When I trained, back years and years ago
Posted By: Hmmm on 2007-12-31
In Reply to: Everyone - Cee Cee
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.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
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.
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
I'm 36, been doing this 26 years, trained on the job.. nm
.
I was trained for 4 years at a
vocational technical high school and learned transcription for 4 years straight, 4 hours a day at least. I then went on to transcribe when I graduated for a lawyer, and then into the medical field I went. That was 25 years ago. We learned shorthand, accounting, typing, biology, among many, many other things.
Please don't assume that I went to what you call one of these transcription schools because I did not. I don't have to explain to you that I had 17 years of on-site training with physicians. I learned straight from the dictator, so don't go there. AHDI has brainwashed these new people entering this field with their silliness and money grubbing paws.
Okay, so I'm simply stating that to question someone's education for a job that they may make 20 grand a year of their lucky is just downright ignorant and nasty. I make way more than that but only because I've been at it a while and have my own accounts and I'm not bragging at all; I'm just saying.
Whether you want to believe it or not, the ER reports were done through medical records as well as the basic four. I know because I worked there in many different departments and did the transcription. We had a separate entity for radiology and for the cardiology department. Everyone's situation is different and not all worked at the one hospital you did for one lousy year where ever that may be in the US.
We all have our stories, but my main concern is the post regarding questioning this poster's education. Get over yourself! 
Trained inhouse 25 years ago. LOL :)
Never been without a great work situation. Job changes to meet new circumstances in my life.
I trained in house 5 years ago
They had such a turnover they would hire anybody off the street that felt like giving it a try. One in-house self-study medical terminology course, and a lot of help and support from my co-workers and I was good to go. Since then I've worked for 2 nationals (and had to unlearn a few bad habits - I'd never even heard of BOS inhouse, LOL). I never spent a cent to begin this profession - I got paid hourly to do it.
I was trained on site, but that was 30 years ago.
x
Barbara Tice - I trained you 10 years ago
Hey Barb:
I was looking through some of these boards and came across something you applied for in Raleigh in September. I worked with you all those years ago and would like to catch up. Write me.
PA's go to school for 5-6 years, longer than RN and are trained
in medicine. Some PA's specialize in the operating room, orthopedics, family medicine, neurosurgery, etc. They do rounds for physicians in the hospital and can write prescriptions. PAs can make up into the mid 100K range in salary and sometimes more.
MA pretty much is a 6-month to 1 year certificate program to work in a doctors office doing vital signs, blood work and paperwork. Nothing major and not a great salary.
Several years back it was
an 8 or 10 hour shift and your only break is for a meal. Cubicles with no outside world communication. Heaven forbid if you need a potty break.
Hopefully things have changed, but I have my doubts. Huntsville Hospital is more worried about being "the biggest" than employee relations. There was a great letter to the Editor in the newspaper recently about the problems still going on there.
And, I'll state, this is JMO.
Back 25 years ago, the FDA.....sm
Back 25 years ago or so, the FDA refused to allow a cheap drug called Latrielle into this country for the AIDS/HIV patients. So, all the gay people went to Mexico to get the drug. Does anyone remember this?
Our problem is not with *crack-pot* medical systems in other countries. Our problem begins right here with the darned FDA. For those who do not know what the FDA is - it is the Food and Drug Administration....you know those people....much like the USDA (the US Dept of Agriculture) which allows a certain amount of feces and rat hairs into ALL our food. Start reading Consumer Reports!!!
There is better treatment all over the world - so please do not delude yourselves into thinking that the medical care in the USA is THE BEST because it certainly is not....it's merely BIG BUSINESS in the USA as usual.
I was out for 7 years and got back in, so...SM
you seem well within the time frame to do this if you have your heart set on it. I took some time off for raising kids and then worked at a school for 5 years in the meantime, then decided to pursue it again now that all 4 kids are in school (finally!) and I researched what company I thought I wanted to work for and took their test and was amazed to pass. After 7 years, I figured I'd really be out of luck. It worked out just fine. If I can do it after all that time, I don't think you'll have trouble. I only had about 2 years' experience before this, too, where you have much more. Good luck.
I used them some years back and have some feedback...
The service was great, and sitefever.com's FTP servers were very fast. The only thing was that when I got more than one client or if I had a large client I wanted to use FTP for, their free service didn't cut it. But, they have a 300mb plan which is like 45 or 50 dollars for an entire year, and it gave me access for up to 10 different clients and plenty of space for them all.
So, if you're looking at sitefever.com as an FTP provider, you're looking in the right direction. The only thing I would suggest is if you plan on growing, just pay a few bucks for their larger accounts.
P.S.- The free FTP accounts only work when you have the public ID number, which changes monthly. I see whoever started this topic had posted a current ID number.
28 years - OJT. That was the only way to train way back then. nm
x
This happened to me a few years back (sm)
when I was working for a national and they had a huge teaching hospital in Southern California. Must have been 500 docs, 500 specialities and 500 subspecialities - never had the same doc more than once......... I was so frustrated!! Sorry - not much help but I do feel your pain!
5 years and still going strong, I have a back up one though- sm
that I use for travel, that is about 4 years old but only gets used about 20 days out of a year if that. That one gets abused a bit and still works fine though.
I just went back to radiology after 12 years
doing another specialty. My biggest problems were the names of MR images complicated by fast talk and different images for different MRs and different language from many different docs. Sometimes 6-8 lines detailing acquisitions, sometimes not. Cardiac MR was the worst for me. I had 8 plus years of rad, but hadn't done it since PET was invented,lol...It helped when I had good dictators.I found a list on line of names of MR images, isn't complete. NM cardiac was another trip. I spent a lot of time going to google,just to make sure I was hearing what I thought I was hearing. I really like the job. You should get sample reports for the different docs for procedures, reading them will help, and you will have them for reference.
I've used it for several years and won't go back.
It's very easy to learn and user friendly. I won't work on anything else.
We did and moved back after 4 years.
For us, we decided the big home and extra spending money wasn't worth it. I was depressed the whole time we were on the mainland. This is our home and this is where we want to raise our child. We are happier here in our little condo than we ever were there.
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.
Bless your heart. Back several years ago
I worked FT for a large hospital doing MT and ran an MT business full-time but I had 2 partners in my business. I slept every other night. Hahaha I was younger at that time. Made INCREDIBLE money. Still can't believe today what I made then. It was a killer though. And with running my own business, I was not doing actual transcription the whole time, there was a lot of normal business activity/transactions/planning to do. That is why I think I held up to it as long as I did.
Well, I'm very impressed. Congratulations. I couldn't do that today (two FT transcription positions) if I tried!
I've been back in college for 2 years now.
and wish you the best of luck! You can never have too much education. It opens so many more doors!
Visited Idaho a few years back sm
beautiful, beautiful state. Decided that's where I want to retire.
I've had a bad back for years and nothing works better...sm
for me than heat. I have a chair pad that heats and/or vibrates. I don't use the vibrator much because the noise is distracting, but the heat works wonders. Sometimes if the pain is real high around my shoulders, I just drape a heating pad over the top of my chair.....also keeps me warm and toasty in the winter time.
The REAL credential was the ART a few years back
WE had to have knowledge to get it. Not just show that we could transcribe. We had A&P with the premed students. We HAD to learn the stuff.
I've been fighting back for 30 years.
It hasn't done one bit of good. The AAMT sold us out a long time ago and when the computer came into being, it made it way too easy to ship everything offshore. At least years ago when we used a typewriter, you had to work in house. Now everything is about faster, faster TAT and hiring people as cheap as possible to get the work done. I have always said that if they could get trained monkeys to do this job and pay them in bananas, they would. They don't give a rip about the MTs and they never have. 
have been using Cirque Glidepoint mouse for years-would NEVER go back! nm
nm
No way - MQ is the pits, left 6 years ago and never looked back.
There is greener grass, believe me.
One of my instructors referred our class to them a few years back.
I used them for FTP on a paid account (I think it was only like 20 bucks or so a year) and it worked great until a company I signed on with provided their own FTP servers.
TA has been bad news here & on other boards for years! A search will back up what is
s
I switched from Shorthand after 6 years to IT and wouldn't go back. nm
xx
I switched from SH to Instant Text a couple of years ago and would never go back.
I increased my productivity another 30 percent pretty quickly. And you can still use your old shortcuts with IT. Browse through the IT Commands forum on Productivity Talk for tricks you never thought you could do with a text expander.
looking for people that used to work for small MTSO in Suffield, OH a few years back.
ss
I'm horrible with math myself but was told several years back by a pretty reliable source
that w/o spaces is about a 17% reduction in pay - and I would say the figures you gave pretty much leads me to believe this may be true.
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.
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!!
That's how they trained MTs at UCLA back in
nm
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
.
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?
She came around as an anti-Britney, anti-Christina bad girl a few years back
http://images.google.com/images?q=avil+lavigne&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest
and I like her music. At least it's really her music rather than some oversynthesized Britney crap. Christina can sing but she's too slutty. Avril is a nice in-between IMO. Hillary Duff is another person of that genre who actually has talent but doesn't act like a scumbag.
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
:)
|
