If you read through the past posts here you'll

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You say, "In-house jobs are being outsourced rapidly" and then draw the conclusion that there must be a demand for more MT's?  Where do you think those jobs are being outsourced? It ain't Kokomo, it's New Delhi, etc. It used to be new MT's COULD get a job, back in the old days when the market wasn't imploding.  But even then, you really needed to work in house before you could work from home. It ain't as easy as it seems, especially with ESL's.

Look I'm sorry you got misled about the field. But flogging a dead horse isn't going to help.

Have any of you been feeling the economic pinch.  High gas costs, cost of food rising, dropping real estate values, credit cards being used more and the balance getting higher, spouse out of work, etc etc.

This is the trend and not the end or these events.  IMO, we will see more of this rather than less.  Thank goodness healthcare is pretty immune.  I feel very safe.

Tuition costs will come down because they have to.  Who can afford $3000 to $4000 for an education now?  Not many people.  Who can afford $2000 for an education with no job guarantee???

I'll say it again, you must get a job guarantee if you are a prospective student.  Staffing school, partner alliance, MT Company that operates a school.  Those will become the favorites out of necessity.  My old college major was business.  Look for changes.

and have seen a definite trend afoot. Let me say I have over 20 years experience in health care and MT. I also own a transcription service. I spend a lot of time networking with other people in this field. This is what I see.

1) Nearly all the major transcription services have gone to Voice Recognition platforms.(See Company Board) When they did this, they chopped the wages in half, with the idea that you should be able to produce twice as much edited work as transcribed work. However, this penalizes the fast experienced transcriptionist. It was nothing to be able to make $30-$40 an hour if you were good. As an editor, you make approximately $12. It is very difficult to increase production as an Editor - there are just not many tricks.  In addition, they also have gone offshore, nearly 100% of the big companies. We are not talking small change here. We are talking about a major shift.

2) A significant number of medical offices are switching to electronic medical record systems (EMR) which often have a computerized charting component that would replace medical transcription. We definitely are seeing FREQUENT posts about people losing accounts to EMR.

3) Every year, the physicians coming out of medical school are more and more comfortable with technology.  They live and breath with their laptops. They pay their bills on-line, they get their music on line, they find houses, cars and dates on line. They can type faster than I can. They will certainly be even less resistant to technology.

4) The AAMT which could have been the unified voice among MT's to deal with these challenges, has sold out for getting more members overseas - an untapped market to buy books, training, and equipment. $Cha-Ching$! And they ditched us.

So, say you have 150,000 jobs in an industry and 1/3 are lost to off shore and 1/3 are lost to voice recognition and EMR. What kind of competition do you think is going to be left among the remaining 1/3?   Do you think you, as a newbie, are going to be able to compete? Do you think wages are going to go UP if there are more than enough transcriptionists, all competing for the same job?

So you can be scared and upset and deny it's happening...or you can adapt...Me? I enrolled in nursing school. When MT collapses, which I believe it is on the verge of, I will be ready.

I have over 30 years experience and started in a hospital.

Good luck!

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?

from their graduates who have found jobs.  You may want to do a quick search.

and I have to say that you are really misinformed about the MT world.  To any newbie reading, her opinions on where a person should get training - she is putting out information that is simply incorrect.

The capper for me today is reading the post above this, where she is giving out her opinion on who is who in the MT world and who owns what.  It's just wrong. 

the school I graduated from that was not one of the "Big 3".  I didn't use bad language and I wasn't rude in the least, so there could be no other reason that my posts were pulled except that I mentioned my school.  And this happened 3 or 4 times, not just once.

I see now that my school actually has it's own board, which is good.

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

Hello there but you have graduated from the wrong course to "pay" for your intelligence/ability/everyday expenses...transcription does not "pay"  it is all being sent over sea...and to be precise, "India" as India has a great college program for such and are willing to work fro 1/4 us American workers with a much higher cost of living,so I say who do we Americans look down upon...ahhhhh....would seem thouest government.

I want to give you a piece of very pertinent advice.  It comes with all the care and compassion I could possibly have in my being:

Please do not focus solely on medical terminology in your studies.  Poor command of English grammar and punctuation is as devastating as poor medical terminology. 

I cannot count the times that I have not been able to hire someone who has fared well in medical terminology but lost out due to English grammar and punctuation errors.

Please know the differences in past, present and future tenses.  Please learn the appropriate uses of commas, semi-colons and colons.  Please learn the difference between plural and possessive.  Learn how to use articles appropriately. 

You will do yourself a world of good professionally by nurturing your English grammar and punctuation skills as much as your medical terminology, etc.

The reason I am telling you this and not the experienced MTs is because I have had to argue them into a corner because they simply do not believe they are capable of making mistakes.  Please never, ever feel that way.  Every single one of us do.  We always will.  However, a mistake is one thing; complete lack of skills is another. 

Do not allow yourself to be closed in the mind or heart to improvement.  Some editors do not have good rapport, I know, but that is their shortcoming, not yours.  Just glean what you can and keep your spirit strong.   

Thank you and I truly wish the best for all of you!

there's a snake loose on the boards.