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

at-home professions, working, unions and everything else. - xgenra

Posted: May 28, 2010

hey all,

I am half way done with at-home professions. (I am starting the 4th part real soon)

And now I am having real serious doubts as to whether I am going in the right direction.

I am not really worried about how I will handle the problems of working at home. (loneliness wont bother me, I have a pet lizard to keep me company.) Is there anyone here who has done the at-home professions course and hooked a job? Is there some kind of union or association for MT's? I know at home isnt ahdi accredited but is there some kind of certification that can fill in the blanks? So far right now I am scoring an 85. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY UNBIASED ADVICE?

thanks in advance

dan, the MT wannabe and "fluffy" the bearded dragon.

At Home Professions - Nick

[ In Reply To ..]
You may wish to reevaluate your school. At Home Professions is certainly not a very good choice as an MT school. You could do much better for yourself. Look at either Andrews or M-TEC.

You are scoring an 85% - Typin_away

[ In Reply To ..]
At my school you would be failing out of the program with that score.

Any Mt job requires at least a 98% accuracy.

The Association for MT's is AHDI.

http://www.ahdionline.org/

I graduated 15 years ago from AHP and couldn't find a job - former IC

[ In Reply To ..]
even with a 99.8 average. I finally applied to our local hospital and was hired because they hire "typists", and worked 4 months in house and 9 1/2 years at home, also picking up some of the doctors from the hospital as extra income. I left the hospital because the grass was supposed to be greener on the other side; i.e., nationals. Sure wish I had that hospital job back again.

I did find ATP's transcription part good, but it didn't help me find a job. You're on your own after you graduate from that school.

Andrews is a very respected school. If I had my druthers, I would have checked out the schools more carefully but money was a sticking point with me.

Wow. 85% isn't going to cut it - on the job

[ In Reply To ..]
And as for certification, you will need a lot more (and better quality) training to pass even the RMT exam. The CMT exam still has a two-year acute-care experience requirement, I believe. Or maybe not, but anyway, without the acute-care experience, or at least better training, the CMT exam is probably out of reach. And without better training, it is unlikely that you could get an acute-care job to get the necessary experience.

Sorry not to have better news for you, but the MT job world is very competitive right now. New grads are competing with experienced MTs for a dwindling number of jobs, so it is hard to find an employer who will hire new grads, even from the good schools.

A 4.0 GPA from one school isn't equal to a 4.0 GPA At Another - To Be Fair

[ In Reply To ..]
A GPA doesn't really mean a thing. It's how you test on employment transcription tests that matters. If you did really well in a tough program, you'll probably test well. If you did really well in a not-so-tough program, you won't. I believe that's the formula for our industry, not making any judgments about any specific program.

Fair enough - but

[ In Reply To ..]
If she can't do better than 85% in the AHP program, it is likely that she will have difficulty testing well on an employment test. Just sayin'.

Fair enough, but - Just wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
How many companies feel that having AHP on your resume is a detriment? I have heard that comment from others. Not throwing stones, just asking.

You would have to ask - the people

[ In Reply To ..]
making the hiring decisions. My employer only considers new grads from schools with whose grads she has had good luck in the past. Unfortunately, that group does not include AHP. That's just one employer, others may have different policies. Again, you would have to ask those making the hiring decisions.

Re: AHP - Former MTSO

[ In Reply To ..]
I would not have given serious consideration to AHP grads and have served in a hiring capacity in more than one MTSO. The AHP education is not in-depth enough. Their grads require too much handholding once on the job. Many, many MTSOs have not had good luck with AHP and yes, MTSOs do talk and network. Many MTSOs look for grads who have used the SUM program and whose program is a good bit more comprehensive than AHP's.

Well, I don't know about that. - former IC

[ In Reply To ..]
It all depends on how much you time and effort put into the studies, how much effort you put into research. Back then, there was not a lot of info on the 'net and it all had to come from books. I made the effort, bought the books necessary, and studied. I bought the SUM program, too. I prepared myself over and above what the course required. I listened to the ESL tapes over and over until I had the accents.

As I said in my above posting, I was hired by a local hospital as a "typist." At the same time, they hired another girl who graduated from another MT course given at the local college.

In one week, I was doing better than the other girl. In fact, she was asking me questions. My RHIM also congratulated me for passing the 90 minute production requirement after that week. The seasoned MTs at the hospital hated to see me leave after those 9-1/2 years and I still keep in touch with them.

So, in reality, time and effort will get the job. If you just skim over everything and take a test. it won't work. This is not a career that you can fly through a course and expect to land a job.

Time and effort do NOT get the job. That's an old saying that was never true - Something of worth has to be being taught

[ In Reply To ..]
There are always people with rose-colored glasses gushing, "If you just work hard enough and never give up, you'll do just fine." That just isn't true.

Ask any recruiters you know and they will most likely tell you that they don't hire from some schools because the graduates of those schools don't cover what they need to learn.

1. All schools are not equal.
2. Spending all the time in the world won't help if the material being taught isn't worth learning.
3. All the effort in the world won't help if the people doing the teaching aren't able to present the material in a way that teaches a future MT to know what they don't know and what to do about it.

I could go on and on about it, but this idea of if you just try hard enough it doesn't matter what you are studying, you'll be just fine, is harmful and wrong information.

It does matter what you are being taught and how it is being taught. The quality of instructors, along with the materials, makes a huge difference in the kind of a job, whether you keep that job, or whether you ever get a job at all. In other words, just as schools are not all equal, neither are jobs.

Re: Time and effort - Old MTSO

[ In Reply To ..]
You have hit the nail on the head. Not all educations are equal. I am always amazed when people cheap out and go to the matchbooks and then say "I needed a job quickly and didn't have enough money for one of the top schools." If money is tight, why would you throw it away? And yes, folks, there are certain matchbooks that are little more than scams and having their name on your resume makes many recruiters not even give you a chance. Sad, but true. The saddest thing in my life is seeing these hopeful people (many single mothers) who come forward with their shiny new "diplomas" from these matchbook schools thinking they are going to get jobs. They're not. Most likely they are not even going to get interviews in this market because the market is so tight and the competition is so fierce. Companies want to hire MTs who can hit the ground running, not have to be baby-sat, and can actually produce. They want people who know their way around the MT world. Would you believe I actually had a prospective MT ask me what the SUM program was? And he was an MT? What are the matchbooks teaching these days? Sadly, not much. A little of this, a little of that, yada yada, nothing truly useful in the marketplace. Please, people, do your research on schools BEFORE you enroll and spend your educational dollar carefully. Make sure your school can deliver what you need and what you pay for. It's YOUR dollar you are spending. Don't let yourself get scammed!

So if you were already enrolled in a really pathetic course, would you finish or quit? - Just Wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
Let's say a person is enrolled in a school that is well known for being pretty much useless. They may pay a few companies to hire some of their graduates, but those companies dump the grads shortly after and nobody else will hire them, or they have to work for the lowest pay with little or no chance for an increase, ever. What would you tell them? Would you say to stick in there and finish that course or just cut bait and get out of there, wasting the money but saving a whole lot of time. Is there any value in finishing those poor courses or are they a total waste of time even if they are already paid for or maybe even free?

'Scuse me but I put plenty of time and effort - former IC

[ In Reply To ..]
above and beyond what I was being taught in the course. I went over and over the materials the school sent, bought books or went to the library to study the different specialities if books for certain specialities weren't available, and I learned. That's the time and effort I put into this career.

As I stated before, there weren't many places to research the schools when I decided to become an MT. All I had to go on was what I read in magazines. No 'net info.

I had my first IC job before I graduated, then went to the hospital which included testing by transcribing reports. I picked up 3 more docs while working at the hospital because the docs only hire MTs within the hospital, then on to a national.

I haven't had a bad audit yet with the national and never had one with the hospital. I got bonuses from my docs every year for doing a good job. All the extra time and effort I put into it was worth it.

It's a really a question whether you want a career or if you just want a 'typing' job you can do at home. If the latter is the case, it won't work. If the former, then by all means put the extra time and effort into studies above and beyond the school's instructions.

Former IC - Old MTSO

[ In Reply To ..]
You sound like you really know what you are doing and have managed well. I think the problem in a nutshell is that this is the world of transcription. People who want to be TRANSCRIPTIONISTS belong in this world. Typists are a whole nother matter. They are two different thing. Not putting typists down in any way or manner, but transcriptionists are not typists. Those people (such as you) who realize this will always make it because you are professional. The other people who have the "I just wanna type at home so I can take care of.....(whomever)" are likely not going to make it. Wrong motivation, wrong approach. Congratulations on doing so well!

How long ago was that? - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Early '90s. There was no WWW back then. - former IC

[ In Reply To ..]
There was a way to get on different sites but it was a really ugly, long, and drawn out, first having to know the address, then making sure you didn't make an error when typing the address, and there weren't many sites, mostly libraries/universities. No windows program, only DOS. It was nothing like today.

I think WWW came along somewhere around 1995-96.

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