I really think I made the wrong choice
Posted By: sm on 2005-10-19
In Reply to: I second that ! - Nikki
All I keep hearing about is how hard it is to land a job in this profession. No one wants to go to school and then find out there are no jobs available. I have almost given up on finishing my school for fear of there being nothing at the end of the rainbow for me. I was naive in thinking that I could just work from home immediately and have no cares in the world. Oh well, live and learn - right? I guess I better just go back to college and get a degree in something else.
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Sounds like they made a poor choice of EMR...sm
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...
wise choice
xx
something you like! seriously, MT is a terrible choice
for a full time job; much too isolating and much too hard on the neck, back and fingers to do 40 or 40+ hour week. Even if you work Wed and Sat at the flower shop, you will be better off in the long run.
School choice
I feel school choice is important. The problem with some of the educational clearinghouse schools is that they teach using the Hillcrest and Forrest tapes and they are just too easy.
I don't feel it is helpful to slam every school except 2 or 3. I went to MT Advantage Career Center and had a job before graduating. However, I would not slam other schools.
I can understand posting that you feel a particular program is subpar and then backing up your opinion with why you feel that way, but there seem to be a few people here that post nasty and negative posts everytime a school is brought up that isn't one they particularly like.
Trying to make the right choice
I have spent months reading and learning about becoming an MT and I am still left with questions that I hope maybe a broader range of people might be able to answer (you all  )
Is Career Step's program the same as what's offered at M-Tec? The price is clearly not and I have spoken with enrollment at both locations and asked them directly the cost differences but normal everyday people who do the job is who's opinions I'd like most.
1. Training (are the both relatively close in what they teach)
2. Certificate vs. diploma
3. 4 months for one program vs. 9-12 for another.
Any honest, none school bashing, opinions would be very gratefully appreciated.
Andrews is an excellent choice, sm
but I have no experience with them to give you advice! You may try asking Linda Andrews to put you in touch with some current students (contact info on the Andrews School website) ***Edited by Moderator*** Good luck to your daughter!
How did you make your school choice decision?
Why did you pick the particular schools that you chose? Did you ask them for help in job placement? What do the employers tell you when you test for them, or do they even allow you to test? I know that several schools' graduates are not having any problems like this at all, and they don't cost $10,000. Not even Andrews costs $10,000.
Career Step is a good choice for some
nm
Great choice for work-at-home jobs
I'm a physical therapist and an MT as well, not bad for a part-time job, plus you have to stay at home; although you are not going to earn as much as you do as RN. Working indirectly with the patient is as exciting as working directly with them. Good Luck!!
This all sounds nice, but newbies have to choose MTSOs wisely and this one is not a wise choice.
me, I will explain.
More can be made
The problem with MT pay is that it's all over the board and dependent on so many factors. If you're really good at MT and fast, you can make pretty decent money. You also have to be fortunate enough to find a good job fit. I'm into my 3rd year as an MT and averaging $20 an hour as an employee of a large national. During my second year I made about $12 to $16 an hour. I believe that many people who go into this field are not really well-suited to do this kind of work, and it shows in the paycheck. If I were making anything less than $15 an hour, I'd sure be looking for a new place to work.
And yes, I now see that I have made a typo
and "it's" should be "its".
LOL.
see, I just made one with only 1 parenthesis lol
/
I have not seen this comment made yet....
I am a newbie to this board and trying to decide on a MT school. I find it very interesting that while there are many negative comments out here, there are virtually no negative comments about Andrews school or M-tec..... I understand that they are considered the "best" but "best" is not "perfect". Does anyone out there have any thoughts on this or have any not-so-perfect experiences with these schools? Just something to think about.....
I only made $13.00 after 20 years
If you want to just get the experience, then go for it. Once you've gained talent and speed and enough experience, you can take that and make more than that much per hour by working production, but at least hourly, you can slack a little at times and not worry. 
I too made a mistake
I received my certificate from them in May, The guy that I talked to at the school said this field paid 10cents per character at 65 in a line making it $6.50 a line. haha and we paid the extra $1000 for job placement for life. with the promise that as soon as I got certified they would send me a doctor to work for and if I didn't like that one they would send me a different one. Only to find out that they do not send you doctors, they send you assessment tests and you have to do the background check on the company yourself. I was sent to a company that has been scamming people for over eight years by not paying them, so I got my first and only job in June and worked for no pay until September and it is now November and I have no job and no money and very little help from the school on finding one, and I am seriously considering going back to unloading semi trucks for a living. Oh yeah and most of the places they have send me suggest I go to a Career Step training course. So I am very sorry about the decision I had made to go through that school. I hope you have better luck than I did. I would not recommend anyone to go to that school. I feel like I have been lied to from the very start.
Good luck.
Almost made a mistake
I too have been considering this and went to a seminar - was led to believe they have a very high reputation. I would have made a big mistake if it wasn't for this board! Thanks so must for the inputs!
I made 7.75 with MedQuist my first year.
I started out with Medquist making 7.75 based on my all-around experience and test scores I was told. That was PTE.
I went on to make 8 as an employee, and I work a second IC job making 16, 13 to start, 16 after 90 days.
home-made wine
First time in a while I have sit down at a computer and enjoyed it with a glass of wine.
I made the Wal-Mart post below, and
I've only been working for a little over a year, so I am still a newbie. I do not think this is something anyone should go into if they need money quickly, but I do think it might be the right choice for some. I make a very small income, but it works right now for me and my family.
You've made some good points.
Thanks for posting.
It sounds like your mind is made up that you don't need an adequate course,
and that hard-working MTs in your area are just waiting to complete your education so you can be of help to them. But you did say you wanted advice, so mine would be that your future co-workers, supervisors and customers will all wish you were ready to transcribe when you got out of school, which can only be guaranteed by two schools: Andrews & M-Tec. So instead of wasting a few hundred dollars on an education that won't land you a job, spend what it takes for a real education. At these schools you can learn at your own speed with lots of support from the teachers, and when you graduate you will be an asset to the profession.
Everywhere I have worked, coders made more money than MTs.
nm
I make 2-3 times what I made as a nurse. nm
Not much money to be made for new grads at MedQuist.
Guess it is pretty profitable to get rid of experienced MTs and then fill their spots with new grads at half the rate.
I was lucky if I made $1 an hour my first week! sm
It was horrible! After a month, I am now up to $8 an hour.(I know that is still not much!) I would look up every single drug and doublecheck the dosages. Now, I am familar with many of them and it feels good not to have to look them all up. It is great that your company thinks you are doing good work!
Not true, I made a 95 once. But grammar and spelling
are key issues as stated below.
No instructors, and home-made materials = CS.
I'm also a CS grad, and if I had it to do over again, I would definitely choose Andrews or M-TEC. No more "training track" for Spheris from CS. Focus no longer hires newbies from CS. People are finally waking up.
They're templates or shortcuts that you've made yourself as you go along...sm
All the physical exams you've saved for each doctor, all the op reports that you've saved as templates, shortcuts, or macros. Your opening and closing sentences in your letters saved by doctor...your lab tests that get repeated over and over...your doc versions of any tests that you get over and over - their EKGs, cardiac caths, PFTs, etc. Your normals are what make you even more successful at this job in addition to just having words and phrases in an expander. nm
6 or 7 cents? :::snorting::: I made 7.5 at the job I landed even BEFORE I graduated from (lm)
The School That Dare Not Speak Its Name. I then left that job for another one making 8 cents. I am now making 8 cents a line from home, and my one-year anniversary of graduating from MT training is not until May.
Six or seven cents? Not in THIS life. And I have had NO trouble finding jobs. I still get people calling me based on the resumes I sent out back when I first started looking, and I have to tell them I am no longer looking for work.
Nice try, MTSO. But trying to convince people to work for 6 or 7 cents a line shouldn't play as long as some of us are here to bring a little reality into the situation.
CS website says there is money to be made for those who promote the training program!
No wonder people are so quick to promote CS. I don't think M-Tec or Andrews pay people to promote their school! If they do, they owe me some money, LOL!
Nothing wrong in it.
Just Modify your resume and save it. It will get posted.
:))
Again you are wrong.
It is not a LAW. You are taking one kernel of truth and trying to make an argument. If you change the patient's name, to "The patient is a 35-year-old baker" and you live in a small town, you would also have to remove this, as it is PHI/PMI You are trying to protect your surgeon and he agrees with you, but you may want to get educated to what actually is PHI/PMI if you are going to try to hold yourself up as an expert. You don't have a clue about what you are talking about.
wrong
What do their techs in India have to do with anything? They might not be American, but they are extremely intelligent and do a terrific job. As for there not always being a lot of work, that all depends on the hospitals doing the dictating. I work on 4 different accounts for them and have enough to do.
You can't go wrong with either
school. They are both excellent, and give you assistance finding employment after you graduate. Good luck to you!
What's wrong with that?
Most of us are working at home. We don't have co-workers to talk to, so what's wrrong with coming here and getting a little contact. It's nice to be able to communicate with someone else, and it doesn't always have to be about transcription. We do have other interests and a life outside of transcription. It's just nice to share with other people about that and to find out what their life and interests outside of transcription are.
I don't know, you must be doing something wrong.
Because that doesn't sound right at all. I make that in 40 hours a week.
What is wrong with being a MT?
What is wrong with a MT profession?
Either one of those 2 & she can't go wrong!
x
Yes, you can't go wrong with either M-TEC or Andrews.
x
Wrong answer!!
This means they are interested enough that they would recommend me to apply at their sister company. They WANT to interview me. Got the call today.
Don't know what is so wrong with preschool
Many many kids go to preschool for 1 or 2 years before kindergarten, regardless of the work status of their primary caregiver. I don't see what is all so wrong about preschool. I went to 2 years of montessori preschool in the 70s and loved it! Did I need it? No. Did I enjoy myself and make friends? Yes.
My kids will be going to AM preschool next year (K3 and K4), and will whether I am working or not.
Even stay at home moms need a break. Why would work at home moms need any different? I was going on 7 years of SAHM when I started back to work. Between being new at MTing and burnt out on spending all of my time with the kids, often with no relief (dh is away a lot and we have no family near) for weeks at a time, care for part of the day while I work is pretty much necessary to my sanity. As it is, I am having a really hard time adjusting to working so many hours and still trying to keep up everything else I used to do.
There are going to be some people out there who think kindergarten and up are just state-sponsored daycare (I have family members who refer to public education as this), so this argument about when you work and where your kids are when you do it can go on until the kids are 18.
I honestly think it is best that we all acknowledge that what each of us is doing is best for our UNIQUE situation and not to judge someone else's choices. Some people say things a certain way to justify their choice precisely because they are afraid of being attacked. If someone said that they put their child in daycare at 8 wks because they wanted to return to work and did not want to be a stay at home mom, they would probably be run up the pole. So, by giving reasons, correct or not, why it would benefit the baby, the person is trying to avoid someone telling them how horrible a parent they are for the choice they made.
I'm not even going to couch my words - if I tried to work around my 2 preschool aged kids, it would be a very bad thing. They are much better off being entertained and cared for by someone else while I work than they are being yelled at by me because I am frustrated trying to work with them around, along with me being exhausted staying up late at night trying to get all of my hours in.
I'm no earth mother and I know it. It would be a horrible experience for everyone if I tried to get in 38 hours per week with my kids at home while I did it. I did not become a MT to stay at home. I did it because I want to work in health care and this is better paying than any medical office job I can get right now, with the added benefit of being able to be a little flexible with my schedule. I suppose someone who views the primary advantage of this job as being able to stay at home might see things a little differently.
She is wrong--- you cannot even take the CMT exam -sm
until you have 2 years experience first of all, and yes it is through AAMT - they use an independent company that has offices all over the U.S. to give the test. No community college can offer it either, and it costs a lot more than $150 to take; AAMT member can take it for less, and non-members pay a bit more (~$300 or so), not sure of the exact prices but you can go to the AAMT website and they lay it all out, requirements, prices, etc. This is the ONLY CMT exam in existence. All you get in a course is a "certificate" for completing the MT course you took, it is NOT the same thing. You need to straighten your friend out, any company will know she is lying (however unintentionally) about being a CMT if she has no job experience.
Of course you would not list your name as you know you are wrong. sm
If you are going to make such a bold statement that you see as truth why didnt you list your name? Of course you listed as anon. I am the MTSO for Proficient Transcription and have been in business for over 10 years. The start up cost associated covers the cost of the foot pedal which, by the way, is $79 alone. I dont think it is too much to ask for a MTSO to have a little bit of insurance when it comes to hiring a newbie. Why would anyone invest the money in the foot pedal for a newbie if this is their first position if the MTSO has no guarantee of their work? I am helping out and doing something not a lot of companies do and that is to give a newbie a chance. If that is perceived as a scam then so be it. My MTs receive work daily and are paid competitively for it. You have no idea what it is like to try and run a transcription business and unless you do then please keep your defaming comments to yourself. This kind of banter is what scares away MTSOs from hiring anyone without experience. I was given a great chance to get into this business without dropping thousands of dollars into schooling and all I was doing was trying to help someone else do the same. This girl was talking about purchasing hundreds of dollars in books and paying the same for schooling and I was offering on the job training but I cant afford to do that at my own expense of all the equipment. I dont understand what is so hard to understand about that.
This is wrong! Do NOT hyphenate
When it's used as a verb, it's follow up - 2 words. When it's used as an adjective or noun, it's followup - 1 word. You really shouldn't hyphenate it at all unless the client prefers it hyphenated when used as an ajective, but absolutely do NOT hyphenate when using as a verb. It's all in the BOS.
wrong school?
I completed the medical transcription program at Penn Foster in January 07. I am not having any luck finding a job now. Has anyone else been to this school, if so did you have luck finding a job??
I think you take my remarks the wrong way.
Sorry to get your panties in a bunch! LOL
You can't go wrong with either one, both are excellent. NM
x
You're wrong
This is VOICE RECOGNITION work so you really should learn to read. (let me know if you don't know what voice recognition means.) I have been in the transcription business for a very long time and absolutely know your type which is why I declined to put our company's name. We are actually offering a fantastic internship which many people are required to do. Personally I absolutely love to help people get into the transcription business and love to train as I know how hard it can be to get your foot in the door. However, I absolutely detest people who have no idea what they are talking about make it seem like everyone is out to do something that is shady or unethical.
Wrong, you CAN get a job with education.
You CAN get a job with just an MT education, if the education prepared you well enough. I know slews of MTs who did this. Certification in MT isn't necessary, either.
You CAN get a job with just coding education, but certifications help. I did it. I know someone who just a few months ago got a really nice inpatient coding job with no experience at all. She completed school, got 2 certifications, and was hired after testing successfully with a hospital.
In fact, I work with about 15 coders who got their jobs straight out of school with no experience.
If you are well-prepared and are able to present yourself appropriately, you CAN get a job straight out of school.
I emailed this person and you are wrong
Out of curiosity, I emailed this person. He is not trying to sell anyone anything. He has his own resume writing business (hence his email address) and he also does transcription. He had a lot of good ideas. I do agreee with you about sending professional letters though. Flyers seem cheap and impersonal. But I really think you should have gotten your facts straight before posting this reply.
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