fighting for work
Posted By: frustrated in CA on 2006-02-24
In Reply to:
I am currently working as an IC for a company who uses WinScribe. I only work a few hours a night, but I spend so much time during the day looking for work that I am wondering if this transcription stuff is really worth it. I like the doctor's I transcribe for and the company seems pretty nice, but I have a life other than work. If I decide to leave the house for the day, I will probably not have any work to do during the evening. Is this what a lot of companies are doing now? Does anyone know of a good company that will just give me some p/t work without having to be trapped at home all day long?
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I believe this profession is worth fighting for...you work at BK if you want...
So we should just accept everything going on around us, like dumb sheep? What kind of attitude is that?
Answer this, are you supporting your household on being an MT. It does not bother you that in a few years you be making half what you are now, doing some dirty, low-paying job?
You are really okay with that, and think that is not a problem.
Believing in yourself and fighting for what you believe in, is what this country is supposed to be about. That is my opinion.
Listen carefully: It is the sound of the shifting of the tides coming in to divide rich and poor. If it happens, it happens, but I for one will fight it with everything I can.
I am glad I do not have your attitude. I happen to love this job, got in it because I love it, and am going to be sad when it is gone.
So many passion-less people...
Just keep fighting the fight..... I remember...
seeing one of those earlier Star Wars movies, maybe the first one, and some guy next to me had a little about 2-1/2 to 3 with him. That kids are TERRIFIED, keping asking "what's that Daddy, why's he doing that Daddy, DADDY DADDY!"
Have people lost their brains? Kids can't process all this stuff. Let them watch Thomas the Train or Little Bear and let them be kids.
I'm fighting a super Wal-Mart
I'm in the process of fighting the planning/building of a super Wal-Mart down the street from where I live, which is out in a rural neighborhood, about 4 miles from town. I liken this incredible increase in Wal-Marts across the US as very similar to what is happening in the MT world. Wal-Mart gets something like 80-85% of their merchandise from other countries--it's just like outsourcing! Think of all the jobs that have been lost to this in our country.
I understand what some of you are saying about not having the money to pay a few dollars more on whatever it is that you want to buy, but it's no different from transcription! Those who are outsourcing the transcription to foreign countries are very similar to what Wal-Mart does with its suppliers.
Where does this leave our country? It's certainly scary for the future of our children in the United States.
Are your military members fighting for your
x
Fighting fatigue after 4 hours
When you work 3rd shift - it is even worse. But getting up and stretching works - don't nap because you won't wake up till morning! 
Fighting Fractured English
Blanks are not your problem. Poor dictators are.
It has become a standard in the industry to make the problems of an ineffective dictator and make it an MT problem.
This is not and was never an MT problem. We are required to transcribe in English, and the oral work coming in needs to meet an acceptable English standard.
I've been in the business for 15 years, and frankly I am sick of it. Having exhausted every other resource to resolve this problem it is now time to fight back and sue these companies and the facilities who have made this our problem.
We are TRANSCRIPTIONSTS, not TRANSLATORS OR LINGUISTS. If we are required to translate, they need to cough up the average salary of an interpretter which by the way is $200,000 a year. I dare say none of us are making that as MTs. The time has passed when someone else's disability directly impacts our paycheck when it is not our skill in question. Enough is enough.
If you or anyone else is interested in pursuing this stand up with me and make your voices heard. Send me an email. I will keep your information confidential. The industry will never change as long as we continue to allow them to abuse us.
NO MORE SWEAT SHOP LABOR. THE FREE RIDE IS OVER. IF THESE COMPANIES AND HOSPITALS WANT IT TRANSCRIBED IN ENGLISH, GIVE US A MINIMALLY ACCEPTED ORAL ENGLISH TO TRANSCRIBE.
Your insurance company's adjuster should be fighting for you.
You're entitled to the cost of repairs to your vehicle, payment of ALL medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses like gasoline for trips to doctor, pain relievers, and lost wages since you've taken time off work due to pain and doctor's appointments. Do not agree to settle until you are certain that you are back to 100%. Gather up all receipts, bills and wage stubs to send copies as demand for payment.
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. 
As long as we have our health and our mind, we have a fighting chance.
I guess it is like the lady on T.V. said, the secret to happiness is appreciating what we have in life. I want so much more but also, I have had so much less that I have to remind myself I am actually doing okay, relatively speaking. And everything is relative. And, as Einstein said, "the unexamined life is a life not worth living" and so we owe it to ourselves to review our lives and makes necessary changes. Compromise when it comes to others within a household is necessary. Time for a family meeting, maybe? I give you two thumbs up for having created a family. You did something I couldn't do!
Look at the pot calling the kettle black - I am not fighting wth you. I more mature than that. sm
Besides everyone has their own opinions. Glad I got to see yours.
Had it both ways. Send it back the cheapest way and eat the cost. You don't want to be fighting f
x
I want our brave men and women fighting in the Middle East to come home safe and sound. sm
Imagine the Christmas their families are having. I am so grateful to them all.
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. 
You go by your schedule and have no work. Everytime I get on to work, there is always work.
x
Then you would have no life at all except work, work, work if you did that. I wouldn't do it. nm
.
Same thing with nationals. You work all the time to keep the account caught up when others dont work
and then when they decide to put a whole lot of extra people on your accounts and run you out they could care less about how much you worked.
Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
steady work...gearing up to start new account....but there was no work on Tues as it was a holiday
Be patient with your eyes open....
I work for Warminster at MQ and I am sick to death of being jerked around with no work all the time.
I would like a job where I can depend on the work and it does not seem to be in this office of MQ.
Speaking of offshoring MT work, who does not directly send work offshore?
Just curious. Has anyone got a list of companies who do not send work offshore? Precyse? MQ? Spheris?
Becky you work in a great place. With no one hovering, I bet you get a lot more work done w/o agoniz
wants what. The only people qualified to do QA on my reports are the dictating doctors and the rest is just pure waste of money and time. If I have a question fine. But this random QA bites and hurts everyone. BTW, I don't have random QA for those who seem to think I may have an ax to grind. No dog in this fight. Just common sense.
Good. Why dont you send some our way. What office do you work for so I can call and get your work.
:
Before needing to work, I did volunteer work through the Junior League where I am from in Texas. lm
Junior League was like a full-time job sometimes, but I loved it. Now that I have to work, even though it is from home, I still volunteer through my son's school. I am a school teacher in my previous (pre-MT) life, so I volunteer my tutoring services for children who need the help beyond what the schools are able to provide but whose parents cannot afford to pay for private tutoring. I also know how you felt about being afraid. I was strangely afraid before I joined the Junior League. It was just the unknown. But I was SO blessed by being able to help. Honestly, I am sure that it helped me just as much, if not more, than I helped others. Go for it. You won't be sorry. (Just remember that you have to say NO when you have to say no, okay? Remember that and you will be richly blessed by the experience!)
nm would you mind if I asked where you work and what type of work hosp, clinic ?
x
All I know is it caused the company I work for to be unable to do all work due today and the rest
:+
Just return the work, submit your bill, the scurry and find more work elsewhere. sm
They will never meet with you before next week. It is Thursday, already. Be prepared to sue for payment, because you will probably need to. But, most of all, find other work elsewhere, because I have a feeling this final payment will be a long time coming.
I work on Escription platform and the adapter didnt work for me. I tried it on my laptop though
and the foot pedal would just not play correctly with the adapter. I think others have tried it and done it but it just didnt work for me.
IC sets their own hours. As long as the work is done by the deadline, you decide when to work.
Glad I work somewhere where you cannot cherrypick....our work is divvied out by minutes and - sm
the office manager (who does not normally transcribe) dishes out the work, so some days are easy, others are a mix. So no cherrypicking is possible. You type up what is given to you, period. She will alternate the tough one's out so no one person gets him/her all the time unless they want him/her and are used to that doc, or everyone gets a little piece, etc. There are days when I ask for easy work (tired, chemo day, Jen sick, or a lot going on, etc.) but not often, generally I get a mix but they all get easier the more you do them. I am not working as much as I should be of course, every week is different here so I adjust my limited work schedule accordingly, so sometimes it hard to get better at certain docs. I used to have a lot of blanks with the Trauma ER unit, but I have been doing that a lot lately and now and very good at it, still a time consuming account but at least I am improving. ----------------------- But I believe the OP was stating she did it to clear out the log, not to make more lines, and only when she was asked to do so. At an old job I had #s meant everything, everyday we would get report (2=4 x a day) of the backlog, and emails pleading us to work, work, work. The QA rules sucked  (MQ probably is basing their new plan loosly on this one), however we did not get penalized, just chewed out if you sent in too much work to QA (over 5%, and was 80% ESL), I would imagine eventually fired if you continued to do it. They were a great place to work for until they re-organized....it all went downhill from there. This is why I prefer smaller MTSOs, it's not all about the #s, yes, they want production too but at least it's not so cut-throat. 
i used to work for a company that divided the work types up and i loved it. sm
there were only 4 of us working a major teaching hospital. someone was assigned surgery, different assigned discharges, different admits, etc. we all had the backup work type in case the original assignee wasn't available and were cross trained. it made us much more efficient, ability to get used to dictators, set macros, and in the long run we were all much happier.
Used to work in Cooperstown, NY - and on the way to work is a huge turkey farm
It made me never want to eat turkey again - seeing them all cramped up against the fence and cages, packed tightly, no room to move. Actually, it made me want to do some harm to the farmer who found this acceptable.
Do not work for Amherst if you can work for any other office in MQ. It is terrible. They overload
accounts terribly. We are always running out of work or need to have 8 or 9 backups to get lines in. This is the way it is. There may be a few out there that it is different but I do acute care and was just transferred there along with my office and everyone in my office is in the same boat. Not a good deal at all.
An MQ recruiter told me yesterday if work is low they "cut off" the work
SEs are doing it. She also told me that it is written in MQ policies
that MQ can let go EMPLOYEES without notice (I'm not saying statutory employees here, I'm saying employees).
You're lucky they work for you. I've never gotten a refill to work right, ever.
x
Has anyone breast fed while trying to work at home, can you do this and still work full time?
It seems like the more literature I read on the subject, the longer it seems to take, especially in the beginning when you are breast feeding every two hours, or does it really just depend on the baby?
HAHA! Yes! I have those daily! But it's not really work as I work nights, it's little things l
turning on the pool filter in the morning and then in the afternoon running out there because I thought I forgot to turn it on. Or preheating the oven and then 5 minutes later saying "shoot! I forgot to preheat the oven!" It's really bad. And I'm only 31. I'm not 90!
I don't know if dementia or Alzheimer's runs in my family, but this could be a sign of something to come. Or as my husband says - you jut don't pay attention to much. He's probably right!
I work Sun.-Thurs. normally and will work on Fridays to get Sunday off if I need it. Works
s
The company I work for said cable phone wouldn't work, just FYI.
nm
Easy to work with. You can look up old reports. Your own word expander will work
s
I just work with ShortHand minimized. Smarttype doesn't work the same way? nm
s
Work for 1 hour, then count your lines of the completed work - sm
either check you total characters in word (with spaces) then total them all up and divide by 65, and you get your total lines per hour. 10,000/65 is 153 lines. Or if you have a line counting program us that to figure you count, either way will work quite well. Maybe do it a few times and then figure an average over 3 hours or something like that, it will vary with the ease/difficulty of the work you are doing.
Sounds like where I work. Everyone morning I wake up to not enough work. I'm quitting
This has been going on for a few months so I don't know if they have overhired or just sent a lot of it to India. I just know I can't sit here everything day waiting until "volumes build up." I'm looking elsewhere.
The state told us that MTs are employees because we they work in our system and do the same work as
maybe you can work for a company in another state.
the hospital I work for already has started to implement this and lessen our work
I see it every single day... they are going to EMR... meaning the doctors simply use a template already in the computer and check boxes or something... The doctor's office i GO TO actually does this too. This is why it creates tech jobs to create those templates and takes AWAY MT jobs because the doctor is no longer dictating, they are just pushing little buttons or checking boxes straight into the computer.
Personally I still think that is more time than the doc wants to take but whatever, i dont see how generic charts are good, what happened to detailed information...
But this is definitely how i see it going along. Maybe not everywhere, but plenty of places are going to go to this, it's all about saving money now isn't it???
Question. How many MTs sit and wait for work when companies overhire and there is not enough work
on your shift. Is this what these companies want for people to sit around and wait on work. As an IC, this probably doesnt amount to even close to minimum wage. What do you do in these cases of no work and sitting waiting for practically nothing to come in when obviously lots of others are doing the same thing. It actually almost seems as though you need to have 2 jobs to survive in this business really. I cant image how you can get the lines in they require. Crazy business this is.
I tried Relacor, it didn't work because I wanted it to work without
my trying to really lose weight, i.e., dieting.
My true belief is that any product will not work unless you TRY yourself. I had 20+ lb loss with Metabolife (sp?) and really felt more energy.
BUT, I truly believe if I don't really try, nothing will work to make me lose weight. Please know, I'm right there with you and wish there were a magic pill that could make the lbs just shed away.
Yes I work for AMHERST ALSO and it is 9:30 and no work. Everyone really needs to call Corporate
about this. This will not get any better unless you go to Corporate and complain very loudly and I am very serious about this. Some of us have already done this but it will take all of you to do it. If you dont get a person down there put it on someones voice mail. The human resource manager is Donna Jack at extension 4905 in Mt. Laurel.
Dont you think some of the better work and ASR work goes to the newbies they are hiring lately. I
am sure it goes somewhere because I will be finished with all jobs and the next morning there is ASR work from 14 hours ago. Odd right. Where was it. Probably in another pool so we dont get it and others do. I am pooled for ASR so I would have gotten it but didnt.
No (IC)....but I work for a small MTSO and have set deadline each day for my work
I will not be working on Thanksgiving day, though I will have 120 minutes waiting to be done and turned in by 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning.
Has anyone on this board's work slowed down this January. MT work that is.
Got several friends with slow-down of work but they are MQMTs Wondered how the rest of the MT world is doing.
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