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

Student Rant - madlearner

Posted: Jul 11, 2011

I am months away from completing an "associates degree" in MT at a well-known online "university." As I have prepared to change careers and start finding a job, I have realized what you all seem to already know...the job pickings are slim at best, and NO ONE wants to hire a newbie.

In short, I have never felt so taken advantage of and just...scammed. The education I have received is sub-par, with more time spent with unnecessary classes like "Keyboarding" than with classes that will actually acquaint students with the MT world. Instead of learning relevant software programs, we're taught how to use PPT and Excel, which I'm sure you MTs use ALL THE TIME for medical records. I have had actual class discussions about how to handle situations in which YOUR EMPLOYER DOES NOT PAY YOU. I was horrified to learn that this is pretty much standard treatment, especially of newbies, in this "profession." I have no one to blame but myself for being fooled into this. I have heard so many negative things from experienced MTs that I truly no longer desire to persue this career, but having spent a literal ton of money and wasted 2 years of my life, I have no choice. When I voiced my concerns in an online class, I was basically told by the instructor (who doesn't and never did MT work!!) to "not focus on the negatives," then she tried to convince me that "all jobs are like that."

I do not look forward to the day that I have to actually begin begging for jobs, offering to work at cut rates, or even for free, in order to gain that precious experiene that so many companies request. No workers should be treated in such a fashion, and there is something morally wrong with a program that graduates students without preparing them properly for their careers. To that, there is also something wrong with a "profession" that allows comapnies to mistreat them, devalue their service, and abuse their new generations.

Thank you for listening and please share any advice/words of wisdom you may have.

madlearner - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
Did your program use SUM? If not, why not? And why on earth is someone who has never done MT teaching MT? How can she teach it? As to words like "mistreat" and "abuse," I am reminded of the saying that "you deserve the kind of treatment you will accept." I have never been mistreated in the MT world because I will not allow it. That said, the best practical advice I can give you is to get some solid SUM experience. Many MTSOs will not hire without it. And I wonder, and this is not a make-wrong, just an honest question, how carefully did you check the program out before you enrolled? There are a lot of scamsters out there in the MT world. One good way to check a school is to call some of the larger nationals and ask "Do you hire grads of the XYZ school?" Perhaps there are others on here who have augmented their education with additional SUM training and can give you some advice regarding that first-hand. That is probably the single best thing you can do for yourself. Good luck to you.

Thank you - madlearner

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for your reply. I have no idea what SUM is, and I'm two classes away from graduating, if that tells you anything.

I realize that the program alone is not to blame and that I should have known better. I researched the MT field, but unfortunately did not find any sites such as this where real MTs discuss the realities of the job. The research I should have done instead was on the program. It is AHDI accredited or affiliated or whatever, but that's about it. From what I now understand, that's not much to crow about.

I also agree with you concerning "you deserve the kind of treatment you will accept," and I have no intention of suffering mistreatment, though I feel that this stipulation will exclude me from many job opportunities.

Thank you for your thoughtful response, I do appreciate it.

madlearner - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
There is no "blame" or fault for you either. There is no shame, blame or guilt in this situation. It is rather a situation of making an inadvertent poor choice. This is one of the (many) reasons that I hold such a low opinion of the AHDI. I know many schools that have the AHDI imprimatur and I do not think highly of them. It is a worthless recommendation for a school, in this old lady's humble opinion. As to SUM, it is the finest program in existence for training MTs. It uses actual physician dictation. If you will Google the words HEALTH PROFESSIONS INSTITUTE, there should be plenty of information in there for you to peruse. (And no, I do not work for them and never have.) I think you can remedy the situation with some extra work. As a former MTSO and current MT, I can tell you that many companies keep lists of schools and programs not to hire from. I have no idea if your schools is on it, but the fact that you are ready to graduate and have never heard of SUM sets off warning bells in my head bigtime. I think you have a great attitude and I do not think this is the end of the MT road for you. I think it is more like a speed bump. :) If you can get some solid practice with the SUM, that might help a bit. Our economy is such that the competition out there is just brutal. The last time my company hired, there were 300 applications for every job. Today when I heard the press conference on the economy, I just wanted to cry. If I were younger,I would fear for my children and what they would do when they were out of college if they were that young. I think the best, most practical thing you can do is do some SUM work. I am hoping that someone on here may have had the experience of augmenting a less than adequate education with SUM and can give you some practical assistance and pointers about how they set it up and what worked for them. Above all, you should not give up. These are difficult times for all of us. I am pushing 70, have done this for 40 years, and have seen my pay cut in half sine 1996. In the very near future, I will not have to depend on MT for a livelihood. If MT is something you really want, go for it. I do not think your situation is impossible. If you want it, you can make it happen. Again, best of luck.

I think it's because those bad schools lie to AHDI and sign their name to their lies - My opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
Unless AHDI actually enrolls as a student at these schools, all they have to go by is what the schools tell them. They say they have instructors? Well, some don't. We all know that, but because they claim they do and sign their name to it, nothing much can be done.

There is no better tool for finding a good school than that AHDI list, as a starting point, but don't make that the stopping point. Keep researching. Someone else can tell you how to do that, but don't just stop at that list. That's a beginning point, and a good one. Then you weed out the bad schools from that list, by talking to people, like us.

So SUM is just actual physician dictation? - madlearner

[ In Reply To ..]
This course does use actual physician dictation, which I am glad for. I realize now that I have a tough road ahead of me as far as getting that first job. Does having done actual physician dictation improve my chances, you think? I really wish I had found this site sooner. It would have helped me make better decisions. Thanks again to all responders, I truly appreciate your input.

I wouldn't say "Just" - my opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
You can have all levels of quality of "actual physician dictation" of course, but theirs is really good.

What you are going to have to do is find employers that have hired graduates of your school. The school has a track record with them. That's where people get into trouble. Some of the schools don't teach enough. They can come up with companies that will hire anyone who is breathing, but that's not really what most people want. You have to hope that your school has had a good track record with some of the better MTSOs, large and/or small. The way to find out is to ask where most of their graduates go to work. If they won't tell you, don't know, or there is nobody to ask unless you pay more money, you have a problem. If they can give you some good information on where graduates have been successful in the past, you're in good shape! I hope yours is the latter.

Ah, I see... - madlearner

[ In Reply To ..]
This is making sense bit by bit. Great advice, thanks!

You are incorrect! It really is the fault of a bad program - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
Sure, you made a mistake by choosing a poor program. The AHDI list is the best guide, but it still includes some poor choices. They are, in fact, at fault for being bad. Don't try to excuse them. In fact, write to AHDI and let them know the details so they can consider those facts when they make up that list again. If they never hear the complaints, how are they to know?

Fault of bad program - R2D2

[ In Reply To ..]
I do not think AHDI is very discriminating or caring about too much except how to get more and more $$$$ from MTs.

Here's what I think about that - see message

[ In Reply To ..]
Some days I like them and on other days not so much. However, there are some facts.

They are trying to provide some kind of standardization for schools so improve the quality of MT education. That's a good thing.

This is a fairly new program, only a few years old, and they have made some mistakes.

There is a limit to what they can do. If a school signs and swears that they do or don't do something which is an outright lie, they can do very little about it. I used to get mad at them about that, but tried to put myself in their position and see what I would have done. Other than stand there and call out a bald-faced lie, "No, you do not do ______ as is required, even though you tell us that you do it." It's almost impossible to catch someone 'not' doing something. I'm not sure how they would do that.

Also true is the fact that there are more bad schools than good ones. How high should they set the standard? What is the minimum acceptable level before they should approve a school? If they set it very high, as they did in the beginning, almost no schools can meet that standard. They lowered their own standards to allow more schools to even come close to qualifying, in my opinion, rather than doing what would have been the best outcome, making the awful schools improve the quality of education in order to reach the higher standard.

Here's one last fact for you. The people who made that decision to lower the bar are gone. Maybe the schools will again go back to the higher standard in order to be on that Approved list. Some of them would have to start from scratch and rewrite their entire programs in order to do that, because we all know they are so bad that what they are doing now just won't cut it no matter how they try to patch things up a bit.

Interesting question that they have to address. I'd love to be part of that process. I have a few opinions on it.

new to transcription - TJ

[ In Reply To ..]
First, I want to commend you on getting your education. Never feel sorry for bettering yourself. You needed to find something and you found this. Let me also say that it is a personal thing for each and every one of us. Every person's situation is different. While I used to make a lot more money for less time spent on the job, speech recognition has save my hands and wrists. If you build your dictionary/macros and learn your accounts, and keep samples. You will do fine. A lot of us forget that there are new people out there starting into this profession, and we are venting our frustrations over what we "once were paid." But do not be discouraged. Just take the things you have learned and use them as you can. When you test for a company you will make it fine. You can learn their platform and you can do well. You have to get some experience. Do you live anywhere where you might work in a hospital? If you can try that first, do that and you will be far better for it. You will get experience that you will need. However, if that is not possible try to apply to every company you can. They are always looking for MTs. Don't give up. You never know with the courses you took you may well fit into a mgt job one day. Again, don't let negative comments color your future. Sometimes we may be too negative by being realistic and you just have to sift through things and do what is best for you. It is a good profession and who knows you may be a driving force to change the direction of the MTs for the future.

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