I don't think that is helpful. She needs to learn
Posted By: me on 2007-12-22
In Reply to: Other companies don't have QA that's so incredibly picky. Move - on & search for friendlier QA. NM
to do it "right." Being a newbie is tough, but a strict QA is more beneficial at this point in her career. It does't do her any good to have "slack" QA and then she moves to another job later and they are tough and she has to struggle then.
I've been doing this for years and I still make mistakes. I've spelled calculus for gallbladder stones for years and no one corrected me until recently, so all these years I've been spelling it incorrectly. Learn to do it "right" the first time and it will serve you well in the future.
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Very helpful. Thanks! nm
nm
Maybe she is trying to be helpful.
That's helpful.
Besides the company name, what do you expect someone to search by? There is only so much information available by searching. I have not heard anything good about them either, but that's not saying much.
If you are trying to be helpful...
Why not send her an E-mail privately instead of calling her out publicly? That is the polite and helpful thing to do. Tact: Something that is not taught in MT school.
Helpful to Know
Thank you for posting, because it is really hard to get a balanced picture about the "best" education and job prospects. Even though it is anecdotal, such remarks help form that "big" picture.
All of your posts are helpful, but
I'm an almost Newbie who has become very confused reading all the posts about good schools, bad schools, good companies, bad companies -whew - my head is turning. This is something I have wanted for a long time. I've gotten taken by 2 bad schools and I'm just about to finish my third attempt and this time I'm determined to work. My problem is I can't afford to quit my current job in insurance and maybe not make enough money as an MT. I also don't know where to start to find a reputable company to even try to get MT work. I got into the Trans-Scam deal about 4 years ago and that had just completely discouraged me. I thought I would never be able to be an MT. I just didn't have what it takes. This time I'm determined and would certainly appreciate all the feedback you all have. I read some posts from MT's making pretty good money - but does anyone ever reveal what those good companies are?
ANY qa and feedback is helpful whether you are
x
Helpful hint
When you e-mail a company requesting to be a part of a mentor/internship program, and that company takes the time to e-mail you back with all the particulars, a polite thank you is in order whether you accept or decline. I just had this happen recently. Perhaps this person didn't check her spam filter, I will never know I guess, and now I'm upset I took the time to offer her a position to help her out when she is the one who contacted me in the first place. OK, rant over. 
Glad you found it helpful! :) NM
x
Quick, helpful advice for new MTs
While I'm thinking about it, I just wanted to post this tip really quickly.
One of the ways I REALLY helped myself when I first started in transcription was to hang out on word help boards (like the one here). When a question came up, I would research it and answer if I could find the correct word. This not only helped the people who asked the question, but it super duper hugely helped me learn what words actually sound like when a doctor says them, and what certain things were and/or did.
Now I go to the word board mostly to help, but I'm still amazed at how much I learn 12+ years into the business.
A helpful note about expanders
I just thought I'd offer this up: The ABCZ method for making shortcuts. I just came upon it after reading about it in the archives here. It's just a simple method that offers advice and suggestions about how to make and organize your abbrevation/expander files. Here's the link: http://home.earthlink.net/~agjon/abczrule.htm There's also the book Saving Keystrokes, but you have to buy that. Anyhow, the method description is free for those who don't want to spend any $$. I hope this helps! 
I'd not attend the Comm College if teachers are not helpful
Hi Allie,
I wouldn't attend that Community College from what you have said. The CC I went to had two wonderful teachers who were semi-retired MTs. I vaguely remember that the clerks I enrolled with knew very little. I grew to be very impressed with the teachers over time. A great teacher is such a blessing.
Med Workshops' staffing school did a good job for us almost 2 years ago. I've spoken with the owner Karen over the phone. She is bright and honest. We moved to another school because they offered us a better deal financially. We will probably use Med Workshops again in the future sometime. Remember that they are like a wholesale alternative. They probably don't have a sales staff for the "retail student".
But, a wholesale approach doesn't mean you don't get assistance. It means they make most of their money training students for individual employers. Companies like this don't advertise to the public. They contact the larger transcription companies and are looking at a different model. They are dealing in groups to be able to cut overhead, etc. etc. Companies like who I work for find this very appealing because a basic education is usually very similar everywhere because the same 2-3 teaching aids (books, CDs, online) are used by almost all schools.
We are looking at teacher/mentor support for the students and also the cost of education. We won't be able to find enough students at one time if we have to rely on a very expensive retail school- they aren't set up to satisfy our needs, but their program might be great. Retail at $3800 or wholesale at about $2000? For employers like mine the answer is simple.
I'm getting caught in a "25 words or less" dilemma in trying to explain this. I feel some here will jump all over me if I don't say just the right thing.
I've been saying that, I see this wholesale or staffing school approach as the new wave in education because it solves problems for the students and the employers. It's a win win.
I hope everyone keeps an open mind and just considers these ideas. I'm not saying this is the only solution for everyone. Don't hit me, I'm just a messenger.
let's have a little fun, and learn something
I've always enjoyed word jumble. I think you all know that one ... the letters of a word are all jumbled and you have to figure out the word. Like this: ehrat = heart
I'll pick a word and then mix the letters up. In the subject line, I'll give the specialty (i.e. Cardiology) and you have to figure out the correct word. As soon as the correct word is posted, nobody else can respond. That round has ended.
I'll post one new word every day.
This game is ONLY open to people still in school or those with less than six months of work experience. So, all of you MTSOs with itchy fingers ... go transcribe an ESL who is dictating in the middle of traffic with the convertible roof down.
I'll take a show of hands ... would anyone else like to join in? 
If you could learn it all on the job, why do you need them?
I don't think that school is very serious about providing an education. It would be one of the ones that just is in it for the money. "Charity begins at home" is probably their motto.
You won't learn 1/8 of what you need to
know from that course. Don't waste your time and money. I saw work from a graduate of that program. She wasn't even prepared to do radiology, let alone acute care, poor thing.
You can learn a lot
by going to the websites of the 2 best schools out there. Both are on line. They are in the neighborhood of $4000, which is comparable to the cost of a community college degree, but these 2 schools will give you an education very specific to learning MT without all the stuff you wouldn't actually need. But of course you need to be sure that's what you really want to do. If you read everything these sites have to offer you should have a pretty good idea.
http://www.andrewsschool.com/
http://www.mtecinc.com/
**sigh** when will they learn?
nm
That is excellent! I am sure you will learn a lot from her
:-)
Test everywhere you can, you learn a lot that way - sm
also make cold calls. This is how I landed my first job. I had tested with a company and passed and was hired, but was waiting to actually start (took 2 months for that to actually happen). In the meantime I started calling local companies, I got hired over the phone by one willing to take a chance on me. I was on probation for 3 months, doing about $200 a month (she only had little bit of extra work), after I a month or so I knew I was "hired" for good and eventually got a little more work as the MTSO wanted to do less herself. I applied at another place (while working the 2 jobs) and picked up a 3rd. All were PT but different types of work, etc. so I packed in a lot of experience that way. Just keep plugging away, took me 2 months to land the 1st then 2 weeks later got #2, and 3 months later got #3. Just takes a little time, patience, and lots of persistence.
People Just Don't Learn
Why is CS still getting praise??? Affordable or not, you may be an experienced *unemployed* MT because many companies are discovering that CS just doesn't give the education needed regardless of the few praisers who got lucky.
M-TEC or Andrews has a "refresher" course for MTs who have done 1 specialty or haven't worked for a while.
want to learn MT course for free?
you can use this blog site if you want to learn medical transcription for free
http://learn-free-medical-transcription.blogspot.com/
thank you
learn the basic tricks. sm
learn how to set up templates with field codes (F11 to jump). Learn how to set up your expander. If you don't have a clue look into the ABCZ system. Use Google to search for information on this. If you are stuck using autocorrect instead of a better Expander learn how to enter words quickly w/o a mouse (alt t a to open it. then tab then enter). These will save you a LOT of time entering or editing your entries.
Also was a nurse, still am. You NEED an MT program to learn about this job, not
s
Did you not have anything left to learn when you finished
school and actually started working in the real world? It is a learning process, day in and day out, just as nursing is. You can go to the best school in the world, have the most highly trained instructors, finish with flying colors, take the RMT, CMT or whatever, and still not be a good transcriptionist. Same thing goes with nursing. You can go to school and then pass state boards and still be a lousy nurse. A lot of what we all do is in the practical application day to day. I don't recall ever saying she shouldn't go to school. I just said it was possible to go from nursing to MT without formal training. 
/
I'd like to learn/do Veterinary Transcription
I tested for a local vet recently. No call back yet, but he was an @$$ (I can see why he went into Veterinary medicine rather than human). Expected the MT to transcribe while being the front desk in a hard-floored, echoing foyer area with dogs and cats and people and birds around, and be the receptionist too.
But, I think it would be very interesting and a good resume skill to add.
Anyone know of a company that will hire an MT to do VT? Or is there a VT module I could do to add to my training?
No matter what you learn in school, each
company has their own way of doing things. Some go by BOSS, some the account dictates how to do things and you do whatever they want, even if it is against what BOSS or JCAHO say. Even a different account within the same company will do things differently than the previous one. You have to adapt. With the rare exception QA is very helpful and don't nitpick.
Newbies, ya gotta learn one thing here...sm
you must be accurate in all typed correspondence. I had a newbie that asked about doing an internship I offered. Here is her actual response:
Yes I am definetly interested.
Thanks you.
Now how am I supposed to hire somebody like that? 
NOW versus KNOW - Learn the difference as you will need to KNOW it at some point.
Trust me, you don't scare us. As experienced professionals, we know what happens to MTs with delusions of grandeur; they are in for a very rude awakening, to say the very least.
you overcome it by doing it..you'll never learn if you quit.
bn
ShortHand is very good and not complicated to learn. nm
s
Allied doesn't care if you learn anything OR if you get a job. They just want their $$. nm
x
Definitely sounds like a scam. You can't learn much in an 8-week course. NM
x
Don't worry - you'll learn all that basic stuff
in school. They used to teach it in secretarial classes, of course, but if you know you want to be an MT, go to one of the top schools (M-Tec and Andrews), and you will be ready when it's time to test.
Career Step only give you a year, so at M-TEC you have 18 months and will learn a LOT more.
Your post made it sound like you would rather take more time to do the course, but there's a reason M-Tec requires it done in 18 months.
You can't really learn if you drag it out longer than 18 months. You have to keep doing it, working at it, familiarizing yourself with it, in order to learn it. That is why they push you to not drag your feet, either do it or don't do it!
Good luck to you.
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