give it time, dust is settling, they just have no place else to gripe yet. nm

• Please read... - mt
  • I agree with you mt..... - CardioMT
    • give it time, dust is settling, they just have no place else to gripe yet. nm - anon
      • yep, it'll get better, no place left but up. - anon
  • If you dont want to read a thread, then dont. - But dont censor what I can/cannot see. nm
    • Think you misinterpreted... - mt
      • I see. Oh well, some people just like to gripe. - nm
  • Agree, I think sm - hmmm

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

They're settling for what little they do have and trying to convince themselves that they're 'comfortable' by saying we're happy to have a job.  I'm happy to have a job too, but it doesn't mean that I'm happy about where I'm at financially compared to where I used to be. 

Most of the ones here who are happy about where they're at are older, no kids, mortgage either paid off or about to be paid off, or are just supplementing their spouse's income.  What about the MTs that aren't in that same situation?  It's nearly impossible to survive on 8 cpl as an IC.  I would NEVER work for 8 cpl as an IC...and I have NEVER had a problem finding work. 

I don't live in a big, fancy house or own a big, fancy car.  I rent a house about 1000 square feet in rural NY state for $600 a month.  My car payment is $250 a month and insurance is $110 a month.  I have disability insurance at the tune of $186 a month.  I get health insurance through the local chamber of commerce for $775 a month (single coverage).  My utility bills on budget billing are about $218 a month for gas and electric.  My cable bill is $85 a month for TV and ISP.  My business expenses are low, but average about $75 a month for paper, ink, etc.  My quarterly taxes are around $700 a month.  Our groceries average about $85 to $90 a week.  My income is more than my husband's right now, so I am the major earner in the family. 

I'm not an extravagant person.  We don't travel a lot.  Our only extravagant expense is that we go out to dinner every Friday.  I buy clothes maybe 4 times a year.  I could NEVER survive on $2000 a month.  It's really insulting that these other posters think that wanting more than $2000 a month means you live in a mansion and live way beyond your means.  Not everybody's situation is the same. 

I used to do shift assignments many years ago ... first off, there are times when you have a newbie (or not so newbie)  who will literally take hours to do a few OP reports, when what you need  is TURNOVER, VOLUME, SPEED ..  in those cases, it may make sense for the overall picture to assign someone new (or ailing) some "easy" work to clear out a worktype ... Ditto, I don't have any problem with requesting (and having request granted) to do certain report types or this-not-that when there is a request for extra hours. If you've already put in your shifts doing luck-of-the-draw, spending extra hours doing the dregs feels like punishment ... and if you're doing an unfamiliar worktype on overtime or extra, your reports will  likely be a burden to QA ... net gain lessened.

There are all kinds of cherrypicking possible depending on the configuration of your job -- switching worktypes, switching accounts, taking a "break" are all ways to pass the exhausting and frustrating on to somebody else ... Oh, and no, I make myself NOT do that ... easy though it appears to be for most people to get away with it.

I once had a coworker (whom I liked) who explained that she HAD to cherrypick because otherwise she couldn't reach her line count within her 8 hour workday ...

then when things are calmed down, I'd have your hubby mention that it was very important to your son & I think she'd probably give it back in a heart beat.  I agree with how valuable it is for your son, but he has the visual and heart felt memories he will cherish forever.

I lost a child 25 yrs ago, problems & issues that came up during that immediate time compounded issues with my little sister and it took 23 yrs and the death of our dad to finally put it all to rest and reunite and heal.  I can never get back those 23 yrs I wasted not having my lil sis in my life because of my stubborness, it's just not worth it. 

And shame on you anyway.  What psychologists do, how they do it, what they call it and how they diagnose is not always consistent with medical diagnoses.  The ugly word "retardation" is only one example of this.

I'd like to see you find a doctor and a psychologist who can agree on the differences between situational depression, major depression and recurrent depression, and how they should best be treated.  An MD wants drug therapy.  A PhD wants psychotherapy.  When you have a certain type of hammer, everything looks like your special kind of nail.

I am finished with my shift and I come in for a visit, but I am not on here all day complaining about doctors or bashing my fellow MTs.  Glad YOU don't have a job that takes your time and attention because YOU could not be on here all day to stir the pot.

recently (holidays? flu season???) even doctors who are usually pretty good seem to have the attention span of a gnat ... so even something as routine as reading lab results becomes a two steps forward, um, oops, make that three steps forward, two steps back as they MISREAD ... Not to mention the folks whose attention to what they are doing is so lacking that they skip whole sections, which they may or may not realize before signing off.... 

these reports are often followed by 20 second next "report's in which they remember that they want copies sent (I love waiting around for them to rifle through the chart to figure out who the other doctors on the case are too)  on which we make ZERO money at all -- they're not really addendums are they? --  but have to log, flag, etc.

I'm stunned at the number who seem incapable of not listening to the other people in the same room dictating and/or their conversations. Listening to people complain about not being able to use the hospital computer system (it's 2009 people, that excuse was old in 1999 and even tired 1989 --- again, it's 2009 ... get with it or retire already)

I hate listening to dead air -- period.

I got brave (or stupid) and tried to open it up. It was full of dust bunnies!!! I blew out the stuff and put it back together, and it works GREAT now! It guess it's like how a mouse with a roller can get filled with junk and not work. Who knew!!!

I actually was worried that I wasn't putting enough weight on my pedal. I barely rest my toes on it instead of my whole foot, so there isn't much up/down motion - lazy I guess.

But just so everyone knows - save your $$$ and blow the dust bunnies out if this happens to you!

I HATE HATE HATE this dictator.  This is how he dictates if I were to strictly adhere to the verbatim rules of transcribing:

PROCEDURES PERFORMED: Cysto, retro, uretero with stent placement.

INDICATIONS:  This is a lady who had perc litho by Dr. X.  She had a perc tube. She had a nephro stent.  On the pull of the nephro stent, did an antegrade nephro and apparently had obstruction in the ureter which was a probable stone.  She was set up for a cysto retro Friday, but she ate, so she was set up for this morning. She understands the risks, options, complications, etc.

HE DRIVES ME INSANE!  He has a very conversational style of dictating that makes it incredibly hard to make sense of his reports! He abbreviates everything, makes up his own words, and has been known to dictate one-word sentences!!!!!

We need a firing squad for dictators like this! 

Breath in, breath out.  Okay, I'm finished now.  I'm just having one of those days, crappy dictators, communication channels between my brain and my fingers have broken down, and I just need a nap!

Back to work.

I occasionally come on this board, as do some of my coworkers to get help with words, look around, etc.  I've never posted but today I'm fuming and frustrated.

I just got done working a couple of extra hours at the hospital this morning, worked all day yesterday (overtime I might add) and do you know what my job has been on all this overtime? Correcting ALL of the outsource's work coming in.  What makes me mad is that all of us have been complaining to our boss and even to HER boss about all the mistakes this company makes - terrible dreadful DEADLY mistakes - and all we get back is "there is nothing we can do about it.  We signed a contract and we have to continue to use them until the contract ends." Which, by the way, ends in another year or two, I'm not sure.  But anyways, this outsource company (who is WELL KNOWN) does not even make an attempt to do our ESL doctors, who are not really that bad. I know there are harder doctors to understand as I have been doing this for 16 years.  The service sends the reports back with a ridiculous amount of blanks.  We go in and listen to them and basically redo the whole report, to which they get paid for it.  Then there are the easy docs - the so-called "hold your hand while I dictate to you" docs - and the service still has mistakes. 

Our boss has asked on occasion if they are offshoring, which they swear they are not.  It was in the contract that they are not to offshore so they swear they are not and the mistakes don't look like they are offshore mistakes (the hospital used a company prior to this one that offshored - big difference in transcription mistakes).

I just cannot believe that our hospital has had this company for a little over two years and not only are they being paid a ridiculous high line rate, but we are correcting all their reports and they still get paid!! We have asked if we can start deducting lines, but we were told that their contract states that that cannot be done because our boss has tried that.

I have a friend that works at a hospital in another state that had an outsource service that was somewhat like the one we have, only they constantly lost reports and got paid for them, but she just lost her job because the hospital felt that there was no need to have all the overtime for the past year and the outsource service doing the overflow.  So they just hired a new outsource company, let all the transcriptionists inhouse go, and got rid of their current outsource service.  she is looking around for another job now.  She had that job for 9 years at the hospital, and because of the outsource service, the administration of the hospital looked at is as a huge $$ problem and just said bye bye.

I needed to vent. Aaaaahhh, I feel better now, but I'm worried that with all our overtime and what the outsource service gets paid, that I'm going to end up in the same boat.  Even our boss has admittedly had some worries about it as well, but she keeps telling us that her boss says her hands are tied and is just as frustrated with the service.  It makes you wonder how it is that these services can be in business for so long, make sooooo much money and do this.