Could be poor MT material to start with - my absolute best MT came from community college and

• Cheapie Correspondence Courses - Christina
  • cheapie MT courses - Phyllis
  • It sounds like your mind is made up that you don't need an adequate course, - Who are you going to believe?
    • Cheap MT courses - AH
      • We took on a PCDI grad where I work, and they did not prepare her - Oh no
        • I have to agree - :)
        • Could be poor MT material to start with - my absolute best MT came from community college and - MTSO
          • Wrong. As I said, her English vocab & grammar were great, but PCDI didn't teach her enough medic - Misha
      • You got lucky, but it's RARE to be - Deb
  • Agree with poster below. And we have way too many MTs and not enough jobs, especially for at-home - workers. nm
    • There are way too many inferior MTs - good ones will always be able to find work! - pamT
  • It would behoove you to search the archives on this subject - been around the block
    • Demand for MT jobs is not as bleak as some believe. sm - sm
    • That is, unless... - ABC

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3 terms, September to June, got a certificate in medical transcription. I then went an additional term and picked up a medical office specialist certificate and also took some coding classes and passed the coding test that same year. Within 2 months I had an in-house transcription job (the first and only transcription job I applied for) worked there 3 years, did every type of report and all radiology reports, and have been at home for 2 years now. My current employer (which is a very good national) hired me without even having me take a test of any kind, just did the phone interview, so my community college certificate has not hurt me in the least. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Hello,

I am interested in taking the Career Step program, but trying to decide whether to go through San Juan Comm College.  I would like to know if anyone has taken the CS course through the college and if they felt prepared.

Thanks!

Hi Julie, I am a student in the medical transcription program at Everett Community College. I am in my second semester and have been able to get financial aid (that I don't have to pay back) for my first 2 semesters. They also offer Federal Student Loans that anyone can get. The program is great but definitly not easy! The instructors are also awesome. Let me know if you have any questions!!

http://www.everettcc.edu/programs/bat/medtrans/index.cfm?id=300&linkFrom=Search

I completed their 2-year program, and it was excellent.  The person in charge of the program is a CMT and she had another CMT working with her.

Chickadee

Has anyone heard of Absolute Transcription or currently work for them?  I am about to start a trial with them and wanted some input. 

Thanks!

I agree with the other poster I wouldn't buy any others until you know what speciality you will be doing.  If you are doing clinic work I'd recommend Sloane's Medical Word Book.  If you will be doing acute care and doing only one speciality then I would recommend a book related to that speciality.  I like Quick Look for a drug reference. 

Try to remember how it was when we started.  I really feel for these people just starting out.  When I started, I was sitting in a room with my boss, and if I had any questions, I could ask.  I can't imagine working the way it is now, being trained and then being all alone without anyone to help.  The training they get at school is I'm sure nothing like what what they're going to hear get once they're at home.  They probably have them listening to tapes where the doctors talk slowly and carefully, none of them have accents, the sound quality is perfect, etc. 

Anyway, I AM shocked when I see some of the questions they're asking, but I had a lot of help when I was new, and was not all by myself working at home without anyone to bounce things off of.  I think a lot of them get caught up in the "work at home" thing, and don't understand how hard this really is.

the whole point of EMR is not to type the notes into the system - it's to choose from a menu and point and click to get the information in.  Think

chief complaint:  sore throat.     choose:  erythematous   edematous  purulent drainage and so on

if it's a speciality with a lot of redundancy, i.e. podiatry, they fly through their notes. If it's more unique situations a little tougher. But don't worry... the EMR companies will soon figure out the missing link...

This insistence on Andrews or M-Tec makes me very uneasy.  I've been responsible for hiring and training thousands of MTs and even I don't know these two schools that well and I rarely see graduates from there.  I know they have good student support.  I do see lots of graduates from Career Step.  BTW, the Career Step grads are not well prepared for employment- not at all.  Not like you'd think from reading current posts.  Most of my past hires from Career Step failed to stick with it.  Only a small percentage could hold up- bad typing skills- but good on terminology.

Most of our employees (MTs) are either graduates of community colleges or staffing schools that we contract with.  If Andrews and M-Tec were as dominant as you read here, I'd expect the only good MTs to have come from those schools and I don't.  I didn't go there.  I've done fine.  I've never had a problem being hired in my early days as an MT.  I went to a community college and they used HPI publications.

I think this insistence on a "big three" is very misleading.  As a person who hires and trains, I know you don't need to attend one of these 3 schools to get a job.  Attitude has far more to do with it than book training anyway.  We'd much rather have a graduate with a poorer education who has a great attitude than the reverse.  The education can be improved quickly while the attitude is impossible to change.

I will just take your word for it that these 2 schools have great classes, but why all this drum beating when there are untold numbers of excellent community college programs and also staffing schools.  How about Mentoring Internships too?  There are lots of resources that my MTs have used to become well educated.

However, there are "schools" that are nothing but internet marketing machines.  It is obvious who they are.  They are the ones who sell diplomas for almost anything.  New students should definitely beware of those.  Medical Transcription is too difficult to learn from a mail order house.  You can't sit in isolation at home and learn medical transcription very easily and that is the big trap, IMO.  This is not like getting your real estate license and only needing to pass 1 test to get a job.

That's my view from my corner of the world.

Hello,

I am currently looking to find a part-time at home transcription job. I have been endlessly looking at all different websites and just am not sure how to apply myself and what is real or a scam. I've been working as a full-time Certified Ophthalmic Assistant for the past 10 years as well as transcribing consult letters and in office surgical procedure reports.  Though my work experience is all Ophthalmology, I do hold an Associates Degree in Office Technology with courses that included machine transcription, medical/legal terminology, business english, etc...  I also took a refresher course last year in Medical Transcription.  It was a 59 hour course which included medical terminology, typing with daily timed testing and actual transcription from taped dictations. I would really like to expand my experience and skills but am leary on who would consider me with my lack of experience in anything other than Ophthalmology.  My speed was estimated to be 65-70 wpm but I have been trying to keep up on it with timed testing and practice. My accuracy was about 95%.  Most places seem to want higher speed. I know I can learn and get my typing up to speed and accuracy.  I am willing to do what it takes as I could really use the extra income.  Any help to go in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I just don't know where to begin. 

Thank you.   

I start with the tech call on the 8th, training on the 9th, and begin work on the 10th.  Any insight no how to start off great?  Any recommended reference books?  Are you employed with them?

Jill