A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Degree required to transcribe? - Huh

Posted: Jan 23, 2012

Does anyone else here find it "interesting" that a company would require an Associates' or higher degree for their medical transcriptionists?

especially for 4 cpl for VR - Super Crazy

[ In Reply To ..]
!!!!!

IMO - DegreedMT

[ In Reply To ..]
They should have done that from the beginning and then we wouldn't have had the influx of how-low-can-you-go, I can type that line for xx cents mentality, coupled with if we're going to get crap we might as well pay less for it.

It's a profession. Had it been treated that way, the story may have been different.

Even with a degree, the lower pay goes, the more - corners I cut just to squeak by. -sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Too bad MTSOs are so greedy and stupid. It reminds me of a sign I once saw in a high-end auto repair shop that specialized in drive trains and rear ends in performance cars:

"RUSH JOBS:
You want it bad? You get it bad.
You want it worse? You get it worse.
So - how bad do you want it?"

I think of that every time my MTSO gyps me out of one line here, another line there, and continually lowers my pay.

"3.5 cents per line? So - how bad do you want it?"

Bare-bones punctuation? Check.
Little to no proofing? (After all - time equals money! - Check.
If blank can't be figured out after ONE backup and re-listen, it STAYS blank? - Check.

Every day they send us emails about picky-picky little grammatical or punctuation nuances that, let's face it, don't change the meaning or correctness of the report at all. If they really think we're going to take a further financial hit by stopping and extensively researching absolutely every comma and semicolon in every report, then they're even dumber than I thought.

They want perfection, then cough up a living wage, skinflint MTSOs!

choices - degreedMT

[ In Reply To ..]
We all get to CHOOSE for whom we work. I choose not to work for 3.5 cpl of any kind. I've done MT for 30+ years and have NEVER made less than $25/hr. Right now, I average $25-30.

It's all about choices and being a smart business person, IMO.

I originally chose not to work for 3.5 cpl. When my - see msg.

[ In Reply To ..]
MTSO started cutting our pay (first an across-the-board pay cut for all, then, cutting more and more for VR, then for different accounts), I started looking. 3 years later, I'm still looking, but am not going to quit the job I have until I've got another job offer in-hand. Meanwhile, they stopped paying for paragraph headers, cut the VR pay even further, and now it's down to 3.5 cpl. They used to pay based on what level you were, and I was at the top level. You got that pay no matter which account you were working on that day. Now they chintz us out by paying higher for some accounts, lower for others. By some strange "coincidence", now all I get in my job inbox is mostly the lower ones. So in essence, in just 4 years, I've gone from 9 cpl to 3.5 cpl. So yessireee, I'm most definitely on the hunt for a different job.

No argument there. - Huh

[ In Reply To ..]
You are certainly right in that assessment.

I just find it interesting that --- with all the seasoned, professional MTs around -- this one company (or at least the only one that I have encountered) would have such a requirement. Taking myself as an example, I was an Honors English student, a Journalism major, took Latin in college and made A's in it, am a top producer, 99% documented accuracy rate, had my own business as well as have worn several administrative hats, etc. I do not possess a degree because I didn't finish college. I know folks with degrees who can't even compose a proper sentence! So the degree shouldn't be the end-all and the be-all, and frankly to have it as a criterion in a field that largely doesn't require it is "interesting."

I'll bet most with MD degrees bypassed English entirely. - It certainly shows in their dictation, doesnt it?

[ In Reply To ..]
X

I question whether some passed Anatomy 101! - Huh

[ In Reply To ..]
Every time I hear, "the left buttockS" or "the diaphragmS" I just CRINGE!

Throw some Latin endings into the mix, and you really have problems! "EpididI" is an all-time favorite! Or using "residuaL" as if it were a noun.

LOL. That's a good one. - suzyQ

[ In Reply To ..]
I've always wondered why none of them ever got a course on do's and dont's of dictation before they ever get the privlege of ever using a dictating machine.

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