Sorry to hear that. I hope you can find one

• Just received a foot pedal that I need for a job I will be starting...sm - MT
  • The adapter talked about below are being....sm - MT
    • I just went to the RS website and the part # I gave you - me again
    • Sorry to hear that. I hope you can find one - nm
  • Radio Shack has a game port adapter, part - me
    • Thank you....nm - MT
  • I bought a 15-pin to USB at Radioshack. They are about $8, I think - nm
    • Thank you....nm - MT

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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!    

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!

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.....

I got this by typing "set font" into the help area:

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.

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!

I'm new too and typing clinic notes only for an ortho clinic.  I have about 2 wks under my belt and what I found to be very helpful was that the QA person would point out to me some of the common phrases used by the different docs. He even made a list of terms the podiatry doc uses often.  There are a few new MTs on this account - perhaps that is why he made the list. Not everyone will have this resource, but you can slowly create one yourself.  I keep a notebook next to me and write down the phrases that I have gotten stuck on. 

I have found that going back and listening to the unclear parts after finishing the report helps, and sometimes I hold the ones with blanks in them until I am done the batch for that particular dictator. I then go back and by that time, my ears and brain have adjusted to that person's style and I can hear things I did not hear.  I am lucky that out of the 6 or 7 dictators, only one is ESL and I have gotten used to the regional accent of the other one that was hard at first to figure out. 

Good luck. I don't know what is expected of newbies, and I would bet that it differs from place to place.  It can be overwhelming at first getting up to speed.  My first few days were simply awful. I am sure if you work hard and get good QA feedback, you will find that you get used to the account and your blanks will go down quite a bit. 

The lack of new MTs to fill the shoes of those who leave will cause companies to continue to look for oversea's MT's. This will probably continue to make the wages drop for those still trying to thrive on a MTs pay. As for me, My degree was obtained through the University system, why would I pay 4,000 more for one online. It makes no sense. Good luck to you all ...I hope things work out well for you ..as they evetually will for me.

I actually researched this profession for a few months before actually taking the plunge into extra school.  I have an extensive medical background.  But I started by calling different hospitals, transcription companies, etc, around the state that I live in.  They all told me the same thing, experience, experience, experience.  So I asked them what would make me hire-able without experience.  A few of them gave me names of medical transcription schools that they would waive the requirement for.  I followed up and am now extremely happy with my choice. Being a lurker here, I know that many people who are extremely bright and smart cannot get hired because of lack of a certain certificate from only certain schools, which I think is crazy to limit the hiring process based on that only.  BUT what matters at the end of the day is who signs your paycheck.  So instead of standing on my soapbox and shouting all that is wrong, I bit the bullet and enrolled.  I am only a few weeks away from graduation and every graduate from my school has been able to find a quality job in a matter of days or a couple of weeks. 

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

As in any profession, you will come across people that feel they are greater than thou.  You've made the right choice.  Now, take that education and go with it!  What I have found is that it is not so much being corrected by QA, it is the manner in which it is done.  I always felt I'll take all of the advice I can get, but only use what I need, and let the worthless advice come in one ear and out of the other!  TAKE CARE AND GOD BLESS!  When it is all said and done, you are helping people even if it is behind the scenes.  Proper documentation to a caregiver means the world and do not ever forget that!