totally agree

• paying by line count - Tracey
  • Take it and KEEP IT!!! - type-it
  • When less is more that is a good thing - sm -
  • I wish I could get paid this way again - by
  • It will depend on your fonts and margins. - sm
    • Font is 11pt Arial with 1" margins - Tracey
      • I found out how to find that out. - Tracey
        • Since you're a newbie, take it and see where it leads! It's experience - in any case! :) Good luck. nm
          • totally agree - Sara
  • Gross lines are great! Take it if it's 6-7cpl. nm - Hard to find
    • On sedond thought, when I do a word count on - Tracey
      • Word's line count is not ideal to use. sm - What line count program do they use?
    • It is .06 per line. That is good to know. - Tracey

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The whole reason I got into transcription was to stay at home with my babies!!!  I started when I was 21 (daughter was 2).  She stayed home with me until the day she started kindergarten.  I have another child (now 2), who will never go to a daycare. I get so aggravated when people call it "PRESCHOOL"  give me a break!!!  It is daycare.  It is somewhere you take your child because you cannot take care of him/her. 

As far as the social skills, take them to a play group, enrol in gymnastics, storytime at the library, etc.etc.    I know not all are so lucky, but my sister (kids aunt) loves to watch my kids for a few hours a few times a week.  She LOVES my kids.  Daycare workers do not. 

how many mispelled words and poorly structured sentences you see on this board.  Most of them are not typos, the words are just flat out mispelled.  I know that this a 'board' and that it isn't formal communication, but geeeez.  Some of these posts make me gasp.  No wonder MTSO's are having such a hard time finding good people. 

The majority of the people who are on this board inciting riots, or at least attempting to, are the main people whose posts are loaded with ebonics. It really amazes me.  I would love to see some of the work these people do.

Give her a break - she is trying to work and contribute to society yet wanting to remain home with her children.  They will remember that their mom was home with them when they were little, not that they were dumped in day care with strangers.  Who knows what kind of care kids really get at daycare? 

There are plenty of very good videos and shows they can watch or she can work while they nap.  You people are incredibly rude.  There is more than one way to raise well rounded children and the BEST way is with love from their  mother - not a daycare provider.

The school that I went to was "plain and simple".  I have given up and working at something else.  If I knew then what I know now, I would only go to the two schools that are mentioned.  Too bad we can't live our life backwards!

The ladies on this forum are amazing.  The knowledge they have are from years of hard work, study and a good school. 

But I find they like my jokes!  So I continue to post here to take them away from their work every once in awhile.  Maybe take them to outerspace or down a river! Ha!  Sometimes just have them rolling on the floor is enough for me!!!  Same place I was when I read some of the jokes!   And just add my 2 cents!

What don't you agree with - that an MTSO should notice an applicant's lack of skill and move on to the next applicant?  Medical terminology is only one part of a transcriptionist's skill set.  She must also have English vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and punctuation that is better than a doctor's.  Fortunately, these things are hard to fake! 

If one applicant doesn't have the skills, she'll find somebody who does.  It's her (or his) reputation on the line.  

I believe the better schools test people before they accept them so those who don't have the background skills won't waste time and money on a career they won't succeed in. 

I guess newbies hear it all the time from the training courses they sign up for - to try to get 6-8 cpl right out of the gate. Of course the training course is going to tell you that - they wouldn't get any customers otherwise! LOL! I think if you haven't got a bite after your first go round, you might consider doing the second round at a discount. If you didn't make the cut the first time, there's too many competitors out there at the same rate. So drop your rate.

I started from home from the beginning even while I was in school.  The hospitals around here don't hire newbies.  My first account was just one specialty, 2 physicians, for a small MTSO.  The work was primarily done on templates and I got paid for everything.  Made what I thougth was fabulous money.  All I needed was my cheatsheet and a few samples and I was all set.  Fantastic line counts because of the templates.  Then the account came up for renewal and the MTSO decided to drop it.  I was out of work with 1 day's notice.  I decided that would never happen again so I went with a national to get more experience with other specialties and have backup accounts.  Suddenly I had more than a dozen specialties all at once for just one account, at least 50 dictators, multiple worktypes, account specifics that were more complicated than college math, no templates, and I'm here at home with no one to ask for help.  I spent  most of my time looking up what seemed like every other word practically.  My Stedman's books never made it to the bookcase from my desktop.  I'm still surprised my bird never learned to say, "The WHAT?"  He sure heard me say if often enough in exasperation!  I gained a whole new respect for rice and mashed potatoes.  I've stuck it out because I wanted it too bad to give up and have been willing to make the sacrifices so that I'd be able in the future to compete in the marketplace, but it's not easy by any means.   And pay on production by a national when you're new is a killer if that's your only source of income.  There's just too much to get used to all at once and of course that slows you down.

I too would recommend going with a hospital if you can find one.  Otherwise, find some good rice recipies and be prepared for the long haul.  The up side is when you can look back and see how you've grown and know you had what it took to do it.  

If a newly minted MT gets a job at home as an IC, their pay per hour will be *very* low starting out.  I know.  I started that way.  When I get a call to be a guest lecturer at the local community college Transcriptionist training course, I tell them to get a job in a doctor's office or a hospital, if they have the opportunity, and work at home after they've gotten experience.  That has become harder, too, as many transcriptionists are leaving the home jobs and going back to the doctors' offices and/or hospitals as the larger transcription companies cut pay through using artificial speech recognition, sending good quality dictation overseas to the international labor partners and leaving the very worst of the dictators for the U.S. and Canadian MTs, and cut benefits for the home-based MTs.  You will read reports stating that "there are not enough U.S. MTs to do all the work and it has to be outsourced".  Not exactly. Not enough MTs are racing to accept a third world wage would be more like it.  Many places demand (and get) somebody with 5 years of experience.

Another issue would be starting pay for the new MT. When I was hired 5 years ago at my large company, my starting pay with NO experience was higher than is being offered to MTs with 20+ years experience now, and my starting salary was inadequate to live on then.  I will never get a raise.  I do better now because I have more experience, but the only way I would be able to earn an adequate salary would be if I had the same doctors and the same specialties all the time, but I will likely not repeat the same doctor, specialty, or even facility within my work day.  The only trends I have been seeing in the last 5 years have been negative in terms of salary/benefits.  

I hope everybody's else's MT experiences are happier and if you choose to enter this profession, I wish you all the success in the world.  (My experiences as an MT may not be typical.  Your experiences may vary. Just telling you a different scenario than the rosy one generally depicted by schools and/or recruiters.)