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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

office experience + Medical Terminology - Is it enough?

Posted By: Christina on 2006-01-23
In Reply to:

Hi everyone,


I've been wanting to take an MT course for quite some time, but still haven't managed to come up with enough money. So - I was wondering. Do you think for a beginning MT job in a hospital, would previous office experience plus courses in Medical Terminology be enough? Have any of you successfully done this?


Thanks for the help!


Christina


 





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Medical terminology
I have to agree that this is one of the most fun courses in the MT program!

That said, do you have a good bookstore nearby? If so, maybe you can go in and take a peek in the "RMT Study Guide". That will give you a great idea of the extent of terminology you will be learning.

Good luck (but you'll do great)!
medical terminology
The medical terminology needed to be an MT is much more in-depth than most people realize. It's not something you can jump right into and start making decent money. There is also the fact that even if you know a lot of med terms, you have to be able to understand the doctors, who often have difficult accents or just don't speak well. Some people have been lucky enough, with a little knowledge of med terms and typing/spelling/grammar skills, to find a company that will take them on and train them (I did this, 13 years ago - I never went to MT school - I had a bachelor's degree in nutrition). I know there are others who had similar experiences. But this was years ago and these days (from what I'm reading on the board)I think the MT training programs are the best way to go. You'd be much better prepared. I know MT sounds like a wonderful work at home opportunity, and it can be, but it really does take time to build up the skills to make money at this. Good luck.
scared of medical terminology
Could anybody please explain to me how much medical terminology one has to learn while studying at M-Tec? Medical terminology to what depth? Superficially or like a doctor?

Thank you.
Newly Graduate from Medical Office Occupations
I know that this may sound like a plug for a job but it isn't I have been down with a newly replaced knee. Now that I can find a job having trouble because I do want to become a home Medica Transcriber and no one will listen to me. How do I go about getting to Medical Transcribing so that I can do it at home.Please I could help with any solutions. Please email me at the above email address.
Are you a medical transcriptionist? Have you experience or training in medical transciption?
You can't just say you want to be "an" MT and just start doing it.  It is not easy.
Taking classes for medical terminology and "some transcription"
Most nationals will only consider you if you are an actual graduate of one of the AAMT-approved courses. If not, she may look for local clinics who are willing to train.
maybe take a medical term course and start with physical therapy office
nm
Might want to take a medical terminology class at a local college. Anyone nearby to mentor with? nm
s
Get a copy of the BOS II for style guidelines and take medical terminology/anatomy classes at
s
Take a medical terminology class - one class - at a community college (sm)
You don't have to sign up for the whole program, just take a medical terminology class and learn it inside and out. Get some medical terminology CDs and listen to them in your car. Find places with in-house transcriptionists to let you test and start out working in-house so that you will have help. It is very hard the first couple of months but gets much easier after that. I was a secretary, took anatomy and physiology and some other pre-nursing classes. Decided not to be a nurse, took a medical terminology class and that was it. Studied a lot, listened to tapes, went and tested, worked in house a few months. Have been doing this 12 years now.
FYI terminology

Hi Newbies!


Since I'm so ancient and all, I'd just like to pass a small note regarding a term I noticed while perusing this evening.  Believe me, I've had my share of booboos in life (typed hypospadias with "ius" for 5 years before realizing it was "ias"!), so have always appreciated it when someone helps me along.  I hope I'm not stepping on any toes. 


When speaking of one nostril, it is a naris.  When speaking of both nostrils, they are nares.


Therefore:  "The left naris was infiltrated with topical anesthetic" would be the proper transcription.


Have an oh-so-wonderful weekend! 


WP5.1 how is it different from WP Office 11??nm
nm
....I mean 24, not 28, all have different terminology
nm
Medical Transcription/Medical Coding

Hi,


I am a MT and can't find a job or pass employment test.  So, I have to take one of the AAMT approved schools this time around and was thinking about Medical Coding but, not sure of this.  Does anyone know if Medical Coding is harder than Medical Transcription to pass or is the stress more intense?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks a bunch!


Barb


Medical Coder or Medical Transcription

I am so confused!!  I took a Medical Transcription course and could not find a job and it was not one of the BIG 3.  I am about ready to go with M-Tec Medical Transcription School.  But, I have been reading post about Medical Coders and now I do not know which to choose.  I do not want to make another mistake and choose the wrong school or the wrong career.  Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!


BMT


MT terminology question
Continuing education is a good thing if you can get it. However, a good ear is more than half the battle IMHO. I started with 2 semesters of medical terminology. However, I started in the file room. Those 2 semesters of terminology are the only formal schooling that I have had, and I have been doing this for 16 years now. Get some really good reference books and develop your ears. That helps in the short term, and that may be all you need.
MT Terminology Question
Hi, I was hoping one of you could answer my question about medical transcription.

How well does one have to know medical terminology and surgical procedures to do this job? For example, when transcribing surgical procedures, does one have to understand every term of anatomy and everything going on in the surgery? For me this would be very difficult. And especially for surgeries, are MT's expected to understand everything so well that they are expected to catch if the physician may have misspoke about a surgical technique or other surgical aspect, and then query the physician? I used to do medical coding and for me surgeries were the most difficult.


Thanks in Advance

I would study terminology and if you can

get some practice tapes to use that would help.  I know there are places on-line where you can test (google for them) to get an idea of where your weaknesses/strengths are.   I don't know if your weakness is terminology or grammar or both and since you aren't getting your tests back and no one is telling you what you did wrong you may not know what the problem is.


If there is a test you can do on-line that you could do and send me and I could also hear the dictation I would be glad to give you some feedback. 


 


The terminology in MT is much more in depth than

it is in nursing school.  I can't tell you have many times I've gone to the doctor or been in the hospital and have had to spell medications for the nurses, or even describe the medication to the doctors. 


You also have to be able to decipher dictation, which is just as bad as doctor's handwriting. 


You can post your resume on the job boards and see if you get any hits. 


 


Each office is fifferent, even within each
office there may be some who prefer tapes versus handheld or some other type of system.  If you're going to offer a service you need to have a game plan.  Will you offer handhelds if they don't have them, what software do you have to download the files securely from the office to you, are you going to just upload the completed work back or will you do a remote print, are you going to store completed work for them or are they, etc. 
Office Pro 2003
I can't seem to find notepad in Office Pro 2003.  Does anyone know where it is?
How do you get around this besides working in an office first?

or maybe I am expecting too much, and it just is not going to work without some office time before me.


 


I am not sure how anyone expects a new graduate to get a job when everyone wants experience; however nobody is willing to hire us so that we may gain that experience.


You do your time in an office first, like the
majority of the rest of the MTs did. That's how it works.
I agree. Take it for the experience. It will take you 2 years of experience but you will easily

MQ employees at St Louis office
I just accepted a SE position with MQ at the St Louis office. Can I get some opinions of others that work for this office? I will be part-time, so I'm wondering about their training and how well are you treated. Do you get answers to your questions quickly and do you get feedback regularly.
Advice for new MTs needing help with terminology

Please ... AFTER you have done a thorough search on Google, etc., and you come to the Word or Drug board -- make sure you include the sentence the term/drug is in as well as the type of work you are doing.  Of course, without the patient's name.  LOL


 


Are you at the current doc's office all day long? sm
I was thinking that if he wants you to transcribe from his office, could you get that done in a couple of hours, and then go home to work from there? I started my "home work" with one doc. She raved about me so much that all her doc friends called me to get me to work for them. Sit down with your doc and feel him out. He could be a real help to you! Good luck!
...in our line of work. You NEED to know the terminology
z
Call their office to see which one they would recommend for you :) nm
x
From what I can see, it's not MS Word, it's "Opal Office"
and they are charging $11.95 for it, and it's a ripoff because they stole the program from "Open Office" which is totally free and are selling it for $11.95. At least that's how it looks to me.
You need the terminology/anatomy more. Each company has their own

way of formatting.  If you have 25 accounts within a company each account can have a different format, so you learn a lot of that on the job.   Being familiar with the Book of Style would be helpful.  Not all companies go by BOS, though I think most do. 


I don't know if there are specific things about format you don't feel like you learned or just in general ask questions, try to learn the BOS, there are style forums on some of the MT boards.  There are also sample reports so you can get an idea of formats.


Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions and I'll try to help if I can. 


I had to start out in the office of a local hospital sm

for a year, then went home.  I didn't want to go home to be honest, too many distractions and my twins were babies at the time, but they were sending everyone home.  I really don't know what to tell anyone when I see these posts.  There are lots of companies out there needing help and you'd think that if they are willing to send their work overseas to people that don't even speak English as a first language, then they would be willing to hire a new graduate.  I would be a little more pushy, offer to do 30 days at a lower cent per line then have a review, something like that.  Keep pushing, someone will see potential and take a chance on you.  Honestly, these companies that don't hire new graduates I just don't get it.  I work for a small local company that is always behind on their work and I always suggest they hire some new graduates from the two local schools, but they never do it, they just sit and wait for people to apply.  Good luck! 


Maybe try a specialty doctor's office first. Most times
they will hire you, in-house, and go from there.

It is very difficult to find an at-home MT job just starting out; however, there are some companies who will hire you. I personally do not know of any, but if you do a search, maybe you will come across one.

When I started 25 years ago, it was in a private physician's office and I just moved on up from there.

Good luck!
The accreditation is actually the government's terminology. In other words, if (sm)
a school is "accreditated" it allows the student to apply for PEL grants, government loans, etc. Otherwise, they are private schools and not subjected to the government's way of running their program, etc., and the student is not eligible for the loans and grants that an "accreditated" school would be. This is no means changes whether the school is good or poor, just means whether or not they allow the government to dictate how they operate.
I totally agree with you, terminology is horrible!
NM
"Had I been able to even understand a little of the terminology they were speaking I could have d
That's why you need the education from the good schools. If you know exactly what the doctor is talking about, it would be much easier to understand him, even if he is a lousy dictator. And a LOT of them are lousy, and a LOT of them are ESLs. And the dictation certainly isn't any better just because you are doing it from home.
Just be careful not to get Office Works or Suite
that is advertised as compatible with MS Word. I accidentally bought that once, the packaging was similar and the box said it did everything MS Word did. Well, it sort of did, but that software changed every document I had in my entire computer upon installation to its own version. That certainly would not have worked in transcribing and transmitting reports. While it did work with Word as the packaging said, it did so by changing Word to something else. I don't recall the exact name of this, but just read the packaging carefully and get Microsoft and not a lookalike. Just wanted to give you a heads up to avoid one of my many mistakes. Good luck.
Have you tried Open Office? It's free and very similar - see inside
http://www.openoffice.org/
Ashley, have you considered getting accounts directly with a doctor's office?
I have been very successful as an independent contractor. You should really consider it.
I started out in the file room of the urology office I used to work for.
They had a new peds uro coming in and wanted another typist. The only schooling I had was 2 semesters of medical terminology at our local community college. Granted that was in 1990, and I at least had a working knowledge of urology, but it can be done if you really want it bad enough.
Corp. not in good standing. Also, address is residence NOT office location.
Texas  


October 3, 2007


 
 

CERTIFICATE OF ACCOUNT STATUS




This is in response to your inquiry about the status of

LARTECH HEALTHPRIME INC


This corporation is not in good standing as it has not satisfied all state tax requirements.
 
If you need any additional information or assistance, please contact the Texas State Comptroller's field office in your area or call 1-800-252-1381, toll free, nationwide. The Austin number is 512-463-4600. If you are calling from a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), the toll-free number is 1-800-248-4099, or in Austin, 512/463-4621.

Don't forget your local papers and local Temp. Agency or Manpower office. nm
s
Another Medical Must

Does anyone know anything about this company?


I would appreciate any information on them.


Thanks !


Another Medical Must
Thanks. I did post it on the company board, but no replies yet.
Medical transcription is a lot more than just
typing. It depends on your knowledge of the material, how clear the dictation is, your knowledge of the material, how bad the doctor's accent is, your knowledge of the material, the quality of the recording, and, oh yes, your knowledge of the material. It also depends a lot on your knowledge of the material.
Becoming a Medical Transcriptionist

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getting a Medical Transcription Job


I have taken a Medical Transcription course through PCDI but every job that I have applied for has wanted experience. How do you get experience if no one will hire you? Has anyone else had this problem? Please help...I'm so frustrated with the whole thing!!!


a medical transcription job
I finished a medical transcription class in June of 2005 and worked for a surgeon for 3 months.  I was driving far for little hours.  Can anyone tell me of a company that hires transcriptionists with very little experience
well, if you want to do medical transcription, then you want to get a job.
to get a job as a newbie is not as easy as you think. Some of the schools partner with companies who will take their newbies, with some additional specific training. So it increases your chances of getting a job - that is, if you want to work for the companies that partner with the school. Otherwise, you may want to go to the community college if they have a certificate program because at least you will have college credit towards your degree for your next job, when MT tanks.
Medical Secretary
Medical Secretary making $8.00/hr???? Where are you? Here in the DC Metro Area we are making $12-13/hr on average to start.
Do you have a medical dictionary?
x