Wait a doggone minute here... I would BE MY LIFE...

• Could I really do this??? - Kira
  • You can do this with a baby. - Home MT Mom
  • It is hard but only at first... - sm
  • Yes, if you do it right - I did it
    • Babyproof! I still have my babyproof things on our cabinets -sm - Laura E.
  • I don't know how it's possible to do this with a baby to contend with unless you put him in da - It's no different than working in an office
  • another point sm - MTMom
  • Like lots of the women here, I got into MT for that reason (Please sm) - Chickadee
  • the point in a nutshell, IMHO sm - MTMom
  • How many lines?? - Kira
  • A lot of negativity here - I did it
    • Negativity and reality...... - SM
      • Have to say I agree with you - LM
        • Sorry, I meant didn't have to do it at home full time - LM
      • I assure you, MTs NOT taking care of their own kids while working at home is NOT the rule. Its the - HappyMomMT
        • So far HappyMomMT, you are the only negative person in regards to this post. SM - nn
          • Wait a doggone minute here... I would BE MY LIFE... - SM
          • I wonder how much attention HappyMomMT pays to her kids... - SM
            • Well, collectively it probably took 20 minutes of my time to post today. - raising YOUR kids, which is, of
          • LOL, that's exactly what I was thinking - This is NOT a "parenting" debate
            • This career is so closely related to "parenting" that they are one and the same, really. - AnotherMomMT
              • Since when is this career closely related to parenting??????????? (sm) - childfree by choice
                • Heavens, now you're popping in about NOT having kids. You've sure been quiet for a while! - raising YOUR kids, which is, of
              • You're still missing the point. She needs to hear ALL sides. - sm
              • There is a big difference between being negative - BTDT
                • But you are being negative! Your experience sounds horrible, but it wasn't like that - LM
                • But you are being negative! Your experience sounds horrible, but it wasn't like that - LM
          • So, just simply summing it up. You have 2 kids, and they fight while you work, so you just - HappyMomMT
            • To HappyMomMT. Me again. LOL. I agree with you about daycare, I do. SM - nn
        • Hey, don't jump all over me.... - Me again
  • Previous posters are 100% correct. Here's what I've learned... - sm
    • Your first boss really sealed your fate! You had failure handed to you at the start! - NutherMT
      • Did you even READ my post? - No gloom and doom here.
        • Yes, I read your post, and I just re-read it, and I've copied and pasted for you in case - Me Again
    • I wish I had read this BEFORE getting in the field - fg
  • I broke into the field with a 9-mo baby.... - SM
  • You can do it but you have to be determined, have a solid office background helps, obviously an - sm - Laura E.
  • Thanks for the honesty - Kira
    • You have a good, realistic attitude about it. Good luck to you. nm - nm
    • It sounds like you've done your research, and your - BTDT
  • Not to discourage you, but wanting to work at home - BTDT
    • My kids have suffered greatly from me working at home with them home. SM - nn
      • Working full time at home with small children is hard but part time works great - Sharyn
      • Your post should be required reading for anyone wanting to do at-home MT to be with kids...SM - SM
        • How can you NOT do both? How can you NOT take care of kids and do this? Heavens! - HappyMomMT
          • You act like all women are walking wombs..SM - Good God
            • Now that certainly followed the thread! Bravo! Thanks for - LM
          • I love reading your posts..and having my own feelings - validated
          • Kids are demanding and so is MT work. My question is how CAN you do this with kids, rather than how - nn
            • Well, I'm not sure that you really want an answer of HOW to do it versus - HappyMomMT
          • I love what you just wrote - lea
        • I agree - Kira
          • Your time at home with your child is so - short...!
            • to short... I dont think you guys know what day care is. - nn
              • OF COURSE we know what daycare is! Its anyone OTHER than Mom spending the majority of the day - raising YOUR kids, which is, of
                • My kids were out of control before daycare, when they were home with me while I worked all day. - nn
          • OMG! Don't just change your mind immediately because of a few negative women! - HappyMomMT
            • I'm not giving up - Kira
              • I know of a company who is restarting up their mentoring program for newly-graduated MTs. A GREAT - LM
    • MT working at home - Gaile
    • sorry, but I have to agree w/BTDT sm - I agree
      • I second that - PJ

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

I tried to post earlier and not sure if it went through.  WHat happened to friendly advice for a fellow MT, not blame for things.  You say you easily make $200 a day...really??  I find that hard to swallow.  Don't get me wrong...you must have some great tricks for the trade, maybe you can share with us how to get to where your at.  Not just with the pay, but it sounds as though you are pretty fast and may have some short cuts we could all potentially benefit from.

You know, I used to be very, very opposed to offshoring.  Then I started doing some research on it.  Do you know the primary reason why MTSOs would dare upset their MLS staff by offshoring?  Because this is a 24/7 business and we won't work overnight and we won't do anything "difficult" like ESL docs or harder worktypes.  It's as simple as that.

Before you start protesting, ask yourself these questions:  Do I work overnight?  Am I willing to work overnight?  Would I be willing to take on an overnight shift if it meant the difference between working or losing my job to offshore?

I'm sure by now, you're saying, "No way - I have (kids/family/another job/a life) that I don't want to interrupt for work."  Well, I"m sorry then.  Until we remember the basic reason we're in this situation, we'll never get anywhere.

Do you want to make a difference in whether or not your company offshores?  Volunteer to change your shift to the overnight.  Often times, you can get an overnight shift differential, which means not only will you have more work available but you'll also make more money doing it!

Look - the industry is changing; it has to.  We're the ones responsible for making it this way because we won't do things that are uncomfortable or the slightest bit difficult - Do you do ESL docs?  What about hard worktypes?  No?  Then look in the mirror before you start spouting out about offshore.

We can change this but only by doing our part.  Either we change or we'll be left behind. 

Specifically,

"JLG has a contract with Arrendale Associates/ A+Network/CBay Scribe, which the group says is in India.
A letter from JLG to Barbara Dingman, chief compliance officer and director of health information management, says all medical transcriptionists assigned to the Medical Center Hospital account live in the U.S. and all work is done in America."

But yet they do business with Arrendale/A+/CBay, what am I missing here?

I felt like myself.  I must admit when with friends or family (which is rarely), I feel like my old self again.  I have to get some stuff off my chest and I've been getting such good feedback here that, what the hay, here goes...my name is XXXXX.  I'm originally from XXXXX.  I'm 32 years old and I've been depressed for 12 years.  When I was 19, the most incredible man in my world passed away.  I was very weak while he was sick.  He got sick when I was 9.  He had emphysema and died in front of us for 10 years.  He was the only man that has ever loved me unconditionally.  He used to call me his "Pretty Girl".  He said I had a beautiful singing voice and cried when I sang at my HS graduation.  He said I looked like Valerie Bertinelli on One Day At A Time and I did.  He was my best friend all through my childhood and his presence in my life made me who I was at that time.  He was my Grandpa Bob.  My mom's dad.  He was 68 years old.  

I was in my very first relationship and I was extremely naive.  His name was XXXX.  He was controlling and possessive, but my Grandpa was sick and my own dad hadn't grown up yet.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I married him in a lavish Catholic wedding 3 months after Grandpa passed.  He left me for someone else SIX (6) months later.  I was 20 and divorced.  I felt it necessary to get the marriage annulled by my church.  That proceeding took me 2 years.  I was crippled.  These three events destroyed me.  I know that now.  I was in no shape to even leave the house.  I hallucinated, shook, and broke down all the time.  Ladies and gentleman, I'm no better now.  The real kicker is I have been on a self-destructive roller coaster for 12 years, the last 5 of which I have spent with XXXXX.  Good Golly Miss Molly. What a weight off.  THE FIRST STEP IS ADMITTING YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.  Right?  I have to press "post" now. 

"Finally, if you love what you're doing, happy with your income and don't want anything to change - fine, get on with it and leave the sniping.  It is only serving to make us suspicous of what the real bottom line is with you.  Are you management?  Are you American administrators of overseas transcription companies?"

Don't assume that just become someone expresses an opinion other than the original poster, they're management or American administrator of overseas transcription companies. Sometimes American workers need to think for themselves and other American workers will ask questions designed to make them think.

Otherwise, the rest of your post was well-thought out, although I would say that my impression from reading most of the nonsense about a strike, etc., was the intent was not to make the public or politicians aware of the situation with HIPAA violations but rather to make life difficult for employers, even to the point of risking patient care--neither of which should ever be consider humorous if you're trying to make a point in a responsible and professional manner.

I missed this somewhere along the line.  I saw an add on another site for a job that paid xxx per GBP.  What does GBP mean?

get an email from my supe saying the virus is the reason for the lack of work! 

I mean, I have been given every other excuse so I am sure this one will be next...

Why, oh why is it that when a doctor is dictating a list of dianoses, etc. can't they say #1 when they start the list.  Usually I don't let this bother me, but it has happened with almost every report I have transcribed today and it's bugging me!!

If you're gonna dictate a list, start out saying #1.  Don't say the first one and then say #2.  Drives me nuts!

On the reverse I have also had some today that will say "ADMIT DIAGNOSES:  #1:  XYZ".  And then move on without a #2.  If there is only one thing, it doesn't need a number!!

Sorry, this has just been a long day with multiple reports like this and it was getting on my nerves.  I just needed to vent a little.  I feel better now and it's quitting time!

I've been offered a position where the line count is calculated by multiplying the minutes of dictation transcribed by 12.5 (the assumed average number of lines in a minute of dictation). Has anyone had experience being paid in this manner, and how do you feel it compares to the 65-character line?

Are they 60 minutes from the same doctor, 20 minutes from 6 docs or what?  If you are doing these doctors on a daily basis, you should have a lot of Expanders or auto corrects so that you are typing about 2/3 of what they say.  Are they chart notes, long reports or what.   What I do is I set up a goal of doing an hour or typing and then take a 15 to 20 minute break.  If an hour is too long, then start out at 30 minutes and take a 10 minute break and slowly over the week increase it to 60 minutes.   Of typing not dictation.  Also check over your work and be sure you are using your expanders/auto corrects to do the work for you part of the time.   Between my 6 docs, I do approximately 120 to 150 minutes of dictation a day and it takes me between 4 to 5 hours typing, then an hour to print and deliver.  And it is 1800 to 2000 lines I have done.   But again,I break mine up in smaller incriments, and set the goals and it is much easier to sit down knowing you are only going to type for an hour with a break or reward and that hour goes by fast.  As an IC you can do this.  Again, I make my computer work for me -- if it can type it for me that is money in my pocket.  Again, you said that you had the same doctors each day so you should be able to do inserts, auto corrects, or use of an Expander if that is your way of doing things.    Good luck.    Patti

When I find myself to the point of not being able to focus, I set my timer for 10 minutes and sleep on the couch. I usually can finish my shift, but I sometimes have to take a little nap again later. I work 5 hours during the day and my last 3 hours from 9 to midnight. Sometimes, I also step outside when it's cold. I hate being cold, so that really wakes me up. No amount of caffeine will wake me up. I am almost to the point of finding just a part-time job during the day because it is hard to be productive at night when all I want to do is crawl into bed. Good luck!

No wonder you have to do all this.  He has a wife telling him that you should be doing all this.  First of all, if he pays you, you need to be talking to him about this, not her.  Secondly, you need to decide if you can afford to go without this income.  Do you work for anyone else?  Could you pick up more work elsewhere?  If so, then I would do as other posters recommend and confront him with a new charge schedule.  If he wants you to do the corrections in-house, then have him schedule a time for you to come in and do this and tell him what your charge is.  If he's late, his office should have the courtesy to call you.  If not, I would make it a point to call in before leaving to check if he's running on time. 

He doesn't see consultations for free.  His time may be valuable, but so is yours.  Don't shortchange yourself.  Nine chances out of 10, he knows what he's doing is wrong and also knows that no one else will do it either unless he hires in-house. 

I know that we are not paid what we are worth in this profession, but let's get real for a minute ---

Right now, how many people are crying because they are paying $3.50-$4.00 a gallon for gasoline to get to work everyday and it is taking 25% of their bring home pay to do that - on top of that, how many people are facing a layoff right now or a loss of a job completely - and we are all sitting here with job security and not losing our money to the big oil companies, and yet we continue to complain.  I know a lot of people that do not make what they are worth, firemen, policeman, teachers, daycare workers, yet they go to their job everyday, because they chose that profession.

We still make a good living when everything is compared - I personally make $36.00 an hour as an employee on a regular basis.  I am not paying out all that gas money, I am not having to buy 2 sets of clothes for work and home life, I am not having to pack bag lunches and eat at my desk or go out to eat every day and spend even more money...  I don't have to spend hours on the road everyday sitting in traffic and then having to come home and do all that is required in my personal life.

Okay, so what is we change to voice recognition one day and have to do twice as many lines to make the same amout of money - it is easier to do twice the amount of lines in voice recognition because you are not typing, you are mostly just reading along with the doctor and making an occasional correction to the documents.  I think that would be much easier on my hands than typing all day. 

Let's find something to be happy about!!!  If you think the job is awful, then by all means, find you something else that you think will make you happy; I for one still think that transcription is a worthwhile profession, I feel that I am providing a much needed service, and I choose to be happy and will continue to do this as long as there is work - which in my opinion, will be for my lifetime at least!