wondering why

Hi,

     I am an MT-in-training who came to this site looking for some information to clear up my near-complete lack of information regarding this field.  I naively got started training as a Transcriptionist because I thought that it would be something relatively rewarding and easy for someone like me with typing skills and an armchair knowledge of medical terminology. L O L

     That misunderstanding was recognized soon after I got started training.  I did not let the difficulty of it deter me though, because I thought that I saw many redeeming qualities.  Working from home is a big plus.  The challenge is more than expected, but who wants a job that's easy to the point of boredom?  Basically, my second look view of it all was that it was going to require effort, but that the effort would be rewarded.

     After spending some time in training getting familier with what the work is like and what kind of work I can put out, I was even more depressed.  It seems that even at a pretty standard rate of output, I would only be making six to seven dollars an hour???  For having better than average typing skills, extensive grammar knowledge, extensive medical terminology knowledge, AND a relatively rare "talent" for deciphering the undecipherable I would make less than I can make flipping burgers???  Still I did not let this deter me under the assumption that the company I was training with would pay me less than average due to the fact that they had trained me for free.  Plus, I could probably just make up some extra money putting in some extra hours.  Now I am reading the posts on this site by seasoned transcriptionists and all evidence points to the fact that a bigger payday down the road is not going to be nearly as big as I had hoped either.  Essentially, it seems that this career is every bit the bad that I see and not much, if any, of the good that I was hoping for.

     I am not looking to get rich quick, and I am more than willing to put forth the effort required if the long-term investment is worthwhile.  What I don't want is to spend the time and effort only to find out that I have been fooled by this career yet again and the joke is on me.  I am all for enjoying what you do and, thus far, I thoroughly enjoy and seem that I might be capable of doing this, but I need to be able to support myself and, hopefully one day, a family.  If this career is not capable of doing that, I would like to know it sooner than later.  I would greatly appreciate any honest feedback I can get about all this. 

• To those disillusioned about being an MT - just me
  • I can honestly say that this does not bode well for MTs everywhere...sm - farmgal
  • add to that ASR, getting paid 1/2 for basically re-typing reports! nm - farmgal
  • To those disillusioned about being an MT - marie
  • It's not so easy for the MTSO, either. - sm
    • Not easy - just me
  • Agree - Alice
  • wondering why - confused
    • Just a few points - Lolabug
    • Indepent may be your - kyrie
      • $$$$$$$ - just me
    • in-house - momt
      • Just thinking out loud... - Cindy M
      • I will ceiling at my - kyrie
        • in-house - just me
    • The field is changing, Just Me, and SM - MissIndigo
      • Sorry, this was responding to Wondering Why. NM - MsIndigo
  • To just me - FTMT
  • Very well said...everyone needs to know the good and the bad... - Keystrokers
  • Thank you - momt
    • I agree 100% - Strugglingmomof2
      • That is - Red

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What do you think the hardest account is to type for? 

Just wanted to see if it all ended up being the same..

If you don't mind sharing, what is your skin care regimen like?

I am only asking because my husband and I have been going round and round about the fact that I buy Oil of Olay Total Effects and the Total Effects eye gel, plus the night cream.  He thinks I'm crazy, that they don't work. I say why take the chance that they DO work and miss out on the benefits.

I'm going on 37, but think I look pretty good for my age. Just wondering if anyone else buys into these notions that these products can help us *age gracefully*. I don't want to look like I'm in my 20s cause I'm not...I have a son who's almost 19...so I'm proud of my age, just don't necessarily want to look quite as old as I am....thanks and have a wonderful day!

I read in your post that you "don't agree with people who use it [abortion] as a form of birth control."  I was wondering why.  Is it because you feel that one abortion is OK, but more than one will make it wrong, and if so, why was the first one not wrong? 

Or, is it because abortion is too expensive and just too much on the woman's body to use as a form of birth control?  I don't understand your comment and wish you could explain how you arrived at that.  Thank you very much. 

I want to use my laptop full time but not sure if I should leave plugged in all the time or what.  I read somewhere it wasn't good to leave laptop plugged in all the time with the battery in place.  Sounds like you use the laptop on battery power, then plug in and use plugged in until battery charged?   Seems like a lot of plugging/unplugging if battery only lasts two hours.  I don't want to shorten the battery life, would like to keep it optimized for when I want to use the laptop on battery power only while away from home. 

I would just like to know an approximate amount of dictation minutes each of you would consider as full-time work?  Basically, how many minutes you would commit to transcribe daily, five days a week, and would expect to keep you busy for roughly 8-hour days/40-hour workweek. 

In most of the ads I see, if they do specify an amount, it is usually a line requirement to be transcribed daily (although I have seen some that list the amount of dictation, and seems like it may be about 60-90 minutes per day for full-time).

Obviously, we all know that there are many variables as to how long it would take to transcribe a certain number of dictation minutes (or produce a certain number of lines), but I would just like to get an average, if possible, by seeing what each individual considers full-time work for them, in dictated minutes.

Thanks in advance for your responses!    Oh, and feel free to add any information you feel is relevant (i.e. been doing these docs for 20 years so . . ., do a lot of ESLs so . . . , etc.). 

Thank-you!

why US companies won't hire Canadian employees?  Maybe they want to keep US jobs in the US?  But if you go to almost any border city, you'll find Canadians working in the States.  And also find many US going to Canada for health care. 

Guess this opens up a whole can of worms. 

Anyways, thanks for the info.  Now I know why you are looking for a Canadian company!  Makes sense.

Good luck to you in finding a company that fits for you!

other MTs do when a prospective employer requests that you provide your salary requirements?  If you're like me, you do not want to go too high and not get the job, but also do not want to quote too low when you could have gotten a higher rate if you had just asked.  So, what do you do?  In the past, I have always avoided applying if a company asked for salary requirements, but in this case the question was not asked until after I sent my resume, and I am interested in following this through to the testing/job offer.  I am wondering if I answer in a vague, flexible way whether that would be a good thing or bad thing.  

Any input from you guys would really be appreciated. 

TIA! 

Thank you, Kris, for your response.  This sounds almost too good to be true (I'm a skeptic by nature, and this just seems too easy and reasonably priced).  Thanks again for your response.  I'm curious to see more responses to this question - I really value the opinions on this board!  MKM

would this KVM switch work also if I need to have both computers connected to the internet?  And what would I need to connect both to the net? 

I will be having a work-provided computer and a personal computer but very limited desk space.  I would like both towers connected to the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and both towers connected to the net.  But I would only be working on one computer at a time.  First 8 hours of the day, the work computer; the rest of the day, personal computer.  Would a KVM switch be what I would need?

Any help is appreciated !!

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has seen these little gadgets in their doctor's office that is a hand-held computer which he puts everything down he does and information about the patient with the pen that is attached to the hand-held computer.

Today, my husband visited his doctor and the doctor used this.  After we were through with the appointment, my husband asked him about the hand-held computer and told him that I was a transcriptionist.  So, the doc came over and let me look at my husband's chart on this little gadget.  It automatically ends up a fully transcribed document with headings and everything. If the doc needs to add any info for something such as lungs, he just clicks to lungs and then puts whatever he needs it to say.  At first, I thought it was cool, then after seeing the end result, I realized this is a fully transcribed document which is automatically in the chart and wondered how this will end up affecting us all if most places end up with these little gadgets. 

I'd be interested in what you all think about this and if you guys have seen these things. 

Thanks,

PJ