I hope this info. will help you. SM
Posted By: mj on 2007-09-10
In Reply to: Newbie - Lisa
I posted this several months ago on this board, and have copied here for you:
I truly do not believe there is an online or distance learning program, or even a four year college degree for that matter (yes, I have a 4 year degree in healthcare administration with emphasis in medical records) that will prepare a new MT for the "cut throat" world of MT. When I say cut throat, I don't necessarily mean cruel, but rather very competitive. You better know your stuff or you will not survive, or at least not make a good wage, unless you have the hands-on experience of working in a hospital in a wide variety of specialties with close supervision. Yes, one can succeed starting out at home if you have one specialty and learn that inside and out. The time and errors involved in the learning process starting at home in a variety of specialties for a national company (which for the most part is required to compete in this profession) will afford the new MT a minimum wage at most. Like I mentioned in my previous post, there are those few gifted new MTs who will pick up new specialties and satisfy the large online companies, but the general population will not. Just like a doctor, you have to spend several years in fellowship or internship to work your way up with fund of knowledge, etc. I say to any newbie, if you think you have what it takes, go for it. I'm just trying to be honest in saying that you need to be realistic in this profession, as sample dictations in school, as well as test dictations, are no comparison to the real world of MT where we continue to learn even after many years on the job. I hope this helps any new MT take the route that will be of most benefit to them in this profession.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Uh oh, I hope you are not an MT because
I found an error in what you just typed!!!! Uh oh!!! You said, luckily you smelled something FISH and a lot of money, etc. LOLOLOLOLOL Fish. I bet she did. LOLOL
Yes, there is hope.
Even transcriptionists with a lot of experience have to leave blanks, which is an important part of this job because you should NEVER EVER guess. There is such a thing as an "educated guess" and context clue guessing, which I have done, but I have a lot of experience and still there are times when I just cannot fathom what they are saying or have never heard of that term. That is why this board is a very good tool. I wish I had known about it earlier in my career. I have learned so much from simply reading. As a matter of fact, I learn something new everyday. By the way, welcome to the world of medical transcription. Enjoy the ride because it goes so fast! 
There is Hope
You typed 3,716 words over 150 minutes and still made $$? That comes out to about 25 wpm! There is hope for me after all!!! My current typing speed is about 25 wpm!
Hope you don't mind
I really hope someone chimes in with the answer to your question but I wanted to comment that I have heard nothing but positive reviews for MTEC and the reviews have been mixed, but leaning towards the positive for Career Step. There are some CS students and alumni that will defend their school tooth and nail that it is not a second class stepchild to MTEC, and some that feel that MTEC (or Andrews) would have been a better choice.
I had a friend who could not afford the down payment for Andrews, and either could not or did not want to try to get the Sallie Mae loan for MTEC, and I steered her towards the CS program at Everett CC because she had pell grant and student loan eligibility.
You might want to ask some national companies whose grads they hire. I asked a few (you could certainly ask more than I did, and I recommend that), and one listed a few schools I had not even heard about up to that point.
It seems that the companies have some thing going on with CS because many of them have a link to request training info from CS. Not a guarantee of employment by any stretch but worth asking what that is all about. (hopefully not just about getting money from CS for advertising and referrals).
If it were me I would choose MTEC over CS. But my decision is made - I chose Andrews over both of them and as soon as I can bring myself to send in the $1500 down payment(its just a scary amount of money to plop down), I am doing it!
Thank you for post. It gives me hope
since I'm getting frustrated at the moment.
hope i'm not being too nosey but........
how much more schooling do you have and what state are you in?
Now there's a newbie I have hope for!
Somebody who can already communicate effectively! Just the same, I hope you chose your school carefully, jwhitman.
wow, I hope I do not turn out like you
after 15 years of transcribing. You really sound resentful.
Hope this is not a bad sign
I just finished a dictation that the dr. cancelled 20 seconds into it because he "already did it on EMR".
Acct still has a large volume of work, but I wonder if they are easing into EMR.
Has anyone else started to run into this?
I work for a service so at least this one account is not my only source of income, but it does provide a lot of work.
Keeping fingers crossed.....
That is really low pay. I sure hope you are not an IC to boot!
nm
Hope this helps
I got this by typing "set font" into the help area:
(The default button is on the lower left hand side of the format font screen.)
hope it helps
I really appreciate your reply. I'm not concerned with benefits as I can go on my husband's group insurance. I saw a post that MDI-MD takes part timers. Ever hear of them?
Hope this helps
I was just in your shoes. I saw on the job board the other day there was a posting:
MTs wanted for Clinic work - all specialties
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted By: Alana Boser on 2008-02-19
TransRx Medical Trans. Needed immediately, full and part time MTs for clinic work. Newbies welcome, on passing testing process. Line rate /65 char line - depending on experience and test results. Click on the Apply Now link to submit your resume.
Hope for Newbies
Hi All!
I am a newbie. I haven't even officially graduated yet. I attend a school that has been called a 'matchstick school'. I have figured out why there was so much negativity about my school. The students are only required to do 20 (GASP!) transcription assignments throughout the course. However, the CD we are given to work off of has over 100 dictations. I would not be defeated by this school! I not only did the required assignments, I worked my way thru the other 100 in my own time.
Well, this weekend I found a website that lists 137 transcription companies located in the USA. I wrote my resume, omitting the name of the school I attended. I also listed all the transcriptions and specialties I worked on. I listed the amount of time I spent working on these as experience. Then I wrote up a cover letter expressing my desire and drive to work for a great, solid company. I sat at my computer over the weekend and went down the list of the companies. I emailed EVERY company on there with my cover letter and resume. By Sunday night I had a request to test with a company. I tested with them Monday afternoon and by Monday evening I had a job offer. They have asked me to start tomorrow. I also have 4 other requests to test with different companies sitting in my inbox. This amazes me because I have not even officially graduated yet!
Please do not mistake this for bragging. I have worked very hard and have been extremely discouraged over the past several months. I have sent out over 100 resumes and have had my fair share returned stating I do not have enough experience. During my downtime I worked thru all the dictations my school offered. I also found a website that helps improve typing speed. So for all you newbies, do not give up. When you are not job searching, practice your transcribing, even if it is one you did a hundred times before.
I hope this gives some fellow newbies some hope.
A little hope for newbies!
Hey ya'll!
I just want to give a little hope to fellow newbies out there! I have finally found my first job!
I started searching at the beginning of the semester, and now, a week before graduation, I have finally gotten my first position!
It takes a lot of hard work, determination, begging, crying, giving up, starting again, crying some more, and networking, but it pays off in the end!
So please, don't give up! Test, network, practice, make phone calls, apply for positions, knock on doors, pretend your sick so you can get some one on one time with your doctor, and most importantly, pray! You will get there!
Good luck everyone! I hope this gives ya'll a little boost! I know how frustrating it was, but you'll forget all about that when you finally get a "yes" from someone!
I'll be praying for all of you!
Also, you better hope you like working for them, because (sm)
that's all they're training you for. Most companies have never heard of this training program, and unless you have 2 years' of experience, they won't hire you. This place trains you to work for THEM only. You have no way of knowing how qualified you would be to work elsewhere.
I emailed you; hope it helps.
.
Sorry to hear that. I hope you can find one
x
you're quite welcome! hope it helps.
x
Great job! I hope you find a job
I hope you lose everything you own because some DEPENDABLE Indian - sm
took your job!!
She is incoming new MT and I hope that she can get some help here. Previous posts
that I had to remove were made by experienced MTs and were very ugly in nature. Nichole came here and asked for help and when she was ridiculed only then did she retaliate. I posted a Sticky above about helping incoming new MTs and not treating them like they are trash. I would ask all experienced MTs to please follow that advice or don't post at all.
Thank you,
Administrator
I sincerely hope that you do not own/manage an MTSO.
If you treated employees with as little respect as you do others on this board, I don't think you would have many employees for long. You have been condescending and rude. My only point in this whole thread has been that you can go from nursing to MT with some hands-on training. I have never said that formal training wasn't helpful, it's just not always necessary. Have a wonderful day!
More important than typing speed I hope
you chose a good school. Doesn't matter how fast you type if you can't get a job because she chose a more "affordable" school that didn't give you the education you need to get a job.
Let's hope it's YOUR medical records she gets to transcribe.
You should be bashed. Lying isn't going to do her any good. If they test her and she fails, or even if they hire her, if she has a crappy (AHP) education she's not going to keep the job anyway.
She's not going to "fool" anyone into thinking she has 3 years experience, especially when she's fresh out of a crappy MT school and doesn't know what she needs to know to work as an MT. Even if they didn't check her references in the beginning, they probably will once she starts working and it's obvious she doesn't know what she's doing.
I hope you're being paid a decent wage and not being
taken advantage of, which happens a lot.
My info
I am currently enrolled in Andrews MT course (started last week) and I'm almost 29 years old. I do think that probably most people in their early 20's don't necessarily consider MT as a career. For me, the thought had been in my mind for several years, but it wasn't until I started thinking more seriously about starting a family relatively soon that I finally enrolled. When you're very young and don't have kids, and aren't thinking about kids, you tend to have different priorities. For me, I've been working for more than 10 years, have a long commute (an hour one-way) and want to start a family, and it's important to me to be involved with my kids, be able to see them off in the morning, be here when they get home... MT becomes more and more attractive.
course info..
has anyone heard of the At Home Professions MT learning course?
My info
I graduated in October of 2004 and I'm 38. I did several years of medical billing and opted to try mt as i became disabled. Been unalbe to find work or a mentor so far. If you have any ideas let me know.
Need info
Could someone please explain the major differences between acute care basic 4 and multispecialty clinic transcription?  It seems that the job ads usually specify which one and how much experience is needed with each of these categories, but I am curious to know the differences and why someone with several years of multispecialty clinic experience may not do well with acute care hospital transcription.
TIA for any info provided!
Need more info
Does this pt have some sort of respiratory condition?
Here's some info..... (sm)
Sorry to hear of your troubles!
There are two main schools, Andrews School and Career Step. If you graduate from one of these schools, then you will likely find employment quickly. They cost more, but you get what you pay for! You will have to test with individual companies to get hired, but that should not be a problem with the proper training. There are plenty of companies that hire at-home workers, so that will not be a problem either.
Don't quote me on this, but I think Career Step qualifies for Pell grants so if you go through voc rehab be sure to check that out. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the info.
I will send resumes to those companies.
Too Much info
If I were you I would hang on to my day job at that school unless you have to work from home. It is hard for a newbie fresh out of any MT school these days and the line rates are going down hill fast. Even with experience they don't want to pay for all we have to know/do. Still if your heart is set on MT work I would go with one of the top 3 schools, wish I had but at the time I picked the only school that I could afford to go to. Best of luck to you whatever you decide but if you have full benefits where you are now -- I would stay there.
Thanks for the info! nm
x
Thank you for the info
.
Some MT info
This link has helpful info if anyone is interested.
http://www.help4mts.com/gettingstarted.html
CAI info
CAI has a message board on their site where their students exchange info, you may want to check there http://www.caihometype.com/. Hopefully some grads will see your post here as well and contribute. I found it to be an excellent education and I got a job within 1 1/2 weeks of graduation. They have an extensive list of companies who hire their grads that you can ask for upon graduation.
Good luck with your choice!
Thanks for the info
I did look into community colleges.... It seems like the same Career Step program but triple the cost. I like that the career step program is pretty cheap when compared to others and is an approved program. I just wonder how much harder it will be to find a job after graduating from career step then it would Andrews or m-tech....And then when you get into what program (basic, premier, etc, etc) it gets even more confusing!
Thanks for all the info!
Where did you get your CS info? more..
Hi Amanda,
I've posted here on the boards about CS through Everett Community College and have received many emails from working CS/Everett grads telling me they loved it. They had jobs before graduation and felt very prepared to go to work.
I just wondered where you're getting this info about their education. Did you go through CS? Does your employer not hire CS?
Do you think going through Everett makes the difference?
I'm not trying to be nasty in anyway. I really do wonder where this info comes from.
Thanks,
Christy
Thanks for that info.
I really do look forward to getting started with them. Everyone there to whom I have spoken and contacted has been really nice.
Thanks for the info! (nm)
Thanks for the help and info!
Thanks for the info.
I'll check it out. I just completed a full course and I'm wanting to find something that I will get paid for and not spending even more money.
Really? Who? Please provide more info
about these unsuccessful M-Tec and Andrews graduates. I'm sure Susan and Linda would want to know so they could help them. Because they DO help their graduates find jobs. Good jobs. I think you're making it up just to make yourself feel good.
More info on expansions sm
I have not read through this whole thing recently, but a few years ago I read it and it really helped me improve my expansions. There is a lot of information, but it is some of the same information I so lamely tried to explain in my first post.
Need digital info
I know. I hate these tapes. However, I am currently working for a local group of physicians and that's all they use. One of the doctors asked me if I was set up to transcribe digital and even though I know that it would greatly improve things, truth is that I don't know the first thing about it....What equipment is required on each end? Would I have to bring their dictating equipment home to connect to my pc? He said something about after he finished dictating I would just connect it to my port.....??
There is info further down this board regarding CS.
Info about Medgarde
They pay via Pay Pal. You have to pay a weekly license fee for software or you can purchase it. You will need 3 professional references. They deduct if you make the same mistake a few times. They do not pay for spaces or templates. They do work out of a pool although on their website it sounds as if not. You are assigned the accounts they determine. They only have someone to help you between 8 and 5. If you have a question at any other time, too bad. They do a lot of testing before you can talk to someone and more testing during phone interview. You will need to provide them with proof of going to an MT school.
School info
The best schools are Andrews, MTEC and MT Advantage Career Center. Stay away from the short courses because I've heard many say they can't get employment after taking those courses. (Not enough content nor practice.) Make sure you get plenty of practice exam with instructor feedback. All 3 of those schools use the SUM CDs for training, and MT Advantage has an advanced program at half price this month.
There is some info in the archives.
|
