profession not based on $ earned, but on specific criteria...sm

"I definitely have made tons of money in my own business.  Sounds like low self-esteem on the posters below, unhappy, depressed."

Well, lots of people make "tons of money in their own business," i.e. hookers  and drug dealers - doesn't mean it's a profession. A profession is done by professionals - think law, medicine, teaching. MT is just a job. That being said, I'm still far from unhappy and depressed! LOL but it's still just a job. The body of knowledge to do MT is so far from what is considered a body of knowledge (again think law) it's not even in the running. Even a checker at Jewel has a specific body of knowledge. It's the comparison that counts, not the existence. Many people are uninformed about what profession actually means. Do some research, you'll see what I mean.

• Poll: Is MT a profession or vocation? nm - MT student
  • Poll: - ladydi
  • doesn't matter- - sn
  • Definitely a profession. This is a - negative place to post sometimes, so
    • It's about as much of a profession as being the cashier at Walmart - wow
      • Speak for yourself..... I can transcribe anything... Can a Wal-Mart cashier? - Why put people down? nm
        • can you stand on your feet all day, be abused by better than thou customers, work for slave wages? - I choose or what
    • profession not based on $ earned, but on specific criteria...sm - MTSO
      • Uhhmm, you are wrong! Here is what - Roget's says about "profession"!
      • I thought being a hooker WAS "the oldest profession." - txmt
        • actually, motherhood is the oldest profession.. - I choose or what
        • It gets about as much respect as being an MT! - sm
      • Poor thing, your negativity is showing - MTbird
        • and your lack of expectations for yourself is showing. - nm
        • dream on, Ms. Professional...sm - MTSO
          • some people need to make themselves sound important - sm
  • a bad career choice - txmt
  • here's some dict def's, i think it IS a profession. - sm
    • and how many liberal arts and science bachelors degrees & beyond are held on this board? - OMG - you're KIDDING, right???
  • There's a difference between a profession and a job. - MT is a job.
  • definitely NOT a profession...criteria are...sm - MT2RN
    • college or not (I did) - what you do....sm - I think U R nutzo.....whether we attended
      • U R confusing official definition of professional with "popular" definition...sm - Old MT
  • It's a SICKNESS!!!! (nm) - I'm terminal!!!!
  • It's a knowledge-intensive field which doesn't pay anywhere near enough.. - L.P.H.
    • EXACTLY - great post!! not paid enough!! sm - I think U R nutzo.....whether we attended
    • It's a one-trick pony that requires us to sit on our butts on auto-pilot all day - oh please!
      • I PRAY that you NEVER transcribe my - Medical Reports
        • Oh, get over yourself. - yaaaaaaaaawn
  • Neither - it's an addiction. nm - Frankie
    • Funny answer *addiction* - LOL.....nm - It's a zoning out addiction *lol*

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criteria for a profession are extensive college required, also person's work autonomous. Separate body of knowledge required for work. Think of lawyers. Extensive college, they work independently, i.e. they don't have supervisors, editors, etc., and law has its own body of knowledge. Even nursing is on the edge as far as being a profession, not quite autonomous enough. MT certainly doesn't fit the definition of profession.

work type.  I've learned the dictators, done the macros, now  they need to hire new MTs because the workload has increased, so they switch me to a very difficult account, doing everything but my normal work type.  Does this make sense?  I'm productive on my original account, not productive on new account, plus I'm majorly stressed. I do ESL 90% of the time but the new account is really horrible, not only ESL but they mumble and the quality of the dictation is bad.  If you took a new hire and put them on this account and they stuck it out, maybe they wouldn't think these dictators would be so bad.  I've talked with the MTSO and they say they'll switch me back and that lasts 2 weeks and then back to this horrible account.   It would be different if they called and said we need you to do this account for a couple of weeks, but it doesn't pay enough for me to do from now on.

I understand this is the way the business is and my griping probably isn't going to help anything, but I just had to get it out.

when your child needs them. In the summer, she doesn't need them. However, she is obviously not able to function in school on her own now, so she needs them. Having an aide to keep poking her and refocusing her is not going to get the information through the distraction so she can learn. And the concentration demand is only going to go up. 

So what is it that you expect the school to do for her? Are you going to ask that they provide an aide just for her?

And good Lord, do you know that ADHD meds are the safest meds out there for kids. People think they are some kind of wicked additives, when all they are made of is stimulants. Like you and your coffee every morning. You see far scarier side effects with amoxicillin than you do with Ritalin. Yet the almighty media has parents scared silly of DRUGGING YOUR KID.

what I said.   There has to be something in writing or something inferred that there are benefits of paid time off/vacation and if so then she has to be paid.   If there is no such understanding then you cannot expect payment. 

I've been through this same situation. 

company is required to send you a 1099 form and it must be postmarked by 1/31.

So I should get a hobby so I won't care, like you?  A hobby isn't going to pay the bills.  I can't afford a hobby because in addition to working for a living, I also have to study in a different career field in my spare for fear that eventually transcription will be strictly an offshore operation!

Like you and so many others, I have watched my wages as both an IC and an employee go down, down, down.  I worked for a company owned by an MT.  She paid very good wages but sold the company to an Indian company, who got rid of all the Americans except for a few who would accept very low pay.  It's funny...clients want 100% accuracy but they don't want to pay for it.  They agree that they can't just randomly pluck people off the street to do MT, that they have to hire experienced or trained people.  But they don't want to pay us for our experience or our training.  I am doing my last MT job. I have my bachelor degree almost completed and I'm outta here.  The lack of respect for MTs, from employers, other MTs, from offshore companies, from clients, from AAMT, is so disheartening.

You, the parent, want something done.

They, the child, want something(s).....

When the something you want gets done by the child...

The child gets something.

Deals and contracts - works every time....*S* 

The "account" that I do - I currently transcribe for only one facility - does not offshore - so only transcriptionists are hired that can produce the work required without needing someone to edit the transcription.  I understand that editing can be in either form - correcting or filling in the blanks of someone who isn't qualified to produce a final document (as in a new transcriptionist's work) or VR (which I have done with past accounts).   As I said, I am fortunate to have that opportunity and not all are so fortunate.  I also have the luxury, because of years of only acute care experience, to have had a choice in who I work for.  I know that isn't the case for everyone.  I am also not currently the sole supporter of my family and I have been in that position in the past. 

However, I think that if each of us who personally has the ability to do so - economically-speaking - that we try not to make it easy for those companies offshoring who are asking for our years of experience to train their transciptionists.   In a perfect world..... 

How can I become a CMT which is radiology specific?  Do I contact AAMT?  It is my hope that the focus of the test is primarily on radiology and anatomy as I have been out of the other fields for such a long time, it would be impossible to pass the test (I have heard the standard CMT test is quite difficult, is this true?).

Thank you and Happy Holidays Inspite of It All!!!! 

CalfRadMT@aol.com

This is old, but has anyone read this??  I must research further what the final outcome was.  While I totally agree with what they are doing and why, I totally DISAGREE with their final recommendation for standardizing line counts. VBC is not the way to do it.  

About three weeks ago I began a position with a local health care company (transcribing for local acute care hospitals but part of a national chain).

We are not really transcribing, at least not by my definition (21 years of experience).  Rather, we are recording medical ShortHand (abbreviations [even in DIAGNOSES section], shortened medication names, slang, contractions, etc.).  On the one hand, they claim they want you to type it verbatim (no expansions, additions, etc.), yet OTOH they say to delete redundancies, repetitions, etc., which is hardly verbatim. We are not allowed to expand, add to, or correct ANYTHING except number and tense dictated by ESL docs, who comprise about 60% of the dictators.  In addition, certain dictated terms are to be abbreviated (e.g., "emergency room" transcribed as "ER").

The supervisor had the gall to look me right in the eye and deliver a harangue about how these are "legal documents, and we have to transcribe EXACTLY what they say."  (Conveniently disregarding the bit about deleting redundancies and the other "allowed" changes.)  So ALL of my previous employers, AAMT, etc. did it wrong, and THEIR crackerjack legal department is smarter than everyone else?!     Don't think so.  Cutting costs is the game they're playing; everyone can see that.

Excerpt from a typical report looks like this:  Wrote scrip for vanco 100, patient also to take aspirin 81 and will return next week. I don't think .... [blah blah blah]

AAMT taught me to create a complete, coherent, grammatically correct document that doesn't look like alphabet soup.  Needless to say, I don't feel good about what I am creating and HATE THIS JOB!!

I'm just curious if this is happening elsewhere.  With all of the emphasis on "cutting costs,"  I have to think that it is.

Thanks for listening to my splenic venting.

What comes with that is that sometimes there is no work. The people who were NOT hired for a specific shift don't have to "save" work for you. They shouldn't have to.

No, I don't sit for 40 hours and then do another 20, but as an IC, if I needed money, this is exactly how I'd get it.

What you do