NO courses can offer certification
Posted By: Redpen on 2005-10-01
In Reply to: Thanks! (? about Career Step) - Silence
Just to clarify, there are no courses which can offer "certification" in medical transcription, so there aren't any "certification courses."
If you want certification, you have to take the AAMT certification examination, which, if you pass, will grant the CMT certification.
Other than that, you can take a course which will give you a "certificate of completion." And that is only worth the price of a piece of paper. Having that piece of paper is not what will get you a job.
What gets you a job is the ability to transcribe well enough that an employer doesn't have to train you all over again.
And then you have to keep it, so the transcription skills you pick up in school had better be top-notch or you'll be wishing you had just gotten a job at MacDonald's.
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CMT certification
Just wanted to say a little something here. I am a newbie...will be graduating from a Community College program in February and I'm very excited about that. I have been looking through these boards, and several times have read where people have said that AAMT is the only way you can get CMT certified. This is not true. The community college I attend offers the CMT exam and I will be taking after I graduate. Just wanted to let some of the newbies out there know that they may want to look into the colleges in their areas as well as AAMT.
CPC certification
It does not require 2 years of experience. I took Medical Billing and Coding, finished then took the certification exam two months later. Passed it the first time.
Certification
I had a CPC-A certification through American Academy of Professional Coders. I completed a course in Medical Transcription and will complete a course in Health Information Technician in the spring. I plan to take the CCS once I complete the HIT course.
Certification
No. I actually took the CPC certification examination at UF/Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida
Certification
TWICE and passed both times. I was able to use the second test as my CEUs for my first year.
Certification
Does anyone that is looking for entry-level MT position have certification as a RMT or CMT?
certification
You don't have to have experience to take the RMT test. I just wondered if anyone who was certified as a RMT still had lots of trouble getting a job or does the certification really make the difference?
Yes, it is expensive, but you do not need certification (sm)
You do not need to be certified in MT in order to work. It's a help, but that alone does not guarantee a job.
At any rate, you cannot sit for the certification exam until you have two years of experience.
There is one thing, and one thing only, that will enable you to work. Employers will consider you and hire you if you have no difficulty scoring about a 98% on their employment transcription test.
If you can transcribe WELL straight out of school, then you will get a job straight out of school.
It is not easy to prepare a student for a job. The difference between doing well is very slight. Employers aren't looking for someone who can pass a test like you passed tests in high school. Then, 70% was fine. Now, you might think, 80-85% should be fine.
It's not. With some employers, a 96% is unacceptable.
So, yes, tuition is always a lot of money, but if you choose your school wisely so that you end up with a straight, sure route to a job, then the expense becomes an investment that you can earn back in a few weeks of working in your new job.
Also, coding education/certification will not get SM
you a transcription job at all.
Why do we have to take more courses
Why should we have to take more courses when we just graduated to get hired somewhere. That doesn't make any sense. Are there any companies hiring new graduates without this retarded request?
best on-line courses?
Hi all,
I'd like to take an on-line MT course; can anyone recommend one over any others? I plan on doing an internship for experience when I'm done for a while so I can get an actual paid position. How hard will it be to start working from home as I have a 20 month old that I want to stay at home with.
Thanks!
To compare courses ...
Why don't you check out Andrews and MTec's websites to get an idea of how much actual dictation you should have had to transcribe. Radiology is mostly anatomy, so if you had thorough training in anatomy and physiology along with concentration on acute care, you had proper training for radiology, IMO.
Just like home MT courses, not all SM
community college courses/programs are created equally.
I respectfully disagree with you about community college graduates receiving a sub-par education. Some maybe, but definitely not all.
I attended an EXCELLENT program at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. The program director is a CMT. We had 2 semesters of medical terminology, 2 semesters of anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, a medical calculations class, a medical ethics class, 3 semesters of medical coding, 5 semesters of medical transcription (we transcribed the beginning and advanced SUM tapes two times each), business communication (intense grammar course), a 360-hour externship at a local hospital or MT service, along with all of the general education courses needed to receive an associate's degree.
So, while some CC programs may not put out qualified transcriptionists, others do an excellent job of preparing their students to succeed. I tested with and was hired by Medquist the month before I graduated, and I started the Monday after graduation. Granted I was a newbie and was slow and made some silly mistakes (as all newbies do), but I had a solid education, which made a huge difference.
So if you are trying to decide which program to attend, make sure you do your homework (whether you are choosing a home correspondence course or choosing to attend a community college program). Find out what classes are taught, which transcription tapes they use, whether or not they help with job placement, who is running their program, etc. Knowledge is power! :) Good luck to all of you who are struggling with this important decision. 
Warmly,
Chickadee
Cheap MT courses
A course from M-Tech or Andrews may or may not get you a job right after completion, but that's not the only way to get into the field. I took the good advice of some very helpful MTs from this board and shopped around my area for a job. With my meager PCDI education that I studied over about a year and spent $795 for, I was able to get a position at my local hospital ($15/hour!!). I will be in-house for a while, and then I will have the option of working from home. You do what will work best for you, but I didn't have an extra three grand lying around to train for a job when I could pay out less money and then get paid to better my skills.
cheapie MT courses
Some, not all, seasoned MTs are not very helpful. They can be very discouraging and try to convince new MTs that unless they get their training from some expensive school like M-Tec or the Andrews School that they won't find a job; I wanted to train with one of the aforementioned schools but just could not afford it. Most of my MT training was on the job. In later years, I took a Medical Terminology course. Currently, I am enrolled in a formal training program, because I would like to become an RMT and eventually a CMT. This is how I found a recent MT job: 1) posted my resume on MT daily; 2) posted my resume on Transcription Matters; 3) company contacted me and made me an offer without my even testing with them; all this occurred within little over a week's time. I only have 4 solid years of MT experience (specializing in Urology, Rehabilitative Medicine, and Psychiatry). Hallejulah!
Cheapie Correspondence Courses
Hi everyone,
I really need some advice. I've looked into all sorts of different MT training courses - all I want (and need in the amazing job market in which I live) is a basic course to learn Medical Terminology and basic MT skills.
With this in mind - would taking a course like Stratford Career Institute's course, or ICS Canada's course help me get an entry level MT job? From there, would I be able to train on the job and take additional courses to gain more skills?
I am fortunate to live in a market where there are too many of these jobs and not enough workers. I even heard from one person that with just Medical Terminology you can sometimes get an MT job.
But, I thought at least one of these courses would teach me the very basics. Opinions?
Thanks,
Christina
I'm assuming you didn't take courses from one of the better
schools as they help with job placement. Have you looked into companies offering menitoring programs. I would love to mentor a newbie, but I get paid to produce lines.
They are legit, just not good. To take their courses you have to have
8th grade education, which should tell you they aren't that great right there. My teen son took one of their courses (not MT). It was very poorly written, if you flunk a test you can take it again and they will pass you, even if you flunk it again. There were lots of errors in it too.
I would look into a different program to take or try to find a menitoring program. It is difficult for people who have gone to some of the better schools to get jobs. Penn Foster does not have a good reputation so it will be much more difficult for you to get a job. I would try to find something local where you could work in-house for at least 2 years to get some experience.
JOB OFFER.
If this is my first job as an MT, and I got offered 7 cents a line would you take it. IC status, part time. Should I take it, or I should I keep looking?
Any suggestions would be helpful..
JOB OFFER.
Thanks so much for the advice!
had one co. offer
3 c per minute dictation and another one for 2 c per line so that offer is better than what I had as a newbie. What was worse was that I got all the bad dictations, i.e., lots of static and purely poor dictators (the kind who mumbles). Take that for experience and then move on once you get your feel.
job offer
Does anyone know anything about MediVoxx or Accuscribe? Thanks.
MT schools are in the BUSINESS of selling MT courses.
Of course they are going to paint a rosy picture of this career.
Allied is not a very good course, and the MT companies know it. That's why they say they require 2 years' experience. (But they will waive that for grads of the better schools.)
oh my gosh - don't take the offer
they are a scam!! Huge SCAM!! Please do a search on this board to see.
There are companies that offer
"internships," but a lot of them are scams. If any company requires you to pay $$ upfront or to buy equiptment/software from them you can be sure they are a scam. If in doubt ask about them here. You can post your resume on the various free job boards and you may get a response from a company who might not post ads on the boards.
Just thought I offer (sm)
this link to HPI's website. They have helpful books and other resources. I don't work for them, but I like their Radiology Imaging Words and Phrases book and some others.
That's why companies offer less and less.
They know newbies will take whatever the company offers for experience. Don't you think you're worth more than that? I turned down every offer that was less than 8 cpl after I graduated. It's insulting yet fruitful because of "experience."
Career step and Meditec-sister courses-sm
I understand these are two in the same course ran by sisters. One charges much more than the other. What makes Career Step any better than Meditec if the Meditec course is basically what Career Step is using to begin with, and the Meditec lady wrote the course?
People selling MT courses certainly aren't going to warn you
"Don't take my MT course, it's ***edited by Moderator*** and you won't be able to get a job afterwards." It's up to the person interested in becoming an MT to do some research about the job before plunking down money for training. If they do, they will learn that in order to be able to get a decent job, they need the kind of training provided at Andrews School or M-TEC, and not to try to save money on "cheaper" schools.
It's sad that people don't find out more about these courses before they slap down money
x
The courses worth taking are M-Tec and Andrews. Their graduates
are usually able to get jobs without 2 years of experience that is normally required. Is if worth it? Do you have small children, a husband, do you want a social life - then no it isn't worth it. If you just want to do this PT, in addition to a FT job, it might be okay for a short time, but it gets harder and harder to make a living as an MT. A lot of companies use offshore MTs, they get the good work and the crap gets left for us, or it all goes and we get stuck editing it for pennies and you end up working for minimum wage. You'll also burn out in a short time trying to do both.
if there is just you and you don't care to have a life then it would be okay and if you have a knack for it you can make some decent money. If you are a respiratory tech in a hospital talk to people in your department. Maybe you can start out doing work-related transcription without having to go to school and you can get a small taste of what it is like to see if you really want to pursue it.
her point was if you don't like the offer, don't apply...nm
x
New MT needs advice on at home job offer...
Hi, I am a new Medical Transcriptionist and I need a little advice. I received a job offer through CompuSystems, Inc. Has anyone heard of them? They offered me 6 cents per line transcribed. They also told me I needed a voice recognition device...what is this? What does an "Independent Contractor" involve exactly? Is 6 cents per line good for new MTs? I know this is alot...I apologize...just need some advice... 
A footpedal is around $79, so if they offer one it sounds good to me.
x
DeVenture MIGHT offer only hours required, but not
s
MTEC does offer financial assistance.
While MTEC is expensive it is also one of the top 2 MT schools out there. You get what you pay for. Also, they do accept financial aid. Check out their site, they have a person on staff that handles situations just like yours!
(Oh yea, I am a student at MTEC!)
Does WebMedX offer a mentoring program for newbies?
s
Places DO offer ophth. only accts, but you'll still have to train for
s
OOhhhh - they have basket making classes? Too bad they don't offer a class on maturity.
**
Accredited basically means they offer financial aid. Did you mean AAMT-Approved?
If it's an AAMT-approved school, you won't have a problem. Schools that provide financial aid are required to be accredited. That means their financial records are reviewed to make sure the government's money is being handled right. They aren't evaluating the value of the course or qualifications of the course to teach medical transcription.
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