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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

that it takes years to learn,

Posted By: sm on 2008-03-15
In Reply to: What do you tell people when they ask about MT as job? - FLmomMT

and that you can seldom start off working at home and be successful. But if i see they are still interested, i do all i can to help steer them in the right direction.


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4 of those years are used to learn an ego trip.
x
but no desire to learn a new trade at 58 years old

I have 26 years experience, continue to learn every day. nm
nm
Agree with poster... it takes 2-3 years from graduating from a program sm
to start to make any decent wage.  I personally love this job.  Where else can you get a job that requires no college degree that you can make 40,000-50,000 per year??? 
I am worth that...not home course training or ESL..takes years to achieve
x
Takes one to think you know one?
x
Whatever it takes
to remove yourself from that situation within reason, do it.  If you think the arrangement with your brother is going to keep your BF from slinking back in, the 'brother' all the way.  If his habits change in the future, you'll just have to make necessary adjustments at that time.
Takes one to know one!
I am with the program and I enjoy very much working for MQ!

If people are not spoiled at MQ, then why on earth are they now complaining about having a set schedule? Why don't you get the with the program and look at all the companies that are hiring and when you realize that 90% of those companies want a set schedule, then I will be waiting here for an apology. Until then, go brush your teeth!

As far as being a dope, why the heck are YOU STILL WITH MQ IF THE SUPPOSEDLY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF YOU - HMMMM????


As many as it takes! LOL
If the doctor dictating can't be bothered to dictate away from the gossiping females at the nurses' station, speak clearly and slow down, why should we lose money because they're inconsiderate? It's better than guessing and getting it wrong or just making stuff up. You'll get the hang of the more difficult dictators if you keep on doing them, but even they can't control background noise or static.
you have what it takes to be and are sm
a successful MT! I don't see how anyone could be a good MT with an interest in medicine. Too much of this business about how many lines to type nowadays etc and no interest in medicine, no wanting to do research etc. I have seen several folks like you in my career and hired every one of them. They are still transcribing today and have great careers. I am beginning to think its futile to try and explain this to some folks. They either get it or they don't and want to argue.

Obviously you are a great MT and you know what it takes. I have a couple ophthalmology books and can part with one if you want it. E-mail me!
learn something new every day - thanks
See - learn something new every day. Thanks. I just knew about some laws passed locally last year on a city/county basis.
Did you learn
on the job, or were you taught by a friend, or self-taught?

Most of those tests nowadays are geared toward grads of official MT programs.
Learn something new every day don't
you.   A consult is similar in format to an H&P, but 2 different things - for example, an elderly patient with diabetes breaks a hip and needs surgery.   Most likely they are admitted to ortho, but need an endocrine of internal medicine consult to determine if diabetes is stable enough for surgery and no other medical problems that might be a contraindication to surgery, or need treatment prior to surgery. 
You will never learn to do them...
unless you tackle them head on. You do what you can with the report, and you do what you can with the next report. You cannot avoid difficult dictations. If you don't learn to do them, you will never make any money and will probably get into trouble for abandoning too many reports.
Why would anyone want to learn it???
nm
Learn something new every day...sm

Outlook and outlook express are two different things I guess.  I never knew this, but that's what I am being told.  Outlook has a calendar option but outlook express does not.  Very interesting indeed.  Let me know if you all hear anything different from this. 


Thanks for all your help.  I have decided to try the yahoo calendar for free and see how that works.  So far, it's perfect!  Thanks for the info everyone! 


thats it! You have to learn the sm
hard way to understand. For my own personal experience, I have gone through a horrible illness and I know more than ever the importance of medical records that are perfect. I have seen some really bad stuff out there in medical records, my own included that not only is a disgrace but downright dangerous! I have always done my job with the idea that there is a patient behind all of this and they deserve the best we can give them. With all the ruckus about the state of our health care system these days, why would any MT not understand that this is not about us and lines typed and cpl etc. ITS ABOUT THE PATIENTS!!!!!!!!! you are right, the money comes later. Its a career long learning experience, one that I hope never ends on the learning part. Sounds to me like you have also been through enough life to understand all of this. The younger ones won't get it until they have been at this for many years. The only problem is, with some of the attitudes of "I won't do this and I won't do that" they won't be in the business years from now!
here's what we did -takes awhile, but
if you have a video camera, tape every car that stops at his place and any transactions you might see (you do not have to be outside to do this - through a crack in the curtains/blinds works) take the tape to the cops - they will handle it. Or maybe they already have him set up on a sting....or are on the take. Where do you live city/state-wise?
Takes a few pp's for deducts to come out.
Yep, filled out paperwork first.

Call your supv or better yet call your training coord or payroll people.

That's what they are there for.
I can't do that because it litterally takes my
breath away. It's like I'm smothering. My aunt had wood heat and I couldn't even visit.
Date? Isn't that where a guy takes you out
And expects to get sex afterward? If you don't cooperate, that's the last time you will ever see him. No thanks-- my furry critters are a lot more loving and faithful and are not the least bit selfish.
What's the difference if she takes
6 hours to do 8 hours' worth of work, or if she takes a break for 2 hours after she does say 5 1/2 hours, comes back and finishes up her "8 hour" schedule? Would that make you "feel" better? Oy-vey!  A day's work is a day's work, but you want ALL of her time. What is the problem? Work ethic? I think not.  She has done a FULL days' work in less time than what you would like, so what?  If one does 8 hours' work in 6 hours, then anything over her 6 hours would be OT, oh that doesn't count in your book.  Would you pay more for her to work OT?  I bet not... The only thing she would get for being a good, fast transcriptionist is fired for NOT doing more than her share...niiiiiice... Crazy!
It takes a little while to get used to the lingo, sm
but you'll do fine. Just get in some practice before you start on production. BTW, I've noticed over the years that most of the work services get as "overflow" is ortho and OB/GYN.
I have heard that before but the one that takes the
cake is the one who took the recorder to the bathroom with him.
It takes concentration
Just imagine you are Jessica Rabbit - remember the way she walks? LOL
Mine always takes...
the $ out immediately.  Most of the time the transactions show up within an hour or two online.  There are times when the $ is taken out but the transactions don't show up for several days, sometimes even a week.  I wouldn't worry too much about it. Since it is a holiday weekend, they probably took the $ out already and it hasn't shown up yet.
$22.00 plus tip, takes 1/2 hour nm
s
Awww, that takes the fun out of it! sm
I look like a little kid when I eat corn. I just love it. I wind up making a meal out of it. I have butter, salt and pepper on my face and don't bother to wipe it until I am done. Terrible, aren't I? But, it is so yummy.
I have just found that it takes sm
so much more that just the actual typing when you gain your own account.  You have to deal with the obtaining your money part, and the phone calls for dictation not in place or they misplaced it.  It is great, but there are some downfalls to having your own account. 
Try ctrl-Z and see if that takes it away.
Meanwhile, i'll research it.  :)
It takes time
It probably seems like it is not worth it because you are new.  No other account will be easier and probably harder.  So you have to stick with it, get a good Expander as since you have the same doctor you should only be actually typing about 2/3 of what he says and probably more like 50%.  Use your autocorrect if you don't have an expander.   You don't say how long are your lines -- what side margins and what font are you using?   I have helped get newbies started and always paid between 7 and 9 depending on how much clean up work I had to do.  Again, it will take time and practice.  Don't give up.  Though 6 cpl is a little low, if it is still  65 character line, in time you should be able to get 200 to 300 lines per hour which is not bad and once you get him down good, ask for a raise.  But you have to get your speed up.  You have an advantage of having the same doctor and so listen for his common phrases and put them at least into autocorrect so you don't have to retype them.  If he doesd any x-rays or procedures, make templates.  Anything to save him time.  His exams, put into autocorrect, etc.   Are you an IC or an employee???   Good luck. 
Mine does that too and it is because it takes
so long to expand that I'm typing the next word.  No matter how much I adjust my settings it still doesn't expand fast enough.  I used PRD for years and got spoiled I guess.  It could expand entire physical exams in the time it takes ShortHand to expand COPD.
It takes me about 8.5 hours...
But I do about 1600 lines per day
It's like learning MT all over again. It takes
nm
My mom has RA, takes Arava
Mom has taken Arava for a few years and she is able to function on it quite well. I hope you do well on the meds.
Well, to be fair, many RNs do have what it takes SM
to do well and then some. However, being on the run all shift, supervising underlings and juggling physicans, patients, labs, visitors, and of course all that paperwork, might mislead some of them into viewing it as a nice way to relax in comparison and still get nicely paid for it..! :)
It takes me about 3 hours...sm
but there is a learning curve. If you don't know he account it could take longer.
YES--CP takes precedence over BOS.
x
It takes awhile...
When I was facing foreclosure it took them over a year to send the vacate letter...I filed for bankruptcy and the bankruptcy was long over before I got the letter.
It takes a lot of talent

to be a good MT. You could do their job better than they could but could they put food on the table doing your job? Noooo! They would die on the vine trying. Most management do not want to see MTs making as much or more money than they do.


Seriously, if they got rid of some of them, we'd all be better off. They cause more trouble especially for good MTs because they feel intimidated by the skill and do not understand it and do not go to bat for us when chips are down. Instead, many times they punish hard-working, top perfromers with unreasonable demands and criticism trying to take them down to their level.  Let's pray for better times.  


well it takes a lot of nerve to get sm
on this board and tell American MTs how things are and how to do things when you can't speak the language or communicate well. You are suppose to be an MT but you can't speak the language? Well I doubt that the documents you put out are very good either! Sorry but this is the reason American MTs don't have MT jobs so you need to stick to your country and your MTs and stay out of giving advice here. IMHO.......sorry I need to spell that out, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION!
Learn from history

and think very carefully about this person and his sob story. Boo hoo! 


His child is cruel toward animals, chances are this child is being mistreated in some way by someone. This is a red flag that something in not right in this child's life regarding the adults. Children are NOT naturally violent--it is learned behavior.


Be friendly, but takes things very, very slow and think of the safety of yourself, your children, and your pet (s). Better safe than sorry.


newbie trying to learn

I have recently finished an online medical transcription course.  I have been reading the posting on this website and I'm very intrigued by some of the information.   Not to sound stupid, but what are word expanders, auto correct, and shorthand?  I have macros on my computer, but I never used them.  I am trying to find my first medical transcription job, but it is very difficult as a newbie.  I would love to be a productive, accurate medical transcriptionist, but it seems that no one wants to give the newbies a chance.  Any thoughts of how to get started?  thanks!


It is your job to learn the ESLs and if you can't/won't then you need to
find a new job because you are in the wrong one.
However, once you learn it, it's great!
I averaged $21-23 an hour doing radiology, about $15-17 doing acute care. If I were to go back into transcription, it would be doing radiology.
Thanks, i'd be interested to learn more

welcome; love IT and sure you will too when you learn it. nm
;
It depends on what you need to learn. Sm
Right now I have a gal starting Sep. 1 who has absolutely no med. training whatsoever so we are starting from scratch. She is paying for textbooks, cd's, materials, etc. I am having her pay as she goes along. I am not making any profit on any materials, but when she gets to the transcription part, I will have to start charging minimally for my time. Not sure yet how to go about that.

The second gal has some formal training and needs dictation practice and I am actually in the process of working with a company getting copies of microcasette tapes with approximately 800 minutes of dictation on them and will give those to my students.

I have a few accts. myself so when my students show that they are ready to tackle digital dictation, I may consider "hiring" them in the future. Right now, our goal is to get them trained and ready with my help, and to be able to pass a co. test.

I don't know where that box is to place my email address is and I don't want to post it in this spot. I will try to get my email available for anyone seriously considering getting into the field and being trained with an experienced MT who is willing to mentor them along the way to meeting their career goals.
It was very frustrating to learn but

after 3 months, I have grown to like it.... well maybe I have grown not to dislike it so much.  I would still rather work in MS Word.  It is NOT the best platform out there to be certain.  The spell check is awful and I copy everything into a Word document to double check.  You cannot copy back into Emdat though.  If there are any changes to make you must type them.  For some reason if you copy from Word, although it looks okay to you, on the physician's end it is wrong.


It is nice not to have to worry about the line count.  It is VERY nice not to have to save each patient separately.  It is nice to have the patients name available (although that is not always the case).  Overall, I give it a C. 


Hope this helped.


I had to learn the same program sm
Whether it is worth it - is only a question you can answer.

Personally, the platform is so easy; however, I do not get the high line counts I am used to even with their expander. I am so used to working in a Word-based platform with over 5000 auto-correct entries. For me, the transition was not worth it. I could only average 240 lines per hour compared to my usual 350 - 400 lph.

You have to realize, every one is different with different needs and wants.

The packet of policies you mention really is no big deal. Just print them out and read them over and within a week you won't even look at them again. Starting any job is overwhelming at first, but then it becomes routine.

I would suggest you give it a shot. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

As for the ESL account, I have no idea which one that would be - mine is a good mix of all.
Thank you! Learn something new everyday!
.