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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Read through previous posts here...SM

Posted By: Endiqua on 2005-12-12
In Reply to: I was in your shoes... - new MT

This topic comes up frequently, actually. Your school SHOULD be offering you placement assistance - ask who hires their grads. Try local hospital/doc offices, and keep applying. I wouldn't buy equipment because you never know what you'll need for a job. Purchasing some references would be a good idea, though.


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Also, does no one bother to read previous posts here? Scroll down & someone posted a list found by s
x
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


Please read through the posts below (sm)
and be forewarned that there are so-called "companies" and "MTSOs" out there who say they hire newbies but then ask for money upfront in order to work for them. Bottom line: do not pay to work, except for purchasing your own software and equipment. Reputable companies and MTSOs will not ask you for money and will not need you to buy a footpedal from them. Take care and good luck!
It's good to read positive posts...
I can't really say I'm discouraged because I haven't put my self out there yet. Once I start applying then I can determine whether it was worth the money and time or not. I am going to apply to every company I can find and I'm going to send resumes and letters to all the Drs in my area and see if anyone will "bite" and help me get my foot in the door! Thanks LISA
If you read through the past posts here you'll
see that M-Tec and Andrews were the best.  They help with placement and most grads have a job by the time they finish up.  Career Step is the next choice. 
Read Company board and do a search. Many posts about them. nm
s
It's all a gamble. Read through posts on the Company board
s
Read ALL the posts on this board & the Company board and you'll
s
Previous experience
with various schooling (of various sorts) has shown me that schools can say whatever they want and have great things listed as their curriculum but still do a lousy job of teaching.

I would make sure you have positive feedback from actual students.
What was your previous training program? nm
nm
Reply to message about the previous posting
Yes, I have sent an email to the person that had that posted. I am still waiting on some more information. Thanks for the suggestions.
the previous post said it only matters what the employers think. I'm an employer and that's wh
think. What exactly do you identify as **balderdash**?
of these posts before I enrolled in an MT course. Thanks

It's been only a little over a month since the last posts about this (sm)
Tsk, tsk. This woman needs to go away and stop ripping people off.
Maybe it would help if posts had times on them
so we could see when each was posted. Sometimes it's two people posting at once, and one person got interrupted in the middle and took a while to finish and send.
I agree with both posts above...

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


Good luck!


If all you get from reading the MQ posts
is about ASR, you're not paying attention.
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?


 


Posted by DJ...about 8 posts down. nm

There are several recent posts....

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


What about all the "I can't get an MT job, nobody will hire me" posts?
Are all those people who are begging for work lying?

Just because some people get lucky and get jobs regardless of their training (or lack thereof) certainly doesn't mean everyone will get lucky.
Toni, I have been seeing your posts SM

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. 


From some of the posts I've seen on here I'd stay away....
apparently the pay sucks....and you don't even get paid for at least the first month that you work there. It can be hard finding a job as a newbie, but it can be done. You just have to apply/submit your resume everywhere, even if they say they want experience and if they will let you test for them, take the test. That's how I got my job and I'm making 8 cpl. And I got hired by a national before I was even finised with school by a company that said they wanted two years of experience. Don't sell yourself short by just taking anything that comes along.
What you don't see are the negative posts that were removed (sm)
The moderator deleted the negative posts because they were related to grammar errors and were getting out of hand.
Don't let negative posts discourage you.
I read the posts replying to yours and I just felt like they were very negative. Do not let them get you down. There is always such negativity on this board. It is true that the first year will be harder and you will not make tons of money. But I feel like with any new job, it is going to take a while to get good at it. If you are going to be the breadwinner, then you might have a problem but if you are married and your husband makes pretty good, you'll be fine. After a while, you will get faster and faster and make more and more money. I think most importantly, you being happy at what you are doing is what matters. I am still a newbie and make a little bit more with each day that passes by. So don't worry about it. It seems a lot of these seasoned MTs are jaded and just want to bring you down. Do what you enjoy.
I guess I should have clarified this since posts have been
what I meant was why anybody would go to the trouble of starting out now to be an MT..the intense training it takes. I certainly can understand those of us who have been in the biz for a while... but now I see the post above is about "being a part time MT" Do newbies not understand the amount of training it takes? That is my point...it takes years to be proficient to cover all acute care...and only to make a small wage...that was my point.. And I stand by it. It is a profession that absolutely does not pay off for new hires.
I agree 100%. I also had posts removed because of mentioning

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.


I love reading your posts Patti!
nm
Posts from March said the pay was very low & there wasn't enough work to go around. Ask about
s
Gotta go thru all the posts here and on the Company board to see if you
s
Go thru ALL the posts on these many pages and you'll find most of
s
Past posts say have to PAY for software to work for
fg
And read on...

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.


Please read
It is fantastic that the student graduated with honors from the MT course.

However, trust me, that does not equip them to receive pay that experienced MTs get for acute care work.

The mere mentioning of it tells me that you have not a clue of what you are in for or where you stand.

The honors MT grad should lower their expectations just a bit. :)

Please read
I think you need to understand that this industry is evolving very quickly and your skills will probably not have much time to develop to stay in the game. Only the most skilled MTs will have a chance at true transcription; it is being sold out to editing for voice recognition and offshoring.

It will take you years to get your experience, even after an MT educational program, to make this a profitable career for yourself. You will more than likely start out making minimum wage (at best) for the first year or two. If you can mentally survive the extreme challenge of working from home while learning MT work, you have a chance.

I would seriously advise against it. Especially with you not knowing anymore than you seem to and stating it seems interesting. One would have to have a true love and passion for this work to start it and survive it in this day and age.


Please, any new MTs, please read

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!



 


You can read all about both
coding and transcription careers at the Andrews site because they teach both. Coding usually pays better, but most jobs are at a hospital or office. I would only recommend transcription to someone whose talent is strictly on the English language side. Coding still uses the terminology, but it's more of a treasure hunt to recover as much codable information and help the hospital (or MD) collect all it (or he/she) is due.
Read Read Read
I suggest you start here and read as many posts as your eyes can handle.  Do a Google search for MT forums, go to them and read some more.  I guarantee you will find more information in this forum and the forums all over the web than you ever thought possible.  Fellow new MTs and experienced MTs are a wealth of information, not only about the trials and tribulations of going thru school and finding a job, but all the stuff that comes with actually working as an MT.  Good luck!
You really have to read some
of the posts and take them with a grain of salt.  Not all MT companies are so cut throat with QA and all. Yes, there is a lot of knowledge to learn, and yes, a lot of it you will learn once you actually start transcribing.  A good program will help immensely. Some posters tend to be vicious and will start pointing out your spelling and grammatical mistakes just from making a friendly post, and you just have to learn to ignore those posters/posts. There is a lot of helpful information on this board and some really friendly people as well. Don't fear the unknown and keep your head up! Most of us are here to help!
I have read that
I should wait until I get a client like you said and I see that it makes sense.  In your experience, do physicians in smaller offices generally use microcassettes or wav files?  Even if I don't purchase ahead, I would like to have an idea what everyone else uses or recommends so I can scope out sources for purchasing.  Thank you!
Search thru the posts here. Depending on the branch, their newbie pay is only 3-4 cpl. nm
s
Past posts say lousy VR & MT pay, and running out of work. nm
s
Now why am I attacked because your posts are confusing? Sheesh. Watch out everybody.

there's a snake loose on the boards.


I have the right person and you are too quick to reply to posts. A professional
You don't see the big guns worrying about anything posted on this board. Sheesh.
Please do not post email addresses in posts; I removed yours. (nm)
Goldbird
Ooops! Nevermind So. I found the answer from the posts below. Thanks. :-)
xxxx
Spend some time reading through posts on this board
and you'll find your info about the preferred schools and the ones to avoid.  I don't know of any MT company that is setup to work with MAC. 
Hmmmm........obviously did not read
her question correctly then. She asked what SCHOOL is the best to choose. Her question was not WHETHER OR NOT to enter this field. By the way, I am over it.

Have a good day!
Read - think i can tell you where to apply.SM

Hi - Go and apply at RIUnlimited - they hire new people - they do pay for spaces - they will pay you 6 cents a line which is low but it is a good place to start - i started there when i got out of school - they will hire you - Good Luck to you!


 


 


Maybe you should read before you post.
"I don't remember anyone mentioning Spheris. Maybe they did. I don't have time to go look."  
Christie - Please read. (sm)
I did clean up this thread. However, I'm not deleting every single post because it is offensive to you.

This IS a public forum. You should probably get a thicker skin to post here. The posters were trying to give you some advice, though not quite in as tolerant of a manner as we would like to see.

If you have any issues, it is best to report them to the Administrator or myself.

Goldbird