What kind of alternate careers can MT's transition into?
Posted By: So Very Tired on 2007-10-03
In Reply to:
Guys, I've finally made up my mind that the profession that we used to know is gone and is never coming back. The industry leaders have made it their business to turn MT's into the equivalent of sweatshop workers, and I don't find that dynamic at all appealing.
Can any of you give any suggestions as to what types of careers we might transition into and make a decent income? I'm polishing up my resume now, but I fear that I've stayed in this industry for far too long and have handicapped myself from being able to take advantage of any other career opportunities that might exist out there.
Any and all feedback would be appreciated.
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...to alternate with your work computer. Not too hard to set up that way. nm
s
Wow! I thought I was the only one whose brain functioned on an alternate level (sm)
while transcribing. Especially if I'm working on an easy or familiar account, the doctor's words pretty much go straight through from my ears to my hands, and my brain is free to think about other, more important things! Like my grocery list, some problem I'm trying to work out, etc. And just like you, sometimes that is when some of my best ideas will come to me. I think it's a little bit like when you're on a long drive. You are concentrating and controlling the car, making many decisions, yet at the same time you can listen to music, talk to a passenger, or think about things other than driving. Oddly, though, unlike some people I don't like to listen to music while transcribing, yet I DO like to watch TV! It's always on in the background, and my computer is placed so that all I have to do is raise my eyes slightly to the left to see the TV. Anyway, it's interesting that the brain can do that, isn't it? And as you say, it's not like we aren't concentrating. After a long drive I can still pretty much "play back" the entire trip in my head, if I want to... every merge, lane change, etc. If I pass by that way again, I'm likely to remember what I was thinking or talking about, and even what song was playing on the CD player. When I'm transcribing, it's a little different. I won't remember a typo or some other mistake right away, but about an hour or so after I made it, I can often see it as plain as day, and can then go back and correct it. WEIRD, huh?
Fitness Mag. says turn up your exercise a notch, alternate workout routines, and add more weights
s
help with transition
 I have been typing radiology for about 6-7 years now and with this new account that I am on my line count has dropped alot....and I mean alot. There are plenty of mammos and geez a tons of chest x-rays, and not too much in between. So I was pondering the thought of just changing to a different area where I might be able to acutally make money, which is why I started working out of the home in the first place.
SO MY QUESTION IS, is what area would be the easiet to transition to where I could actually make some decent money??????????
PLEASE someone help with this. I have typed a couple of different posts on this message board and NO ONE really ever replies, so that makes me think gosh...does anyone care about helping their fellow scribers, unless it is their problem and if they need help then it is different??!! SO just want a little advice.
Thanks to those who do care enough to reply.
transition
Can be very very difficult. We have hired several from clinic atmosphere only and they just can't do it. Big difference between the 2. My suggestion is you make sure you know your specialities and brusy up on your surgical notes.
EMR transition
I worked in a facility that went EMR. The only change that it made to my job as the Transcriptionist was the format that I worked on. I went from working in WP and printing out every report I did for the doc to review and sign, and then filing into patient's paper chart to working in a WP based software that sent the typed report directly to the patient's electronic record once the doctor approved it. EMR does not mean that our jobs are going the way of the dinosaur. EMR just makes the patient's records more readily available to their physicians and hospitals in case they are needed. Please research this before you give yourself an ulcer worrying about it.
If it were me, I would use up the PTO prior to the transition. sm
I have lost mine in the past.
Spheris Transition
The hospital I have worked at for 10 years has outsourced all of our clinic and inpatient dictation to Spheris. All transcriptionists who want to go to Sphers are going to be offered positions. Anyone have any input? We haven't met with them yet to get their info on benefits, pay etc. I have read and heard great things and then just the opposite elsewhere, anyone have some good up to date information?
I think the problem is that you worked there during transition.
I suspect that if you came back now, you'd not have the same issues.
I hate to put a damper on your transition, but
Then you better stick with being an IC. When you work for a national, you are glued to your seat amongst the other cons out there. Good luck though.
Advice for transition to coding
As you can clearly see I have already posted this message below, but I didn't get any responce. I would REALLY appreciate any advice that I can get from anyone who is either looking into coding or is already in the business.
I am currently a Transcriptionist at a hospital and I am really interested in getting into the coding business. I was just wondering if there are any of you out there who have made this transition and if you have any tips or warnings for me. Any advice is appreciated. 
I was able to transition from Rad to Acute Care
Don't know if this answers your question, but I really believe that I was able to successfully transition from Radiology to Acute Care by using the practice tools sold by AHDI (which I purchased at a member rate). Also, I recently took a Lab Webinar ($20) that gave excellent information!!! Plus, my membership dues are a tax write-off
Hospital is making transition from Lanier to Infusion...
Any input? I have looked on their web site and there are different programs and I have yet to understand which program or type of system they have, probably because the person who chose the system for the hospital knows next to nothing about transcription systems and can't tell me anything. One minute she tells me I will have a station like Lanier and the next she tells me I need to have high speed internet for it. (But she is not sure if that is for transcription or the hospital records program) So which is it? I believe we start next week this new system and I have to go to the hospital for training.
I wish I was better with change.
careers
I don't think medical billing is the next logical step for MTs. To me personally the logical thing is something else in healthcare, but for other people the logical thing would be what they are interested in, health care or not, or what opportunities arise. I'd like to slowly start to work on something else as I don't see MT carrying me to retirement in 30 years. I'm thinking about radiology tech, ultrasound/MRI tech, health care administration, or nursing in its various levels since there never seems to be a shortage of need for those.
I haven't done billing before but have done coding and don't see it with a long-term future, either.
Changing Careers
I absolutely LOVE medical transcription work. It is the best kind of work for me. I have always, up until five years ago, made plenty of money to support my family (I am a single 45 year old mom).
However, I have become very scared. So, I have 80% decided that I have to go back to school and start over. It makes me sick, but I can't watch my pay decrease every year like this.
I really, really, really want to continue MT work, but it just doesn't feel secure for me anymore.
AND - changing careers at my age is also scary, but I have a friend who did it at 50-something years old, so I guess I can, too.
Changing careers
I have been an MT my entire life. I had no formal training - just had a knack for it and always had a job doing transcription. I was sought out many times. However back about 1993 I started hearing rumors about voice recognition. I at that time decided to go to school and get a nursing degree as I wanted to stay in healthcare. I obtained my LPN- RN - then BSN in 1999. Took me awhile but I did it. Since that time I have done some coding, worked as a nurse and been promoted to transcription supervisor in 2000. I also teach transcription at our local college. Since I have such a broad range of experiences in all the things you are looking at I would suggest nursing - you are going to get the most valuable education in that field - with many opportunities. If you don't like it you would have the bulk of your education and could easily slip int to coding or transcription. Just my opinion.
changing careers
It seems a lot of people are feeling the same crunch. I have been an MT for 10 years I too used to have a excellent hourly plus incentive with great bennies in-house jobs which was outsourced to an Indian Company. I worked from home and make ok. Now it's hard to even find a decent line count with benefits at all. I am working as an IC at 9 cpl and no bennies. As a single Mother I simply cannot do this anymore. There companies who offer employee status and bennies but the line rates are so low or they want you to work 2nd or 3rd shift and with my family situation this is not possible.
I too am making a career change plans. It seems that nursing is all the rage with the high paying jobs and plenty of them. But as a former nursing student years ago before MT I know it's not for me. Too high pressure and the bullying in nursing school is unbelievable as is the 2 year committment to school full time.
I decided to try Assocaites degree Accounting/CIS. I hope to enter as a clerk or bookkeeper and work towards the Bachelors degree once working as a clerk. In the meantime I have been brushing up on Powerpoint, Excel, etc and applying for secretarial and admn assistant jobs.
I had considered medical billing but I am somewhat soured on the healthcare system and outsourcing. I figured Accounting is much broader and can work for more than one industry, but have seen accounting positions in healthcare systems too.
I wondered if people would share what fields they were considering.
For new MTs... the field IS dying between VR contsantly improving and outsourcing/offshoring our jobs are dwindling as are the pay and benefits. If you are a married-stay-at-home type of Mom with luxury of a second income and your husband's benefits MT might still be ok for a little extra money on the side. But for anyone trying to support either themselves or their family on MT -- forget it. Its a good part-time Mom job these days and that is about it.
Sad. There are many excellent and quality MTs who have a ton of knowledge. I wondered how they intended to transfer skills to another profression. The writing is on the wall. I hope to be out in 2-1/2 years tops.
changing careers
After almost 30 years of MT work under my belt, I'm ready to throw in the towel and hit the pavement. I'm already out there interviewing. Even if I make only what I make as an MT, if it's a job that I like, then it'll be worth it. Wish me luck!
When I click Careers and try to get to job back
Am I overlooking something? Having an operator error? Or do we not have a job bank anymore? Thank you!
Legal Scoping Careers?
Has anyone looked into or taken the training course from the lady, Judy Barrett who posts on the "other" board about the scoping career? I am curious if any one has gone through the course and if anyone has found this lucrative? Any information on an outcome would be appreciated. Thanking you in advance.
IMHO and experience, in most, if not all careers-SM
the better your memory and flexibility, the better your success. If your memory is so-so, then find tools that will increase your success, i.e., account post-its and sample reports, even reading something out loud. For me, if I handwrite what I am given in print regarding an account/doc, I am more likely to remember it. Making handwritten notes takes time, but helps things stick in my memory.
And why would you want to switch change careers?!..
I am an MT and not a newbie, about 15 years of experience and I don't make $44,000 a year (oh, how I wish)! Why would you want to break into this business? This career is just going down hill in so many ways. I hear medical coding is on the rise and some seem to be transitioning from MT to just that. I also understand medical coding and billing can be done from home as well. I would be checking into that if I were you. If you are expecting to make $44,000 a year as a new MT, you are SO dreaming! Sorry so harsh, but would hate to see you make a huge financial mistake, IMHO!
Sorry, meant to say change careers
nm
Interesting article about best careers in 2006. sm
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/job06_article1.html
Question for MTs pursuing nursing careers.
I am also considering going back to college and studying to become an RN. I took a 2-year course in "medical records technology" 18 years ago at a junior college and got a lot of the prerequisites out of the way including Anatomy and Physiology I and II. If I decided to go back to college, how long would it take me to complete an RN program? Isn't it typically 4 years starting from scratch? Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!
A-M-E-N! The main reason women in all careers - sm
earn less than men (and employers get away with paying them less) is that it's impossible to get groups of women to stick together on ANYTHING, let alone anything that might involve a little initial personal risk before things are ultimately straightened out and this archaic pay disparity between men & women in the US workforce is resolved. Can you imagine the kind of clout MTs in this country would have if they all stood firm together and demanded that they be paid fairly for a job that not just anyone with a PC and a set of headphones can do? A few years ago when HIPAA first came about, we should have taken that and run with it, when it comes to securing our profession on US soil. We didn't do it then, but I think if we were to dig our heels in, and start writing and talking to the right media, we could still use HIPAA to our advantage. Think about it.
I had a person sound really interested in changing careers and doing this...
until I mentioned that she had to take a really reputable course in this field and that it would cost a fair amount of money but that for this price they would mentor her into a position, and not to pay for a course that offered less than this if it were what she really wanted to do, and this changed her mind quickly. She didn't know it would cost her!
Time to switch careers. I did and life is much less stressful.
x
But it does open our options to move on to careers rather than joe-jobs
and bring people the respect they deserve.
kind of
I feel your pain. I had been providing excellent service, never increased rates, always met TAT (usually supposed to be 48 hr, but most times office mgr would call and needed it in 24 -- a huge amount of dictation). As you did, I always put them first, above everything else. Well, the office manager decided to start transcribing it herself, and she did not even tell me that she was going to do it. I waited a little while (longer than I should have) hoping she was just trying to pay for Christmas (she had actually done that before) and I finally had to do something else. The something else did not work out either, and I am lucky to have what little work I do have right now. Meanwhile, she now has two full-time paychecks (yes, this was a full-time paycheck for me). It is a good thing that although I was making full-time money on their account (working 2 days per week) I never let go of my other work, but I still may wind up in the big "B" court as my options now are few, and I stupidly took care of things I needed to with credit cards while waiting for her to return the work to me. I also knew that she was going to call me spur of the moment wanting me to do the work when she was ready for a break/vacation, which she did, but I was unavailable to her as I had picked up the something else by then. I just wish that I had never heard of being an MT. As much as I love the work, the business is awful.
what kind of dog?
x
What kind of KVM do you have? -sm
I have heard that if you get a cheap one you'll have problems with the screen freezing up when switching back and forth. I'd really like to get one where you can use a hot key to switch back and forth. Can you please tell me what brand yours is?
Any kind
of sin, which is what this is, is not progressive or open-minded. What it is is sin. Go back and read the story about Sodom and Gomorrah and see if you understand then. Granted, there are other kinds lots of sins in this world also, but call this one what it is.
Usually those kind of
licenses are only for one computer. You can buy licenses for multiple computers from their websites.
A different kind of job
I have no idea how these things fall into my lap and don't how this will go but just met and got offered to do "formatting and editing" of finished documents for a Waste Recovery Company -- fancy name for garbage and recycling company. This manager has to do long reports, handouts, employee manuels, etc. and just wants to type the report and all I do is edit -- not grammar or punctuation -- use a consistent outline form, do title pages, do headers and footers, make sure pages are correctly numbered for $25 an hour. She wants me to make it have "eye appeal and look pretty." She spends hours formatting and hates it and so I am going to try it. Decided I had nothing to lose to try. Depending on how fast I am probably not more than 6 to 12 hours per month so we will see how it goes. But she did say if it worked out well, they have several other branches in Montana, Idaho, California and they might be able to use me more at those facilities also that have to do the same reports. So guess I am branching out somewhat. Just as one door closes, another open as had one of my most profitable account, suddenly retired due to ill health. So was thinking of looking for another account when I got this call. SOmething different at least.
you are MY kind of MT
but I might have done this far sooner than you - I have almost zero tolerance for this cr____pola.
Would love to see this doc in court trying to prove a CHIMPANZEE (or even a sharp HUMAN typist) could do what we do...
LOL
Thank you very much for your kind help!!!
:-)))
Can someone tell me what kind of (sm)
foot pedal works with winscribe? I've got two Infinity wave pedals - they don't. Any help is appreciated!
That was kind of like what I was saying before
Right to work states do that to people.
However, I am sorry you lost your job after all of that. It would have been easier if they had just told you the truth in the first place.
Yes ma'am. It's kind of cool actually..............
you can see everything they're doing and once they're done, they're gone.
what kind of person are you?????
"don't dog the people looking for your daughter and investigating the people who may have seen her last. "
okay, well maybe she feels that not enough is being done. I mean, she did just lose her daughter. Imagine that feeling. I can't. I am quite sure if it were me, no one COULD be doing enough. I would probably be on everyone's case until she were found. Also, are you dense? OF COURSE they are going to investigate the people who have seen her last. HAHAHAHAHA. I cannot believe that comment. Who else would they investigate??????
As far as the rest of your post, I don't believe it even deserves acknowledging. Your thoughts speak for the kind of person you are.
What kind of advice do you want?
It's a rough life raising your kids and running a household by yourself while you worry about your husband's safety. The kids can sense your stress, so they act up as well. Then when your husband gets home from wherever he's been, you have to readjust to having him around again. A lot of it also depends on what branch of the military he wants to get into, as well as active duty or guard/reserve. If you're active duty, you never know where you're going to be sent to next. It could be somewhere nice, or it could be a foreign country with mandatory boarding schools for your kids. People think that military families have it so easy, but the military pay and benefits aren't great compared to what we could make if we moved to a big city. Military housing has a lot of problems, and the old housing development with the leaking foundations, high water table, and backed up sewer lines is still being used by young military families 25 years after we lived there. I could get into more details, but every time I do, people here think they know more about my life experience than I do, so I won't.
what kind of keyboard
Just curious, what type of keyboard do you type on? I use the Microsoft erogonomic. I absolutely love it! I find that if I type on the traditional keyboards my hands hurt. Also, do you wear gloves for carpal tunnel protection? I wear gloves and have found this helps me tremendously. I have been doing transcription for about 15 years.
What kind of software is best?
Thanks.
thanks for the kind words - it does help...:)
I know lots of places are hiring, but I don't have enough experience for most of them and am afraid to jump from the frying pan into the fire....
Well, it kind of depends. SM
Most of the pain management I've seen strongly encourages other modalities, depending on the patient and the condition. Exercise (swimming or aqua therapy are popular), stationary bicycle, walking, physical therapy (massage), acupuncture, sometimes counseling to help adjust to the chronic pain and accept it better, diet - an overall healthy lifestyle. Whatever the patient can do to make them feel better.
However, pain medication is still a fairly normal component - it's just watched and managed carefully with an emphasis on using it appropriately.
Unfortunately, even though our understanding of pain has grown over the years, sometimes all they can do is try and medicate it.
It depends on what kind of (sm)
disability you are talking about. SS will not consider any type of disability unless you've been off work for a year.
What kind of lip balms are you using?
Some of them can actually CAUSE chapped and swollen lips. Skip the mentholatum and other additives. Try just plain old Vaseline petroleum jelly instead of chapsticks to see how it works. None of that Carmex junk either. Also, monitor your behaviors to make sure that you're not licking, biting, or any other habits on your lips. I used to get a callous on my lower lip until I realized that when I was nervous or stressed, I chewed my lower lip. Drink plenty of water, skip the day-long bath of sugar or artificially sweetened sodas. If these suggestions don't help, then I would see a doctor.
what kind of info are you looking for?
nm
What kind of doctor.
I used to type ENT docs who treated this condition. I would definitely not go to an oral surgeon. They deal with surgery. You want your condition treated not surgically fixed.
OTI is just that kind of place. nm
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