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

Need advice on career options - Hopeful

Posted: Jul 29, 2011

I have been an MT for 12 years. When I first entered it was GREAT!!! My pay has decreased so much during the years and it seems like the work is less and less. I am a hard worker and I am tired of fighting to survive.

I am thinking about different career options and would like to go back to school. My top two picks are physical therapy assistant or radiology technologist. Both are a 2-year degree. However, they are hard to get into, long waiting lists, and I need to take a few college courses before I can even enroll. The closest schools are an hour or more away. This makes these choices especially hard because I am a single mom of 3 kids, youngest being 2 years old.

My other option is an LPN course, which is 11 months long. The classes are full for this year, but I can start the application process and start class in September 2012. I am not especially interested in working in an LTC. I am more interested in working within a doctor's office, kind of along the lines of medical assistant. However, medical assistant schools are at least one year or even more, and if I am going to invest the time and learn the same type of things, I might as well end up as a nurse in the end. After I pass the exam to become an LPN I can take another year of school and advance to RN.

My last option is a little different and the only reason I consider this is because I have a friend who landed a great job in this field, and that is dental. She took a medical coding course (which I am currently enrolled in but I do not like) and she is doing dental coding. Apparently she is making pretty good money in the dental field.... So I started researching jobs like dental assisting and I found that dental assistants are being used more and more within the dental office for expanded functions and that they are in high demand. A search through local job classifieds proves this to be true. I clicked on the job ads and I am seeing them making 18 an hour, one even payin 26 an hour but you have to experience in a variety of surgeries, procedures, etc.

The dental assisting schools are the shortest of all the programs, with a really good school in my area being 10 weeks long, attending class on Saturdays only. Then after you graduate from that class, there is an 8-week x-ray class.

So to sum it up... if I had my choice and if it was possible I would definitely go into the physical therapy assistant program or the radiology technology program. However, being a single mom with 3 kids and having to work as well, it is hard to attend a school so far away, and the fact that it is a long time before I would finish and be able to work, kind of makes me think the 12-month LPN program or the 18-week dental assisting program is the way to go.

Any thoughts, advice, experience in any of these fields? I would love to hear some opinions!!!!

Well, can't really give you advice, as I'm in exactly - Kiki

[ In Reply To ..]
the same position as you--12 years experience. I have considered the same things as you except for the dental assisting. That sounds good. I just think it will be difficult for me to get back into a "regular" day time 8 to 5 type job. I'm used to working odd hours and split shifts. At 46 I'm not exactly a spring chicken. If I were younger it would be a no brainer; I'd definitely get out of MT and get back to school. Although I don't have kids (they are grown) I am taking care of my mom right now (memory issues) and so I'm not sure I could be gone every day for 8 hours for school OR a job. I kinda feel stuck.

My daughter wanted to "follow in my footsteps" and become an MT. I talked her out of it, and both of us are glad I did. She hasn't even finished nursing school (actually had only just started) and she was offered a decent paying job at a rehab facility and she loves it. I knew she would NOT be happy being an MT.

Well, whatever you decide, best of luck to you. Sounds like you don't really need too much advice...you have a lot of really good ideas already. :)

Same boat here except that - SickofThis

[ In Reply To ..]
I have 38 years experience, am 55 and I can't imagine going to college and expecting someone to hire a newbie in that field at my age. I have no retirement saved up, no real savings, and have went from averaging $25 an hour as an MT down to less than $10 an hour. I get my paycheck and can't believe I am supposed to live on this. It is truly disheartening as this is the only work I have ever done and I used to love my job. Now it is all I can do to drag myself to the computer every morning and dreading to open up my daily harassing email from the boss. Don't know if there is a new road for me to take or not but this career choice is headed for nowheresville.

Sickofthis, so you look longer for your first job. Maybe - just go do what you know you need to? OP,

[ In Reply To ..]
you'll be working some 2000 hours this coming year, multiplied by, what...40-50 years? You'd better be doing something you like AND that pays well, the latter almost always meaning more education.

You can count on having to continue your training/education various times over your work life, no matter what you choose now. To keep income and job interest rising over the years, you should have a line of work you can build on so you don't ever again have to go back to square one and retrain for an entry position. Mercifully, medicine in general is one of the better fields for this type of security.

You'd also want a line of work with genuine advancement opportunities so that, when the situation allowed, you could get another certification for the next-higher position that starts $15K higher per year, or whatever it would be, with hopefully more opportunities beyond that in case you wanted to go for them.

So, IF you decide you cannot go directly for what you know would really be the best choice for you, how about planning a staged approach? Just for instance, what short goals have the most courses overlapping with the program you want to attend? (BTW, just imagining a for-instance, if the LVN-program anatomy and physiology courses were a little lightweight and didn't satisfy the requirements for the radiology tech ones, you could just take ones required for that program instead.) Which line of work might have positions in the same facilities so you could enter then move up and across?

One thing you don't mention is salary. Since making continuing training possible as soon as workable would be part of this approach, salary should be considered as another factor among many when choosing a long-goal path, not just for paying the bills now.

And, of course, consulting the professionals, counselors with the programs you're interested in at colleges nearby and on line, would undoubtedly supply a few good "huh, I didn't know thats." :)

Best wishes wherever you go, Pragmatist

Sick of this, I am in the similar position as yourself - Me too.

[ In Reply To ..]
I am 51 (52 next week happy birthday to me). I am currently attending college online at American Intercontinental University. Some say it's not a real college but it is one of the few approved by the military for online learning for their soldiers. Anyway, I'm in the program for an associates of business administration with medical billing and coding completion. I know I will have to take additional coding courses when I'm done with this to be a certified coder, but I'm just getting started. When I finish I will have a bachelors in Healthcare Administration. I chose a business degree because I felt it would give me more options for employment than just a coder, business offices, other types of businesses. Plus If I get lucky and win the lottery (my major dream lol) I would have the money to start my own business of whatever type I decided and have the knowledge and skills to run it.

I was petrified to start school at my age and with the course content and speed, it is very hard, but I am doing it. Even if I don't make all my dreams come true I will know that I am not permanently stuck in this dead end going nowhere job of being an MT.

I have been transcribing since 1989 and I am certified. I know what I am doing, and I am fast at transcribing. Just because I am having trouble making production on SR for slave wages does not mean I cannot do the job. I just think that the requirements of production at the quality level of SR and the quality demanded by the companies and the nature of the work for the minimum wage slave labor wage we are getting is demeaning and revolting. I used to bring home over 900 every 2 weeks after taxes, insurances, 401K and other deductions. Now I'm lucky if I get 400. There is something seriously wrong with this picture. I have no savings left and am in serious trouble. But I am not giving up. I am worth a lot more than I am getting.

to sick of this - redmaj

[ In Reply To ..]
I totally understand. I 3 years ago I was making 17.80 in a hospital. I am at retirement age so i dont worry so much. Is it just me or is voice rec screwing us? Most of the time I have to type over what is recorded, and I can type faster than reading the script!! And I could be making much more money!!!! Oh, well. I have loved transcription, but I should have gone into radiology-it was between the two-MT and radiology tech.

Voice rec isn't screwing us, our employers are by - paying us less for it. Very important

[ In Reply To ..]
point because VR is like gravity and it's worse than worthless to be angry at it, but we should be outraged at employers for paying less for SR than transcription.

If I were going to go back to get my associates - degree, it would be in

[ In Reply To ..]
nursing. The next in line would probably be either respiratory therapy, then MLT or x-ray tech. An associate RN starts out at the same as a RN with a bachelors at the local hospitals where I live. You just can't move up (as in any sort of management) unless you have your bachelors. There are usually lots of jobs also. X-ray techs get paid well, but you need to look around and see how often they are hiring in your area. It is a rare occasion for there to be openings close to where I live. You have to go to one of the very large cities to find a job here in radiology.

As far as LPN, the only way I would do it is if I planned on going forward to bridging to my RN. They even have an online program out there for LPNs transitioning to RN. Just know that they are going to pay you like a medical assistant in a doctor's office, and most of the time, it is not all that great. The hours can also suck. Been there, done that. Depends on the doctor, but there would be times I would have to stay until 6:30 or 7 and then have to go pick up kids. Unless you work for a large office where the hours are staggered, you stay with the doctor until the last patient leaves.

Agree...go for RN - friend of RNs

[ In Reply To ..]
I think you may as well go for an RN program. It's only 2 years, and the pay will be substantially higher (40k starting vs 20k or so). My mom is an LPN, and the best pay she has found as an LPN is doing is doing extended day care through a home nursing organization. Basically, that is dealing with people who have tracheotomies and are on vents that need 12-hour care each day. With that, she can get 30k/year, but if a client dies or goes in the hospital she is out of luck. I also have friends that have been on waiting lists for some of the other programs you mentioned (she had a BS in Psych) and never got admitted, seemed they wanted people fresh out of high school. As far as online programs, I don't know if they would qualify you for your license. All online schools say they are accredited, but that may not be enough to get licensed in your state. You may have to find a state that accepts that school for a license, and then transfer it to your state. I had a friend who did that after finding out her University of Phoenix Admin license for teaching didn't work in Indiana. She had to get an Arizona license, then apply for reciprocity. Most nursing programs require extensive clinicals, so I don't see how they could have an online program that would really be eligible. Possible, but I would really do my research before enrolling. Good luck to you!

new career choice - redmaj

[ In Reply To ..]
I hear you about MT and the way it is going. My last hospital job was at 17.80 an hour. Staying in health care is a good choice. Surgical tech is a good choice, radiology is great. I didnt know it was hard to get into that program. From RT you can specialize-ultrasounds, etc. Good luck!

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