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

Learning a new field - emma

Posted: Mar 03, 2010

What would be the best way to get into another field? I have been doing neurology now for about 6 years and I am very interested in getting into something else, and really this is the only field I know because I havent had practice with anything else. Im just getting kind of bored with the neurology lingo.

If I were to apply for a job that is hiring in a different field, would they consider me a "newby"? Has anyone ever been hired for a field they have no experience in? I know the best way to learn is by actually doing it, but it's hard to do it and learn it if I can't actually get a job doing it.

And I know the market out there is rough right now, so please don't say anything negative to me about this. I am happy to have my job, I'm just looking to move up a little bit.

Thanks in advance....

Neurology - KT

[ In Reply To ..]
My suggestion would be to try to avoid the question of what you have experience in. If they ask just say mostly neurology but you can transcribe anything. Neurology takes a lot of knowledge and hopefully they will respect your 6 years of transcription experience. Transcription experience is more important (in my opinion) than worktypes, as each worktype has its own medical terminology but can easily be researched. It is the skill of transcribing, the amount of words per minute, the ability to understand ESL, etc. that takes time to attain and you have that already. There are always new medical words in specialty and always will be because medicine is every changing. You are an experienced transcriptionist with 6 years experience and that should be the selling point you stress.

different field - most will hire

[ In Reply To ..]
you for acute care or basic 4 which will cover every subject and maybe just a clinic will hire you for one particular field, and most of them want experience in all fields. So don't tell them you are limited to just one or that will be harder to be hired in.

Neurology - onlyhuman

[ In Reply To ..]
I have been doing radiology for 26 years and that's mostly all I know. I have done acute care (basic four), for about 4 years, but that was like 7 years ago, and although you don't really forget it, the MTSO's don't want to hire you because it's not "recent". So you have to lie through your teeth to get a job in this industry. And when you can get past all that, your work will speak for itself.

neurology - RLee

[ In Reply To ..]
I have 17 plus years neurology experience, which is a broad specialty as you know - with 7-8 years psych experience. I am now unemployed, but have an opportunity with a small company doing work outside of my skilled area. I have found that most companies want acute care MTs with recent experience. Neurology is broad so you would think that companies would take that into consideration, but most don't. I would stay put until retirement is my advice, as long as you like your employer - the MT industry does not look too promising these days.

Similar Messages:

May 19, 2011

Seriously... I cannot for the life of me figure out what the doc was saying at one point, but VR inserted that the patient had a "menstrual valley illness"... Glad I never had that! ...

Aug 05, 2011

In a training on EditScript today, we were told in editing a report to change the whole word that is wrong, not just change on letter, for example, if it puts sever and the word is supposed to be severe, to change the whole word, not just add the e. The trainer said that the system learns better that way. So my question is, and I would have asked her if I had thought of it at the time, does VR learn when we use word expansions. Is it learning from the keystrokes we use or from ...

May 12, 2012

Please read my message on main board about learning to tweet. I think we could make a difference with social media. ...

Apr 01, 2010

I wish somebody would figure out a way to train new hires other than setting them down with only a few hours training and letting them type their entire shift without a word from anyone, only to have QA come in the next morning and correct all the reports. I hate learning this way, I do something wrong, spell something about the facility wrong, all night long only to learn the next day that it is wrong. It is such a waste of my and my QAs time to do it this way, it sucks. And heaven forbid you h ...

Jan 30, 2012

Is there any coder out there who has 'self-taught' themselves and successfully passed the CCS and working? I'm an MT whose so ready to change to coding, but keep putting it off schooling due to being financially strapped (as MT'ing just barely pays the simple bills.....nothing more). I also think being an MT will put me at an advantage in learning coding than someone 'off the street'/no knowledge of any facet of the medical field. Any thoughts? ...

Jun 17, 2012

I have been trying to find a downloadable/printable version of the "E and M documentatinoadn coding worksheet in aqua and gray." Hoping someone can help me! ...

Sep 11, 2012

I'm getting everything together to start on a new path. I've been impressed with so many of you who have taken on a new career even though you, like me, are well out of your 30s and 40s. I am inspired by people I've met on here who are changing their lives. I've seen you say that it scares you, but you're doing it anyway. I really have to respect that. Congratulations to all of us! ...

Nov 14, 2012

Hey I am possibly going to interview with a Cancer Institute and I have no experience in this area. I am a 7 year medical transcriptionist and had a 7 year job in a small pediatric clinic for 4 doctors. What should I do to prepare if I work here and what things should I study and bring with me to work if I get the job? ...

Jun 04, 2013

I am an experienced nurse practitioner with seven years of experience. Now that I am working in an acute care environment, I am required to dictact all of my consultations. I have a template from which I am dictating. But from the results of my transcriptions, I could use some help from medical transcriptionists on how to dictate the RIGHT WAY. Of course, I was never taught how to dictate. I was taught how to use the telephone to dictate, but I was never taught the right way to dictate clearly ...

Aug 07, 2013

??How long do you give yourself when you start a new company to be up to snuff! I don't know if it's because I'm a senior MT (not unlike a senior dog you try to train) and I just am having a real hard time with the making any money. I hate demographics that waste my time and there are a lot of them. Also a lot of new types of work I haven't done in years. Need advice because I'm not even making minimum wage. It's just been a month - but I fee ...

Oct 06, 2013

How long would you give yourself to be "trained" on an account. The company I work for has us switching all over the place and I cannot get proficient on one work type. Been there three months and barely averaging $8.00 an hour when I'm stuck on that work type. Any advice. I am thinking of jumping ship....... ...

Mar 25, 2014

This is a two-sided message. It is painfully obvious that no one is learning anything from having failed audits. This being said, I think there are a few sides to this. First, the error weights are harsh for a lot of small errors. Second, the error weighs are not harsh enough for other errors. Third, and most importantly, no one seems to be taking the time to learn anything from the audits/feedback in order to improve themselves and their work, which leads me to what I would do if ...

Jan 08, 2010

I am another victim of Virtual Learning Center. Can anyone recommend a reputable on-line MT school? ...

Jan 26, 2010

Does anyone have any advice on how to remember all these prefix's-roots and such? thanks ...

Jul 25, 2010

I have been doing clinics for 10 years. Now I am learning acute care and it is very tough. Lots of doctors and no time to learn each one of them. Very tough. Does it usually take a long time to learn this. They say I am doing great, but lots of blanks! ...

Sep 24, 2011

Hello all, I thought I would pop on here and let you know what I am enjoying about learning to code. First off, I am a medical transcriptionist attemtping to transition into a new area. I started taking the Andrews School program and am enjoying it. It's difficult, but I am confident I am learning something. I admit I do struggle with working as an MT because my mind wanders terribly, so badly I often have to go back and re-read the entire report to make certai ...

Oct 08, 2013

Anyone else get an email today requiring them to do a mandatory learning module? At least they're paying. ...

Jul 09, 2014

Do any of the transcription companies offer unpaid internships that help you move on to new types of transcription? I've typed radiology for 20+ years. I also have typed neurobehavioral psychology and pain management psychology. But acute care I've not done (except radiology inside a hospital for 8 years). Any info would be gratefully accepted. ...

Oct 02, 2014

I am currently studying to add coding to my skills. I kind of get it, but a bit confused on something. I understand CPC is through AAPC and CCS is through AHIMA. Here is what I'm not understanding and wonder if someone could please explain. I'm studying to take the CCS exam. Do physicians offices use something different for coding, or are these two credentials interchangeable with hospital and physician office coding. I read that Carol Buck's study guides are reall ...

May 12, 2015

I need to learn how to use the ribbon at the top on the Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). Does anyone know of a site that teaches this. I have used MS Office probably since it was first created. I tested in the 90s in each of them awhile back, but have been using 2003. I can do everything in that version, but the version with the ribbon I feel like I've never used the products before. Anyway...does anyone know of a site to learn the functions of the ri ...

Oct 17, 2009

I have never used this for doing MT. ...

May 16, 2010

isnt that a really negative thing to say to someone? Correct me if Im wrong. It is my impression that a coder will need to know BOTH. Right or wrong? Some people seem to think they should just wait until 2013 and only learn ICD-10 I guess. ...

Feb 19, 2011

Recently, I haven't been seeing errors like a temperature of 98 VII for 98.7, but just this morning, I've had two reports with an "I examination" rather than eye examination! I mean, c'mon. Where is it learning this stuff? ...

Apr 12, 2011

Can anyone tell me how difficult or easy the transition was between Bayscribe and BeyondText (on the same account) and whether the volume of work suffered as a result? Thanks! ...

May 21, 2012

Hi everyone. I hope you are all having a good start to this week. I was informed today that I will be required to train to do voice recognition editing. I am very, very apprehensive. My company is willing to pay per hour while I am learning this but is editing a hard thing to learn ?? I appreciate any feedback you can give me. Thank you and if this post is in the wrong place, I am sorry. Thanks again. ...

Oct 07, 2012

homepage. To get to instructions to ensure emails get answered homepage - learning and developement - MT/ME - training - escalating requests. ...

Feb 02, 2013

Hi, I work for another company that uses M*M's DQS platform. We're on version I think 2.0.2.0 or something, but some 2.x version for sure anyway. They're going to upgrade us to 7.x (I assume 7.2) soon, and our boss says we'll have 1 day to get our line counts back up to normal, because all of the old key combinations work the same and nothing will really change except the onscreen appearance. Is that realistic? We get penalized severely if our lines ...

May 29, 2013

I got switched to another acct (not my idea) and it has 24 pages of rules and I don't get paid training pay to learn this new acct. So I went from making 450 lines per hour to 160 lines per hour so in essence, making around $6.00 an hour and the QA's gripe when you don't spend your time looking up something through the 24 pages of new acct rules. Hey MM if you want us to spend hours looking up something before we learn the acct well then PAY US TO DO IT! CHEAP, CHEAP, C ...

Feb 04, 2015

Information gets thrown at you through training, and it doesn't all absorb right away, and you don't know what you're doing for a while. i hate that feeling of not being confident working with the software. I've had jobs where all you had to do was look at a list, match it to the patient, and type. (or jobs where very little learning of sofware was involved.). I wish I had a job like that again. Added to the annoyance are the IM programs, punching webclocks, special e-mail p ...

Oct 27, 2009

Don't you wonder why when you were in school you were told about how many jobs there were out there, how your income was endless and depended on how much work you wanted to do? I do have a job, not one that I can live off of, I earn about $200 every other week, but still, at least I have a job. I look at the job board and see how many people have viewed each job and wonder...at least it is just not me, where is the work? I wish that when I was researching school and such that they woul ...