I Didn't Apply....(sm) - Meerkat

I'll tell you how certain I am that there is NO future in medical transcription... anywyere:  Last week a "good" MT job, onsite in a medical clinic, a short drive from where I live, was advertised.  I didn't apply. 

I work for a big national.  I make so little money, I have to raid my savings every month to pay my rent.  I've been seeking & applying for MT jobs all over the area, some as far as 80 miles away, and either not hearing back, or being told after the interview that they hired someone else. 

I've been watching what goes down at the other MTSOs, and how quickly my company follows suit.  The requirements for accuracy keep going up. (Currently 99.5, soon to be higher. (?!!!!)  Line count requirements keep going up.  Yet there's less and less work, and in order to come anywhere near that number, I have to basically "flex" for 24 hours a day.   The pay keeps shrinking.  The benefits (what little is left -- some bargain basement healthcare insurance, and practically nonexistent PTO.  Which of course, in order to earn, you have to do your linecount minimums to even earn.

It's all a shell game.  Even the onsite jobs.  The few that post enough in their ads for you too be able to read between the lines, indicate that you are being hired only to "train" their  new EMR, and the doctors in how to use it.  Then you'll be shown the door. 

It's no longer a viable career, at ANY level.  Although in our modern times, NO job is truly "safe" anymore, I know that anything having to do with healthcare is just not worth the effort required to obtain.  I think the key to sustainable employment in the forseeable future is to find an industry that isn't just about to go into the convulsions of a major shakeup (or shakedown), which I'm convinced is going to happen in a big way to all aspects of healthcare.

I'm not even sure that training for "a career" in any one field is such a good idea anymore, either. Too risky to put all your eggs in one basket. In the 21st century, it's probably a better idea to become a "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none"... rather than become highly skilled at any one thing.

Although there are probably still pockets here and there of people who would benefit from my medical language skills and experience, I think the time for me to share them has passed, and instead I'm going to walk away from it all, and seek a job where medical language isn't needed at all.  If they need that skill in any way, shape or form, then that would still be too close to the medical field for my own employment or financial security. 

I had been saying for months now, that I was no longer going to seek medical transcription/editing employment, and the truth has shown through, when I finally had no interest at all in even responding to yet another MT job ad.

The MT field is ALREADY dead.  It's going nowhere.  There is no future in it. What little is left is just the agonal gasps before it's finally officially declared deceased.