Smart People - Hi

Back in the mid and late 80s, I was VERY proud to be an MT!   MTs were savvy and SMART.  In fact, they were SO smart -- or at least knowledgable and proficient -- that docs RELIED ON THEM to repair poorly dictated or hastily dictated transcription.

My friend/former boss is a rheumatologist who constantly used to say, "I KNOW you're a deep thinker, so WHY are you a medical transcriptionist?"  Until recently, I didn't really understand why he asked that.

The trend in MT now for the last 10 years or so has been verbatim transcription.  This has reduced the role of the MT to that of a monkey (or a tape recorder), rotely capturing utterances, coherent or correct or cogent or NOT.  And this change has affected MTs, whether or not they realize it.

As I read the posts on this board and interact with coworkers, it is very discouraging because there is a HUGE chasm between us on almost every level.  I make a reference to some classic book or movie, and they have NO IDEA what I'm talking about!  They don't know that a male animal cannot be spayed.  They don't understand even the basics of things pertinent to their lives, such as the difference between Workman's Compensation and liability insurance.  They have never read any political book or taken a poli sci 101 course, yet they go on and on about politics (usually just ad hominem attacks, nothing substantive) as if they know what they're talking about.  They don't ask questions of others in order to gather more info, they just make hasty false assumptions.  Exposure to new info doesn't elicit, "Wow, I didn't know that.  I'd like to read some more about that, do you have a link or can you suggest a book on it?" but rather a kneejerk emotive attack on the messenger.  They make disparaging remarks about the caliber of work of off-the-clock MTs based on forum posts, even though those MTs are OFF work and they have never seen a single report of theirs.  They don't know English, including the parts of speech.  And -- most surprising of all -- they don't know anatomy.  They may know how to spellcheck a word, but they don't know WHERE the structure is relative to other structures.  I'm not suggesting that they should have the knowledge of an MD, but back in the day we MTs *KNEW* this stuff!

This board has a reputation for drawing the "nasty" and the "negative," but I see this at work as well -- in fact, a coworker criticized someone on this board for making a typo in a post on here.    

Everything is upside down!  Intellectual curiosity is GONE, but jumping someone's case for a TYPO is the NORM!  So the MINUTIAE are important, but the major stuff has gone "poof!"  IMO over the last 15 years or so the entire society has been dumbed down (I know some other "old timers" will agree with me on that), so it's not just MTs.  But I expect MORE from MTs because I KNOW they are capable.  I have SEEN IT with my own eyes.