A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
good ol' days - Sookie
Posted: Oct 29, 2009
Remember the good old days, when we worked either in a transcription pool, the medical records department or at a doctor's office? I was trying to figure out what a doctor was saying in a report and dreading leaving a QA marker for fear of "points"...
I remember going to hunt down the doctors in the old days, sitting down to have conversations with them. They would help us fill in the blanks and mostly apologize for not speaking clearly (at least they did at the hospital where I worked!) They knew us by name. They thanked us for what we did. I always got the blanks filled in so that my reports never ever had QA markers.
I can't even remember the last time my super called me, except for when they need me to work more. I'm feeling melancholy. 
I agree - good old days - sue
[ In Reply To ..]I agree with all you said. Our doctors would come down and have coffee with us and to Friday Night "Rounds" at the bar and grill.
I had a pediatrician that I did special work for and he even came down to my little going away party and signed my card, as someone had invited him. And this was a big University Hospital.
And first name basis with my supervisors, and we had contests in the office about who could do the most line counts in a certain period and get rewarded for it. Have a luncheon at the office that was totally paid for by the owners. And they even gave us Christmas gifts.
Enough for me, I might cry too.
good ol' days - RN
[ In Reply To ..]I remember the holidays! The office parties were the greatest. We were all on a first name basis too. I remember this well. I remember all the signatures on the birthday cards that got circulated through the different departments. Ah, good times!
I had a older doc that hated dictating onto tape or into the system, so he'd actually come in to the office when he saw it was just me and dictate directly to me! He was so sweet and those times were so personal and one on one. It was a good feeling.
Remember doughnut day?! Everyone in a department had an assigned day of the month to bring in goodies for the whole department so we'd all have a snack?! (back then we could afford it...)
Remember BASE PAY? I'd earn a 17.50 AN HOUR plus per line, bonuses, holiday pay, overtime...
(Here I am, 48 years old. I am back in school to get another degree to get a better paying job. These companies have taken a job that I love (used to...) with all of my heart and soul and have made me absolutely dread sitting down at my computer every single day that I work)
Now I'm sad too... :(
And here I am, close to 60, thinking of returning to school - but having no idea what I could study --
[ In Reply To ..]that I could learn, get accredited for, and find a job doing, before I die of old age. (Or starvation, whichever comes first.).
Wow, that does sound really good.... - kiki
[ In Reply To ..]I've only been an MT about 10 years and always worked for a national company, but I've always wanted to work in-house at a place like you describe. I wonder if there are hospitals that have in-house MTs anymore?
Yep me too - MT55
[ In Reply To ..]and having one doc say, "I have no patients with sciatic camels today" -- Loved it when we could interact with the docs!!!!
Re: The Good 'Ol Days.... - "Do you remember when...?"
[ In Reply To ..]- There were such things as vacations? Real ones, where you could go somewhere fun for a week or two, and forget about work, instead of bringing your laptop with you and trying to maintain your daily linecount quota?
- Sick days and PTO days were separate? So when you worked in an office (as we all did back in the day), people would actually take their sick days when they were sick, instead of coming and in infecting everyone else, because they wanted more vacation days?
- Insurance? And even if you still have it now, remember when it actually PAID FOR medical care, without having to be sued to do so?
- Your transcription manager was on the MTs' side and went to bat for your department, rather than becoming one of THEM -- "The Enemy".
- The doctors actually did their own dictation, instead of letting everyone, down to and including the janitorial personnel, do their dictating for them?
- When ESL doctors were the exception, not the rule?
- When the doctors thanked you for your hard work, or for catching a mistake they missed?
- Cost-of-living raises EVERY YEAR? Who gets them now? EVER???
- Merit raises for doing quality work?
- When a typical workday was 8 hours, not 12-14?
- Overtime pay?
- Software that was simple, and worked FOR the MT, rather than AGAINST them? Back then, we didn't waste so much time trying to slog our way through ponderous, designed-by-an-idiot platforms. And we spent more time actually TRANSCRIBING, rather than worrying about the latest BOS edict handed down by the Oh-So-Holy Ones.
- Applying for a job, and actually being contacted? And, once hired, welcomed with open arms as a member of the team, rather than with contempt?
- When every hospital and medical center had a transcription department? And how you could pretty much just walk in to any one of them unannounced, tell them you were a transcriptionist, and Human Resources would turn backflips trying to gain your services?
- Remember being able to afford to get your car serviced, and not having to worry every time you got in and turned the key, about whether it would even start, let alone get you where you wanted to go?
- Remember meat, fish, poultry, cheese and cereal? How many MTs can still afford those luxuries nowadays?
- Remember being able to afford to heat your home office in the wintertime? Boy, THOSE were the days, weren't they?
- Remember going to the movies? Or out to dinner?
- Remember buying NEW clothes, instead of secondhand?
- Remember when a STAT report was "as soon as possible", rather than "in 5 minutes"?
- Remember when all transcription (and QA) was done in the United States?
- Remember when our profession was a secure, decent-paying, middle-class job, and not a circling-the-drain scam-job working for a bunch of financial predators?
Ah, yes... those were the Good Old Days.
Ah, yes, those were the good ole days - gourdpainter
[ In Reply To ..]And 99.9% of MTs were actually HAPPY.
I wish I had known those days - 7DayMT
[ In Reply To ..]sound really wonderful.
Yes, those were the good ole' days (sm) - mtmtmtmtmtmt
[ In Reply To ..]Lets not forget one other thing: being able to sit and transcribe for 4 hours and make $100 plus a day (at 0.10/line)and that was not even rushing through reports. Having time with your children/spouse/significant other/friends.
Yes, I miss those days.
The Good Ol days - Tired MT
[ In Reply To ..]That is the truth, the whole truth and nuthin but the truth! You said it all and you are so right. The only good thing about this job any more is that I get to work from home. Wal-mart is starting to look good.
Funny thing...those days weren't that long ago - I long for them too!
[ In Reply To ..]nm
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