The worst schools would like you to think the approval process means nothing
Posted By: I question your logic. on 2006-06-02
In Reply to: The AAMT and the "Top Three" just feed each other - so-called approval by AAMT means nothing - that's how you get a check every week
but it's pretty obvious why they want you to think that. They can't pass it. They may not even be eligible to take it!
I will agree that the AAMT Approval Process does not mean that every school on there is good, but it does mean that they have been able to pass a fairly tough process and the others have not done it.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
I agree, but the approval process is a lot better than nothing
It's just a start, but the really bad schools can't even begin to pass that thing.
The AAMT and the "Top Three" just feed each other - so-called approval by AAMT means nothing
a lot of community college programs are far better than the "top three." Just make sure you get plenty of actual dictation. If you don't have good grammar skills and aren't a literary-type person this may not be the field for you. I can't tell you the unbelievable applications I get for MT jobs - misspelled words, sloppy grammar, and how about those st*pid email addresses THEHOT1@aol.com, etc. Sheesh. If you're one of THOSE, then be prepared to look for a l o n g time to get your first job LOL
They are one of the worst schools out there, not
near enough instruction or dictation practice. Most people that take their course find they need more schooling or to get into a mentoring program. Most find that they just cannot past the testing from companies. I would look into going in-house, either at a hospital or clinic or getting into a legitimate mentoring situation.
It is one of the worst schools out there. If you haven't
paid your money don't. If you read through the archives you'll see many posts where their graduates were unable to pass tests and/or felt ill-prepared for the real MT world. They are cheaper than most, but you get what you pay for.
Who determines it is one of the top MT schools? Experience means you need minimal instruction and
hit the ground running..not possible even from the top schools.
acute process
nm
Heartland mentors are the worst around...
very rude and unorganized. I highly do not recommend them.
and there are 2 AAMT rejected for approval and won't
how is a potential student supposed to know to stay away from the 2 not approved?
AAMT has some gall.
Some of the worst cut prices and keep offering less
There was one really disreputable school that constantly bragged about how much less they cost than everyone else and how everybody else was ripping you off because they made you study BOOKS! This school claimed it was different. They said the more expensive schools teach you more than you need to know. They didn't teach you like the other schools that teach you too much, because the owner of the school claimed you can't learn anything in school anyway. You have to learn it on the job. I couldn't believe my ears or eyes, since it was a message emailed to me.
Approval by AHDI/AHIMA
That's not what accreditation means. You might want to look it up. Your interest in doing that is a clue to your suitability for MT. If you jump at the chance, you're cut out to be an MT. If you don't want to do it, think twice about getting into a field where looking things up is 90% of the job.
There is no "accreditation" program for MT courses. There is, however, an "approval" program run by a joint committee of the AHDI and AHIMA.
Approval just means the school met the standards on paper. It doesn't mean they teach MT successfully. There are a lot of schools on the approval list whose graduates can't get jobs because their training isn't adequate.
Approval by AHDI/AHIMA
means much less than you think. This organization is not an academic board, nor a board of licensure. They think rather too highly of themselves. I know many fine MTs who are not and have never been associated with AHDI. I am one of those people. I make an excellent salary, even in this economy, and have never once been asked about AHDI. They are, quite simply, irrelevant. They are also one of the reasons much of our work is being offshored. I will not support them in any way whatsoever.
agree - nationals make worst employers and here's why
I've been with my current national for a year now, and I'm burnt out. I do acute care work, struggle with lots of ESLs, and work on several different accounts. For the past 6 months or so, work has been very low on my primary, and I bounce around from account to account, and I only work part-time. I hate that. I wish I had a primary that kept me busy and only in rare instances would I have to work on my secondary or tertiary and so on. Instead, I may work on 4 different accounts in one day just to get in 500 lines, and of course it takes me longer to do that on accounts other than my primary because those accounts have a lot more doctors. Getting the same ones isn't a daily occurrence, and if you do, they're the difficult dictators. Is this normal? It's hard for me to shop around and look for a better national to work for because I don't have high-speed internet access, and some not only want high-speed access, but they also are very specific about what type you need to work for them. I feel stuck, but I am grateful to have a job and that it's not flipping burgers or working in retail. Been there, done that....in my youth.
So because YOU don't do it, that means NO ONE does?
As a relatively new MT who graduated from CareerStep, I can tell you that I had six job offers within one month. All but one of the places that offered me a job called for experience, which was waived because of where I graduated and how high my grades were. Believe it or not, there are others out there who operate differently from you.
NM just means No Message. SM means See Message. SM
MT4 was the poster in question, not "nm."
I know what accredited means.
That is why I inquired as to the intent of the OP's use of the word. When she explained what she meant, I gave her an answer as to the intended question.
I am also aware that there are no accredited MT programs, and to the quality of most of the schools on the ADHI listing. I was attempting to politely and logically steer her in the direction of a school that would not give her a sub-par education and cause her to return to this board in a few months lamenting her inability to find an entry-level employment opportunity because her education was inadequate.
Do you have an opinion of the school she inquired about? Do you know anyone who has attended the school? If so, were they successful in finding legitimate, gainful employment?
Means don't wait around for us to contact you. nm
x
you've studied well, perhaps, but by no means
your school doesn't even offer pharmacology? lol
now, i'm not discrediting your grades, study efforts, etc., but be careful throwing around boasts of I've mastered it when you haven't even begun doing the work.
i've done this work over 25 years. i know exactly what it takes. lol
independent contractor means you are sm
working for yourself and not for them. You must pay all your taxes including the other side of your SS tax called self-employment tax.
Six cents per line is a good rate for a newbie with no experience but not for an independent contractor especially having to invest in equipment. I would work for a company that made me an employee for a couple years.
offshore means another country
nm
I believe she means Focus Infomatics - NM
NM
The CMT is pretty worthless and all it means
is you passed the test, doesn't mean you are a good CMT. Some people get stuck on the initials and use then every possible opportunity as if it were MD instead of CMT. I've been told many times that my work is better than lots of CMTs and I've always been paid the higher line rate, same as CMT. Very, very few MTs have any respect left for AAMT - whatever they are called now. If it makes you feel better to have it, got for it, but you don't really better yourself by having it. You have to have 2 years of experience first. If you really want to better yourself you'll find another line of work. This one is going down the tubes so fast that I wouldn't waste any more of my time with it.
World-wide capabilities just means they
offshore, without actually saying the offshore.
or it means the job market has shrunk while you were busy studying...welcome
to reality. You may want to just cut your losses and get back in school for Medical Assistant, nursing or something. From here, it only gets worse, honey.
I think it means medical transcription service outsourcing, or something like that. ; )
no message...
And...letters in all caps means you're yelling! Shhh...nm
s
Forget "approved" schools. AAMT set the criteria, then approved schools that didn't meet i
Stick with Andrews or M-Tec (both of which happen to be "approved") but forget about any others, they are not worth it.
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.
Gross line means anything on a line is a line, even if just one word
it is counted as a line. Not sure what exactly you are asking, but if you are comparing gross line to the usual 65 characters plus spaces gross line is better. If you make 7.5 cpl per gross line that equals approximately 9.5 cpl based on 65 characters.
MT schools
Thank you for the advice. I have been researching M-Tec and have decided that it seems to be the best choice. Wish me luck.
schools
Can anyone give me any info on Laird's School of Medical Transcription. 
MT Schools
Hi
I am looking to train in this field and have looked into the Career Step Program. There are soo many programs out there and I'm not sure which one to choose. Looking for opinons on which programs are some of the best. Its an awful lot of money and I certainly don't want to chose the wrong one.
MT schools
I am researching MT schools to see which one is best. I am having trouble figuring out who will give me the best training. I am a medicla biller (18 years) and would like to work from home. I thought about PCDI and VLC but I am not sure. I don't want to spend a lot of time and money on a school who is not recognized in the MT industry. Also most of these schools start the medical terminology and anatomy, that's great for someone who's new to the medical field, but what about those who know terminology like the back of our hand. Can anyone recommend an online or correspondence school?
Thanks!
MT schools
Thanks for the information, I will keep this in mind:)
thank you, thank you!!
Schools
Just wondering which schools are best. I checked out a few. Does anyone know anything about Meditec? Is it a good online course?
Schools.
Thanks for the advice. I will check into both of those schools. I presently work in the Administration Office of a hospital, and on occasion when a doctor quits the hospital I have had to type Discharge Summaries, etc. for him/her when they finally return to catch up on what they did not complete. I have yet to figure out why they quit without having all their charts complete--however, they realize there's more time allowed for DS than H&P's, Op Notes, etc. So, besides taking extra terminology courses and practicing with Absolute Experience tapes, I have done a little "real life" transcription.
schools
"career step" is highly recommended, and the gal with whom i've been e-mailing is very helpful. i was an MT in my past life, am now and RN (could you guess from the ID?), and seriously thinking of doing both. i suspect that if i go the course route, it will be via career step. good luck!
Schools
The best schools are M-Tec or Andrews. The next best is Career Step. You will need to go to one of those to brush up on your English skills and learn everything else you'll need in this industry. For instance, your first two sentences should have been just one sentence, and the little things are very important in this field if you want to compete. If that is too picky and boring for you, you won't enjoy going to school or working as an MT.
Re schools - please SM
The top 3 are Andrews, MTec, and Career Step. Companies are more willing to hire new graduates of these schools and some have partnerships with CareerStep, in fact.
You can search the archives here for posts regarding schools and get more information.
In addition, ask the school what placement assistance they offer and who hires their graduates. Don't take their word for it, either - call the companies they say will hire you and ask them if they hire grads from that program.
MT schools
I recently heard only graduates from Andrews and MTEC were getting the newbie jobs out there. Well let me tell you what I did, I graduated from HTC Education now called Brighton College and I was educated with a SUM based program. I also took Medical Coding at the same time. I called the director of MTEC to inquire about the program they offer and discovered it was not any better, still the same based SUM program that I took. The tuition cost were about 250 dollars higher but given inflation over the last year that is relatively a mute point. So I paid the same as their students do. I invested 10,000.00 in my tuition and references and computer, just to be as highly educated as an MTEC graduate and so I asked the MTEC director what their job placement was. I was told that their job placement was at 98%. Well Newbie MTs let me tell you this is purely political on the part of the AAMT and those two schools and by the way when I was looking into schools for MT I went to the AAMT and found Brighton College/formerly HTC Education and it was at the AAMT website at that time my school was also recommended by the AAMT so why am I not able to get hired as Newbie. As far as I am concerned and the research that I have done on this subject it is all a lot bull! Just hang in their work for the peanuts, get internships, do anything you can to get the experience it will happen.
Schools
As a recruiter, I can tell you firsthand that Andrews School trains the very best transcriptionists. I will look at their graduates before I look at any others.
schools
Ok, I have looked at the different schools, and am good at working on my own. I am 9 credits away from being a Registered Health Information Tech. So I have Medical Terminology, Anatomoy and Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, already among my knowledge base. I just don't have the $3000 to put into a transcription course that I know is going to just reiterate most of what I already know. I want to know if Career Step would be adequate enough for me to be Hirable as a transcriptionist?
Thanks for any input that you might be able to give me!
re: Schools
Thank You!
Schools??
I'm an MT-wannabe and I have a few questions:
What are the "Top 3" schools?
Are tech schools really that much better than online schools?
Does anyone know anything about Penn Foster online? They're nationally and regionally accredited. Does this make them a "better" online school?
I appreciate any and all feedback on this. TIA!
MT Schools
I just want to let everyone and anyone that is looking for a good MT school not to go the TechSkills. When I started with the school there were several things that I was not told up front which could have affected me later. I wanted to pass this information on because I wish someone had informed me. Please pass this information to anyone looking for a MT school. Have a good day!!!
Schools
I posted above about schools but I thought I would address you directly. I went to two different schools. My first was Professional Career Development back in 2000 I finished. Had a hard time finding work like others and decided to take a refresher course at TechSkills. I have completed that course and received my certificate but it was more that I expected and more than what I was told. So if you as me do not pick TechSkills. Hope this helps!!
Look at other schools...
I am attending At-home right now. Almost done in fact but there are way better schools out there. I attended college first to earn a degree for medical office which would have included med. transcription. Unfortunatly, I had to move and dropped out.
I do have a job right now working at home and have two main accounts. My point is that I had a college education before I started At home. I would have prefered to finish in school but due to a complicated pregnancy and lack of income due to having to leave my job I could barely afford At home.
There are many many other that are better. Many will help place you. At home gives you a book on how to start out but that is about it.
Schools
I recently graduated from Career Step and I started working within a couple of weeks. They are now AAMT approved. They do offer a payment plan, that's what I did, it wasn't too bad compared to the other schools. Good luck.
schools
Thanks, I have been looking at Career Steps, but yet again the payment plan is more than I can do at this time. I also contacted M-Tec, and the same thing with them.
Thanks
Donna
MT schools
Hello,
I have been looking at two different MT schools, and was hoping to get some opinions. The two I am looking at are Career Step and TNI. If anyone has gone to these or has any feedback please let me know. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
Schools
I went to Everett CC online, that uses Career Step materials, but you also have teachers, deadlines, and lots of interaction with other students. I found it to be an awesome program and have been offered three jobs this week just graduated in August. My testing and good references must speak for themselves. My job right now pays well and I get a very good cpl. So I would have to disagree about the Career Step program.
Top schools??
I am intrested in MT -- So what are the top schools to go to?? I want to try to get off in the right direction.
Thanks,
Cassandra
|
