We have to work alternating T'giving, Xmas, and New Years. sm
Posted By: Confetti on 2008-12-12
In Reply to: holiday schedule? - working hard
Other holidays, Mem Day, Lab Day, 07/04, don't seem to have scheduling issues so they don't dictate which of those, but we have to work 3 of 6 holidays per year.
This year I took off July 4th, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving, and work Memorial Day, Xmas, and New Years. Next year I'll work T'giving but have Xmas adn New Year's off, and the other 3 I haven't decided yet. And, we have to choose all of this in February, which is difficult.
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- holiday schedule? - working hard
- We have to work alternating T'giving, Xmas, and New Years. sm - Confetti
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I did for a while and they paid on alternating weeks, which was nice. But wore me out so I
:+
xmas
a p/t hospital job with benefits! xoxo
Yes, since Xmas and still have it. sm
It just won't go away. I take DayQuil and it really does get me through the day. I went 2 days without it and felt just terrible. Now, I take it 2x a day and feel better, but it still is lingering on and on.
Try DayQuil Non Drowsy! It works.
Was a Xmas gift so not sure where they got it....sm
I would image any office supply store or back speciality store in your area would have them.
ME TOO! $500.00 in tips this Xmas from 64 customers. :)
Good exercise too! 
Xmas parties where the Prez gets silly,
company-covered bar tabs, having someone come and listen to your blanks, staff meetings, being able to look someone in the eye, your supervisor inviting everyone over to her house for brunch on Sunday. Having the choice whether to work in the office or work at home. 
The downside? The typical problems working with a bunch of women. Then there was the fact that I was not a social butterfly and didn't like the endless requests for money to fund birthday, wedding, baby, sick, divorced, married parties, Tupperware, Chef this, Southern that yadda yadda yadda fests. The lunch you were so looking forward to no longer being the in fridge, but the wrapping is in the trash. A favorite reference book being found on someone else's desk at the other end of the hall. And she smokes. Ergo, your book now smells to high heaven because she sneaks her smokes in the office during her late night shift, and her nasty, smelly fingers have been all over it (only a nonsmoker will understand how awful this).  And she claims she doesn't know HOW the book got there when you ask.
Would I do it all again? In a heartbeat.
very nice of MT Stars to do Xmas in July!!
Ten years ago work was being
I find this nothing new. It is just accelerating. I wouldn't recommend this field to anybody new, unless they are ready to eventually find something different.
Remember back in the 60s and 70s, the steel industry was oursourced to Japan. Now I think it is going to China. It never came back. Everything is being outsourced. We are losing (or have almost lost) our manufacturing industry. The jobs go to where they can pay a few dollars a day and get away with it, they don't have to pay taxes, no environmental protection, no worker rights, unemployment, social security, etc.
I don't know what will happen with this country if this trend continues. I hear politicians say the answer to outsourcing is Americans should go to college and get degrees and become doctors, lawyers, etc. These jobs are also being outsourced. They already are reading our x-rays in India by outsourced radiologists. Now I hear an insurance company is encouraging their customers to go to a foreign company for surgery. Go by a pair of pants. They are all made in China, it seems everything is.
This is those "fair" trade agreements our government has made. And don't blame just the Republicans and Bush, this started back with Cliniton. The Democrats and Republicans are equally guilty. I don't know what the answer is. The world is changing and that is a fact of life. My strategy is to just try and make sure my family is provided for.
After 25 years, nope. Just work. But I used to. nm
x
I work for a company in NY and they had to do this a few years ago. I think sm
that most will need to do this as the IRS does not think that MTs are eligible to be ICs.
The company that I work for had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines because of it all.
For insurance, for professional liability insurance, I was told that you have to be incorporated. I don't have a problem with this. If I hired someone to build an addition for me, I would want him/her to have insurance. Why should medical records be any different?
I actually make more as an employee. I still take my deductions as unreimbursed employee expenses (per my CPA), take home office expense and do not have to pay the 7+ % for SS match that the employer usually does.
I have work going back years - sm
others keep it a month or two. I have one doctor who sees patients on a yearly basis, I pull the previous report so I don't have to retype a lot of it, as he basically repeats the old one with a few changes, I'd have a lot more work to do otherwise. I have another account that constantly misplaces their work, I have to retrieve work from months earlier because they cannot find their copy. I can either pull it from my stash, or the MTSO has a FTP where we back up all our work just for this purpose, she keeps it all there going back years. I have no idea how often she cleans it out, but she hasn't in the almost 2 years I have been with her. On another note, I only keep the sound files for a month, then I dump them.
Well, I have 25 years experience also in all work types
and only do acute care with a line rate of 10.5 cpl M-F and 11 cpl on the weekends.
You can negotiate it a little harder, and you will get it depending on their needs, I guess.
It is MDI-Maryland.
Well in my company, nobody's work was checked for many years~!
x
I haven't missed a day of work in 10 years
I can't believe so many ICs do this, taking days off! It's unheard of to me.
I don't blame you for getting frustrated. Seems no one has a good work ethic these days.
I, too, work for MQ out of one of their CA offices - 7 years now. Steady workflow sm
I wouldn't say I don't run out of work, but maybe 3 times a year I do. Just depends. Around school time beginning I do. May pay is probably above average because the company I worked for that MQ bought paid really well.
I have had absolutely no problems with MQ, though the things I keep hearing and seeing do bother me that I belong to a co. like this. But personally, they've been too good to me.
I guess not all offices are the same, for sure!
I had the same thing with a client in Indiana - did their work for 5 years
Then someone from Connecticut stole the account - underbid me, and the work just kept getting slower and slower, and I asked questions of what was going on, and no answer. Finally the girl that USED to send the work to me called me and told me they were going with Mary's service, and I should be looking for something else, and that they had no intention of telling me because they were using me for stats, etc. (I didn't charge extra for stats, and she did).
So Mary, I know who you are, and I hope RP's dictation is driving you NUTS!
There I feel better.
Now! I work smarter - not harder. I learned through the years how to do this.
I have a pretty stress-free MT job and absolutely love it! Make good money and am enjoying life and my teenagers a bit more.
I realized that the job is not everything.
Best advice - work in-house a couple of years
You really do need hands-on experience in order to be able to do this at home. You will run into terms that you will have no idea how to look up - like "booj aw boo" would you know to look under bougie au boule? Or "terry onal craniotomy" would you know it is "pterional" or would you spends loads of time looking for "T" words? If you work face to face with experienced MTs, they can help you when you run into similar situations. I'm not being snooty, I am only pointing out real situations that you will be faced with and the reasons MTSOs insist that before an MT can work independently at home they have at least 2 years experience. I believe that most of us have worked in-house in the beginning to get to the point where we can do this efficiently at home. Once you do get that experience, though, stand back, the MTSOs will be beating down your door with job offers. Good luck and hang in there! Remember we all had to start somewhere. Best of luck to you!
Well I don't know anything with all my years experience because I only transcribe clinic work ..
Other than that, I see quite a few replies to your original message so hmmm
After working 2 years, I average 220-250 lph for clinic work.
nm
looking for people that used to work for small MTSO in Suffield, OH a few years back.
ss
Quit after 2 years. If I wanted to work 8 hours a day, I would have stayed in the hospital. Seemed
to be working all day long just to make a decent living. Although, I wanted to be home with my kids until the baby was at least 5, had to breakdown and return to working outside the home, to make ends meet. Just to stressfull trying to make a good living with the rates they are paying now.
Does anyone know of companies that hire for physical thearpy work? Many years experience.
nm
I agree with Misty, after doing rescue work with cats for over 20 years, they do adjust and become v
x
58, AHP/self-taught, trained at hospital 5 years, now with 2 of my own accounts for 10 years, employ
Also worn out 2 keyboards in 4 years. I will never retire. DH will come home some day from work and I'll be slumped over my keyboard. I put in 14 hours a day 7 days a week.
Pack years = packs smoked per day x years of smoking - sm
25 pack-years = 25 years of 1 pack a day, or 12-1/2 years of 2 packs a day.
I don't think pack-years applies to someone who smokes only cigars. But I don't know for sure.
I worked for Cbay for 3 years. I was also part of their lay off back many years ago. sm
Even though I got stuck in a lay off era, I still love the company. They paid well then. The people were nice (exception of 1 person) and if I had the opportunity I would go back again. Fortunately (or unfortunately - depending on how u look at it), I have a great paying job right now, so I am not looking for a change. I do know that at one time, they asked management to accept late paychecks, but never sure of the reason why. My check was never late.
I know it used to be 5-10 years back, but the laws changed within the last 2 years. They can only g
x
6 years legal then switched to medical 17+ years ago. sm
I don't mind doing legal and will do it now from time to time, but be prepared to be totally bored out of your mind.
At least that's the way I feel. I love to transcribe, learned legal in college, went on to get my paralegal degree, etc., etc., but I did temp work when the kids were younger, which was about 90% medical and I would never go back to legal except for once in a while.
Booooooring.
Only 3 years away from reaching total years for retirement
but if I had to do this and raise a family, would feel exactly like you do. The pay is terrible compared to what I used to make. I work 32 hours a week, hope to be able to continue even after full retirement age. I have worked on VR now and unless places get to where they really do not care about how their reports look, think they will need MTs. I very seldom do a report and it is 100%, just cannot remember 1 like that and most take a lot more editing. Working now because want to, not have to anymore, thank goodness!!
I dumped my ex 20 years ago, but got lucky 13 years ago
It would take me all night and pages and pages to describe what a bad person my ex-husband was. After six years of putting up with his OCD, verbal abuse and alcohol, I left him the house, took the kids (5 and 1) and didn't look back. That was 20 years ago.
I wasn't looking to get married again, but I did. After 13 years I only complain when hubby doesn't see things my way. :)
My older kids, who were 5 and 1 when I left, are married and have kids of their own now. My husband gets the Father's Day cards. Their "real" father sits alone in the perfect little house I left behind and let him have and he drinks himself into oblivion every night because nobody is "perfect" enough, including his kids and his grandkids that he never sees.
Sad, but true. So glad I smartened up and got out of there when I did.
We have been supporting other countries for years and years now.
What is the big deal. Look at your clothes, cars, items in your house. You will see mostly China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan etc., etc. We have not supported our own people like we should have for years now!!!!
Only 2 in 13 years for me. First Edix for 8 and now Webmedx for nearly 5 years. nm
.
When I trained, back years and years ago
We did not have spell checking nor the internet (Google for instantaneous help). OMG, how did we do it? We used Correcting Selectrics with the lift-off tape to correct errors- you only had dictionaries, both English and medical, to look up things so yes we did have to learn to spell all those big longgggggggggg words.
MT: 24 years. Same company: 11 years same co. after buyout.
x
Grammar Question: 9 years' ago or 9 years ago? *sm*
 I have a terrible time trying to remember this rule! HELP!
Worked inhouse for years and years
Inhouse transcription from 1973 to approximately 1992 and we had no downtime for answering the phones and when the physicians came into the room (or others) needing some assistance, just part of the job. I did not feel bad about doing it then and I dont see why you would either. You don’t realize that probably you are making right now more than if you are outsourced, right? You have hourly salary plus incentive. Guess how many of us have that now? Probably inevitable about outsourcing so I would say just enjoy while you can. The pay our here now sinks further and further. I make, for instance, 4 cents a line for voice recognition and 8 for straight. Now, more complaining?
I get my work from an FTP site that they load the work to, however I don't have pool work so to
speak, but I tell them how many minutes a day I want. The work is generally put in my box by 5 pm every day, then I have until 10 am the following day for some priority work, or 3:30 pm for the rest, so TAT is not too bad. I would like to work less at night though, but I working on that. My downside is I do not get the same dictators day to day, there are a few I do on a semi-regular basis though, some generate great lines but take longer to do that other doc's and are not "money-makers", I also do not get paid for spaces so that hurts a bit too. This is WP5.1 too.....so very antiquated but that is what the hospital uses, so not much choice there. But I understand what you mean about the C-phone. I was just doing another job with C-phone recently...they incidentally did not tell me how to get off of the system, which was very simple. I'd finish a job, then hit stop and hangup if I wanted to get off or quit working. That is what you need to do if you want to sleep, eat, etc. Don't feel guilty, do what you signed up for, believe me they watch the pools and will get others to do the work you don't finish. If they get on your case remind them that you are only PT and only want 500 lines a day, etc. It's not worth killing yourself over. Good Luck. 
19 years old...married 26 years. nm
n
they've been doing this for years and years (nm)
IMHO
People have been saying that for years and years - SM
however, I am working fewer hours and making more money. I think maybe the answer here is working as an IC for a one-owner company. MTSO was an MT for many years and she knows the secret to making lots of $ is putting your MTs doing what they do best and leaving them alone.
I don't think it is the "national" part of services that hurts. I think the low wages can be gauged by the number of suits in the company. More suits = less $.
And why pay QA? Just hire people experienced/good enough to do the work correctly the first time.
I have been doing Radiology only the last two years after several years (sm)
of acute care. I love it and find it easier although not as interesting as acute care. I was told by those who hired me that a good medical Transcriptionist will be able to do Radiology even with no experience in it. There are some specialized terms but easy to learn. I would never go back to acute care unless there were very good dictators and good sound quality.
30 (!) years; OTJ (don't think there were schools 30 years ago) nm
:)
Years ago it was 7 years. Not certain as to status now.
10 years here, too, and making 8.4....same as i was 5 years ago. nm
f
Shame on me.. Am I the only one with 4+ in 2 years, but with my last one 2 years.
Lots of little "stints" in between, just trying to keep my head above water.
24 years MT, 7.5 years with the same hospital nm.
x
22 years, same company 10 years nm
nm
32 years, longest was 28 years at same co. (nm)
*
28 years, 9 years at 1 hospital..sm
9 years at one hospital, 8 years with 2 services, then went out on my own (11 years ago) and got a bunch of surgeons and I moonlight on weekends for a national (9 years with national).
If I knew what I know today, with how the MT business has gone down $$-wise for us over 20+ years, if I had my druthers and could start over again, I would have stayed with CODING/BILLING instead of MT work (though I love MT work) as billing/coding is still lucrative in this country....
just my 3 cents
32 years, 18 years at hospital...
7 at Medquist, 7 at Spheris. Starting at Transtech Medical tomorrow.
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