet our contracted turnaround with the client.
The sending of work offshore has drastically reduced the amount clients pay and I can tell you from personal experience that most MTSOs are rolling in the dough, living in fancy houses and driving fancy cars. We are making pennies, just the same as the ICs are. We are not the national corporations and we are not sending work off shore. We are the moderate to small MTSOs that respect the fact that experienced transcriptionists with good work ethics are hard to come by. Most of us pay our ICs based on the average national rate.
You can certainly do the math if you're interested. Average line rate (in our area) is 0.12 per line, 0.14 if we are REALLY lucky. Most want to pay 0.10 or 0.11. Telephone, internet and system costs (with maintenance) cost an average of 0.02 per line. Experienced MT average rate nationwide is 0.08 per line. So, we hire trainees right out of school rather than sending work offshore for 0.04 a line and may the trainees 0.06 a line to learn the accounts we are getting 0.10 for, paying 0.03 for QA on those if we can afford a QA person and giving them incremental increases as they improve, keeping the experienced MTs on the 0.11 accounts, and paying our non-QA-requring MTs 0.09 to 0.095 per line.
Even if a service bills out $2,000,000 (yep, two million dollars) per year, $40,000 isn't a whole bunch of money. Some of us could make that much managing an office for a national. But then who would hire the ICs that want a really flexible work schedule, do not want to do ESL work, will not be available for STATS and want their own primary account to work on when they want to, and have someone else cover when they're out for an afternoon with the kids.
Hmmmm.. seems like there's not much left for the cars and groceries of the MTSO either.
Transcription is a profession, not just a job. If you want 0.11 or 0.12 per line, feel free to go find and manage your own accounts. If you want a "job" with steady hours and steady pay.. I think they're hiring at our local fast food restaurant. What works for me is I take a women's self defense class . .
twice a week. I get to beat up on a man for an hour. Great fun and stress reliever. Also a kick-boxing class. I just imagine I'm kicking the doctor in the you know what. LOL
Self Defense, pure and simple. I am leaving this board as of --sm
today because of you and your obnoxious attitude. I know you don't care, but you should, being a *fellow MT*, but everything revolves around you and you always being right. You remind me of KiKi. YOu like to take cheap shots at everybody who does not have the same opinion as you about anything, just as long as you can start an argument and keep it going. You are vicious, rude, crude, and a definite infant. I will pray for you. good bye.
Let the docs use their reports transcribed in India as a defense! LOL
The doc can sit there while the personal injury lawyer shows the jury a grieving family and the messed up report.
US MTs should not accept sweat shop wages or conditions. We are providing a service to them! We are their first defense!:) :) :)
If US MTs stoped working for low wages, the physicians who value patient safety and their livelihood would pay a descent wage. The other ones can try to explain the report being done in India to the personal injury lawyer tearing him apart.
Hot debate....I have been using disc for everything....
for over 10 months now and my main account does nothing but spine injections.....either a HUGE lack of communication (MQ?) or disc is just fine by them...not a word from QA or my accounts!! In fact, if you do a Google search for 'spinal disk' you come up with sites with both 'spinal disc' and 'spinal disk', every other one. Better ask you accounts.
obviously you have never participated in a debate.
you have to make an argument for your side. you can't just call people names and win anything but the argument in your own mind.
obvious you have no education beyond 10th grade.
Ah a good debate going like that.
Lemme finish up work and check your link and I as well can find the ones that support my side. No wonder I never make any money at this job, this is way too much fun. Medical transcription is not for those of us that are ADD...LOL
Now that I'm on the other side of the QA debate
I can totally understand why so many people gripe about QA on these boards.
When I was doing QA, I tried really hard to be fair, and to not nitpick every little thing.
Now that I'm back to just doing MT, I am really starting to dislike some QA people. So I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the stuff I said before, sticking up for QA in general because I see now that there are a lot of horrid QA people.
This whole debate is kind of interesting
I can see the point of both sides but I think that you have to go with what you feel is the right thing to do and what you do really shouldn't have any bearing on what other people, the doctors or whoever are doing. Your decision should be based on what you know to be right and you'll come out way ahead in the long run by building a reputation of fairness and honesty and integrity. Congratulations on even wondering about it anyway and not just saying YEEHAW off to the bank I go!!
So annoying to get a good debate going, and then it's gone.
x
Wow! Big debate, reading the replies to this. I believe most....
This was a very interesting query with very interesting responses. I believe most who replied with their numbers. They look in the ball park to me, and the ones who posted sarcastic remarks either don't know what their IQ's are or theirs are low?
Having a high IQ definitely DOES NOT mean that you are superior or well adjusted or happy. Probably the opposite. Personally, I view myself as a (somewhat) total misfit. I say somewhat because I fool a lot of people (including my loved ones) into thinking I am totally normal, when, in fact, I have lots of hang-ups. Then again, maybe other people have similar or worse hang-ups and are not aware of them or have such a high ego they don't care! In other words, people with high IQs can be oversensitive and look for perfection while others with more normal IQs really don't care what everyone else thinks.
Some asked where we came up with our IQ score. I am in my 50s and, back then, the schools tested IQ scores. They would keep the score secret, but my teacher leaked my score out to my parents, he was so excited. It was 137 then. And, with the internet, you can now take a standard IQ test online. My score was still 137 at age 46, but was lower a couple of years ago.
My firstborn, also, has a high IQ at 139, but my two other children with more normal IQs as well as my husband have higher self-esteem. Also, I am an ABSOLUTE TOTAL IDIOT MECHANICALLY. WE ARE TALKING TOTAL NO LOGIC HERE. CAN NOT TURN ON THE TV(digital with black box), OR OPEN ANYTHING WITHOUT THINKING *LEFTY, LOOSY, RIGHTY TIGHTY.* And I only learned that recently. What a blessing.
Seriously, even Einstein couldn't remember the way to get home and forget to..like..put on his socks or bring his lunch. Help! No, I am not comparing myself or other posters to Einstein! Just stating that a high IQ does not, in any fashion, spell success or personal happiness. But, yes, it figures to me that MTs, in general, might have higher IQs and want to hide out at home typing technical reports.
Bologna. There wasn't a debate
until you started one. I questioned putting in a note that a patient smelled like manure. I have nothing against manure or farming or anything of the like, but I had a *gut reaction* it shouldn't be in here because it had NOTHING to do with the medical note. I asked, and the doc said leave it in. Point is...I don't question manure but I questioned whether it belonged in the note.
Digging a little deeper into the CMT debate -
- I think 'CMT preferred' is ALSO another way of saying, 'MT's over 45 need not apply'. Sounds like age-discrimination to me, since most MTs who don't feel the need for a CMT were transcribing as a profession when the CMTs were still wearing Pampers.
I don't understand this whole QA debate in the first place...
or why so many people dislike QA....I do both MT and QA...I just don't get it...
Out sourcing...long debate sm
Oh, and yes, outsourcing will collapse in times to come when the financial divide reduces among nations, especially once major unions like the EU are formed. Moreover, research indicates that it's more of a hassle to manage and offers only marginal cost reduction.
DM
November 11, 2008 09:02 PM
Outsourcing is what caused the demise of the United States economy, in my opinion. The rest of the world depends on the U.S. economy; listen to the news. Multilingual for the U.S.? Realize we are from different backgrounds, but in the U.S. English is the official, unofficial language. In the U.S., learn the language. Reap the benefits but can't speak the language? Automate Spanish and French for our bordering countries but beyond that? I have had very bad experience dealing with customer service reps from another country. You can't even understand each other some of the time. Ask them where they are from and they mispronounce the name of the city and state. Ask them their name. Fake one given. Very misleading. Our country in the last few years has gone downhill economically--lost jobs, lost homes, medicines unavailable for those who need it, because they cannot afford it, etc. Keep people in jobs in the U.S., and the U.S. will do better economically, hence the world would do better economically. Worldwide recession did not start until after U.S. failed--the trickle effect. 24/7 coverage? Pay people enough, and they will work. Heck, at this point, pay them anything and they will work the off shifts. Some people want the graveyard shifts. Americans working in America who aren't bilingual in certain areas (Texas, for example) can't even get a job at Wal-Mart. Think about it. Outsourcing was our demise.
julia
November 11, 2008 09:06 PM
I agree that stopping the outsourcing would be better for the economy since Japan blamed its problems on outsourcing and temp agencies 2008.
Gail
November 11, 2008 09:59 PM
In our big publishing company, help desk and infrastructure support have been consolidated and outsourced several years ago, with disastrous results. Since then, we have had to deal with extended production-critical outages, with CSRs who don't understand simple technical words that everyone in U.S. knows, and with CSRs whose heavy English accent is no good for any kind of customer support.
Observer
November 11, 2008 10:45 PM
It is of course expected that someone from Nuance Communications, which makes IVR software, would be in favor of automated response systems, which drive their revenue. And of course Nick Sharma would prefer outsourcing to India. What are needed are neutral viewpoints. If customers could get a choice of country (Press 1 for U.S., Press 2 for India), when they call their support line, this would make clear what customers prefer.
My issue with outsourcing has nothing to do with the call center agents themselves. My issue is with the executives who implement this solution without thinking it all the way through. They are puppet masters, walking off with all the money on the backs of their employees. Their only concern is the bottom line, the shareholders, and their yearly bonuses. Customer satisfaction seems to have taken a back seat to greed long ago, and outsourcing is merely one facet of this big picture. Don't blame the tech in India who's busting his ass for next to no money to feed his family, just like us "high-and-mighty" Americans do. Blame the executive who hasn't spent enough time and money on training these people, sending them to English class to speak and write clearly, and not paying them enough to get the high quality people that they need to man the call center.
experience with those few you have met has not been good.
no offense
to the original poster, but tends to make you wonder why they send work to other countries.
no offense taken now that sm
I understand. I was not familiar until today that AHDI is the former AAMT. I have not read an AAMT publication in years. I don't particularly like their "core" values, politics etc. I was just doing the CMT thing for myself as well as other schooling/certifications. My way of coming back into the real world after a very devastating illness!
Don't worry about it really.
Take care
No offense but -
With all due respect, being able to stay home with one's children is NOT a perfect reason to become an MT. I believe there are certain personality characteristics, IMO, that one must have in order to be successful in this industry.
~First of all, in order to be a *successful* MT, one must have not only an excellent grasp of the English language, both written and spoken, but also an 'ear' for picking up and deciphering various other native tongues as well.
~On top of that, one must have above-average instincts and inherent skills for research, as this career requires not simply typing what you think you hear, but many times doing extensive investigation to make sure you are indeed hearing correctly.
~An excellent memory; the ability to recall the spelling of a medication or a syndrome or a genetic disorder without having to look it up each time it is encountered is invaluable in this field.
~Last but definitely not least, I feel in order to be successful in this field, one must have a keen interest in the medical field. These aren't simply words we're transcribing; they're legal medical documents. If one does not have a love of the medical field and an enjoyment of learning something new almost daily, this is NOT an appropriate career.
I'm sorry, but with all due respect, you choosing to enter a field simply to stay home with the kiddies is not enough. Without the necessary drive and willingness to learn, one is destined for failure. Unfortunately, it sounds as if perhaps you already have failed.
Please overlook any typos; I've been working 10 hours and my dinner is awaiting me :-)
if you can't debate, destroy! bush cronies do the same! GEEZZZZ!!!! What a heated debate about homeschooling!...
Man, this is surely a hot topic! Everyone certainly has their own opinion. In the end, you just have to do for your child what you feel is right. Each child is so different, and you are the only one who REALLY knows YOUR child. Some children flourish in the public school system. Some do not for whatever reason. My first two childen went to public school.
My third (ADHD) WANTED to go to public school, but just couldn't handle it, no matter how much medication and how much counseling, and ended up being homeschooled through the internet for 6,7,8, and begged to try the 2,000 kid high school, so she did. Total disaster. Constant phone calls from the school (same as in grade school) and a 1.6 GPA. She then went back to homeschool through the local alternative school, got a 4.0 GPA. Begged to try the high school again for Junior year. Even worst disaster. 0.6 GPA. She flunked everything she couldn't bring HOME to do. Flunked floral design, basketball, swimming, ceramics, band. Passed all the academics, English, history, science. She is now back to homeschooling through the alternative school, but is allowed to go to the high school dances and walk down the isle for graduation, so she is not too unhappy with that. Good luck to you, whatever you choose.
Why do you take everything so personally? It was a debate about line counts. Now, if I were to say
you were rude, crude, and obnoxious, I could see where you might feel defensive and take it personally. I think the harshest thing I've said to you so far is that you were "stretching the truth" and that you were "misleading people" when you failed to divulge that you work 12 hour days and count gross lines.
For example, if you need orthopedic MTs versus ophthalmologic MTs, asking which is correct in Tenon versus tenon or sub-Tenon verus subtenon would be important and might not be on a test you pull from someone else.
Where do you live that you get polite customer service from McDonald's? lol. I'm lucky if they acknowledge me when they stick their hand out the window for my money.
It is not meant to be offending to anyone, just an honest statement made by someone. Everyone grew up differently with different values and "prejudices" handed down to them, or "on them", and we as adults see that and try to correct it. Prejudice is learned, and I for one am learning how not to be prejudice!
And since you say you are a "new to work at home MT", I think maybe you lack the organization skills, motivation, and dedication it takes to be a successful work-at-home MT.
This is just some friendly advice. I am one of those people and after working at home for about 5 years and barely making ends meet, I recognized my weaknesses and took at job back in the office.
Guess what? I am posting this from my work. I am halfway through my shift, I have met my quota and earned incentive, and still have time to post this. Plus, I can still earn a little more incentive before the night is through.
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