my suggestion
Posted By: MOMT on 2006-08-01
In Reply to: Help - stay at home mom
It can be hard to get your foot in the door, or back in the door. How about this:
Contact local doc offices about filling in for their MTs this summer -- covering for vacations. Even if the MT works in-office perhaps they would let you take it home. Maybe even do this sort of thing until baby #2 arrives and then try applying with the WAH companies. You would have some more names on your resume, perhaps some new specialties you would have experience with at that point. I would also advise that you get some good reference books if you will be doing stuff that is new to you.
Good luck. It can be tough.
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Thank you for the suggestion! (nm)
Any suggestion
I am a new MT, who transcribed for 5 months with an experienced MT of 15 years. Who now is seeking new employment because the hospital she worked for has gone to offshore. How should I lable my experience? Looking for work, I am finding it hard, because I don't have 2 years experience. I transcribed for ortho doctors.
I want to thank you for your suggestion...
It is greatly appreciated. I live in a really rural area, and the closest hospital clinics are 20-50 miles and have no openings. The closest specialty office is 90 miles away. I did find a job through this board, and am happily a working IC MT now.
I appreciate the advise though, any bit of knowledge from an experienced MT is so wonderful to receive! 
One suggestion would be... (SM)
 work on-site. If you try to gain employment at home, then ask for sample dictations of the "hard to transcribe" physicians. Not all hard to decipher are ESLs. Do not expect to make a lot of money at first, it won't come until you've had quite a bit of experience. You have to "get your feet wet" so to speak. Try to apply with smaller companies who are willing to train and work with you. Larger nationals are looking for quick typists with lots of knowledge, so this is usually not a good fit for newbies. If you have completed a course, then you are actually one up on people that have not because you've had formal training. Now, all you need to do is apply it. Think about the part of the body, think about the type of report, think about the physician's specialty. Look for hints such as syndromes, diseases, maneuvers, etc., and do your search under those terms instead of trying to find a word by the first sound. Think anatomically! Also, loosen up, relax and back listen if need be. Sometimes, the physician will repeat his "hard to learn language" in the Impression and final statements of his/her report. Ask for samples, samples, samples! You can never have enough of those. Hang in there, and it will get better.
My suggestion is
My suggestion would be to send your resume anyway, and take their tests. It's a great way to get a feel for what they expect. Most places will at least allow you take the test, and sometimes that will lead to a job - even if you don't have the 2 years experience. They'll see that you are able to pass the test and maybe give you a chance. It may take many failed attempts, but don't give up. Just keep taking the tests and one will eventually pan out!
A suggestion
Potential MTs typically do a lot of research to determine if this is really something they want to do. The decision often hinges on the need for a portable and/or home-based career.
If you are a respiratory tech, you will already know a good bit of the background material required for MT. You have, after all, taken courses like anatomy and physiology, and you are already familiar with patient care, medical records, and so forth. In that respect, you know that you enjoy the general field.
If you have not already done so, stop by the HIM (medical records) department in your hospital. Ask the director or some other supervisor if they can let you listen to some dictation. Since you already work in the hospital with access to patient records, they may agree to this. They can often let you listen by dialing into the dictation system over the phone, and they don't have to let you hear the patient identification. If they have in-house MTs, visit them to see what they do. They may have some training material you can listen to.
If you are just looking for a job change, stop by and visit their coders. Have them explain what they do and how they do it. With your background, coding might be something you would enjoy. It requires superior skills with respect to attention to detail and reading comprehension--you have to be able to understand medical writing and be almost hyper-focused on quality--but does not require the knack for excellent writing and the keyboard skills. Coding is a continual challenge, with a requirement to keep up with constant change. If you enjoy solving problems and investigating solutions, coding might appeal to you.
Same suggestion plus . . .
I think some distance MT schools will be able to work with you if you have a MAC. You would be able to complete school, which will take about a year, before you have to think about a new computer.
If you attend a school which will prepare you for a job with a national service, you might not need to worry about the new computer, because the employer is likely to supply one.
In other words, trying to plan a career around a soon-to-be-outdated model of a computer you now have isn't worthwhile. If you want to do MT, do it without concern for whether you will eventually need to use a new or different computer.
Another suggestion
Have you tried contacting the local doctors and hospitals and offering to be a "sub" MT? In case one of theirs gets sick or they get to much overflow? It may be a way to get your foot in the door and get some experience!
Suggestion
Look them up on the job board here and at www.mtchat.com. Read the postings there. When you do that, you should be able to figure out which ones are "major" and which ones are not.
Also, you might want to stop posting on the internet about this using your real name with the information that you have only 6 months experience. If you do not, you might as well not bother applying at all, because every recruiter will be able to search for your name on the internet and find out that you have no experience and had to post all over the place just to find names of companies to apply to. What you're saying here now will NEVER go away.
A suggestion
If you want someone to hire you, you will have to look and sound as though you are a desirable candidate for the job. Your course should have communicated to you that this work requires exceptionally good writing ability. Good spelling and grammar go with that.
Your posts are filled with poor English, grammatical errors, and misspellings. If your school did not tell you that your abilities in this area need improvement, they did you a disservice.
Take time NOW to work on those areas. If you can get to the point that your writing looks literate, someone might hire you. If you cannot see, or won't admit, that you need to improve, you should not expect to succeed in medical transcription.
Here is your post with some corrections: "I know what you mean. I, too, graduated from an MT program in November, 2008, and have had no luck finding anything yet. Everyone wants 2+ years of experience, but how can anyone gain experience if no one will hire them? I'm getting so mad!
Well, good luck to you, too,"
Suggestion
AHDI put something out called "Getting Your Foot in the Door." I looked at it a little bit, and it seemed to have a lot of really helpful information for how to get started in the MT business.
what a great suggestion
I never thought about expanding medications, but what a great idea. Many of them, especially in the ER, are almost always given in the same dosages.
Online Course suggestion
Hi,
Can you please suggest me online MT course which is not expensive.
Thanks & Regards
suggestion to job hunting
Hi, I would like to also suggestion checking your local hospital postings, stop by their HIM department to introduce yourself, go to your local doctors' offices and drop of resumes for PT or prn work. Even if you are offered low pay, grab it to start with, it would count as experience on your resume. Maybe if put ad in local newspaper. Good luck and congratulations!  mb
suggestion to job hunting
Hi, I would like to also suggest checking your local hospital postings, stop by their HIM department to introduce yourself, go to your local doctors' offices and drop off resumes for PT or prn work. Even if you are offered low pay, grab it to start with, it would count as experience on your resume. Maybe even put ad in local newspaper. Good luck and congratulations! mb
Excellent Suggestion
It's funny that I just read this. I just applied to a company for an editing position and offered to work for them for 2 weeks sans pay to get my foot in the door and so that they could evaluate my performance. I just finished up an externship of 8 weeks with a company based in Utah and loved it although that wasn't nearly enough time to get "experience". I would be very willing to work sans pay for a few weeks (I've already done 8 of them, lol) to be considered for a job. I also have most of the stuff already needed to get right to work. I have the foot pedal, reference books, spellchecker and computer. Any chance I could have to get the experience needed to get me started works for me. I live in a very very small town and all the places here (clinics and offices) all send their work to a company in Indianapolis (3hrs away from me) so of course there is no chance of me getting work with them that would be in house.
My suggestion: Call Linda from Andrews & Kathy or Susan from M-TEC, explain your concern for their
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